Chris Mason BBC News

[JustGiveMeReason]

Why is Chris Mason allowed a nightly platform to try to bring down the Government ?

He clearly has his own agenda.

I am not a member of any political party. Over the decades I've always voted, and made judgements on issues important to me at the time and voted for the 'best candidate at the time', which have been from different parties at different stages of my life.

But news reporters used to do just that - report the news. Not try to create situations.

Agree that they just love the drama, regardless of which party it is. They hounded Boris Johnson out of office. Death by a thousand cuts. It’s the same now.

They want the story. I don’t think they care which party. They treat politics as if it’s a sport. Shameful really, but I am pleased Mandleson has been exposed, so…

So much sensationalism these days.

’How bad is this for the government/Starmer/Farage/the Tories /Your Mum, Chris?’

’Its BAD!’

Too much comment and opinion.

Did you mind when they were doing the same with the Tories and Boris's cake, I suppose not.

Boris Johnson hounded himself out of office

On all of these things, if Politicians don't screw up, then people like Mason etc haven't got anything to stir up.

Regularly changing policy and appointing Mandelson are mistakes, which the media will pounce on, just as they did with that idiot Bojo.

I want Starmer to stay, we need some stability, after 5 PM's in just 8 years under the conservatives, people calling for KS to go, had better be prepared to pay for it in higher inflation and higher interest rates.

We expect miracles from Govt's, it takes years to run down a country, takes a lot longer to repair the damage.

Can't stand the guy. He thinks he makes the news when he should just be reporting it. He's a jumped up so and so with a misguided sense of his own importance.
My family think I'm unnecessarily harsh but he's been annoying me for months.

Me too, he seems utterly impartial to me. (I also strongly suspect he didn't want the job, seemed to take them ages to twist his arm to take it.)

Mind you, I thought LK was impartial to, she was always "On the one hand this on the other hand that" and both sides got stroppy about the 50% that didn't suit them.

(Mind you, I only listen on their podcasts which might be a little more detailed than their output on the news.)

The big revelation yesterday was that Streeting has privately been telling Mandelson that Labour have shown in office that they are "unfit for government".

And Mason just brushed past it saying something about the texts are damning and reveal he's saying something privately and uncomplimentary that he doesn't say publicly. Very poor! Just show the texts and let the viewers decide.

The revelation is you are totally wrong!

[26/07/2025, 13:55:32] Lord Mandelson: If those events unfolded it would certainly convince the public that we are unfit for government.

He and Streeting were discussing Welfare reform.

Starmer should sack Streeting, he has done very little to improve the NHS, is disloyal & an idiot for using Whatsapp and thinking these messages would magically delete themselves....

Yep although he won’t have many left if he sacks people over WhatsApp and other messages. Streeting just released his earlier, all of Mandelson’s comms are due to be released.

btw they are being reported it was about no growth strategy and not just a comms issue.

It's being reported as well that Mandelson gave his blessing for Streeting to publish the texts - that's why they are only partially released and don't show him in a bad light.

What a clown show. There's no way Streeting can be PM now

I see. I think the legal obligation to release all the comms will kick in for everything, without too much redacted. Hopefully anyway.

Politicians are idiots, with zero idea how SM and messaging apps work.

But at least we know what was said, unlike a certain previous PM who claimed he had changed phones and "lost" his Whatsapp history......

Its 'opinion' rather than 'analysis' and this seems to exist across all the channels. Mason and Kuenssberg love to increase the emotive language..the government is 'in peril' on a 'kinfe-edge'.These people seem to want to be personalities - driving traction for their podcasts, TV programmes. I think one of the more disturbing trends is the BBC providing a platform for Reform - Mason forever telling viewers that they are the serious opposition. Also ignoring Farages tax dodges whiles hanging Angela Raynor out to dry.

People on the left accuse the BBC of right wing bias, and people on the right accuse it of left wing bias. So overall, I think they probably strike a balance.

They see their role as being to hold politicians to account, so that can make them come across as a bit aggressive or unduly critical at times.

I think the real issue is not really the partisan nature of the coverage, but rather their love of drama and their desire to see a big story. With Starmer right now, they smell blood, and so they're going after it. Beth Rigby on Sky News is exactly the same.

I worked in the same industry.

I said 'most'.

'Trained broadcast Journalist'. You can still be a journalist and train on the job for TV if a face fits and the skills are there. There are many ways to become a journalist, through NCTJ, through university and learning on the job. People 'reading the news' will nearly all have a background in journalism and be considered journalists. Even with the rare 'face fits' candidate, they will become journalists.

News readers often do interviews, they need to know the background of all the stories they are covering, they need to be up to date and on the nose as a journalist to do their job. They don't all just sit there pretty reading from an autocue.

If I was him, with a huge majority, I wouldn't be going anywhere!

The world economy is in trouble and there are lots of structural problems (not least the fact that a small group of men now own a huge amount of wealth). Anyone in power is going to be pretty unpopular.

They all have to feed their various podcasts and you tube channels. The media in general behave worse than the politicians. They bemoan the chaos / instability of government but they are the ones that cause it.

I generally agree with you, but I think Mason and Kuenssberg are problematic. Mason went after Starmer right from the very start with the story about Sue Gray’s salary. He the wrote a very self serving piece defending his reasons for doing so, whilst not actually defending it at all. I used to like Mason. His presenting style and analysis is usually spot on. But he does seem to have fallen into the same negative Labour spiral as the right wing media. He is definitely not being balanced.

And I hate the media hypocrisy over mandelson. He was all over the airwaves. I use to enjoy a Times radio podcast starring him! He was not disgraced in media circles at all and that is probably partly why Starmer appointed him US ambassador in first place. The media loved him! When he was appointed all I heard was he was a great appointment and was doing a great job.

Tbf the FT did pick up on the Epstein connection before the appointment and Starmer dismissed it.

It's not like Starmer knew everything and gave him the job anyway, you need to keep this fair and balanced but I would argue it was his job to find out. Mandelson shouldn't have got the job in the first place from his own track record of scandal. Yes, a charmer in the job apparently but often shitty people are.

Labour promise cleaner politics and no cronyism after all.

Yes there’s that quote by Mandelson in the FT, something like “this is an FT obsession and you can fuck off”. I bet they are feeling vindicated now.

I agree with many of the posts here, about political editors being gossip columnists, them loving the drama and having to fill the endless podcasts.

Henry Zeffman joined the BBC after Liz Truss's downfall.

I also think there is an undercurrent of a political podcast-off. Rest is politics ( Campbell seems pro Starmer) v newsagents v times radio on and on and on. They are trying to create the political weather and a get a scalp and hence power in the media landscape and relevance. I think they all hate each other and it’s a game to many of them