On yesterday’s Today programme, Sarah Montague spoke to BBC science editor Tom Feilden about what Brexit would mean to the scientific community. She said the scientific community was not exactly unified but there was ‘very overwhelming support’ for the EU, ‘not least because they argue the UK gets out more than it puts in. Feilden said that with ‘one or …
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 …
The gloves are off in BBC’s fight against Brexit
Many – including the writers of a Daily Mail editorial and the Mail on Sunday’s columnist Peter Hitchens – claimed that the BBC had changed its spots during the EU referendum campaign, and was bringing impartial coverage. Clearly, there was – for the first time – an attempt at least to talk to the ‘exit’ side. But since the result …
“Jo Cox (a few days later)”
Guest post from Sue, of Is the BBC Biased? “Many of our young women don’t feel safe on the street.” Who said such a thing? Nigel Farage, projecting a post Remain, Cologne-like future? Nah. It was Jo Cox, in a video she made for her report about Islamophobia.Thankfully we don’t see many political assassinations in this country, so when one …
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 …
Sir Cliff saga shows BBC is ‘impervious to criticism of its journalism’
The BBC’s sensationalist coverage of the South Yorkshire police ‘investigation’ of Sir Cliff Richard over alleged sexual impropriety stank to high heaven from the beginning. Now that the 75-year-old singer has been totally exonerated, it stinks even more. The Richard saga began in August 2014, when – according to an official report by retired Chief Constable Andy Trotter, one of …
Kathy Gyngell: Farage is no racist despite ITV’s bid to load the dice against him
Tuesday night’s ITV ‘debate’ was not just a travesty of this term – you could hardly called this pre-planned, separate tables, Q&A format a debate – it was also a case of helping mud stick with a supposedly impartial broadcaster applying the brush. Nigel Farage may be an old fashioned beer drinking and fag smoking bloke but that hardly makes …
Bias by Omission? BBC under-reports latest EU assault on Internet freedom
BBC bias comes in many forms. One of the most insidious is bias by omission, when the Corporation chooses not to report key developments or perspectives in areas of major controversy. It is a major issue in the referendum campaign. For example, the Corporation barely touched the story about a poster – ostensibly designed to encourage ethnic minorities to vote …
BBC1 NEWS ‘MAKE YOUR MIND UP’ FEATURES STRONGLY FAVOUR ‘REMAIN’ SIDE:
The BBC1 News at Ten flagship bulletin is carrying a series of reports which it says are about ‘asking about the factors that are likely to influence the way people vote’. They are obviously intended to inform the audience’s choice, and of course, the BBC will insist that they are balanced. Analysis of the six reports broadcast as part of …
Mark Mardell wins Vince Cable award for balanced reporting as Germans warn of Brexit ‘nightmare’
Mark Mardell, presenter of Radio 4’s The World This Weekend, has been on his travels again, this time to Berlin. His purpose was to find out whether Germany – in his words the country that ‘ran Europe’ – would treat a UK exit from the EU with kid gloves or a mailed fist. The structuring of the report left no …