A letter to the new BBC Director General, Tim Davie...

(This article is taken from the text of a social media post on 17th July by my incredible colleague Jonathan Fuller which I wanted to make available on LinkedIn)

"This is the new BBC Director General, Tim Davie.

In light of the way the BBC portrayed the news on climate breakdown over the last 2 days I thought I should drop him a line. In any event I was going to write soon to alert him to three planned protests but, if the BBC is going to start telling the whole frightening truth, there will be no need for me to proceed with the actions.

I have sent virtually the same letter to Fran Unsworth (Director BBC News and Current Affairs), David Jordan (Director, Editorial Policy and Standards), Kamal Ahmed (Editorial Director: BBC News) and Phil Harrold (BBC Company Secretary – the chap I negotiated with during the October 2019 protest.

Here is the letter to: -

Tim Davie

Director General BBC

BBC Broadcasting House

Portland Place

London

W1A 1AA

Dear Tim,

HEADING: Is this a major shift in BBC reporting policy: News on Thursday 16th July?

I was part of the Extinction Rebellion (XR) delegation that met senior BBC staff in July last year. I have spoken at several of the large protests at BBC Broadcasting House and negotiated with Phil Harrold (BBC Company Secretary) on behalf of XR, when two activists climbed onto your glass canopy.

I wrote to senior BBC staff on 16 January 2020 welcoming the new ‘Our Planet Matter’s series and have been accepting of the fact that the attention of BBC News has been diverted from climate breakdown due to the global pandemic.

However, serious gaps in the BBC’s reporting have again emerged and so, working with XR activists, I started planning for another round of protests. The three planned are all lawful protests – no glue! An example of crucial news that was not conveyed in the main TV and Radio news broadcasts was the warning given by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that the most likely year for the Arctic Ocean to be free of ice was in the summer of 2034. NOAA warned it could be sooner. At that point global heating will accelerate much more rapidly.

As you know, climate campaigners believe the public deserve to know the whole truth and argue that, if told, people will have the chance to demand the scale of action that could save the young from utter catastrophe. If crucial information is withheld from the public, literally billions of people will be killed.

But you have just stopped me in my tracks.

On the morning of 16 July a debate was initiated by presenter Charlie Stayt with weather presenter Matt Taylor (BBC1 Breakfast), after a pre-recorded film on recent heating in Siberia. Matt went on to explain the implications of the loss of reflective sea ice (Albedo), the release of methane from melting permafrost and the risk that if that happens "it could be a case of this just goes on and on and on". His warning was clear that we now face ‘runaway climate change’.

Later in the morning, Annita McVeigh, on the News Channel, also tackled the news on heating in Siberia and interviewed Prof Martin Siegert of Grantham & Imperial College. Annita referred to melting permafrost and said "if that melts, well, we can all do the equation". Her comment clearly implied our extinction.

As you know climate activists firmly believe the BBC should have alerted audiences when the UN Secretary General tried to warn the world that we now face “runaway climate change” and said this is “a direct existential threat”.

So – have you now taken a policy decision to tell the public the truth? If so, I can cancel the planned actions.

Clearly it cannot be right that only those who tune in at 06.55 and 10.40 on Thursday have been given a part of the information they need to save the lives of the youngest members of every family.

So I ask please that you now broadcast (within a month) an hour long BBC 1 TV, prime time programme, that explains: -

? What the main climate feedbacks are;

? That NOAA says the Arctic will be ice free (summer) by 2034 & what that means for accelerated global heating;

? How fast permafrost is melting and what the implications are;

? The evidence that there is no carbon budget left - we have already put too much CO2 into the atmosphere;

? The COP21 agreement is predicated on the notion that the young must pay a vast sum to take out of the atmosphere all the CO2 we dump there today and they must start paying from the year 2050;

? What the UN Secretary General warned about runaway climate change and why he said this is “a direct existential threat”;

? Recent climate models that suggest heating may be in the region of 5C by 2100;

? Which nations will have suffered a collapse in agricultural output by 2100; and

? How we feed the UK, a nation that imports 50% of its food, at a time when global agricultural production is collapsing.

Your presenter, Annita McVeigh, is not the only member of BBC staff who fears climate breakdown is upon us and that we are now out of time. Several members of your staff have told me they genuinely fear climate breakdown could kill us all.

Surely you can see why it is absolutely imperative that you immediately inform the public of the scale of the threat?

I implore you to now tell people what needs to be done if the runaway effect has indeed begun, but also give the British people one last opportunity to demand the scale of changes needed that might just possibly avoid the worst outcomes.

Yours sincerely.

Jon Fuller

BBC: Tell The Truth "