An internal report offers a 12-point plan for the BBC to counter what is seen as "liberal groupthink" in news and programming decision-making.

From the Guardian story:

The report could also lead to a further tightening of the rules governing BBC correspondents contributing to newspapers and an extension of the policy of recruiting "editor-correspondents" to place news in context.

Following a year-long study, the corporation's report grappled with the challenge of maintaining impartiality in an age of user-generated content, sophisticated lobby groups and fragmented opinion.

Warning against the dangers of single-issue campaigns, it raised questions about Make Poverty History, coverage of Live 8 and BBC1's own Africa season. It singled out for criticism The Vicar of Dibley, written by Make Poverty History organiser Richard Curtis, and his drama The Girl in the Cafe.

The report said that while there was no evidence of conscious bias at the BBC, "individuals exercise on occasion a largely unconscious self-censorship out of a misguided attempt to be 'correct' in their thinking". It said programme makers were "generally conscientious and self-critical, but they sometimes inhabit a shared space, a comfort zone" which risked stifling originality.

Senior BBC figures have acknowledged that the corporation could suffer from "groupthink" which tended towards a liberal world view and had led to certain opinions being under-represented on subjects such as Europe and immigration.

Stephen Whittle, a former controller of editorial policy, pointed to a "lack of intellectual curiosity", while former political editor Andrew Marr said there was "an innate liberal agenda".