Is the BBC really biased in favour of the left as the right claims?

[GlitteringGrass]

On the Andrew Marr show today there seemed to be quite a lot of discussion about what skeletons Jeremy Corbyn still had waiting in his cupboard. To give them credit they all kept a straight face the whole time.

[Shutthatdoor]

Well the 'left' claims it is biased to the 'right' so maybe they have the correct balance.

[DadOnIce]

Yes, lefties claim a right-wing bias and righties claim a left-wing bias.

I'm enjoying the cognitive dissonance at the moment in the minds of those who agree that our current right-wing government hates the BBC, but also want to argue that the BBC has a right-wing bias. I have a friend who moans every week about the "Question Time" panel being "full of Tories". What he means is that they don't have enough left-of-centre people for his liking.

I also suspect that when people claim the BBC is "biased", what they often mean is that the BBC has given even-handed treatment to someone they see as an extremist and who they'd rather see demonised (whether that be Thatcher or Corbyn or Farage or Benn).

There seems little doubt, though, on current evidence, that this government is not at all fond of the BBC. To the point where they want to dismantle it. Read into that what you will.

[30somethingm]

I am a swing voter and personally believe the BBC gives the right an easy ride and the left a tougher one.

What I will say though, is that the BBC is liberal on social issues.

[claig]

Yes, the BBC has a left wing bias. They couldn't stand Thatcher and the BBC is full of left wing Labour luvvies etc. in senior positions. The Guardian is apparently the paper of choice there and God knows what copies of the Daily Mail are used for by senior metropolitan Labour luvvies.

This was what the former Director General of the BBC said

Mark Thompson: “There was massive left-wing bias at the BBC”

www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/09/lecture-thompson-bbc-interview

But the BBC doesn't like Jeremy Corbyn because he is real left wing and a threat to the Establishment and as for John McDonnell, don't even go there, the Labour luvvies break out in a cold sweat when that name is mentioned. They like Yvette Cooper and the Fabians and that lot, not the unions and the real left.

The BBC is Establishment and the Establishment are modernisers and left wing, but not McDonnell left wing.

The BBC didn't like Thatcher and they don't like Corbyn because they are left wing Establishment, metropolitan elite luvvie, not real left wing.

[WildStallions]

Their coverage of the refugees / migrants certainly seems biased towards the left.

We just had a long thread about it.

[30somethingm]

I don't see immigration as a left/right issue personally. Those who believe in unfettered capitalism in fact tend to want unregulated immigration.

[Isitmebut]

I thought that we recently covered this subject quite well, as claig says, on balance the BBC IS biased to the left.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/politics/2476027-Is-the-BBC-really-biased-in-favour-of-the-left-as-the-right-claims

I suspect that the reason the left thinks that the BBC is biased to the right, is due to their preference of campaigning on policy soundbites, and their numb-nut policies don't stand up to detailed media scrutiny.

They got away with far too much over 13-years 'controlling' the media via the likes of Alastair Campbell and (The Dark Lord) Mandelson - and like other dodgy regimes i.e. Syria and Russia, they'll never get used to being held to account/questioned on either those policies or their record in power (as that was 'back then', you see).

[SilverOldie2]

Is the pope catholic? Yes the BBC is left wing biased.

[30somethingm]

I think it depends on the issue. On economics the BBC is centre right. On immigration, womens rights, gay equality it is left/liberal.

Many of the BBCs political commentators are former Tory student society members, but I think the BBC approaches different issues from different angles.

I write this as a swing voter.

Kay Burley at Sky is an example of a very biased reporter (right wing in her case). Nobody at the BBC - not even Nick Robinson, who I understand is Conservative, is as blatantly biased.

[squidzin]

They are not biased to the left or right.

They are biased to "The centre" which is where big business, financiers, bankers and corporates live.

Look at and coverage. Wealthy white males are put on a pedestal and invited into the studio, given free lunch whatever.

Any interview with a trade unionist or true left or right politician is conducted outside under umbrellas.

www.opendemocracy.net/ourbeeb/dan-hind/corporation-run-by-bankers-not-journalists-who-are-bbc-trust

[squidzin]

They are establishment.

[StitchesBurstinBath]

when a royal family feature is on the news all the reporters make sure they smile more.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Maybe because they are royal family correspondents, it's their specialist subject, therefore of course they smile more, they're happy.

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

I voted Conservative last time; I'd say the BBC is pretty neutral.

[IDontWannaBrag]

I do think the Beeb often follows press stories rather than sets its own news agenda, which would make it lazy right leaning, I guess, as the press is right wing in this country.

[lljkk]

I think BBC is quite biased towards tolerance of extreme views and endorsing individual /civil liberties and anything that isn't actually illegal.

I'll never forget: (Radio 5 Live afternoon programme), Peter Allen was interviewing someone, asking tough questions. The interviewee got short-tempered: "You're only asking that because of your BBC Left-Wing bias!"

At this point Jane Garvey (co-presenter) interjected: "You're a member of the Conservative Party, aren't you, Peter?"

You could just smell PA's smirk as he replied how many yrs he'd been a member.

[OddBoots]

Overall I don't think they are hugely either but I think the BBC shows its cards a little in the way it regularly refers to Jeremy Corbyn as 'left wing' while not calling David Cameron 'right wing' despite them both being about as distant from the centre in their respective directions.

[ALassUnparalleled]

I voted Conservative last time; I'd say the BBC is pretty neutral

I voted Labour last time; I'd say the BBC is pretty neutral.

Sturgeon is still whinging about BBC bias over the referendum. The BBC was not biased then either.