BBC Complaints: The link you need!

Friday 11 December 2009

BIAS BY LABELING

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Ah, it's just like old times again!
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Popping onto the Politics page of the BBC News website (as of 6.30am today), there were two headlines relating to the latest expenses revelations:
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**********MP denies £20K bell tower claim
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**********Conservative MP to repay £9,500
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So one's clearly an errant Conservative MP. What's the other? Is he by any chance also a Conservative MP? No, it turns out that he's a Labour MP.
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It was a running sore throughout the first great outbreak of the Expenses Scandal that headlines relating to errant Tories would have the word 'Tory' - or less frequently 'Conservative' - in them but ones relating to errant Labour MPs would regularly lack the word 'Labour'.
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As I say, just like old times again!

2 comments:

  1. It's a spotting game in this household - if any BBC "bad behaviour" headline says MP (or councillor) but doesn't say Labour, then the guessing game begins with the actual article:

    Is it Labour?

    How many paragraphs down will "Labour" appear in the text?

    Will the little side box be the Labour MP defending their side of the story, or will it be a rare opposition quote?

    Sometimes there will be no mention of the party concerned at all, then that requires futher digging to find out it is of course Labour.

    "Duck Island" still gets a mention in BBC programmes and articles, months after the event, yet you just know that by the end of this week, Bell Tower will never be mentioned again.

    As you say, just like old times.

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  2. Has anyone done an analysis comparing expense claims between the political parties ?
    My intuitive feeling is that Labour are the worst.

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