Media bias

[Slippersandacuppa]

I'm not naive enough to assume this never happens but I'm sitting here, watching BBC News at 10 and am very surprised at what I've just seen.

Nothing but positive comments about May. On the flip side, nothing but negative about Corbyn. Practically mocking him.

And no mention whatsoever of the Chilcot Report.

I'll admit that I haven't followed UK politics that closely over the years (based overseas) but I'm finding it all fascinating (and flippin' scary) and wondering why I was so convinced the BBC was impartial.

Am I missing something?

[GraceGrape]

I am actually considering starting my first ever petition calling for rules that make our media less biased. I would be very interested to know what proportion of Leave voters, for example, get all of their political information from reading the Daily Mail.

[dragonsarebest]

Yes I agree about the BBC. I'm sure it used to be much more even handed, the new political editor has definite bias.

[familyfarm]

BBC and most other news outlets have always been very biased. Very very sad. People just don't seem to notice or care

[Breadandruses]

Yep imho the BBC (and the Guardian) have been very anti Corbyn (as have the Dacre/Murdoch press - who, let's face it, pull all the political strings and tell us what to think and who to vote for - but that's to be expected)

[AlpacaLypse]

BBC and Channel 4 News are very biased towards Remain. ITV main news fairly neutral. Daily Mail was 150% Out. Sunday Mail OTOH was 100% In. Express was Out, however no-one pays them the blindest bit of attention.

Telegraph was mostly Out. Times mostly In. Sun looked mostly Out to me, from what I saw of headlines.


Anyway... going back, the BBC is a very influential body and is very very Remain - a lot of throwaway remarks from presenters across all platforms have made it very clear what the ethos is.

I still listen to BBC Radio 4 in car, and watch BBC news. But with an even bigger pinch of salt than before.

[bkgirl]

Agree and just read this about May...
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/674489/Home-Secretary-Theresa-May-says-Britain-benefits-Sharia-Law

Really appalled for the women who have to put up with this system which pc lovies approve which discriminates against women.

So Theresa May - NO.

[sorenofthejnaii]

bkgirl

Aah, the Daily Express.

[Capricorn76]

BBC pretty much had Farage on screen everyday. It had gotten so ridiculous before the general election that I almost expected to see him pop up on CeeBeebies. I think they were responsible for raising his profile and getting UKIP so many votes which led us here.

[mollie123]

of course the BBC are biased - ever since the labour luvvies era
I find watching RT or Sky news give a much better overview of the whole of the news not just their take on it.

[iPost]

Bias creeps in where there is a lack of diversity.

And by that I mean the diversity that people care less about. Political & ideological diversity.

No idea about the BBC coverage because we don't get it over here. Take a look at which way the power base in the organisation leans. Humans can be really crap at seeing their own bias. And even when they do they tend think it isn't necessarily a bad thing. So if the upper levels collectively lean strongly in a specific direction, the chances are they will have drifted towards overrepresenting the views that they hold themselves, at least to some degree.

[RainYourRottingMyDhaliaBulbs]

It had gotten so ridiculous before the general election that I almost expected to see him pop up on CeeBeebies

[RainYourRottingMyDhaliaBulbs]

Maybe May was being diplomatic?

[dragonsarebest]

The BBC are definitely not favourably disposed to Labour! Licence renewal and the new DG seem to have them currying favour from the government at every turn. Still more reliable than Sky though for actual facts.

[HumphreyCobblers]

I thought the fact that Farage was all over the BBC was in fact proof of bias towards the Remain campaign.

This may have backfired. I hate Farage but am an out voter and winced everytime he popped up, but I realise this did not happen with many out voters.

[harryhausen]

Hmmm.

The tories complain that the BBC are left leaning and Labour complain that it's biased towards the right. Farage always moaned about the 'leftie' BBC.

I watched a behind scenes programmed about how they go about putting BBC question time together. There's s whole team just to select audiences and they have rules on selection to make sure it's even.

I've seen plenty of commentary about the shitstorms going on at the moment on both sides. However I work from home and pretty much have the radio/politics/news 24 on most of the day. For instance the Daily Politics always has both 'sides' on to represent arguments.

Newspapers are have always been biased one way.

[HumphreyCobblers]

The BBC is an interesting question for me though, I have always thought that we perceive bias when there is perhaps none, it is just we notice that which we disagree with.

But then I have felt strongly that the BBC HAS been totally biased towards the Remain campaign, particularly after the vote. The coverage is all about what a disaster it is going to be

The question time audience on Saturday had about five people clapping the out side and the rest clapping the remain. It was the day after 52% voted to leave, surely they could have found a 50/50 split for the audience?

[HumphreyCobblers]

ha, that is my theory out of the water then!

[harryhausen]

But the media love a disaster though. They always try to 'pump up' whatever worries there are. They want to make the story even hotter.

[harryhausen]

Humphrey, on the programme I saw a Question Time audience have to apply. They are then interviewed by a researcher asking them their political bias. They are selected from their answers and there are strict rules on 50/50 splits. Of course, there's nothing to stop people from lying or just staying quiet when recording starts.

[Joysmum]

Great thread.

I've noticed the bias more as a leave voter.

I subscribe to a number of specialist business and economic media. I also like to read international sources. The differences in coverage have been very interesting.

The BEEB's mainstream and news coverage have been very biased towards leave, whilst the world service radio 4 and other documentary and specialist output has been more balanced.

[dragonsarebest]

This is of course just my perception, but I always felt that the BBC was tripping over itself to be neutral and concentrate on facts. Of course there was a bias, but it seemed that they went to great pains to not let that influence coverage. Recently however I have noticed some of the comments and descriptors, particularly from the new political editor Laura K to be clearly biased to the right and against Corbyn. I agree that they ran very pro-remain coverage (plus Farage) but I suspect that's down to licence renewal.

[sorenofthejnaii]

The Daily Mail seems confused. 1 minute it's saying things are fine and the market panic is over rated and it's having a go at the Remain campaign.

Then it says:

*But with the referendum wounds still raw, the markets jittery, the future uncertain — and Westminster increasingly resembling a madhouse — what the country needs most is a solid and steady hand on the tiller

It's the one who has been doing the stirring.

[dragonsarebest]

Joysmum that's interesting that you felt it biased towards leave as a leave voter, and I saw it more towards remain as a remain voter.

[Kummerspeck]

I agree Humphrey
I am appalled at the way the media have whipped things up since the vote, trying to divide old and young, North and South, rich and poor. A bit of drama is more important to them than the country and the people in it

[harryhausen]

It just goes to show that whatever you voted you feel the news coverage is biased against you. Maybe this must mean it's balanced?

Like I said, how can it be that both Labour and Tories both feel the BBC is biased against them? Surely this means they're somewhat in the middle.