To think the BBC use photos to sway public opinion?

[dinaminion]

(Light-hearted but true). The BBC are meant to be the voice of neutrality, but often their photos are far less neutral than their text. This one of Matt Hancock quite obviously says "What a Prat!": ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63471923.

I've noticed photos of Rishi Sunak so far make him look competent and composed, so I'm guessing he is in a "BBC Honeymoon Period". I'll be interested to see if they get steadily more awkward and dishevelled over the coming months, if his plans for the economy go awry.

Find me a picture of Hancock not looking like a Pratt

The pictures do need to fit with the story though....

All the newspapers do it too. Jeremy Hunt with his head in front of the "O" of the word "country", halos from something in the background around the heads of people they like. Liz Truss being made to look insane when they could have used a much better picture if they liked her. Not sure the BBC should join in, but they clearly do.

Many years ago I used to do tape editing for (among other things) Face the Facts on Radio 4. One of the tactics was to "de-um" (remove hesitations, stutters, ums, ahs, sniffs) the supposed victim as much as possible, while leaving the villain sounding as hesitant and shifty sounding as possible. The chief instigator of this (which even back then was completely at odds with supposed editorial policy) is now right at the top in BBC Radio.

The Biased Broadcasting Company yes they hate Tories as you say honeymoon period with Rishi, It won't last trust me.

To be fair, they chose deliberately bad photos of Corbyn too. Liberal-left bias.

Melliphant that's really interesting. I didn't realise that was something they do/did.

Like this one!

Well both sides think they're biased so they're doing a good job.

Not just the BBC. Every media outlet does the same. The people in good books have happily smiling photos. The people we are meant to hate often have harsh photos.

News reporting covers various requirements - informational, educational, and yes, sometimes entertaining. This is both an entertainment & politics story - the picture in this case matches the participation in the TV show.

I always see this trotted out but those on the left think it's too right wing and those on the right don't think it's right wing enough, hardly balanced if it's perpetually right leaning state broadcaster yet the people who deride RT news don't apply the same statements to it

There was an agenda against Cherie Blair too (not that there was one needed, in my opinion). All the pictures of her in every paper made her look deranged. I swear the publishing media had a competition in who could include the worst picture of her.

No, those on the right think it's too left wing. The BBC found its ideal government in the Blair years - that was the "bottles of champagne in Broadcasting House" election with no attempt made to hide their glee on air. It took the BBC 20+ years to start using the demonic looking pictures of Blair, way after most of the papers started using them.

Pictures of Nigel Farage in the media are always absolute corkers

Seems to me like people find evidence to support their prejudices.
I can't remember any pics from BBC that screamed any kind of bias.

There was one pic of Blair in about 2010 that I found utterly bizarre... in the Telegraph. I still puzzle on that. He looked about 90 in it.

I don't know how anyone can claim the BBC is impartial and keep a straight face. It is more like a woke/liberal-left propaganda unit.

david dimbleby himself said that the bbc projects the world it wants it to be, not the world as it is. It’s impossible to be impartial and a news outlet. Even deciding what is and was is not newsworthy is bias.

That’s not evident on BBC question time!

There are 2 pictures on the BBC website front page at the moment - one of Matt Hancock looking like a cock in his London Marathon gear, one of the NUS president sacked for anti-semitism looking absolutely lovely. I'm sure that they have thousands of better pictures of Matt Hancock they could use, and probably a worse one of the former NUS president, but those are the choices they made. Probably largely unconscious bias - let's face it, who isn't going to choose a picture of Matt Hancock looking like a cock if there's one available?

Are there any photos of Matt Hancock where he DOESN'T look like a cock?

This is common media practice and there's nothing light-hearted about it. I found the pictures of Lucy Letby smiling at babies and looking all very 'your local friendly nurse' very nauseating but thems the rules. It happens all the time - Serena Williams is oft pictured looking furious.

www.thenational.scot/news/18620765.bbc-slammed-portraying-rishi-sunak-superman/

Embarrassing comment of the day!

I can't remember any pics from BBC that screamed any kind of bias.

Well maybe instead relying on your memory, have a look at the BBC pic a PP has put of Corbyn and explain how it's not biased. 🤷‍♀️

The Lucy Letby ones are interesting and disturbing. As the only public domain pictures of her are from social media or local newspaper friendly nurse articles, I guess they're all going to be like that, unless they ask the papers to dig out the photos they rejected for those articles. Celebs and MPs have more bad photos available for use.