Britannia Radio

BIASED BBC

Do I ever think of Giving Up in Despair?

And Other Questions

A number of people have posted here in recent weeks wondering why I put up with the low level of some comments, their utter missing of the point, their personal spite, their claims (from a state of ignorance) that I have never examined topics which I have examined, or that I have said things that I haven't said.

Do I ever, as I contemplate this dismal swamp of incomprehension and malice, think of packing in the whole blog? Well, yes I do, about five times a day. But the response to my BBC posting has brought me pretty close actually to doing so. After years of debating the question of BBC bias, I finally obtain a documented and recorded instance of this indisputably happening. I provide links, transcripts and careful analysis. And what do I get? Thought? Reason? Acknowledgement by those who have hitherto denied BBC bias that I may be on to something? Considered criticism of my point? Articulate defence of the BBC?

Or might there be intelligent comment on my research into what actually happens in this country when a person is caught in possession of Cannabis, under the alleged 'War on Drugs'?

Well, not entirely.

A number of people posted as if I had written this contribution in search of sympathy or to complain about my lot. I said no such thing, and I desire no such thing. I have had redress (as I state) which is what I thought I was owed in natural justice. I am of course interested in the rules which govern who is invited on to the BBC about what and when. I tend to think that, compared with a left-wing equivalent (my friend Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has an almost exactly parallel career trajectory, and frequently presents Radio 4 programmes, and good for him) or even a female 'right-wing' equivalent (my Associated Newspapers colleague and (sometimes) ally Melanie Phillips is on the regular panel of the 'Moral Maze' and good for her) I get measurably fewer broadcasting chances than I might reasonably expect. I won't here trouble readers with episodes known in detail only to me and certain BBC executives, which in my view offer solid proof of a bias against me that is not personal, but political. But I will state that they happened.

But when I wrote: ‘I don't actually mind having to conduct these fights, because I am used to them’, that is precisely what I meant. Likewise, when I wrote: ‘I don't at all object to Mr Webb's adversarial treatment of me. He should do it to everyone’, that too is exactly what I meant. How is this read (except in a mind blurred and fogged by malice and wilful misunderstanding) as self-pity or a plea for sympathy? It is the *wider significance* of these events that is important, not my individual feelings.

Nor do I agree with some posters that it is futile to analyse this and complain about it where the inequity is measurable and undoubted - as was so in this case. Perfection's not available. But improvements are sometimes possible - and the BBC, under a long bombardment of criticism that it slants to the Left, is slowly beginning to acknowledge that this is true. Eventually, this may have a practical effect, especially if the argument is pursued (as I have sought to do here) with carefully-assembled evidence and reasoned argument. I am told that Mark Thompson, the present DG, is deeply unpopular among BBC establishment people for his recent admission that the Corporation was biased to the left in the 1980s. They realise that this cat can never now be stuffed back in the bag.

Some contributors here don't seem to know (though the information is readily available on the web) that I did some years ago present a programme on the then Talk Radio, during which I sought to demonstrate in practice my theory that adversarial presenters were the best route to impartiality. I should like to do so again, but if readers here believe that all I need to do is to approach the present management of 'TalkSport' with such a suggestion, for it to be granted, they reveal a deep lack of understanding of how such things take place.

The arrangement (in this programme) worked pretty well with Derek Draper because he was *morally and culturally* on the left, the true divide. On good days it was a very effective programme. But it was not a success with other partners, Paul Routledge and Austin Mitchell, because in fact they shared some of my conservative positions on non-party issues. It is all very well saying that my suggestion of adversarial presenters on the BBC is foredoomed. Maybe it is, but it remains a workable and sensible idea, and if the BBC fails to implement it, then it demonstrates the nature of its problem. What alternative do these critics suggest? A British Fox?

To those who wrote as if I was in some way objecting to people being rude about me, and as if the matter was about my hurt pride. a few notes.

Anyone is free to be rude about me on this blog, a freedom many take advantage of. Their contributions are almost invariably posted, where coherent. In fact, the moderators used to come to me to ask about such things, as they are well-brought-up people with good manners who personally felt that such rudeness shouldn't be tolerated. But I insisted that it should be. Lies, as some contributors have found, will not be tolerated. That is a separate issue. But plenty of ad hominem stuff is.

And, as I frequently have cause to say, I have in my life been insulted by experts. When I stood out against the Left among the industrial reporters in the late seventies and early 1980s, I was personally vilified in many unpleasant and lasting ways. When I angered the Left in the 1992 election, and when I did it again over Cherie Blair's attempt to stand for Parliament, various journalists of the Left came after me in uncomplimentary and personalised ways. My books have been reviewed in vituperative and abusive ways (one of these so bad that the author later apologised for it) often by people who have not troubled to read them. And so on.

