News-watch analysed all lunchtime and evening editions of Radio 1’s ‘Newsbeat’ for a ten-week period between 15 April and 23 June – the period in which the BBC’s Referendum Guidelines were in effect, and ‘broad balance’ ought to have been achieved between the Leave and Remain arguments on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
Confirmed: BBC complaints process is unfit for purpose
At the heart of the BBC’s reform under its new Charter – due to come into effect imminently – is that for the first time, an outside body, Ofcom, will become the final court of appeal in complaints about impartiality. The idea is that this will clean the Augean stables and the Corporation will end its rampant bias towards Brexit, …
News-watch Referendum survey of Radio 1 Newsbeat finds strong BBC bias towards ‘Remain’
During the EU referendum, the BBC adopted special editorial guidelines which required strict even-handed treatment of the Leave and Remain cases. News-watch has now completed a rigorous academic survey which shows conclusively that these guidelines were effectively ignored. There was heavy bias towards the Remain side in BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat, a flagship news programme which reaches millions of the …
Humphrys told Farage that Brexit is ‘literally unthinkable’
Back in August, in the backwash of the referendum result, News-watch issued a challenge (during an off-the-record lunch) to a very senior executive of the Corporation: for the BBC to make a programme that properly celebrated Nigel Farage’s achievements as a politician. The answer? None, directly, so far, but a few days later the Corporation announced the commissioning of Nigel …
The Brexit Collection – September 2016
News-watch monitored and analysed the 31 programmes and programme excerpts chosen by the BBC as part of The Brexit Collection – an online compendium of BBC Radio 4 content featuring pre- and post-referendum coverage.
Ten of 13 ‘independent’ Ofcom Content Board members have close BBC links
At the heart of the BBC’s new Charter – due to be formally adopted within the next fortnight – is that the new ‘independent’ court of appeal for complaints against the BBC will be the Ofcom Content Board. The end of the BBC being totally its own judge and jury on these matters is supposed to herald the dawn of …
BBC Radio 4 Brexit Collection: strong bias against leaving the EU
The Brexit Collection is a selection of 31 programmes and features, originally broadcast on Radio 4, and posted by the BBC on its iPlayer website. It is presumably thus thought by the Corporation to be a balanced representation of its referendum coverage. Analysis by News-watch has now shown that the Collection was, on balance, very strongly anti-Brexit. News-watch transcribed and …
Pro-EU zealot quietly dropped from Ofcom content board
Hallelujah! Quietly, a significant positive development in the broadcasting establishment may have occurred. Might it be that the government is at last waking up to that the liberal figures who occupy the key regulatory posts are a menace to Brexit? The current deluge of anti-Brexit propaganda emanating primarily from the BBC, but also from Ofcom-regulated services such as Channel 4, …
Complaints from both sides (again)
This is a guest post from Craig Byers of Is the BBC Biased? The BBC must be happy today.Yesterday came Boris at the Conservative Party conference saying (accurately) that the BBC is sometimes “shamelessly anti-Brexit” before adding (doubtless to the BBC’s delight), “I think the Beeb is the single greatest and most effective ambassador for our culture and our values”.Today in strode (Sir) …
BBC News Chief James Harding shows anti-Brexit bias
James Harding, the BBC’s Director of News, has fired a broadside against those poor, misguided souls who have dared to think that the BBC’s coverage of the referendum and its aftermath have been out of kilter. His chosen medium for this homily? Why, where else but that neutral newspaper so loved by the BBC – The Guardian? For those not …