Amusing to hear the BBC skirting the tricky subject of BBC bias this morning as John Whittingdale, BBC sceptic or is that licence fee ‘denier’, is appointed Culture Secretary. They did manage to get out, without choking on their lattes and cinnamon buns, that the Tories might be upset about the BBC’s ‘supposed’ left leaning tendencies, but didn’t really put over the real anger that the Tories feel about the BBC’s election coverage…nor did they bother to explore the issue.
One big question the BBC fails to ask itself, and you know it would ask a similar question about the Mail or a Murdoch publication, is ‘Is the BBC biased?’.
Not sure how the BBC can avoid investigating that if it takes itself seriously as an unbiased, impartial and accurate provider of news to the public….one legally obliged to be impartial by its charter unlike the newspapers.
The BBC only a couple of days ago was trumpeting the fact that ‘TV’ had had the biggest influence on the outcome of the election…..if that is true then the BBC, as the most dominant source of TV news, must question its role in that election and the professionalism and credibility of its output…..especially in light of the BBC having misinterpreted the whole tenor of the election campaign pesenting Labour as an almost certainty for government in an alliance of some kind with the SNP….and misjudged the issues that the election was being fought on preferring to present the Labour narrative of inequality and poverty as the defining issues that people were concerned about, or should be concerned about.
Will the BBC Trust commission a report into the BBC’s election campaign? How the BBC reported on the election is surely central to its existence in many respects. It should play a crucial role in providing accurate, coherent and impartial information for the Public to inform their decision making in the voting booth. The question is did it do that?
No. And many, many people think that.
Even if there weren’t so many critics of the BBC’s coverage the Trust should initiaite an inquiry just from a professional point of view. Most organisations would have a post mortem of their performance especially concerning such an important and high profile event as the election.
Wait out.
It’s interesting to view the Twitter feeds of some of their most egregiously biased people like Richard Bacon leading up to and after the election. They pretend to be impartial but are neither bright enough nor sufficiently in control of their emotions to pull it off. Yet just like the employer which lavishly rewards these astoundingly talented broadcasters get furious when called out because rather sadly they really believe that pretending to be impartial is impartiality.
I think they will be astonished how little public support they have. I divide my time between London and Yorkshire and have a wide circle of diverse friends and acquaintances amongst whom contempt for the BBC is near universal.
I would go further and say that the bbc is held in contempt in many parts of the world; the USA and Israel to name but two.
Add Australia to that
Posted this on the open thread:
‘Somebody’ wants to know whether the BBC has political bias.
They are using an online poll. [*facepalm*].
https://yougov.co.uk/#/live
So they can measure, err, what exactly? Whether people can see the bias? Whether they are aware of it?
Won’t me highlighting this ‘poll’ on this website skew the result? Won’t the Labour luvvies be clicking away on this poll?
I suggest you check it out.
oddly its got 2 runners neck and neck, is it the voting intention poll in disguise
though quite where you have to to suggest its right wing ??
meant to say “to be”
but really how far left of bunny la douche would you have to be to think that
Is the BBC biased? Well apart from the examples we give here everyday just think how often during the GE campaign the Beeb started their news bulletins with ‘Today, Ed Miliband will……’ or ‘Today, Labour will…….’
And today, Tuesday, Miss Montague must have been sucking lemons whilst interviewing the new business secretary; clipped questions on the minutiae of Javid’s brief. To say she was rude is an understatement.
“Will the BBC Trust commission a report into the BBC’s election campaign? How the BBC reported on the election is surely central to its existence in many respects. It should play a crucial role in providing accurate, coherent and impartial information for the Public to inform their decision making in the voting booth. The question is did it do that?”
If they did commission such a report, and indeed should, would it be like the Balen Report, for internal consumption only?
If they were to carry out and investigation into their perceived political bias, they would probably commission Peter Mandelson and Alister Cambell to carry it out with Diane Abbott as their advisor.
Not forgetting Owen Jones, of course, whose contribution must surely help any balanced view.
Mind you, that doesn’t answer the basic question: just how does that boy get so much time off school?
Achtung licence fee deniers
Vee at zee BBC have already carried out an impartial investigation in to our coverage of the 2015 general election and we have found it was biased in favour of the Tory Party.
