CORRESPONDENT NICK BRYANT ‘BIASED AGAINST TRUMP’, RULES BBC: The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (6/8) upheld a complaint against BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant. The single complainant had claimed that an online article by Mr Bryant in March 2020 headlined ‘Coronavirus: What this crisis reveals about US – and its president’ ‘reflected bias against President Trump on the part of its author’ …
BBC Bias Digest 7 August 2020
BBC ‘RECEIVES 18,000 COMPLAINTS OVER N-WORD’: Darren Boyle (Daily Mail 8/7) noted that the BBC had received 18,000 complaints over a report about a hit and run accident on July 29 in which presenter Fiona Lamdin had used the n-word in a quote attributed to the perpetrators of the accident, who were believed to have been racially-motivated. Mr Boyle said the …
BBC Bias Digest 6 August 2020
BBC ‘THREATENS PENSIONERS WITH BAILIFFS’: Continuing coverage of the BBC’s decision to charge 4.5 million over-75s for their licence fees from August 1, William Cole (Daily Mail 6/8) said the corporation was spending an estimated £38m this year on extra measures to make sure that they paid. He added that if ministers decided to make non-payment a civil rather a criminal …
BBC Bias Digest 5 August 2020
BBC ‘FACES PENSIONER REVOLT’: Paul Revoir (Daily Mail 5/8) said that the Age UK charity had warned that the 10-page letter sent out to the over-75s to explain the new licence fee arrangements was too ‘long and complex’ and failed to make clear when the elderly would get a demand for payment. Mr Revoir reported that Age UK director Caroline …
BBC Bias Digest 4 August 2020
MEDIA COVERAGE OF PANDEMIC ‘IS RETRIBUTION FOR BREXIT’: Tim Black (Spiked! 4/8) argued that the media establishment, including the BBC, had generated ‘a barrage of fearmongering’ about the dangers of Covid-19 and seemed to be almost revelling in the pandemic, as if high death tolls, raising infection rates and R numbers were political points to be scored against the ‘Brexity Tory …
BBC Bias Digest 3 August 2020
DEFUND THE BBC GROUP ‘LAUNCHES AGGRESSIVE AD CAMPAIGN’: Guido Fawkes (3/8) reported that the Defund the BBC group had launched a ‘provocative’ mobile billboard campaign across the North-west of England urging followers to cancel their TV licences to support the oiver-75s, who from Saturday (1/8) now had to buy a licence fee. The article said sites for the posters included …
BBC Bias Digest 2 August 2020
TONY PARSONS: BBC ‘DOESN”T LIKE OUR COUNTRY’: Author and commentator Tony Parsons (The Sun on Sunday 2/8) claimed that the BBC’s decision to scrap the free TV licence for the over-75s was ‘a kick in the head’ for those ‘who have borne the brunt of this health emergency’. He asserted: “This was the year for the BBC to reach out to …
BBC Bias Digest 31 July 2020
BBC STAFF HEADCOUNT ‘FALLS BY JUST 2 PER CENT’: Freddy Mayhew (Press Gazette 30/7) reported that despite the BBC spending £500m in severance pay and restructuring costs in the past 11 years, the headcount had shrunk from 22,874 to 22,401 – only two per cent. He said the Corporation’s annual reports showed that the BBC had been engaged in ‘constant …
BBC Bias Digest 30 July 2020
OFCOM SURVEY FINDS “MORAL DISLIKE” OF THE BBC AMONGST YOUNG: Craig Simpson, Daily Telegraph (£ 30/7), said that a report from Ofcom had found that younger audiences ‘are flocking to streaming services like Netflix to find shows with a “talkability factor”‘ and that BBC programmes ‘fail to provide “watercooler moments”’ for young people. The report found that, with attitudes to …
BBC Bias Digest 29 July 2020
BBC AXES AFTERNOON NEWSROUND AFTER 48 YEARS: Joe Kasper (Sun 29/7) said the BBC was axing its afternoon live television edition of the children’s news service Newsround – shown currently on kids’ service CBBC , but formerly on BBC One – after almost 50 years. Mr Kasper reported that the BBC wanted to transfer more of its children’s content online …