‘ABOMINABLE BIAS’: Andrew Marr interviewed John Major and Boris Johnson on his show yesterday (5 June). The BBC has characterised in other commentary the battle now as a ‘blue on blue’ fight, and with only two Sunday shows to go before the referendum, these were ‘big beast’ interviews where there would be expected to be scrupulously balance. There emphatically was …
Referendum Blog: June 5
FEEDBACK BIAS: Radio 4’s Feedback, presented by Roger Bolton, ostensibly examined on Friday listeners’ concerns that BBC coverage was favouring the remain side in the EU referendum debate. Michael Yardley from Colchester said: Now Roger Bolton – who was editor of Panorama when members of his staff controversially kow-towed to the IRA at Carrickmore – has got form in terms …
Referendum Blog: June 4
CORNWALL BIAS: Justin Webb is the latest Today reporter to go walkabout to get the perspective of the EU referendum ‘from different places’. His destination was Redruth in Cornwall. Previous News-watch postings on BBC’ presenters’ handling of the topic of ‘EU money’ have pointed out that they have missed from the equation the vital explanation that such cash is actually …
Referendum Blog: June 2
NAUGHTIE BIAS: On Tuesday, James Naughtie, now a roving BBC correspondent emeritus, assembled three Today features about the Scottish reaction to the EU referendum. They were seriously imbalanced towards the ‘remain’ side. In the opening sequence, at 6.42am, Naughtie explored the views of a young ‘remain’ supporter and an ‘exit’ counterpart. Eloise Reinhardt, the remain speaker, was asked to contribute …
Referendum Blog: May 29
NORTHERN IRELAND BIAS: On Friday’s Today programme (May 27), Mishal Husain presented three packages from Northern Ireland about the possible impact of Brexit. In the first she interviewed two Irish farmers – one for ‘remain’ and one for ‘out’- who worked near the Western border with Eire close to Londonderry. In the second she moved to the border itself. She …
Refrendum Blog: May 28
THE DOG THAT DIDN’T BARK? A poster published by the pressure group Operation Black Vote (OBV) showing a skinhead thug intimidating a sari-wearing immigrant – and aimed, say OBV, at encouraging ethnic turnout in the EU referendum – has been strongly attacked by the ‘leave side as divisive, negative stereotyping. But the BBC has virtually ignored the controversy over the tactics …
Referendum Blog: May 27
CURRYING EU FAVOUR?: Both Newsnight on Wednesday night and Today on Thursday morning presented what might be called pre-emptive pieces in their EU referendum coverage. ‘ Both carried items about the immigration statistics due to be published during the course of Thursday and expected to show very high levels of new arrivals beyond government targets. They can be described as …
Referendum Blog: May 26
BREAKFAST BIAS: BBC1’s Breakfast programme examined, with glitzy but highly misleading graphics, the UK’s contribution to the EU budget. The peg for the analysis is a claim by Brexit campaigners that membership of the EU cost the UK £350 million a week. Emphatically wrong! said presenter Charlie Stayt. That figure is the headline UK contribution figure but is actually substantially …
Referendum Blog: May 24
NEWSNIGHT BREXIT HELL? When it comes to impartiality, which planet does Newsnight – the BBC’s television news and current affairs flagship programme – inhabit? Over the past six weeks the programme has run six separately-themed referendum specials, a marathon six hours of broadcasting in which it has discussed sovereignty, the impact on the economy, security, immigration, how the EU works, …
Referendum Blog: May 23
FAIR’S FAIR?: With bias, the devil is often in the detail. A sharp-eared listener noticed on his rather congested drive back from London to his home in County Durham that on Radio 4’s PM BBC correspondents were doing some alleged ‘fact-checking’ in response to queries from listeners about aspects of EU operations. One wanted to know about the European Arrest …