I don't pretend to enjoy this. But I accept it as a necessary and inevitable part of what I do. As Enoch Powell remarked, a politician complaining about the press is like a sailor complaining about the sea. A columnist complaining that people are rude about him is in the same fix. I doubt if many of those who accuse me of having a 'thin skin' could endure a week of what I have put up with for years. Few who make this sort of accusation have any idea of what they are talking about. What I object to is not the rudeness, but the dim incomprehension.

Should I smile more? There are extant photographs of me smiling. Anyone who has seen them will understand why I try not to do it anywhere near a camera.

Bored beyond measure by accusations of 'humourlessness', I once sat down to measure the laughter I won from audiences on 'Question Time' and 'Any Questions' (see particularly one broadcast from East Dorset in the late summer of 2009). I found it usually outdistanced that given to the other panellists. Sad, I know, but it seemed strange to me that the reputation could coexist with the facts until I understood that some reputations are so powerful that proof of their inaccuracy will simply be ignored.

I am officially humourless. Thus a person who laughs at one of my jokes is quite capable of saying, five minutes later, that I am humourless. This is yet another illustration of the problem that when people's opinions are challenged by reality, they don't change their minds. They shut down their perceptions.

Maynard Keynes famously said: ‘When the facts change I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’

He knew that the answer, in most cases, was that person involved would ignore, deny or suppress the facts.

The purpose of the long analysis, the quotations, the transcripts, the links to broadcasts and to learned research on (for instance) the dangers of cannabis to mental health, was to explore the issue of BBC bias, whose existence is in my view proven absolutely by this episode, in a way never achieved before. It was also to make readers think. In this, alas, I have plainly failed with a number of contributors here. But is the failing in me? Or in them?

Results for 'BBC BIAS'

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TV&Showbiz

Article

BBC accused of wasting licence fee in battle to suppress 'Mid-East' bias report" BBC-accused-wasting-licence-fee-battle-suppress-Mid-East-bias-report BBC accused of wasting licence fee in battle to suppress 'Mid-East' bias report

25/01/2008 20:51:12

The BBC has spent an estimated £250,000 in licence-fee cash on a court battle to block publication of a report into its alleged bias when covering the Middle East

• Comments (3)

News

Article

BBC to probe its 'bias to the Left BBC to probe its 'bias to the Left'

18/11/2007 21:02:06

The BBC is to review the impartiality of its network news coverage across the UK. The BBC Trust commissioned the probe amid complaints of bias

• Comments (29)

TV&Showbiz

Article

BBC drama of inciting anti-Christian bias Christian groups accuse BBC drama of inciting anti-Christian bias

01/11/2006 12:45:00

The BBC are facing accusations of anti-Christian bias after a BBC drama portrayed evangelical extremists murdering Muslims. One Christian group said the BBC1 Spooks programme could be an 'incitement to hatred' against them

• Comments (28)

News

Article

BBC bias probe

Demand for BBC bias probe

01/01/2004 00:20:09

An inquiry into BBC bias has been demanded by a senior backbench Labour MP.

• Comments (0)

News

Article

BBC's anti-Israel bias will stay secret"

Report on BBC's anti-Israel bias will stay secret

27/04/2007 17:55:50

The BBC has won its legal battle to block the publication of a report into alleged bias in its reporting of Middle East affairs. A ruling obtained under freedom of information legislation had obliged the corporation to make the internal audit public

• Comments (1)

News

Article

BBC accused of anti-Israeli bias" >BBC accused of anti-Israeli bias

17/08/2006 16:10:43

The BBC has been accused of anti-Israeli bias after it was claimed one of its reporters wrongly claimed a Lebanese town had been wiped out

• Comments (8)

Debate

Article

bias. No wonder we've lost faith in the BBC" /Faked-footage-rigged-votes-culture-bias-No-wonder-weve-lost-faith-BBC.Faked footage, rigged votes and a culture of bias. No wonder we've lost faith in the BBC

By MELANIE PHILLIPS All By This Author - 07/10/2007 22:48:55

The BBC scandal known as 'Crowngate' has claimed its first scalp. The controller of BBC1, Peter Fincham, has effectively been sacked after a report by former BBC executive Will Wyatt revealed the incompetence and worse that led the BBC to broadcast faked footage purporting to show the Queen storming out of a photo-shoot when in fact she was arriving at it

