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 …
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, …
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 …
Does Fairhead departure presage May action against BBC bias?
The abrupt and unexpected departure of Rona Fairhead from her post as BBC Chairman is interesting indeed. David Cameron had appointed her Chairman for the first, crucial phase of the new Charter covering the abolition of the Trustees and their replacement by a souped-up executive board – but suddenly, seemingly as a result of intervention by Theresa May, she’s toast. …
BBC continues to push Brexit race hate line
Photo of Gary Younge by boellstiftung So what is it that the BBC is trying to prove about Brexit? It looks increasingly that, as the dust settles on the referendum result, they are mounting an all-out campaign to find evidence to support the Corporation’s long-held belief that the who support ‘out’ are motivated by xenophobia and racism. Last week, on …
BBC push Farage race-hate ‘ blood on hands’ post-Brexit claims
BBC programmes have given a platform for claims that Nigel Farage has ‘blood on his hands’ for Harlow killing – despite local police warning against ‘jumping to conclusions’ about a ‘race hate’ angle. In Harlow, six teenagers have been arrested and bailed on suspicion of killing a 40-year-old Polish man who was mortally injured in attack in the town centre on …
BBC comedy ’spoof’ about Farage sounds alarm bells
So finally, then, the BBC is going to make a programme about Nigel Farage. Not – as might maybe expected from the UK’s main public service broadcaster – a documentary explaining his remarkable role over 20 years in triggering the UK’s exit from the European Union. That’s not yet in the pipeline. The Corporation is still far too busy finding …