BBC CONTINUES ‘PROJECT FEAR’: How is the BBC going to report Brexit? The early signs are not good. News-watch, via its sister BBC Complaints website, has been inundated with submissions – many more than during the referendum campaign itself – that the Corporation is treating the Brexit vote as an aberration and a disaster. One exasperated viewer of BBC1’s news …
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 …
Referendum Blog: June 15
EASTON BIAS: At what point does a BBC ‘editor’ such as Laura Kuenssberg (Politics) or Mark Easton (‘Home’) cross the line between offering expert opinion and expressing their own political prejudice? Easton certainly strained that line on his report on the impact of views about immigration on referendum voting intentions in an item for BBC1’s News at Ten last night …
Referendum Blog: June 8
MORE BIAS BY OMISSION: The respected Pew Research Centre in the US released today a survey based on more than 10,500 responses in 10 of the main EU countries. At its heart were some very strong findings that suggest that in many vital respects, support for the EU is sharply declining. Britain is far from alone in its concerns about …
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 14
IMMIGRATION BIAS: The fourth Newsnight special about the EU referendum was on May 10 from inside the Boston Stump in Lincolnshire, the town’s affectionate name for its stunning parish church. The programme topic was immigration, and Boston was apparently chosen because it faces what Newsnight reporter Chris Cook claimed were ‘extreme’ pressures through a large influx of EU nationals. Was …
Referendum Blog: May 5
MORE EU PROPAGANDA: Previous News-watch blogs have shown how Nick Robinson’s BBC2 programme Europe: Them and Us presented a false history of the EU in line with the EU’s own self-perpetuated myth that its existence has been an essential ingredient in keeping the peace since the Second World War. Listeners to BBC World Service have this week been heard their …
MARDELL: ANTI-BREXIT BIAS CONTINUES
Analysis of 15 editions of World This Weekend from January 24 – May 1 The programme is presented by the BBC’s former ‘Europe’ editor, Mark Mardell. Under his watch, the programme has worked consistently hard to present the arguments for ‘remain’, given more time to ‘remain’ supporters, and has featured most heavily stories which favour the remain side. It has …
Referendum Blog: April 14
LAW-BREAKING?: The third of World at One’s ‘details of how the European Union’s organised’ by Professor Anand Menon was broadcast on Wednesday, and focused on EU law, which he said was the ‘glue that holds the EU together’. Menon described how in 1964, the EU decided that its laws ‘had to be supreme’ because otherwise there would be chaos caused …
Ofcom appointment ‘threatens fair coverage of EU referendum debate’
Opinion polls at the weekend gave the EU ‘out’ camp the edge. But it has now emerged that supporters of Brexit will be fighting the battle to win hearts and minds as the EU referendum approaches with their arms tied behind their backs. That’s because new developments at the BBC and the independent sector regulatory body Ofcom mean that complaints …