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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it grossly unfair that Emily Maitlis won't be on Newsnight tonight and DC and BJ are still in their jobs?

373 replies

theduchessstill · 27/05/2020 21:10

It just sums up this shit country and the state it's in imo.

Watching Johnson stuttering and blustering his way through the select committee this afternoon showing that he doesn't have a grip on the crisis at all and then finding that Maitlis, who is excellent at her job, has been chastised and suspended feels like yet another blow to decency in the UK. It comes after the government refusing to appear on the show for weeks as well - too scared.

How much longer will this shit go on?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
BubblesBuddy · 28/05/2020 09:01

Magazine programmes can make an opening statement that’s an opinion! They do it all the time and then ask guests to discuss it! It happens all the time with Trump related issues. They play Devils Advocate. They put a thought “out there” for debate. That’s why it’s a non issue. She didn’t have to be impartial! She had to introduce a point of view. Stephen Nolan does this all the time. It’s standard journalism.

BubblesBuddy · 28/05/2020 09:03

Far too many people don’t want high class journalism or even see the need for it. If we prefer the Cummings/Johnson lies, then we are on a slippery slope. We need hard hitting journalism to make them squirm and get to the truth.

Original poster
theduchessstill · 28/05/2020 09:16

I loved your list, Idotoo, and here's another, also filched from Twitter, and this one's certainly succinct:

  1. An important man in govt lies
  1. His wife - a journalist - then lies to protect him
  1. Elected representatives - MPs - then lie to protect him
  1. The Prime Minister then lies to protect him
  1. Maitlis reports this
  1. Maitlis removed

Sums it up for me and I'm utterly astounded that people are arguing that he didn't break the rules. This whole thing makes me feel pretty helpless and hopeless about the state of this country, but at least the majority seem to share those feelings, which in itself gives a little bit of hope if that's not a contradiction!

OP posts:
derxa · 28/05/2020 09:17

Emily Maitlis was not impartial.

BubblesBuddy · 28/05/2020 09:17

Apparently Emily just had a day off. Let’s hope that’s true.

BubblesBuddy · 28/05/2020 09:20

Emily didn’t need to be impartial. The BBC thinks there should have been more effort to say the intro was the basis for discussion and comment and it set the scene for the debates and views that followed. What she said has now not been criticised. It’s how a magazine programme works.

Maybe posters could try and understand this!!!

MarshaBradyo · 28/05/2020 09:21

Bubbles I get you. Makes sense.

HannahStern · 28/05/2020 09:23

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Thedogscollar · 28/05/2020 09:35

Her introduction imo was objective and factual so no impartiality required.

The standards and impartiality of the BBC are laughable. This is the same BBC that turned a blind, for decades, to the abhorrent crimes of Jimmy Saville a serial rapist and predatory sexual abuser.

Double standards to suit their own agenda.

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 09:36

FYI, If you mean bots on here, and I am sure you don't, then report anyone you think is a bot to MN hq. Troll hunting is banned.

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 09:41

I think it would have been more interesting if she had also given an opposing view. More appropriate for a debate style programme. As it she was playing to the crowd, which may be what the majority want to hear but makes debate duller IMO.

Thedogscollar · 28/05/2020 09:44

What opposing view would that be then?

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 09:48

That some people don't want DC to resign? And that they don't much care that he went to Durham?

Thedogscollar · 28/05/2020 10:07

Whether or not you want him to resign or not I respectfully suggest you should care very much that he went to Durham.

With the trace and track going live today we are now dependent on the nation to comply with the next set of rules this government have compiled for us.

How likely is it, given that a senior government advisor broke every rule on the book, that this will be successful?

ssd · 28/05/2020 10:08

Most people care that he lied and the cabinet are covering it up. That's the problem.

Most people don't care if he made a mistake or broke lockdown. We're all human.

But it's the government insistence he did no wrong that's setting alarm bells off. We all know he did wrong. He won't admit it as he's a psycopath. But why are the government all cheering for him still?

Anyone would think there must be money behind it all, shady deals at Gsk at Barnard Castle are mentioned.

Something big is being covered up and it's not his driving.

One thing he can spot very clearly is a way to make money.

EstherEliza · 28/05/2020 10:12

She wasn't impartial. It's a BBC requirement. Her personal feelings don't come in to it. Yabu.

MintyMabel · 28/05/2020 10:18

It's exactly like the BBC

Would that be the BBC who apologised for Maitlis allegedly presenting a left wing opinion?

BBC is still angry over Brexit.

Strange way to get back at them, by apologising for a piece allegedly against them.

6. Maitlis removed

Still on this erroneous line, I see. If it wasn’t clear enough with Katie Razzall’s tweet last night perhaps hearing from Maitlis this morning, confirming she removed herself will clear it up for you. BBC did wrong for apologising, but they didn’t remove her.

MintyMabel · 28/05/2020 10:22

Her personal feelings don't come in to it.

No evidence that they did. Did she write the intro? Was it checked before it went on air, did everyone else reading it at that point see that it was a summary of questions to be answered, just as most introductions on this type of show are?

It’s a convenient distraction from the actual issue at hand.

sausagerollsandwine · 28/05/2020 11:11

Absolutely bias to the core. She should not be using her position by giving her own views. She should be reporting facts. And facts it wasn't- it was opinion.
There is a vast contrast between the two.

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 11:13

It should be investigated fully by the police. If he broke the law then he should resign. If not then he stays.

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 11:14

Whether or not you want him to resign or not I respectfully suggest you should care very much that he went to Durham

Why?

HannahStern · 28/05/2020 11:26

Why?

A small matter of life and death - the spread of Covid19 from London to Durham and the possible death of thousands of people.

Idotoo1 · 28/05/2020 12:27

Most people care that he lied and the cabinet are covering it up. That's the problem.

Yes.

ITonyah · 28/05/2020 12:35

A small matter of life and death - the spread of Covid19 from London to Durham and the possible death of thousands of people unbelievably unlikely.

We've had second home owners down every single weekend during lockdown. From London.

Despite me getting really cross about it, there have been absolutely no cases immediately locally and very few in the general area.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 28/05/2020 13:01

Absolutely bias to the core.

Facts are not biased. She said he broke lockdown. Durham Police have apparently now (I've not seen it myself yet) confirmed he did. She said people are angry and think it's "one rule for them, another for the rest of us". That is how people feel.