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It's finally happened - possibly too late, but hopefully not!
Michael Gove put the biased BBC on notice that the Conservative Party will be watching it closely from now on. Last night's Newsnight inevitably led with Lord Ashcroft, and a report by Michael Crick. Then Michael Gove came on to be interviewed by Kirsty Wark. All Kirsty's guns were fired, resulting in a very high I.C. of 2.3, but Mr Gove not only stood his ground but fired back. He demanded to know why the BBC had not been pursuing Labour and the Lib Dems over their non-dom donors and when Kirsty kept weakly repeating that she was sure all parties would be questioned over everything over the coming weeks (which in itself would hardly make up for years of anti-Tory bias on this issue!) he made it clear that his party would be on their case if this isn't so.
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Good! About time!
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I'm only human, so forgive me for hoping that all my e-mails to the Conservatives in recent weeks (including a few to Mr Gove) might just have helped sow a few seeds in them about BBC bias. Maybe, maybe not. Then again, the sheer scale of the BBC's anti-Conservative bias over this issue (as over so many others) hardly needs me to point it out to them and, hopefully, huge numbers of other people have been telling them similar things (though they shouldn't have needed either telling or prodding).
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Let's hope that every Conservative and UKIP politician from now on fires back in the same way against BBC bias. It's the only way.
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I think the Tories (and UKIP) have left it far too late to start hammering the BBC about bias.
ReplyDeleteI am sure the last few months of pro-Labour bias has contributed somewhat to the Tory's fall in the polls and the damage has well and truly been done now.
The bias is visible in every part of BBC output.
Take their HYS pages - previously, one click would take you to the most recommended page, and almost always, the top 10 or so comments (often the entire 1st page) would slate Labour / Government. Clearly it was a fair representation of the mood of the readers of that site.
But now, just before the election, the BBC has changed it. The loss of the most recommended page means that what appears at the top of the first page are the comments the BBC can select. Readers now have no control over what appears at the top and it is no coincidence that the first 10 or so comments are now clearly in support of Labour or are hammering the Tories.
Job done. The BBC has managed to make the HYS pages reflect Labour views and not the public's view.
I didn't see it, but let's hope it is the start of a trend. The Tories have nothing to lose. They should attack the BBC at every opportunity.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they have too few attack dogs. They are truly the Nice party unlike nasty Labour.
I would like to think that the Conservative party had been listening to you, me and others; but I wonder if they have left it too late to just keep an eye on bias. You have the figures, I and Biased-BBC have plenty of examples, the Conservative party need to take action now or this country will re-elect a Labour government on the back of BBC bias.
ReplyDeleteImagine Michael Gove being the one who is taking the fight to the BBC. He seems far too nice to get involved in that sort of stuff. There must be a spine there somewhere, though. BBC interviewers just don't know how to react when interviewees fight back. It's the old bully syndrome.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the Tories' problem is that they are, by and large, a bunch of invertebrates. Nice, mostly, but spineless. Look at the likes of Liam Fox when he was on Question Time. He's a bigger waste of space than a vacuum. We badly need a couple of Tebbits. Borrowing from our US cousins, the Tories need to grow a couple then grab hold of their left nut for courage.
I'm sure Cameron knows how biased the corporation is but his tactic from day one has been to do as little as possible to antagonise them in the belief that he'll eventually win them round. How naive.
Keep firing those emails into Tory HQ!
Stream of consciousness now over.
Bruce,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it is because Michael Gove is a former journalist and has the same scruples or lack of them as that low tribe. After all, look at Alistair Campbell etc.
When Tebbitt comes on bbc he fights and overwhelms the opposition but he is of the old party and so not truly influential.
ReplyDeleteWhat Cameron should do is bring back David Davis who is hugely respected by the public as an honest man, and put him onto the bbc and media case.
In one week he should dispose of the Labor lightweights the bbc put forward and then he and Pickles should pick off the incompetent so called heavyweights.
But what has to happen first is to address the biased high profile presenters, many of them women on radio and TV.
Speaking to an 86year old woman, still shopping every day, she said she has no time for these politicians, and we need another Maggie Thatcher. Amen.
Grant,
ReplyDeleteYou could well be right but since I'm a journalist (regional paper) I'll have to declare an interest. Or make my excuses and leave, if your prefer. ;-)
Bruce,
ReplyDeleteMany apologies ! I suppose there must be exceptions that prove the rule. You and Andrew Neil have something in common ! Please don't leave.
Anon.
ReplyDeleteYes it is a mystery to me why we don't see more of David Davis. He has become an invisible man.
No need to apologise, Grant! Andrew Neil and I also have the same hairstyle in common - or at least we would do if he hadn't had a transplant. You're right, though, that almost all of my colleagues on what used to be a right-leaning paper are socialists and almost all the other journalists I know are the same.
ReplyDeleteAs for David Davis - maybe he's seen as too much of a threat to Cameron?
Bruce,
ReplyDeleteAndrew's hairstyle looked a bit different on today's "Daily Politics".
He gave Tessa Jowell a pretty hard time about Brown's absences from PMQs and Micahel Gove gave ( Gove gave ? ) a pretty good account of himself. No doubt, if he has time, Craig will do an analysis.
I suspect you are right about David Davis. I was very disappointed when he did not get the leadership and also when he resigned from the cabinet.
Yes, Michael Gove is really coming out of his shell. His discussion with David Laws was conducted in a civilised way. Imagine what would have happened if Ed Balls had been there! We'd have been back in the school playground again.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Neil did well too. His interviewing of Tessa Jowell and Michael Gove resulted in an identical interruption coefficient for them both - 1.5 - which is just as it should be.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. Have you emailed Andrew Neil about this blog ? He may be interested.