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News

Article

BBC accused of institutional 'trendy left-wing bias'

18/06/2007 18:42:32

The BBC is criticised for its liberal leanings in an official report published today, leading to claims that the corporation is 'institutionally biased' and panders to politically-motivated celebrities like Bob Geldof

• Comments (25)

News

Article

BBC pays £200,000 to 'cover up report on anti-Israel bias'" BBC pays £200,000 to 'cover up report on anti-Israel bias'

22/03/2007 21:24:12

The BBC has been accused of 'shameful hypocrisy' over its decision to spend £200,000 blocking a freedom of information request about its reporting in the Middle East. The corporation, which has itself made extensive use of FOI requests in its journalism, is refusing to release papers about an internal inquiry

• Comments (19)

Debate

Article

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Gaza, bias and the BBC

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT All By This Author - 26/01/2009 00:24:53

Once again, the BBC finds itself in a mess of its own making, angering 11,000 viewers, the Government, MPs and the Church by refusing to broadcast a charity aid appeal for Gaza.

• Comments (13)

News

Article

BBC spends £200,000 of licence fees on legal fight to suppress report on anti-Israeli 'bias'

By PAUL REVOIR All By This Author - 12/02/2009 00:35:56

A campaigner trying to force the BBC to publish an internal report on alleged bias in its Middle East coverage won the latest round of a legal battle yesterday.

• Comments (3)

News

Article

BBC of bias against Catholic church" Church leader accuses BBC of bias against Catholic church

By STEVE DOUGHTY All By This Author - 03/10/2006 09:47:19

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Catholic leader for England and Wales, has spoken out against Sunday's Panorama documentary. He has described the programme as 'malicious and untrue'

• Comments (21)

Debate

Article

MAIL COMMENT: Bias at the BBC as broadcaster adds assisted suicide to portfolio of pet causes

By MAIL COMMENT All By This Author - 22/02/2010 23:00:51

The corporation has thrown its huge, licence-payer-funded weight behind one side of the dispute, giving inordinate publicity to Ray Gosling, pictured, and the case of legalisation.

• Comments (6)

News

Article

BBC probes bias in its coverage of science and the environment

By PAUL REVOIR All By This Author - 07/01/2010 08:17:45

The BBC Trust acted after a string of complaints that the corporation is acting as a cheerleader for the theory that climate change is a man-made phenomenon.

• Comments (102)

TV&Showbiz

Article

BBC's news 'bias'" Embarrassing World Service survey shows public concern over BBC's news 'bias'

11/12/2007 00:05:28

Fewer than a third of Britons believe the BBC performs well when it comes to accurate news reporting, a survey has revealed. Only 29 per cent of Britons said they rated publicly-funded news, meaning the BBC, positively

• Comments (64)

News

Article

BBC investigates 'anti-Muslim bias' - on its own Asian network

By JAMES TAPPER, MAIL ON SUNDAY SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER All By This Author - 19/07/2008 22:59:58

The BBC has launched an investigation after complaints from staff of anti-Muslim discrimination by a ‘mafia of executives’ at the Corporation’s own Asian radio station.

• Comments (5)

Debate

Article

JAMES SLACK: Scaremongering, distortion and why the anti-cuts BBC is laying itself open to charges of bias

By JAMES SLACK, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR All By This Author - 06/11/2010 13:57:42

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith made a plea last week that the ‘hysteria and scaremongering’ which had dominated the debate around the Coalition’s £81 billion spending cuts should stop.

• Comments (63)

News

Article

bias?"Will 'Tory' Robinson be bogged down by claims of bias?

13/07/2005 11:25:25

The BBC's appointment of Nick Robinson as its new political editor has once again brought the Corporation's impartiality into question. Will Robinson, a former Young Conservative chairman, be subject to the same accusations of bias that have afflicted his BBC predecessors? Mail online's Eleanor Glover investigates

• Comments (0)

News

Article

Bias Corporation"

08/09/2005 08:32:32

for BBC chairman Michael Grade: if he's so anxious to protect impartiality, as he claimed when he cravenly stitched up John Humphrys to appease the Corporation's paymasters in New Labour, why doesn't he insist on an inquiry into the outrageous political bias that consumes his organisation?

• Comments (0)

News

Article

BBC Trust to review science coverage amid claims of biasover climate change, MMR vaccine and GM foods

By PAUL REVOIR All By This Author - 06/01/2010 17:34:45

The BBC Trust today announced it would carry out the probe into the 'accuracy and impartiality' of its output in this increasingly controversial area.

• Comments (89)

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