Virtually every national newspaper published in London is ferociously Euro-phobic, not least because most are owned by global empire- builders who are fervently opposed to European integration.As for the allegation that the BBC is pumping out pro-Euro propaganda, that is simply laughable. "Free Britain" (as the Website is called) claims that the Beeb was among 50 broadcasting organisations invited to Brussels back in January for talks aimed at devising a pro- single currency media blitz which would be backed by a $22m (pounds 14m) budget. Speaking for the Campaign for an Independent Britain, Lord Stoddard of Swindon said: "The Euro-fanatics get a lot more space than the people who are against further integration. The idea was that serious journalism should put stories in context and analyse them That is all being abandoned Birtism is dead. The Cultural Revolution is over, but Chairman Mao is still in power".. Last week I found myself on a pan-continental television programme arguing against an utterly absurd conspiracy theory. EBN (European Business News) gave a platform to the Campaign for an Independent Britain, an organisation that has engineered a Euro-sceptic Website to counter what it portrays as a sinister conspiracy between meddling Eurocrats and "pro-European" media organisations The main target of its broadside was the BBC.

He wrote recently in the New Statesman: "Those who feel most aggrieved are the true Birtist camp followers, who feel they are being betrayed by their great leader. Birt, they say, has simply junked his own creed."Leadbeater quoted a former "missionary of explanation" who told him: "Birtism has been stood on its head. Established current affairs programmes will have to absorb a budget cut of more than 13 per cent in the next four years to fund the BBC's forthcoming 24-hour news channel."We simply cannot afford to do the same sort of probing, thoroughly researched current affairs journalism when resources are being diverted into round- the-clock rapid response newsgathering," said another critic of the impending changes. "Newsnight is going to become a more studio-based programme because of budget constraints.

Luvvies will be wheeled in to lighten up what could otherwise be a very tedious format."Whatever the motivation behind them, the changes to the BBC's current affairs output plainly fly in the face of the "mission to explain" philosophy which John Birt sought to bring to the BBC when he took charge of its news and current affairs department a decade ago.Birt first developed this philosophy while in command of Weekend World for LWT. One of the bright young researchers on that Sunday lunchtime programme was Peter Mandelson, who is now plainly bent on ensuring that no member of the new Labour government ever has to undergo the sort of sustained, rigorous grilling to which ministers were routinely subjected by Brian Walden.Charles Leadbeater, who also worked for a while on Weekend World, believes that the BBC leadership has now fixed its eyes on bigger targets than the mission to explain. Public Eye has been axed completely.One senior programme-maker, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Independent: "Newsnight has for some time had trouble getting government ministers on when it wants them That difficulty started under the Tories. But it would be disgraceful if the programme was changed simply because the government won't play ball."No matter what Mandelson and Campbell do, the BBC should not suspend its critical faculties and give this government an easy ride just because it is superficially popular."The suspicion of many in the current affairs division of the BBC News directorate is that Newsnight is being reformatted to save money. But it has since become clear that Horrocks was signalling a new direction for Newsnight.His desire to change the programme has been heightened during the first 100 days of New Labour rule. Horrocks has been heard to ask lately: "How do we deal with a very media-savvy government and an opposition which isn't that effective?" His conclusion is that a new style of political coverage is needed.