*
A curious question raised by several contributors to last night's live debate at Biased BBC (and other sites) was why the BBC seemed to be turning its cameras onto Gordon Brown disproportionately as he shook his head or laughed derisively at something one of his opponents (nearly always David Cameron) said.
*
Well, being a countaholic, I've gone back and added up all the close-up reaction shots. (Don't worry, I had some great music on in the background, by my lookalike!)
*
In the first twenty minutes, it was pretty much horses for courses between Brown and Cameron (12 close-up reactions for Cameron, 13 for Brown). Watching live, I too had originally thought that Brown was getting more. However, this wasn't the case (at this stage!) and I think I can say why. Cameron kept his head very still during his close-ups, while Brown's head was up to all sorts of whacky, attention-seeking (and getting) antics. That made his close-ups hard to miss, while Cameron's were far less conspicuous and easy to miss.
*
In the second twenty minute period, it was 4 to Brown and 2 to Cameron and in the third twenty minute period it was 5 to Brown and 4 to Cameron.
*
So, so far only very small leads for Brown and not much evidence of BBC bias in its up of close-up reaction shots.
*
The last half an hour, however, was very different. This is why Llew & co were getting hot under the collar - and rightly so.
*
Here there were no close-up reaction shots of David Cameron shaking his head or laughing at some silly thing Gordon Brown (or Nick Clegg) was saying. None at all. There were, however, ten of Gordon Brown doing just that.
*
So, Brown got 31 in total, Cameron 18 - moving towards double.
*
And Nick Clegg? He was way behind either!
*
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow! I was watching intermittently while surfing and listening, but I did get this impression towards the end and now I know it wasn't just an impression. I'm sure David Cameron will be kicking ass and taking names over this - not!
ReplyDeleteHow appropriate it seemd that all 3 candidates had BBC on their podiums giving how even Cameron now is in hock to their cultural Marxism as well. Whoever you vote for BBC propaganda wins!
Great analysis as always. But the Conservatives will do nothing; they will let the BBC rubbish them and the Labour dirty-tricks department pile up the postal votes and not even mention it. Where's the fight, the fire in the belly?
ReplyDeleteThe only two who seem to fight back are Eric Pickles and Michael Gove. The rest are just a bunch of pussycats.
ReplyDeleteIs it necessarily good for Brown that we see those terrible, phony reactions?
ReplyDeleteJames Fallows watched the debate for Atlantic magazine and then wrote, " Gordon Brown is really, really terrible as a public figure. Every time he wags his head scoldingly "No, No" when the opponents are speaking, he must lose another 500 votes."
Another American commentator wrote, "Brown should stop the head-shaking. It's never a good look."
You could be right.
ReplyDeleteOn a related point, one of the most interesting reactions at work to Brown's behaviour in recent days how badly his forced grin went down, first after he emerged from Mrs Duffy's house beaming unconvincingly, then at the very end of the leaders debate (after he had used his closing statement just to attack his opponents, without saying anything positive).
If Brown's head-shaking puts off thousands and thousands of voters then the BBC floor manager and the programme's editor deserve a bottle of something strong, as a thankyou - and to help them drown their sorrows!