BBC Bias

Longshot
Longshot Posts: 940
edited October 2019 in The cake stop
Help me out here. I'm confused which way the BBC are biased these days. I'm pretty sure that, not so many years ago, they were widely regarded as a bunch of leftie, tree-hugging peaceniks. At the moment, however, they are righty, Boris-hugging anti-royalists?

What gives?
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Comments

  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    According to John Humphries who worked there for decades, there is not much doubt.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/ ... om-radio-4
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Ballysmate wrote:
    According to John Humphries who worked there for decades, there is not much doubt.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/ ... om-radio-4

    Because obviously Humphries was without bias so I can see how that would annoy him. (Thankfully no longer having to listen to his woeful interviewing on Today).

    Endlessly frustrating how BBC fail to call out liars and give so much air time to the likes of Farage and climate change deniers in the incompetent belief that that is necessary for "balance".
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    So there's a theory I sometimes subscribe to, depending on my mood, that the BBC by it's nature (i.e. a media company) attracts folk who are often fairly liberal, and so there is a sort of over-reaction to the opposite view in order to compensate.

    Its bigger issue is that it cannot pose anything in any other way than a binary argument.

    It also has terrible habits, like inviting pundits over analysts, not interrogating inconsistencies and challenge statements enough and doesn't recognise its own feedback loop, where it reports on things, and then makes the next report up of opinions from people who have formed them by watching the original BBC report, etc etc.

    It also doesn't do that well with the "it's raining outside" test; the Russian shooting down of a passenger plane over Ukraine is a good example. It was clear the Russians did it to anyone, especially people who know about that stuff, and yet, STILL, the BBC will report it with "the Russians deny this and say blah", without any recognition that the Russians are plainly lying.

    None of this means its biased; it just means it is game-able by unscrupulous people on both sides.
  • meursault
    meursault Posts: 1,433
    Was known for it's lefty bias quite a few years ago.

    AFAIK lately, BBC has employed ex Murdoch editors and staff, so have gone the other way. Terrified of Corbyn, awful biased coverage against him.

    The watershed moment for me not watching any TV 'news' was when I saw (can't remember what channel) "and Richard from Norwich has tweeted in..." Sad day for journalism.
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  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    Both the left and the right think it is biased for the other side, so i reckon they probably sit in the middle somewhere.

    However, any organisation is made up of individuals who have their own political leanings. Although they may try to apply the veneer of neutrality, they can't always keep it entirely under-wraps, so will will appear biased one way or the other.

    I think all in all, they do a pretty good job and long my we continue with a national broadcaster that isn't funded through advertisement and is able to produce brilliant programming that otherwise my never get made because it is not commercial enough.
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  • I agree with the idea that both sides think they are biased so must be doing something right but accept this may be to others gaming their policies.

    The days of the BBC being a world leader are long gone. To echo the thoughts of a previous poster my tipping point was hearing the tweeted view of Barry on the M4.

    In this day and age it is nonsensical that every bugger with a TV is made to pay for a licence. If the BBC is so confident of it's output they should make it a subscription service.

    And they should be made to shut down their website as it makes it very hard for UK news sites to charge for their content.

    I have the BBC and their sanctimonious navel gazing (I feel better now)
  • daniel_b
    daniel_b Posts: 11,538
    edited October 2019
    I did have respect for John Humphries, but he's now and gone and sold his book to the Daily Mail.

    Irrespective of bias, to my mind, the quality of reporting on the BBC has plummeted in the last 10-15 years, where as when I was growing up, the BBC News was (Or at least seemed to be) the authority you could trust to present facts.
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  • I do get impression that Laura Kuensberg the BBC political reporter is left wing biased. However, BBC news and reporting is far better than others, eg ITV, CH4/5 etc.

    As for Guardian....hang on we've been here before :D
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    I mean, FWIW, one of my bosses called the FT "that left-wing rag" and not really in jest.
  • mamil314
    mamil314 Posts: 1,103
    I do not know which way the BBC is leaning, but Humphries better be liking it to Kremlin for Daily Mail money, otherwise he is utterly clueless.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    elbowloh wrote:
    Both the left and the right think it is biased for the other side, so i reckon they probably sit in the middle somewhere.

    However, any organisation is made up of individuals who have their own political leanings. Although they may try to apply the veneer of neutrality, they can't always keep it entirely under-wraps, so will will appear biased one way or the other.

    I think all in all, they do a pretty good job and long my we continue with a national broadcaster that isn't funded through advertisement and is able to produce brilliant programming that otherwise my never get made because it is not commercial enough.

    This mostly.

    A subscription service would mean they would either need to compete with the rest (and become more biased & sensationalist for audience) or die.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    I agree with the idea that both sides think they are biased so must be doing something right but accept this may be to others gaming their policies.
    w)

    This statement really annoys me for some of the reasons listed above.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    I do get impression that Laura Kuensberg the BBC political reporter is left wing biased.

