Conservative Party to intensify monitoring of BBC for party political bias By GERRI PEEV, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT | The BBC will be more closely monitored by the Conservative Party’s high command to check for signs of political bias, ahead of the party conference season. Tory fury at what they call the liberal, left-wing leaning of the state broadcaster was laid bare after Iain Duncan Smith accused the BBC’s economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, of ‘peeing all over British business’. The Work and Pensions Secretary lashed out over the BBC’s ‘carping and moaning’, singling out Miss Flanders over a report questioning the recession- defying rise in the number of jobs. Reporting row: Iain Duncan Smith accused Stephanie Flanders of 'peeing all over British industry' with her coverage of employment figures A senior Conservative source said last night: ‘Conservative campaign headquarters will be monitoring the output from the BBC even more carefully ahead of the party conference season.’ The row erupted after Miss Flanders reported: ‘Britain’s jobs numbers are a puzzle which keeps getting harder to solve. Of course it’s good news...but it is not necessarily good news for us or the Chancellor if we are needing more people as a country to make less stuff.’ She added that ‘hidden unemployment’ could be ‘lurking behind the statistics’ before going on to question Jacqui Connell, a nurse made redundant last year before becoming self-employed. Miss Flanders put it to her she was a hidden figure in unemployment statistics, to which she replied: ‘I do think I’m a hidden figure.’ Mr Duncan Smith said the BBC had ‘popped those words into her mouth’. He added: ‘When the news is good, the BBC view is “get the Government out of the picture quickly, don’t allow them to say anything about it”. When the news is bad, it’s “let’s all dump on the Government”.’ Attack: Iain Duncan Smith said the BBC had a view of 'let's all dump on the Government' when there was bad news The BBC had tried to dig out ‘every little bit of bad news on jobs’, Mr Duncan Smith said. He went on: ‘Last month, there was a marginal rise in youth unemployment so they centred on that. ‘This time it came down so they cast doubt on the figures. [Flanders] said it could be industry is so bad they have to take on two people where one person could do the job. ‘She was peeing all over British industry and the private sector. It was terrible. Our private industry is unbelievably robust compared to much of Europe.’ Tory MP Stewart Jackson said: ‘There is an undeniable liberal bias at the BBC as acknowledged by former director general Mark Thompson. The broadcaster must understand the people are entitled to fair and balanced coverage.’ Last week it was revealed the BBC bought more copies of the left-leaning Guardian for its staff than any other newspaper. A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC has no concerns about Stephanie’s commitment to impartiality.’ He added that if the Conservative Party wanted to monitor output, ‘we welcome their attention and would be happy to receive their input as we would with all parties’.
"The BBC will be more closely monitored by the Conservative Party’s high command to check for signs of political bias, ahead of the party conference season. Tory fury at what they call the liberal, left-wing leaning of the state broadcaster was laid bare after Iain Duncan Smith accused the BBC’s economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, of ‘peeing all over British business’." -Daily MailTories to closely monitor BBC for left wing bias ahead of party conference season
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2190766/Tories-closely-monitor-BBC-left-wing-bias-ahead-party-conference-season.html#ixzz246s5gcr7
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Conservative Party to intensify monitoring of BBC for party political bias
"The BBC will be more closely monitored by the Conservative Party’s high command to check for signs of political bias, ahead of the party conference season. Tory fury at what they call the liberal, left-wing leaning of the state broadcaster was laid bare after Iain Duncan Smith accused the BBC’s economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, of ‘peeing all over British business’." -Daily Mail
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