Another week, another BBC impartiality concern.
A report published yesterday by the Sun newspaper points the finger at
the publicly funded broadcaster for showing undue bias against the
Conservative party.
The report focuses on five incidents:
- BBC News giving disproportionate coverage to the row over Tory donor Lord Ashcroft’s tax status.
- Labour panellists views on Question Time airing for longer than those of their Tory counterparts.
- The One Show running a poll on whether David Cameron is too much of a “toff” to lead the country.
- BBC Two’s Basil Brush show featuring a school election with a cheat called “Dave” sporting a blue rosette.
- The leaking of footage to several broadcasters of David Cameron adjusting his hair before making a statement on Northern Ireland.
“The BBC is in the hands of a left-wing elite. They’re a privileged organisation run for the interests of the few, not the many, which iswhy their views are closer to a broadcast version of the Guardian rather than a popular paper.” Douglas Carswell MP, Conservative Party.
The BBC have already issued an apology for the One Show package,
presented by former Loose Women anchor Kaye Adams, after more than 100
complaints were received. The report asked whether being “posh” was” a
bad thing for politics” and referred to David Cameron as a “Sloane
ranger”. Adams concluded her piece by stating that the voters must
decide “if the old school elite governs once more”.
Adams: biased?
“The notion that the BBC is biased is palpably not true. Our news
coverage scrutinises all parties with rigour and impartiality.” BBC
spokeswoman
Such coverage is unlikely to be well received by senior sources
committed to achieving impartiality in the run up to the impending
general election.
Considering The Sun has publicly declared their support for the tories, is there not some inherently ironic bias in their claims against the BBC?
Of course. I’ve posted another article on David Cameron’s blossoming friendship with Rupert Murdoch. I just think that any lack of impartiality accusation levelled towardes the BBC is worth noting and exploring in a bit more detail.
The Sun are just trying to score column inches – end of. By picking up on the BBC they have picked a nation-wide known enemy that people seem to love to hate at the moment…
Surely the main issue here is that the BBC have balanced their MP bashing over time. Labour were under great scrutiny and had very negative coverage during The Iraq Enquiry… Is it not a case of ‘swings and roundabouts’?
The BBC do, over time, give all politcal parties a hard time – no one is spared the glare of the media eye (except The Green Party – I can’t say I’ve ever seen negative coverage of them.)
Come on- remember the dodgy dossier? They got in a real pickle criticizing Labour for that… Maybe they’re trying to balance it out with Cameron’s pruning (and by the WAY, he’s right to up his game. In the run up to the election, as an enthusiastic appreciator of male beauty, I am voting Clegg. Those eyes, that soft, buttery hair…)
Actually, what’s worse? Treating a government like a responsible entity, and holding them culpable for what would be a serious breach of their nation’s trust, or making fun of them?
They should be criticised. The Tories could win the next election. To me, and to my extensive collection of Nick Clegg memorabilia, that’s not a laughing matter.
I think the real issue here is the choice of presenter for the one show.
Surely the One Show producers have seen hard hitting ‘Loose Women’ at some point in the past. By putting Kaye Adams on they were asking for trouble.