    Except for the fact that she's been getting a whole load of stick from the left over her perceived free passes to Boris.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Longshot wrote:
    I do get impression that Laura Kuensberg the BBC political reporter is left wing biased.

    Except for the fact that she's been getting a whole load of stick from the left over her perceived free passes to Boris.

    And that she's been previously heavily criticised by the left for apparent bias against Corbyn..
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    I do get impression that Laura Kuensberg the BBC political reporter is left wing biased.

    Seems to be the opposite of what I've seen? She's also twice been embroiled in anti Corbyn criticism apparently, one resulting in being found to have breached guidelines.

    From what I've heard of her she's not afraid of giving critical analysis but seems to be fairly cutting on both sides, a good thing if you're bored of the BBC using their impartiality stance as an excuse to be boring and lazy. I'd like to see them call out inaccuracies, lies and contradictions a lot more but inevitably that will look biased depending on which side is lying most at the time...

    Having people like Kuenssberg keeps the BBC relevant
  • Easy tigers, as I said it was an impression. An inkling, doesn't mean she really is. She may well be utterly neutral or strongly right wing. Whatevs.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    I agree with the idea that both sides think they are biased so must be doing something right but accept this may be to others gaming their policies.
    w)

    This statement really annoys me for some of the reasons listed above.

    As referenced re fake news the other day - the problem is that if you post a definite untruth and then a truth the public will think that the real truth lies somewhere between.

    Just because both sides think the BBC is biased doesn't mean that they aren't. Another example is Brexiters - they all think that all versions of Brexit (eg Mays) that they don't agree with are soft Brexit or Brino. We know that that is not the truth.
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    Rolf F wrote:
    I agree with the idea that both sides think they are biased so must be doing something right but accept this may be to others gaming their policies.
    w)

    This statement really annoys me for some of the reasons listed above.

    As referenced re fake news the other day - the problem is that if you post a definite untruth and then a truth the public will think that the real truth lies somewhere between.

    Just because both sides think the BBC is biased doesn't mean that they aren't. Another example is Brexiters - they all think that all versions of Brexit (eg Mays) that they don't agree with are soft Brexit or Brino. We know that that is not the truth.

    It's not a one dimensional spectrum of either "biased my way or their way".
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    It's not a one dimensional spectrum of either "biased my way or their way".
    Ah, there's the thing - as you all know well, there's no such thing as "biased my way": I'm not biased at all, I am the very centre of truth in the whirlwind of opinion :wink:
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    Yes as has been said they get complaints of bias from the left and the right - so as a whole they're doing it correctly and being in the middleground. That's not to say that individuals or programmes may not show bias.

    Humphrys sounds like a dick. The BBC didn't gauge the mood of the country. It was split almost exactly 50/50 so wherever you sit you'lll annoy the other half of the country.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    Fenix wrote:
    Yes as has been said they get complaints of bias from the left and the right - so as a whole they're doing it correctly and being in the middleground.


    Argh!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Anything is better than ITV where the guy who presents the 10 O'Clock News adds little opinions and comments to the end of each item, it does my head in. That said the BBC's move towards getting opinions from the 'person in the street' on every subject is tedious, just concentrate on facts and expert opinion. It's inevitable that any news organisation is going to have a slant on things no matter how hard they try to avoid that happening but they are still better than most.
  • Imposter wrote:
    Longshot wrote:
    I do get impression that Laura Kuensberg the BBC political reporter is left wing biased.

    Except for the fact that she's been getting a whole load of stick from the left over her perceived free passes to Boris.

    And that she's been previously heavily criticised by the left for apparent bias against Corbyn..
    I've always thought Laura Kuensberg has always been biased towards herself and self promotion rather than politically biased. Peston is similar.
  • elbowloh
    elbowloh Posts: 7,078
    Pross wrote:
    Anything is better than ITV where the guy who presents the 10 O'Clock News adds little opinions and comments to the end of each item, it does my head in. That said the BBC's move towards getting opinions from the 'person in the street' on every subject is tedious, just concentrate on facts and expert opinion. It's inevitable that any news organisation is going to have a slant on things no matter how hard they try to avoid that happening but they are still better than most.
    Not just the BBC, but most channels and newspapers.

    I don't give two fecks what someone on Twitter thinks about a subject.

    Twitter is given undue attention because those in the media where always big users of it, even though only a tiny proportion of the population are on it.
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  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    elbowloh wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Anything is better than ITV where the guy who presents the 10 O'Clock News adds little opinions and comments to the end of each item, it does my head in. That said the BBC's move towards getting opinions from the 'person in the street' on every subject is tedious, just concentrate on facts and expert opinion. It's inevitable that any news organisation is going to have a slant on things no matter how hard they try to avoid that happening but they are still better than most.
    Not just the BBC, but most channels and newspapers.