We intend to balance out this bias in favour of the Right by devoting more time and coverage not just to Labour, but to the SNP and other left wing parties as well
Heil Hall !
Beebland Beebland über alles !!
I was interested in the comment from Peter Kellner of You Gov as to why the pollsters got it so wrong: “They are ‘shy Tories’ not because they are unwilling to admit their choice of party to a stranger but because they really would like to support someone else but, faced with a ballot paper in the privacy of the polling booth, simply can’t.” That seems to indicate an ingrained biased outlook. Kellner is ex BBC.
And Kellner is married to Labour peer Baroness Ashton….
BOOM!
Even so, I still don’t think he has been punished enough.
Why anybody uses YouGov, given Kellner’s attitude (as exposed above) is a complete mystery to me.
Unless, of course, they already know what they want to be told.
re the polls
what if they HAD shown a 3-6% lead for the Conservatives in the 3 weeks prior to the election?
Presumably the Labour turn-out would have collapsed down to sub 25% (the labour turnout is soft if they think they will lose)
whilst the UKIP vote would have been 18-20% of the vote (as the “frightened” Conservative/UKIP waverers stuck to their guns)?
How convenient for the BBC/Call me Dave that the polls were wrong
remember 1997 and the constant quoting of Wordsworth:
“Bliss was it that Dawn to be alive!”
anyone hear that phase repeated on “Today” or anywhere else on the BBC this week?
They will allow themselves to talk about “shy Tories” but not why Tories should be shy in the face of remorseless denigration on the BBC, bullying from so-called comedians on every programme like HIGNFY, being howled down on QT for years, the snide asides, and face-pulling. Classic example yesterday on BBC1 Breakfast 5Live debate, when the selected participants (members of the public – well, allegedly, you never know with the BBC) were actually (gasp) representative across the spectrum and all broadly agreed that Miliband and Balls were unelectable. Louise Minchin just couldn’t help herself when she came to read out some texts from the public. One said that he was pleased the Conservatives had got in. “That’s his opinion,’ she said dismissively, with a pretty little grimace. Not a reaction that is ever meted out to anyone else, not even a mad defender of ISIS.
Here’s the thing: I don’t want the BBC to be pro-Tory. I want them to examine what they do in government forensically, reasonably and fairly and to report on inconsistencies, broken promises and unforeseen consequences. I would also expect them to do the same to all other parties. I do not want constant bullying propaganda for the Labour Party and a campaign of sneaky denigration against the Tories and UKIP regardless of the real issues. Also, to admit that their massive publicly funded “News” operation during the election was an epic fail because they were too busy thinking they were setting the agenda instead of getting out and reporting accurately what was happening in the country.
I want them to have behaved like the journalists they boast of being; to have investigated corruption, criminality and downright treachery against our country and the normal peoples of our country, for example the muslim abuse of young white English girls. But they didn’t and won’t, so now I just want the bbc to not exist.
I don’t want them at all! Get rid and allow the market to offer wide ranging plurality of views. After all we are grown ups who can make up our own minds. We don’t need a raddled old auntie trying to guide us.
I’d like all that you would like too, but we aren’t going to get it. This leopard will not be changing its spots.
The ups and downs of the election through 3 tweets from BBC journalist Aliya Nazki:
Sure that fucking name is some kind of anagram/translation of Caliphate Nazi……………..
@TR = Ay lika nazi
It’s obvious to anyone who has been exposed to the BBC for more than a week that it is riddled with lefty campaigners for all the approved causes. This is especially evident when elections loom, whether in the UK or beyond.
The BBC is as likely to overcome its bias and produce an impartial service as is Woody Allen to win the next world heavyweight boxing title.
Who knew Woody Allen was a boxer; you learn something new every day. lol.
Well, I guess it’s never too late for him to start training for the big fight!
Come to think of it, Woody Allen could win by making his opponent roll on the canvas in helpless laughter – forgetting that if he’s off his feet for ten seconds he’s lost the fight.
Whenever the McBBC claims it is impartial it makes me roll around the floor in fits of laughter too 🙂
Woody Allen, the luvvies favorite kiddy fiddler, in a boxing ring! Oh yes,please please please……
Or Saudi Arabia becoming secular.
