To think that the BBC are showing a clear labour bias?

[blaeberry]

I am basing this mostly on their news webpage. Over the last two weeks Corbyn has been smiling, looking benevolent, or standing at a podium on the BBC news home page nearly every day. Each time the headline has been pretty positive 'labour announce that' type thing. In contrast, May has been almost completely absent and Tory headlines have been negative 'Tories shown to be wrong'. I noticed this a few weeks ago so have been screen shot-ting a couple of times a day for the last two weeks (yes a bit mad I know). I have noticed a similar trend with the Radio 4 headlines though haven't been able to check that one. The question time audience last week was unquestionably partisan.

I did wonder if the Tories had hidden May or just decided not to bother campaigning but even then I thought the BBC were meant to be impartial?

[metspengler]

"You seem to be confusing support for Europe with being left / right."

Nope. In fairness perhaps the word "leftish" looks like "leftist" to some people (and the word "establishment" looks like "").

[KellysZeros]

Lol at thenaze, you have to be pretty far right to call the licence fee communist.

It is pretty illuminating to see the right wingers calling the BBC biased to the left and those on the left accusing the BBC of a pro tory bias. It does show how well it generally does at being impartial

[SenseiWoo]

I don't see any party political bias myself. I do get irritated by the narrow focus of coverage by the BBC and other media outlets.

There is a kind of herd mentality where the mainstream publishers/broadcasters all cover the same topics and people, keener on beating the competition on those few stories than providing wider coverage.

Same guests, same approach, similar super-annuated male presenters and interviewers using the same hackneyed bombastic style.

[nauticant]

May is a control freak who is in a situation of knowing that keeping control is more important than it's ever been before, but despite that feeling she's losing her grip and beginning to panic. It's not what you want in a leader.

[PetalMettle]

GRr MN ate my response.
BBC anti Corbyn but less so during campaign
TM nervous breakdown, won't see out term

[rollonthesummer]

I agree actually-she looks like she is on the verge of a breakdown.

I don't think any part of her or her party are strong and stable, sadly.

[M1nesasweetsh3rry]

Is May having some kind of a breakdown? I've watched a couple if off clips of her this morning. She looks unable to concentrate on what she's being asked, and pays no need to the actual question, but just recites a few well worn phrases.

Her body language has never been good, but she looks like she wants to take flight, and is increasingly getting her words mixed up. anyone else noticed this?

[nauticant]

The complaint by those on the Right that there's bias in favour of Corbyn is actually them knowing that May is running a complete dog of a campaign but not wanting to admit it. In some senses her cack-handed approach reminds me of Gordon Brown.

The reality is that May is rubbish. I'll be astonished if she manages Brexit effectively.

The wheels on the battle bus go round and round and then fall off

[Orlantina]

Conservatives are lead item on BBC today.....

(but it's about being charged over election spending issues)

[Shockers]

I think the Tories had assumed that the election was in the bag because Corbyn was ignored by the BBC, other than poking fun at his dress sense and showing old footage of him attempting to strike up a useful dialogue with those who put national security at risk 'fraternising with terrorists'.

I suspect that they're currently furiously working on a last minute push for voters.

[M1nesasweetsh3rry]

We don't watch BBC news any more. Channel four is better.

[nauticant]

There seems to be an assumption on this thread that because the BBC has a Left wing bias (which it generally does have in an identity sense rather than a strict political sense, coming from its liberal metropolitan core), this means that the BBC are naturally favouring Corbyn.

That makes the same mistakes that led up to Brexit and to the election of Trump. Although Left vs Right has been the strongest current in politics, at the moment pro- and anti-Establishment is a stronger factor. The BBC don't like Corbyn because he's an outsider.

[PumpkinPiloter]

You can not be serious OP? What a load of tosh!

The BBC had shifted massively to the right in recent years. Almost all of our newspapers are owned by billionaires.

Our media is further to the right than I have ever witnessed it being so previously.

[Dawndonnaagain]

Dimbleby states Corbyn treated unfairly by press

[DancingLedge]

I don't think it's fair to blame the BBC for Theresa May having the odd position that she doesn't have to debate and give many interviews. Is she above campaigning?
If she doesn't want to debate, or go on Women's Hour, etc, her choice. It's such an inept choice.

[nauticant]

I'm no fan of Corbyn, I am a fan of the BBC, but if you think the BBC is being biased in favour of Corbyn you need to give your head a wobble.

Corbyn has been extensively covered by the BBC for ages now, pretty much all of it negative.

Initially, May assumed she had the election in the bag so didn't bother to engage much with the media. As the campaign went on naturally it became necessary for there to be more engagement and this resulted in May spending the past few weeks blundering along through self-inflicted mess after self-inflicted mess so that the slogan "Strong and Stable" became an anti-slogan that causes audiences to snigger.

The positive coverage of Corbyn is actually that the media have run out of nasty new things to say about him so it now looks complimentary while in comparison May is actually getting the coverage she deserves as being inflexible, opportunistic, low on ideas, and robotic.

[BertrandRussell]

"Corbyn forgets a number; wall to wall coverage. Hammond gets the cost of HS2 (I think) wrong by £20bn and nada"

And Corbyn's reaction to his own mistake and fierce defence of the duty of the media to scrutinize our representatives didn't get much coverage either.

[Orlantina]

They spent the whole run-up to the Brexit vote shamelessly campaigning against it and in the time afterwards have largely reported like it was an alien invasion.


You seem to be confusing support for Europe with being left / right.

You do know that many people who are Labour supporters voted Brexit. And many Conservatives voted Remain.

[DJBaggySmalls]

I feel like I've gone back in time to the 1980's. I half expect Ben Elton to pop up any minute and do a sketch about Thatcher.

[Lweji]

I though Brexit wasn't a left-right issue.
At least according to many Brexiters.

[annandale]

Not at all, most dm readers will think of themselves as moderate centrists.

[metspengler]

The BBC is extremely pro leftish establishment, their impartiality is an unfunny joke around the country. They spent the whole run-up to the Brexit vote shamelessly campaigning against it and in the time afterwards have largely reported like it was an alien invasion.

The reason their audiences seem so bent is the same reason the predictions were wrong about Brexit - they use polls and polling organizations to influence people's votes and that is mostly what they have become "for".

Luckily Corbyn and MacDonnell do not stand up to scrutiny at all, so they cancel out some of the bias.

[TheMonkeyAndThePlywoodViolin]

And I bet it was on there

[Lweji]

Must have had some ulterior motive.

It did say it was a controversial study. :)

[TheMonkeyAndThePlywoodViolin]

Can imagine the DM commenters