Andrew Marr sparks GMB viewers' fury as he defends 'fair minded' BBC – 'NO, Andrew!'

Andrew Marr appeared as a guest on ITV Good Morning Britain on Thursday as he launched his latest book ‘Elizabethans: How Modern Britain Was Forged’. Among other topics, the BBC host was asked to comment on his latest denunciation of corporate media pushing the BBC in a “dangerous place”. Mr Marr defended the Broadcasting Corporation as “fair-minded” and claimed it is a “very important part of public life”. 

He said: “Everybody says of course we don’t want to destroy the BBC, we just want to cut it back a little bit and trim it this way and trim it that way and take away its licence fee and take away its funding and encourage more opposition to it.

“I think there is a real danger at this period that we lose the big national institution which is best known around the world and which provides a neutral, fair-minded, respectful platform for people with very different views on coronavirus, or Brexit or anything else, who fundamentally disagree but can all be taken seriously on a single platform.

“I think it’s a very important part of public life.

“And I think those of us who believe in it and indeed love it have to speak up for it more and more and more.

“There’s been a relentless daily media attack on the BBC, very often coming from people who are not friendly to the BBC for commercial reasons.

READ MORE: BBC boss rules out suspending licence fee for over 75s

“So I do think it’s important to defend the BBC and I think this is a dangerous moment.”

But his comments sparked the furious reaction of GMB viewers who were quick to take to Twitter to express their rage. 

One viewer wrote: “Andrew Marr on BBC saying it’s ‘fair minded’ ha ha ha.”

And another: “Andrew Marr on GMB talking about fairness, democracy and MP’s/journalists needing to be honest.

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry…Everything they are NOT, including HIM.”

But some did come to Mr Marr’s defence claiming he was “talking sense” on ITV. 

One said: “Andrew Marr just doing his job, but if it appeases the Conservatives and corrupt powers at be.

“BBC is close to being ‘defunded’ / destroyed by this current Government bit like all our public services old and new (test and trace farce).

“Sorry sorry state of affairs UK.”

source: express.co.uk