The Bland leading the bland : Obsessive Neutrality at the BBC.

While it is difficult not to admire the BBC for its intention be an arbiter of truth and impartiality this obsession with a neutral position in all matters is becoming increasingly unrealistic. Particularly in current circumstances this perceived necessity to give every side of the argument a say and a stand well back and don't make judgements editorial policy on just about everything is becoming both irritating and, I suggest, counter productive. There is much that is neutered rather than neutral.
There was a situation on 'Newsnight' recently when two Muslim guests were left to talk over each other, both becoming incomprehensible, while Jeremy Paxman just sat it out. This offered nothing other than demonstrating that these two individuals were not going to agree on anything and added little enlightenment to any issue. This presentation of binary opposites is what seems to be a preferred format as it allows the BBC to maintain this stance of being an impartial referee. But at some point judgements and points that come from a gathering of different views must be made, otherwise no progress is made.
I sometimes wonder if the massive amount of airtime given to comedy is not in a way a result of this refusal to put out strongly argued editorial material.
In particular programmes like 'Have I got News for You' which, although amusing enough, manage to criticise quite freely political decisions and corporate and individual actions because it is under the banner of 'comedy' but these are the same decisions and the same activities that are rarely challenged outside of this cosy comedy format.
The recent bad weather is another great excuse for dropping all possibly contentious material and devoting hours to pictures of snow and cars stuck in it, which add very little to the sum total of human knowledge but cannot be said to be of any particular political persuasion.
I wonder what they would do if snow was red or blue ?