BBC bias

[BolshieBastard]

I know that most of the people in the media are Guardian reading lefties and that doesn't bother me. Despite what some people claim goes on, I have never been aware of any bias permeating through into the delivery of factual news programmes.

I know that many of the comedians that I enjoy listening to on the radio are left-wing but I have never felt that they have been intruding into my political views.

Having said that, I have noticed a couple of items on the BBC website over the past week or so that do not help the case for Labour at all.

Business groups back Tory National Insurance plans
Brown admits 'misusing' immigration statistics

I can't remember seeing stories with that sort of negative tone towards the government on the BBC website before so maybe there has been an implicit bias that is undergoing a change at the moment.

So

• is my deluded brain just making things up and showing me things that aren't really there?
• or the BBC really thinks the tories will win the election and have decided to start being less hostile for the sake of its own survival?
• or the BBC has always been anti Labour/Conservative* and will never change

What are the panel's views?



*delete according to your own particular prejudice

****'s sake, people who whinge about bias in the media do my head in. Are you incapable of forming your own opinions on what information is presented to you? Or do you have to be spoonfed everything that only agrees with your outlook.

Man up, wuss!

[NotAllThere]

Generally, the BBC is anti-government, with a bias toward the left.

[Addanc]

****'s sake, people who whinge about bias in the media do my head in. Are you incapable of forming your own opinions on what information is presented to you? Or do you have to be spoonfed everything that only agrees with your outlook.

Man up, wuss!

Unfortunately there are a lot of plant pots like you who will accept any old tulip as being the truth; therefore allowing their votes to be easily influenced.

[Platypus]

Although I find it strange that BBC presenters, who are highly paid middle-class folk, would be Labour supporters in general in the first place.

It's their moral conscience. And anyway, many (all?) are freelancers who have the opportunity to arrange their affairs in a tax-efficient manner. I doubt many will be paying the 50% tax rate although they earn > £150k.

Funny how people can blather on about "fairness" while not paying their "fair share"

[hyperD]

For anyone who has worked at the BBC or other media establishments, you will know that the sector is packed with young, progressive liberal types whose political affinities lie with the left; ergo there is a natural and not always necessarily a deliberate bias of selective reporting in news stories and interviews favouring liberal or socialist parties over the right.

Subtle changes in BBC headlines like “Tory MP In Expenses Fraud” versus “Government Minister Suspected In Expenses Claim Issue” where the naming of the Tory MP is always associated with the negativity of the message while the second one does not, particularly if it is a Labour minister.

Some of the BBC interviewing shows patterns of bias too, comparing the constant and aggressive interrupting of Tory ministers versus other liberal parties that are often given an open platform to share their message. This has caused some people to actually measure and report this statistic.

Biased BBC website here often highlights areas of bias reporting, some posts are more tenuous than others of course.

With 25 years of working at the BBC as a journalist, former employee Robin Aitken wrote a very enlightening book of his experiences within.

My view is similar to Nick Fitz's in that I form my own view and opinions from many different sources, even international. I also don’t have a TV licence anymore and very rarely watch programmes and certainly not live broadcast.

However, there is no denying the fact that if you tend to get your news from one source only, your opinions will be based upon the selectivity of content and opinion of that one source.

[Doggy Styles]

For anyone who has worked at the BBC or other media establishments, you will know that the sector is packed with young, progressive liberal types whose political affinities lie with the left...

Indeed.

The idealistic young are more lefty than right. Most BBC employees are public service workers, so it is natural for them to retain their natural lefty tendency.

My father worked in TV. He changed from reading the Daily Mirror to the Telegraph as he got older. The roots for that were having to go on a strike he didn't agree with in the seventies.

[TykeMerc]

****'s sake, people who whinge about bias in the media do my head in. Are you incapable of forming your own opinions on what information is presented to you? Or do you have to be spoonfed everything that only agrees with your outlook.

Man up, wuss!

If the media you obtain information from presents a skewed view then opinions tend to be skewed.

It's no mystery that all media organisations have a certain amount of bias and I happen to agree that the BBC which used to at least be subtle with its bias and tried to present an even handed view seems to have lost that. The most blatant example recently is that the BBC seems to be firmly committed to the AGW camp and has been for some time.

[Sysman]

The most blatant example recently is that the BBC seems to be firmly committed to the AGW camp and has been for some time.

I'll agree with that. I noticed two or three years ago that they were introducing AGW stuff into stories where it wasn't relevant.

[threaded]

Stuffed deer heads on walls are bad enough, but it's worse when they are wearing dark glasses and have streamers in their antlers because then you know they were enjoying themselves at a party when they were shot.

[Doggy Styles]

I'll agree with that. I noticed two or three years ago that they were introducing AGW stuff into stories where it wasn't relevant.

Yes. On their famous tour of the planets series they said that the atmosphere of Venus was a result of runaway global warming, and warned us that that is what would happen on earth.

So if we carry on, our atmosphere will be 96% CO2, 400 degrees centigrade and a pressure of 90 times what it is now.