David Cameron is gearing up this week for another attempt at telling us that leaving the EU will be disastrous for the UK and to outline more of his ‘renegotiations’. Meanwhile, under far less media scrutiny, the House of Lords has been debating much more crucial work: whether special steps should be taken to ensure that the BBC is impartial …
BBC apology over Quentin Letts’ climate change programme ‘is the stifling of free speech’
Once in a blue moon…? Hold the front page… because the BBC complaints department has actually apologised to someone. Not, of course, to the battalions of folk who have been saying for years that coverage of topics such as feminism, multiculturalism, the EU and immigration is beyond the pale. The response to them – as News-watch chronicles in its submission …
News-watch calls for scrapping of ‘biased’ BBC complaints system
News-watch has told culture minister John Whittingdale’s review of the BBC that the current BBC complaints system is not fit for purpose. The 10,000 word submission argues that it should be replaced by scrutiny through a completely independent body. It provides comprehensive evidence – from News-watch’s own experience of submitting complaints – that the Trustees, who police BBC impartiality and …
BBC PLUMBS NEW DEPTHS OF CLIMATE ALARMISM IN EMMA THOMPSON ‘INTERVIEW’
An interview on Newsnight of the actress and Labour-supporter Emma Thompson has taken the BBC’s handling of climate alarmism to new depths of shoddy and biased journalism. Under the editorship of ex-Guardian man Ian Katz, this type of celebrity interview – in which the subject is given virtual carte blanche to put across highly questionable leftist views – has become …
NEWS-WATCH SURVEY: MASSIVE BIAS BY OMISSION OF EU ISSUES IN BBC GENERAL ELECTION COVERAGE
Analysis by News-watch of the BBC’s EU-related general election coverage in selected flagship news programmes reveals massive bias by omission. There was a failure to explain in any depth the EU-related policies of the main parties, despite the fact that the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the EU were a central part of election manifestos. For example, questioning of David …
BBC Reform? Don’t Hold Your Breath
Is the government planning radical reform the BBC? Don’t hold your breath. Despite a bit of high-profile sabre-rattling, and intensifying speculation in the press based on ‘government leaks’ that this is on the cards, the answer is probably a huge resounding ‘no’. Figures close to new culture secretary John Wittingdale have clearly been the source of the recent rumours about …
Harding’s defence of BBC election coverage ‘does not stand up to scrutiny’
In characteristic take-no-hostages style, BBC News chief James Harding has defended in the Corporation’s General Election coverage. His message – delivered in his trademark pugilistic style without a scrap of supportive evidence to BBC-loving chums at a media conference – was exactly in line with that from senior BBC figures on such occasions: ‘Move along there, nothing to see. We …
BBC News chief defends General Election coverage against bias claims
James Harding, the director of BBC news, gave this speech in which he sought to defend the Corporation’s General Election coverage to the spring conference of the Voice of the Listener and Viewer on June 2. News-watch is preparing a full response to the sweeping generalisations he made about lack of bias. It will be posted imminently, and will be …
Al Murray campaign in Thanet against Farage ‘backed by BBC’
Al Murray, the pub landlord, clearly wanted – to put it politely – to pour cold ale all over Nigel Farage’s South Thanet campaign when he decided back in January to stand against him. His boast was that the country needed a leader who could wave a pint around and invent common sense solutions. Some of it was good old-fashioned …
Conservative BBC reform? Don’t hold your breath
The BBC made it abundantly clear who they wanted to win this election. The interview by Mishal Husain of Nigel Farage which was highlighted here, is a typical manifestation of their subtle-as-a-brick approach. To protect the licence fee and their imperialist, state-protected dominance of the UK’s media, they desperately wanted in power an alliance of Labour, SNP and the Greens. …