Archive for bbc
How to bluff your way in football conversations, part 1
Unimpressed with football? Dreading having to make polite small talk during the next couple of weeks whilst colleagues at work excitedly discuss obscure Danes, who should be in the hole and why they are more knowledgable than the ref / England manager / FA (delete to taste)? Never fear, just slip this into the conversation [...]
As if by magic: how to show that public opinion matches your view of the BBC, whatever it is
Over on the YouGov website, Peter Kellner shows how choosing the right question wording can get the public to come up with whatever answer you like on the BBC’s TV License Fee – and it doesn’t even require the use of outrageously loaded questions. You can read his piece about the impact of subtle wording [...]
Why the BBC has axed the word "reform" when talking of electoral reform
The BBC has given an official response to complaints (such as mine) that it has banned the use of “reform” as in “electoral reform”. As I wrote: Given that the phrase “electoral reform” has been a widely used term for decades to describe all sorts of different proposals to change the electoral system and given [...]
Dear BBC…
Dear BBC, I’d like you to reconsider your decision to ban the use of the word “reform” when your staff are reporting or commenting on the proposed changes to the voting system for the House of Commons (as reported in The Independent last month). Given that the phrase “electoral reform” has been a widely used [...]
BBC: we got our coverage wrong for the Labour leadership
At the weekend I blogged BBC, aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!, about the BBC’s decision to cutaway to a voice-over from Nick Robinson during the middle of the reading out of the Labour leadership election results. I’ve now had a reply: Complaints on this issue were forwarded to senior figures within the BBC Newsroom and BBC’s political team and [...]
BBC, aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Oh dear. The BBC and Nick Robinson really got it wrong today – but in a way that epitomises one of the dreadful habits of modern journalism. Running live coverage of the (hugely elongated) Labour leadership election result, during the middle of the second round results being read out the BBC cut away to Nick [...]
SNP ends legal challenge over election debate
The Press Gazette reports: The Scottish National Party has dropped its legal challenge against the BBC’s decision not to allow its leader Alex Salmond to appear in its televised debate in the run-up to the general election. A judicial review of the matter was scheduled to be heard at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. [...]
Dear Nick Robinson…
Dear Nick,
Sorry to be boring and quote things like numbers and evidence.
But on the 10pm news you said, “I think both sides agree the Tories have won the politics of the first week”.
I’d have thought the public should get a look in on this and you know what the public’s verdict is?
By a slim lead [...]
Any Questions does it again: no Lib Dem this week
Yup, Any Questions has done it again with this week’s panel featuring a Tory MP, a Labour MP, a right-wing pundit and a Green candidate – but no Liberal Democrat. Details of how to lodge your complaint with the BBC here.
Pro-Lib Dem bias at the BBC shocker
Of course, I read that caption from earlier today as a mark of praise rather than of exasperation:
