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Saturday 7 December 2019

Anti-Labour Bias And The BBC

Back in the firing line, not that you will read much about it in the right-leaning part of our free and fearless press, is the claim that the BBC has been exhibiting bias against the Labour Party. This time, there is the added spice of a General Election campaign as the backdrop - plus an intervention today from an investigative journalist with decades of experience, who has put the Corporation’s Panorama strand under the spotlight.
As Reuters has reported, Labour “wrote to the head of the BBC on Thursday to complain about its coverage of campaigning ahead of [the] election, accusing the publicly-funded broadcaster of bias … Labour’s co-campaign coordinator Andrew Gwynne said they had recorded numerous examples where his party’s leadership had received 'more negative treatment, harsher scrutiny and slanted editorial comment’ than [the] Conservatives”.

Gwynne’s letter to Lord Hall-Hall noted “That bias has been reflected in the framing, content and balance of BBC reporting during the campaign … If the Conservatives are allowed to ‘play’ or manipulate the BBC, and this behaviour goes unchecked, then the corporation will have effectively been complicit in giving the Conservative Party an unfair electoral advantage”. And the charge sheet is not exactly short of detail.
There was, for instance, last night’s live debate between Jeremy Corbyn and alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, where Nick Robinson missed something Richard Bartholomew did not. “Nick Robinson: “You have candidates who have Re-Tweeted Tommy Robinson talking about - quotes - ‘Muslim paedophiles’ … Boris Johnson: ‘All those candidates have either apologised or are now subject to investigation.’

So what happened to “First bounce and you’re out?” And, in any case, Bozo’s statement was not true. Dan Bloom of the Mirror picked up another Bozo whopper. “Boris Johnson on Usman Khan case: ‘There was no parole *or probation* involved in this … Press Association: ‘Khan’s sentence was an extended sentence, [which] meant he would have been supervised by the probation service for the 13 years after his release.’
Then came the inevitable slip by political editor Laura Kuenssberg, telling yesterday “Latest in Neil-gate - Senior Conservative source claims public might not be interested in Johnson interview - ‘The public are fed up with interviews that are all about the interviewer and endless interruptions. The format is tired and broken and needs to change’”. Taking dictation. Just like she did with Matthew Elliott over Vote Leave’s lawbreaking.
But most damning of all, perhaps, is the report published today by journalist Paddy French, now editing the Press Gang site (see it HERE) which castigates the BBC over its Panorama edition “Is Labour anti-Semitic?” and “cites nine separate occasions when programme-makers were in breach of the Editorial Guidelines”. Nine occasions.
French concludes “It’s important to stress that this is more a report about the journalistic failures of Panorama and less about politics generally or the rights and wrongs of the Israel-Palestine situation. However, the Panorama programme crossed a line from balanced reporting and joined the right wing media chorus using anti-Semitism as a stick to beat Labour in general and Jeremy Corbyn in particular”.

If it looks biased, walks like it’s biased and quacks like it’s biased, perhaps it is biased.
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can anyone explain why the Tories' decision to abolish Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs) is the fault of the Labour Party?

Mark said...

Shocking television last night. Johnson was allowed to waffle, lie and criticise Labour through all of his answers (notice he never really says what the Conservatives would do beyond 'Get Brexit Done') whereas Corbyn provided positive, forensic and detailed responses that were almost always cut off. Johnson was allowed to heckle and panto mug his way through Corbyn's answers and the audience were certainly handpicked in favour of the alleged PM; laughing at his behaviour, dismissing Labour's stance on the NHS and applauding everything Johnson said.

But, whilst the BBC is shockingly biased, it's fair to say that it is a cancer that is not contained solely within the corporation, it is widespread across the whole MSM. Almost every report on the campaign trail on each channel has been about safe or traditional Labour seats that, they claim, may be less secure come next week. Where are the reports from safe and traditional Tory seats featuring supporters who will not be voting Conservative this time around because of Johnson or because they now prefer the Brexit party or the Lib Dems?

You only need look at ITV's This Morning to see that that channel is biased too. A former CBBC broomcupboard presenter believing he can be Robin Day interviewing Corbyn, yet is all fawning smiles for selfies with Johnson.

Lastly, I have made numerous complaints to the BBC this past fortnight and receive the usual, 'no you're wrong, we are perfect, nothing to see here' reply. On occasion I have readmitted my complaint, asking that it go further. But it is plain to see that their process is to frustrate viewers and they seldom admit to failings. But, as I understand it, you have to go the full nine yards within their complaints procedure before you can instigate the process at Ofcom.

Anonymous said...

The BBC is more than biased in its political "reporting" and "coverage". It is outright rotten-to-the-core corrupt in favour of the tories.

And it comes from the top, the Board of Governors, all the way down to the propaganda clerks...Liara Kuenssberg...Robinson...Jazz Hands Klingon Smith...Greasy Fat Gett Neil...plus other minor Uriah Heeps...plus a host of cowardly gobshites in the editorial department.

And they'll get worse. Not a gramme of integrity between them. The state broadcaster in a capitalist state - What else to expect from it?

Serious Bent said...

I too have made many complaints about the obvious bias of BBC news and current affairs coverage. The last time was after the infamous Panorama hatchetjob on Corbyn and anti-semitism, at which point I realised that there was no point. Indeed they shamelessly admitted in their reply that it had been pre-drafted in expectation of a high volume of complaints and it was composed entirely of pre-buttals of most of the objections they expected to receive about that broadcast.
I have since learned that the work of the BBC Complaints Team has been outsourced to Capita, along with the policing of non-payment of the TV licence fee.
Go figure!