    I don't give two fecks what someone on Twitter thinks about a subject.

    Twitter is given undue attention because those in the media where always big users of it, even though only a tiny proportion of the population are on it.

    To be fair, we wouldn't be in the Brexit mess if we'd concentrated on facts and expert opinion. That time is passed and seemingly no longer relevant. Rule by Idiot is the way to go.
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  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    Easy tigers, as I said it was an impression. An inkling, doesn't mean she really is. She may well be utterly neutral or strongly right wing. Whatevs.

    Sorry, I didn't see the other comments about her before I posted as someone rudely interrupted me by calling my office number in between writing and pressing submit
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,432
    Rolf F wrote:
    elbowloh wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Anything is better than ITV where the guy who presents the 10 O'Clock News adds little opinions and comments to the end of each item, it does my head in. That said the BBC's move towards getting opinions from the 'person in the street' on every subject is tedious, just concentrate on facts and expert opinion. It's inevitable that any news organisation is going to have a slant on things no matter how hard they try to avoid that happening but they are still better than most.
    Not just the BBC, but most channels and newspapers.

    I don't give two fecks what someone on Twitter thinks about a subject.

    Twitter is given undue attention because those in the media where always big users of it, even though only a tiny proportion of the population are on it.

    To be fair, we wouldn't be in the Brexit mess if we'd concentrated on facts and expert opinion. That time is passed and seemingly no longer relevant. Rule by Idiot is the way to go.
    all of the above

    bbc news needs to clean itself up, in particular:
    - being 'unbiased' is not the same as giving liars/bigots/any other scum a platform, doing so creates a moral equivalence, good reporting should attack such people without mercy, and crush them in court if they try suing for libel
    - live footage of the latest rain/snow/mud/hail/dress/whatever is not news, it's cheap schedule stuffing
    - kill the vox pops, the opinions of the ill-informed/bigoted are at best nonsense and at worst damaging to society
    - ditto news article website comment sections
    - it mixes 'news' with plugs for its non-news content, i really don't care about strictly come baking while dancing in downton with meerkats or whatever other dross they are plugging
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  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    sungod wrote:
    Rolf F wrote:
    elbowloh wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Anything is better than ITV where the guy who presents the 10 O'Clock News adds little opinions and comments to the end of each item, it does my head in. That said the BBC's move towards getting opinions from the 'person in the street' on every subject is tedious, just concentrate on facts and expert opinion. It's inevitable that any news organisation is going to have a slant on things no matter how hard they try to avoid that happening but they are still better than most.
    Not just the BBC, but most channels and newspapers.

    I don't give two fecks what someone on Twitter thinks about a subject.

    Twitter is given undue attention because those in the media where always big users of it, even though only a tiny proportion of the population are on it.

    To be fair, we wouldn't be in the Brexit mess if we'd concentrated on facts and expert opinion. That time is passed and seemingly no longer relevant. Rule by Idiot is the way to go.
    all of the above

    bbc news needs to clean itself up, in particular:
    - being 'unbiased' is not the same as giving liars/bigots/any other scum a platform, doing so creates a moral equivalence, good reporting should attack such people without mercy, and crush them in court if they try suing for libel
    - live footage of the latest rain/snow/mud/hail/dress/whatever is not news, it's cheap schedule stuffing
    - kill the vox pops, the opinions of the ill-informed/bigoted are at best nonsense and at worst damaging to society
    - ditto news article website comment sections
    - it mixes 'news' with plugs for its non-news content, i really don't care about strictly come baking while dancing in downton with meerkats or whatever other dross they are plugging

    I would suggest that barring people' whose views you don't share, however odious you find them is showing...er...bias.
    That is fine if you a Fox News or CNN looking for a target audience, but not so good if you are a public funded national broadcaster. Pravda
    Besides, how can people's odious views be shown for what they are if their views are not to be reported?
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,241
    Ballysmate wrote:

    I would suggest that barring people' whose views you don't share, however odious you find them is showing...er...bias.
    That is fine if you a Fox News or CNN looking for a target audience, but not so good if you are a public funded national broadcaster. Pravda
    Besides, how can people's odious views be shown for what they are if their views are not to be reported?

    News shouldn't need pundits.
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    Ballysmate wrote:

    I would suggest that barring people' whose views you don't share, however odious you find them is showing...er...bias.
    That is fine if you a Fox News or CNN looking for a target audience, but not so good if you are a public funded national broadcaster. Pravda
    Besides, how can people's odious views be shown for what they are if their views are not to be reported?

    News shouldn't need pundits.

    Didn't say it did did I?
    If politicians or public figures make speeches espousing their views, it is surely in the public interest that they are reported. Equally, if they are being interviewed regarding their views, they should be rigorously questioned. But Sungod goes further and says that people should be attacked without mercy which, again, shows premeditated bias on behalf of the news outlet.
    People should be free to form their own opinions of what was said.