The BBC is getting to be the British Leyland of the airwaves. A useless business model and crap products.
Newsnight == Austin Allegro
Today R4 the many badged variants of the Morris Oxford.
And so on.
It is really very simple. The BBC has outlived it’s usefulness and technology has made it more obvious by the year.
The liberal elites were always going on about the ‘left behind voters’ of the shires.
With some venom I will add. Now they are squealing like trapped rabbits. The make work non jobs of the last 20 odd years are going to end.
The BBC is the last left behind nationalised industry dragging money out of taxpayers.
BRS might be a better analogy -Who?- my point exactly
5Live the Austin Mini MetroSexual ?
I, for one, am quite optimistic!
Nigel called them out about their biased audiences. After that several Tories did the same. Their audiences are under more scrutiny than I have ever seen.
It was very noticeable on the debates after and in fact on QT on Friday.
The BBC are being watched and they know they are being watched.
“The BBC are being watched and they know they are being watched”
Their researches read this site .
Just heard Mr Davis MP on the Daily Politics, who is a close ally of Mr Whittingdale , saying that the BBC had little to fear from the Tories. He hinted that the LF would remain in place but would not be increased and could be decreased a little. Also, that the BBC Trust was to be got rid of , which of course we all knew, but he didn’t say anything about what would replace it. He also said that the scope of the BBC may be too large, for instance in radio.
So it looks as though we are going to get a freeze of the LF and possibly a reduction in size of BBC radio. Plus a new way of governing the BBC . Hopefully this will involve OFFCOM and also requiring the BBC to respond to FOI requests. So some tiny steps in the right direction.
But after a GE campaign in which the BBC have been brazen in their support of the left the Tories still can’t find the courage or political will to actually take on the over mighty corporation. I’m afraid it seems as though we have to accept that the BBC is too big and powerful for any political party , even one that runs the country , to cut it down to size. It confirms my belief that any government of the UK only rules with the consent of the BBC.
“BBC is too big and powerful for any political party , even one that runs the country”
Almost correct should read
“BBC is too big and powerful for any liberal left political party , even one that runs the country”
‘Just heard Mr Davis MP on the Daily Politics, who is a close ally of Mr Whittingdale , saying that the BBC had little to fear from the Tories. He hinted that the LF would remain in place’
Shocked I tell you… shocked.
Of course the BBC is biased… Its been riddle with lefties since year dot
They will deny it as usual. Lets hope Mr Wittingdale dos’nt get taken in by there continued bullshit and sorts it all out
All the lefties have gone into hiding,pathetic bunch of cretins and cowards
It’s going to be very difficult to tackle BBC political bias in the short-to- medium term. To expect the discredited and to-be-abolished BBC Trust to commission a credible investigation into the corporation’s appallingly pro-labour election coverage is to expect too much. The new Culture Secretary will – eventually- attempt to cut the BBC down to size in various ways but the Tories are not best place to lead the charge on anti-Tory bias.
In any case, any relevant reforms , such as a better governance system and effective complaints procedure, will come too late to influence how the Beeb behaves over much of the next 5 years.
The BBC’s left wing management and journalists are simply not going to disappear overnight. Indeed the BBC already seems to have started trying to influence the 2020 election! For example It is emphasising a false narrative that as many people think the Labour Party was not left wing enough as opposed to too left wing, in form of an obviously unrepresentative sample of interviewees in Bedford ( today’s Daily Politics. )
The ridiculous discussion between James Naughtie and Norman Smith on this morning’s Today Programme has already been alluded to in another thread. Sarah Montague’s ill-disguised hostility to the new Business Secretary is yet another symptom of the same disease. These BBC journalists, their editors and the senior managers are not going to suddenly get their P45s from Mr Whittingdale, which is not within his power anyway.
Once a new governance system is in place , the first move will be to dispense with the services of the current DG and for his successor to begin a wholesale management and editorial clear- out.
“The BBC’s left wing management and journalists are simply not going to disappear overnight. ”
One of the journalists has – check out Clive Lewis, the new M. P. for Norwich South. Have spotted the NUJ pin on his lapel in some pictures.
Turn off the money tap.
The conservatives need the BBC to push it’s pro EU agenda for the referendum ( if we do in fact have one ) which the BBC will be happy to oblige with so don’t expect the Conservatives to be too hasty in taking on Al beeb….’Yes Minister’ anyone?
