BBC biased or incompetent?

I'm puzzled by these names. I've only vaguely heard of one of them, and I do watch a lot of political discussions

varion

"Bannon, like his associate Farage and the likes of Mark Francois and the Weatherspoons man, is given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC."
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Swap those names for :-

Ayesha Hazarika, Aaron Bastani, Ash Sarkar, Dawn Foster and the other side could say they are given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC.

BBC's Politics Live for example is hardly ever without a spokesman/women from Momentum or a pro Corbyn Think Tank.

I have been busy so have only just returned to this thread. In answer to GabriellaG54 - yes my phone number was demanded. I replied asking why they had not replied to my query and pointing out that demanding my number was intimidating and asking for an explanation - no reply was received.

I think it is a good idea to allow those with objectionable views to appear on radio and TV, as long as they are being interviewed by a competent and skilled interviewer. They will surely then be condemned by their own obnoxious comments.

Bannon, like his associate Farage and the likes of Mark Francois and the Weatherspoons man, is given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC.

varian.

We don't live under a dictatorship, yet.

Surely it is better to hear from the horses mouth not simply rely on twitter /propaganda sites or such?

If the questions asked are fair and if they asked ' awkward' questions the light can be shone on the likes of Bannon, that applies to individuals left/right of politics.

What does refusing those we are opposed to the right to speak achieve? They must not be seen or heard because a section of the public say so to promote their ideologies.

Besides which some people like to assess for themselves what an individual is saying and watching and hearing them in a an interview can confirm or make them think twice about the previous perceptions of that individual, as long as the interviewer is not some sort of sycophant or pushing his/her view which very often is the case but people see through that style of interview/interviewer.

Why did the BBC devote twenty minutes of R4 Today Programme to an interview with white supremacist brexit backer Steve Bannon?

I thought Boris had called an election. I read the OP before I saw the date. Phew.
Channel 4 evening news I find biased. The news isn't so much news as opinion so often on BBC and ITV.

I think it is a bit like the saying that good news doesn't sell newspapers. Nigel Farage is a controversial figure with forceful and extreme opinions and so he attracts attention – and increased viewing figures. As Donald Trump, another controversial figure with forceful and extreme opinions, would say, "great ratings".

I won't some shows because of the constant jibes at the Brexiteers, who are it seems the scum of the earth. The champagne socialists, we all know they are working class they tell us, whilst living a very comfortable life. The BBC allow this bias. I am not interest one bit who they do or don't support, keep it yo themselves, I can make up my own mind, it's not a political platform, they are there to entertain, inform or make us laugh. So I switch off.

Oldwoman70
Did they really 'demand' your phone number or did they simply ask, and why?.
If, as you say, you felt intimidated by an e-mail/letter which clearly demanded your phone number for no reason, it might be an idea to contact Ofcom.
I'm sure they would be happy to investigate.

I think the BBC's biggest problem is making the new so Westminster-centric. HQ doesn't seem to understand that most people's lives are influenced by local decisions.

The pro-brexit bias of the BBC has been long 'recognised but not all its political programmes are equally bad.

Question Time has long been beyond the pale but I have thought Any Questions on R4 was slightly better.

However in tonight's programme, in a week when the Liberal Democrats elected a brilliant new leader Jo Swinson and the party stands a close second to the Tories at 23% in opinion polls, there was not one mention of it. Everything was focussed on the Tories. Very disappointing.

The BBC website has a guide to brexit jargon. If you scroll down the alphabetical list you will NOT find REVOKE, but you will find REMOANER.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43470987

Further evidence of the blatant bias of the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation.

I've been saying that for ages Witzend but no one seems to have taken it up. I'm sure not all leavers are as unintelligent as BBC news appears to think. Why don't they show the comments of people who have given it some thought?

Bias is in the eye of the beholder I think.

Quite right too

It is a shame that Bruce has not achieved the standard of control or reasonable balance the previous presenters had.

The programme has reached a new level of mediocrity, reflecting perhaps public life in the UK.

I can't see that the Beeb is biased towards Leave! Rather the opposite, I'd have thought. Any interviews with what they like to call ordinary people, who are Leavers, always seem to feature those who at least appear to be less intelligent/less educated. The inference being, 'See? Only thick people voted to leave!'

If they appear to give NF (personally I can't stand him, regardless of his politics) too much air time I'd think it's because they're bending over backwards to appear not to be biased against him and Leave.

This

mobile.twitter.com/AJS77/status/1126810205071839233/photo/1

Stuff in the media about Pendleton

mobile.twitter.com/ddale0000/status/1049564156406456320/photo/1

Mmm yes agree Whitewave

It would be interesting to know whose been invited and who refuses etc

We should know

People who are like that have been deliberately selected to pack the audience by "audience producer" Alison Fuller-Pedley, an ex member of UKIP. She has been allowed to do this for the last twenty years.

Are you SURE varian?

That's quite a serious accusation.

Given I have been in the audience of QT twice, and have sat amongst people from all walks of life, from pensioners to students, both times, many of whom who had views differing from mine (but it was all very amicable) I find that sort of bias you have mentioned hard to believe.

The selection process isn't really a process at all. Obviously background has to be checked so people don't come along with an agenda, but we didn't know who the panellists would be when we applied, or what topics would be given air time. It was only when the audience was gathered that we were all asked to submit a question we'd like to ask and then about six people were chosen to stand up and speak.

Someone would have to work all hours of the night and day to a) hunt down those in the locality who held her views and b) put together a certain audience to suit the tastes of AF Pedley, if what you say is true.

I think maybe your bias is showing?

Good point Whitewave - the local elections showed the Greens and the LibDems gaining votes. That needs to be reflected in QT and other media outlets.

I absolutely agree about a healthy democracy mycat
But I live near Brighton, which has a Green MP. The greens also have a number of MEPs
Can you remember the last time any of them were on Politics Live, Newsnight, QT and Marr all in the same week?
In fact can you remember the last time they were on any of them?

My cat, I agree with you in saying he's vile but deserves to be heard. We can't censor people we dislike unless they're breaking our laws and so far, he isn't. A number of the Brexit candidates appear to either have breached laws or be very close to doing so but that's a matter for the Police.

I'm also with Mycat on the issue of QT taking its responsibilities to ensure its audience isn't biased. I suspect the issue here is that the Farage supporters shout loudest.