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 …
Kathy Gyngell: How would the BBC cope if it didn’t have Hezza to fuel Tory Europe splits?
The BBC’s approach to EU coverage is pretty much on the lines of a word association game. EU – Conservative Party – split – europhiles – Michael Heseltine – Ken Clarke – reasonable – superior – prime time. Eurosceptics – extreme – xenophobic – inferior – marginalise – diss – interrupt. Labour – unified – no story – splits – never – Tony …
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. …
Latest News-watch survey Published: More BBC Pro-EU Bias
As the BBC’s coverage of the general election gathers pace, the latest News-watch survey shows that reporting of European Union affairs by the Corporation continues to be deeply inadequate and biased. In March, the House of Commons EU Scrutiny Committee – which had heard evidence from News-watch as well as senior figures from the BBC – strongly attacked the BBC’s EU-related …
Culture Secretary Javid’s late, late realisation about BBC bias – too little, too late?
Photo by mrgarethm As we head into the final week of this phony, no-real-choice election, the culture secretary, has had a revelation about the BBC. It seems it came as a bolt from the blue. A remark on the Today programme by Scottish so-called comedienne Rhona Campbell , that all Tories were ‘a cancer’, was responsible. He now sees that …
Craig Byers: Why Cardiff University’s claims of BBC ‘right-wing’ ‘impartiality’ are not to be believed
Photo by jem The work of Cardiff University’s Media department is continuing to provide comfort to BBC supporters in ‘refuting’ claims of a left-wing bias at the BBC and to be cited as ‘proof’ of a right-wing BBC bias by some left-wingers (especially on Twitter). Cardiff’s 2012 report, ‘proving’ the BBC to be right-leaning, anti-European and anti-Islam (yes, I know!), …
Newsnight immigration feature casts worried Brits as xenophobes
The BBC’s blizzard of election-related stories that spin immigration as a topic that doesn’t matter is impossible to track. Lift almost any stone and there’s another example. A Newsnight feature last Wednesday was billed by presenter Emily Maitlis as ‘a long hard look at the subject’. This, it transpired, was a special piece of BBCspeak. It meant that Newsnight – …