I think this is the key point. The BBC will be required to deliver the population in the EU referendum. State TV will do its it and the government will approve. Thats the price that we will have to pay. All talk of bias will pale into insignificance when the BBC starts the propaganda on the EU. The problem for timing the referendum is whether the BBC can get up to speed with their propaganda – sorry – programmes. Expect a lot of: travelogues on eastern Europe (actually they might well stick to western Europe and profiles of Brits having the good life therein); cookery programmes with continental feel; skewed history of how the 2WW was about creating a united Europe; lots of stories about Eastern European doing charity; European children on children shows, etc. The message will be that this is reality, get over it. But will cut down on aggression except for FiveLive, of course. To be ignored: wages; pressure on public services; gangmasters; etc. Basically paint a rosy picture. I hope I’m not giving the BBC some ideas. No, they’ve done this many times.
With the circulation of The Guardian in decline where are all those middle class Leftists going to if the BBC stops getting a public subsidy. Living off the taxpayer is the only job they know. They can’t all be Labour MP’s.
…Senior Conservatives said they were “furious at the BBC’s coverage” of the election campaign and accused the corporation of an “unforgivable pro-Labour bias”…..
Remarks from the Daily Telegraph website. Looks as though the shits going to hit the fan for the BBC,AND NOT A MOMENT TO SOON
In their arrogance the BBC forget that if this government announced that they would not condemn any non-Labour voter who refused to pay the License Fee (because of its subtle as a brick bias in favour of the Labour Party) the BBC (for all it’s sense of entitlement) would collapse almost overnight. If the Left want a broadcaster they should pay for it themselves.
The BBC is an abuse of power. It largely consists of hypocritical public school Leftists hanging off the public teat arguing amongst themselves about who hates Britain the most. Put the lot on the dole. If they have no skills to offer they can always live off their trust funds.
I was hoping when I woke up on election day presuming that labour would do well, that it would be miserable wet weather as Labour voters traditionally tend not to come out and vote when it’s raining 😉
It was chucking it down here in Broxtowe. I got soaked!
Good rant from the Commentator. Any Tory MPs listening?
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/5841/rant_alert_yes_shut_down_the_unreformable_far_left_bbc
weather was glorious here on polling day, but when two ladies turn up at the polling station on horseback you kinda knew what colour would be returned.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/05/12/the-bbc-is-a-sinister-organisation-it-must-be-abolished-not-reformed/
A brilliant article from the mighty Martin Durkin.
Bet the BBC rue the day they trained THIS hero of ours.
He did “The Great Global Warming Swindle” as well as the tribute to Margaret Thatcher after her death-both of which are required viewing, and fuelled my hatred for the greenies quack science, and the lefties denigration of the best leader we`ve had since Churchill.
Don`t tell the BBc about this though-as they troll the malls looking for Europhiles and benefits rollmpops in the daytime-the rest of us are working and just KNOW the evisceration of the BBC is only a matter of time.
And as they swoon over A Moonie?…and ignore Jim Messinas revealing piece in the Spectator about how the Tories won it?…we can just sit back and now enjoy 10 MORE YEARS…thick clustaf***kas!
Anybody seen David Axelrod-or has he crept back under his “Stone”?
Spineless swines-cemented minds…to quote Mozzie By Gum!
The BBC and all media is run by the real powers that be who have mind boggling control of everything of importance to their goals. The average Joe has no idea of what they are being moulded to like and dislike…They are programmed with weaponized words like “Racism” or “Anti-Semitism” as an example. Yes it is crazy and we will never win! It is beyond the power of the people. Let us prey they find good in themselves and to see the greater dignity in their souls and realize we are not computers which guide them but we are HUMAN!
The BBC is obviously run by the military wing of Our Country! I mean lets grow some fucking braincells here people! LOL anyone disagree?
Below Robert Pestos (BBC Economics Correspondent) non bias comments.
”In that sense, it has reinforced Labour’s concern that the revival of our economy was not doing enough to make most people richer – though, to state the obvious, a bit too late to lend credibility and help Ed Miliband’s campaign.”
Non bias, my arse, how sodding blatant can you get…