This is a guest post from Craig Byers of Is the BBC Biased? This week’s The Media Show featured a remarkable pair of interviews about BBC bias – especially regarding BBC bias against Donald Trump. The first interview featured Charles Moore of the Spectator, laying into the BBC’s ‘groupthink’ and the corporation’s lack of even-handedness when it comes to disputing/believing ‘facts’ …
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 Concedes Political Bias – But Only Against Corbynistas
This is a guest post from Craig Byers of Is the BBC Biased? Something highly unusual and rather disconcerting happened on Radio 4’s Feedback this week. Questions about BBC bias were put and a senior BBC editor repeatedly admitted that the BBC had got things wrong. I cannot recall ever hearing such an interview before on Feedback – except over climate change, where various BBC editors have publicly confessed to …
BBC Archers trial portrays Brexit supporters as prejudiced bigots
This is a guest post from Craig Byers of Is the BBC Biased? Though I’ve listened to Radio 4 every since I was in my teens I’ve never paid any attention to The Archers. For me The Archers has never been anything more than a happy opportunity to go and brew a nice cup of tea until the next programme …
Craig Byers: Mardell anti-Brexit bias continues
This is a guest post from Craig Byers of Is the BBC Biased? Mark Mardell’s latest website article in the wake of the Brexit vote focuses on “society’s sharp divides”. It’s classic MM, in that it doubtless believes itself to be impartial and to be acting as the ‘BBC voice of reason’ throughout whilst being riddled with bias from start …
Craig Byers: Mishal Husain distorts immigration debate
I’ve been a little bit surprised at how little has been written (so far) about Mishal Husain’s BBC Two documentary Britain & Europe: The Immigration Question. I’ve seen barely a comment about it anywhere. For me, however, it was one of the most striking ‘landmark’ programmes of the BBC’s entire EU referendum coverage. Why has there been so little comment? Was …
Craig Byers: Here is the news. BBC bias revealed hour by hour
Thursday was ‘the big day’ at the BBC, and yesterday morning’s Today was all over Mr Whittingdale’s Charter Review report. Did the BBC treat the story impartially? Well, on Today there was Lib Dem peer Lord Lester QC sticking up for the BBC. And Labour’s Tessa Jowell sticking up for the BBC. And former BBC, Sky and ITV employee Professor Lis Howell half-criticising and half-sticking …
Craig Byers: BBC ‘European’ Correspondent bias ‘off the scale’
Well, ten minutes after posting that piece about BBC Europe correspondent Damian Grammaticas’s Remain-biased piece for Monday’s BBC One News at Six his latest report popped up on tonight’s BBC One News at Six… …and I think we may now have the winner in ‘Most Biased Report in the BBC’s EU Referendum Coverage’ category. I know it’s an early call but I …
Evan Davis: helping to spread the pro-EU message?
(This article was first published by Is the BBC biased?) If you were wondering where the BBC’s Evan Davis was on Saturday (and why wouldn’t you be?), well he was in Paris at a conference for UK school children (sixth formers) called Your Future in Europe. (I stumbled across this by accident, so, no, I’m not stalking Evan!) I was …
Ofcom: Europhile content board head Bill Emmott ‘will not rule on EU issues’
This is a guest posting from Craig Byers of the Is the BBC Biased? website. Further to an earlier post… Newswatch‘s David Keighley has received a statement from Ofcom in response to his post about the appointment of Bill Emmott, the ultra-pro-EU co-creator of the biased BBC mockumentary The Great European Disaster Movie, as Chair of Ofcom’s Content Board, …