Is the BBC bias?

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/6l8f44m

Is the BBC 'Left Wing' to it's very core, or just anti-Daily Mail.

Whichever, this makes for interesting reading, for those with any doubts.

[Whickerman]

very very many people are 'anti' Daily Mail. It's because of the sensationalist angle it takes to EVERYTHING.

[mollykins]

It's not supposed to be. Remember at the general election debate things where the BBC weren't really commenting on much but ITV were really biased, cos they could be.

[Gromit]

A copy of the Daily Mail in a television Newsroom?

Shome mishtake shurely?

[jno]

ah, poor Mr Sissons.... either this hot-shot journalist took 20 years to notice this obvious bias... or he just took 20 years' pay before getting upset that his bosses were telling him how to do his job.

[R1Geezer]

yes it is generally biased but I'd rather have them than not.

[jno]

a friend of mine had to go to their political unit on Millbank last year just before the election, and listened to them all talking for an hour or so while he was waiting for something. He was startled at the political bias he overheard: all of them without an exception were pro-Tory.

I'm surprised Sissons didn't notice this. Perhaps it's because he was one of them? I don't know. Perhaps you only notice political "bias" when you don't share it? That will certainly be why the Mail has decided to run this book.

[bazwillrun]

biased to the core, hate them and everything they stand for

[Oneeyedvic]

If you were to write a story about your time on Answerbank, you would conclude that it is very left wing and that the editor has banned more of your questions etc etc

I would write the opposite.

It's all about perception. I am a conservative voter and find the BBC very fair in it's reporting with very little bias

[horseshoes]

BBC biased? Surely not. You'll be telling me next that the press prints lies.........

[anotheoldgit]

Oneeyedvic

/// If you were to write a story about your time on Answerbank, you would conclude that it is very left wing and that the editor has banned more of your questions etc etc ///

That may be your own personal assumption, but I would have to say you are wrong.

Although it is true that most of the views of the contributors to the 'news topic' site are predominately 'Lefty-Wing', you are wrong to speculate that the Editor has banned more of my questions, on the contrary I believe the Ed has banned more questions from the 'Left' due to their abusive content.

/// It's all about perception. I am a conservative voter and find the BBC very fair in it's reporting with very little bias ///

Being a Conservative voter doesn't stand for much, in these days of a one party state, so it is easy for you to state that "In your opinion the BBC's reporting is very fair with little bias.

[Oneeyedvic]

one party state? What are you on about?

[anotheoldgit]

Well do you think you can get a cigarette paper between the three of them?

[Backdrifter]

I love the suggestion that the Daily Mail should be wrapped in brown paper if read in public.

I have no doubt he's correct to say that the mindset of many, if not most, senior BBC staff is left-leaning. Whether that makes the BBC "biased" I'm not so sure. If I think about all the BBC radio I listen to, online content I read and all the TV programmes I watch, I can't honestly say I detect either an overt or even subtle left-bias.


Every government I can remember has complained about the BBC's political bias - that's going back to the 1970s and covers both Labour and Tory administrations. The aspect of BBC output I find most offputting is a kind of middle-class tweeness occasionally, but it's aimed at a certain market so fair enough. Sissons also refers to some irritating practices that are a part of news coverage generally (not just theirs).

[jake-the-peg]

Everybody's "Left leaning" compared to the DM.

The DM has a right bee in it's bonnet regarding the BBC and never misses a chance to try to bash it so it's not surprising that the BBC may occasionally reply in kind.

You can't expect the BBC to completely ignore the Mail's provocations

I'm sure the fact that the DM owns a substantial amout of ITN has no bearing on it whatsoever.