lunes, 27 de marzo de 2017

Around 100,000 people marched against Brexit this weekend. You probably didn't hear about it on the BBC

BBC under fire for 'lack of coverage' of pro-EU march

BBC refuses to disclose how many complaints it has received over yesterday's news 


The BBC has come under fire from some of those who went on yesterday’s pro-EU march who claim the broadcaster did not give the event sufficient news coverage.
The Unite for Europe march saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets of London to express their discontent over the Government’s handling of the referendum result as the countryteeters on the brink of a so-called “hard Brexit”.
Police figures suggest around 100,000 people attended the march, but several passionate protesters took to social media to complain the BBC was not giving the event due prominence in its bulletins.
Former Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams said on Twitter: “Absolute disgrace that BBC TV News gives just 5 seconds coverage to pro EU march by 50,000 people but gives extensive time to UKIP news.”
Others agreed, with one user replying: “100,000 official by police, BBC think it was a bunch of naughty children having a day out.”
BBC online coverage of the march in the afternoon was criticised by some because the headline focused on the minute’s silence for the victims of the Westminster terror attack rather than the Brexit protest.
The initial headline read: “London attack: Victims remembered at anti-Brexit march” – which was later changed to “Thousands take to streets in anti-Brexit London march”. 
Members of a pro-Remain Facebook group, The 48 per cent, reacted with anger to this initial headline.
Katherine Gwen said: “Appalling editorial. This has NOTHING to do with the attacks. We marched against Brexit.”
Dozens of members of the group said they had complained to the BBC about what they claimed was a lack of coverage in the afternoon, when it was initially reported by BBC London before it later made the national news bulletins at 6pm and 10pm.
When contacted by The Independent, the BBC said it would not immediately give out figures on how many complaints it had received about individual stories or events, although they can be obtained eventually under the freedom of information act. It did not provide information on how many minutes coverage the march had received across its platforms, and not all its news programmes are currently available on iPlayer.
While the broadcaster declined to comment, it pointed to coverage it gave to the march on its rolling news channel and the national evening news bulletins on radio and TV. The BBC also pointed out it is common practice to alter the headline of an online story as events develop.
Although it now stands accused of supporting the Government's stance over Brexit, the BBC has previously been accused of a pro-Remain bias, a charge frequently levelled at the organisation during the referendum campaign.
And it was recently forced to defend its impartiality after it was accused of anti-Brexit bias by a group of mainly Tory MPs.
In a letter published in pro-Brexit newspapers The Daily Mail and The Telegraph, 70 MPs accused the publically-funded corporation of focusing on those who regret backing Brexit at the expense of Leave voters who are perfectly content with the outcome.
The BBC’s director general Tony Hall wrote in response to the accusation of anti-Brexit bias: “We go to great lengths to ensure that we balance our coverage and address all issues from a wide range of different perspectives. It is one of the reasons why the public trusts the BBC more than any other source of news.
“I agree with you that these are consequential times. For that reason, it is more important than ever that the BBC’s journalism is independent of political pressure.
“We will continue to listen respectfully and respond wherever appropriate. Above all, we will guard our independence, report the news diligently and impartially, and continue to fulfil our mission on behalf of all our audiences.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-bias-pro-remain-pro-brexit-coverage-lack-of-too-much-unite-for-europe-trigger-article-50-a7651191.html

BBC accused of Brexit bias by more than 70 MPs in open letter

‘It particularly pains us to see how so much of the economic good news we’ve had since June has been skewed by BBC coverage which seems unable to break out of pre-referendum pessimism and accept new facts’

Dozens of predominately Conservative MPs have signed a letter to the BBC's director general accusing the public broadcaster of bias in its Brexit coverage.
It is understood 70 MPs wrote to Lord Hall, the BBC’s chief, deriding the organisations inability to break out of “pre-referendum pessimism” to “accept new facts” was skewing its coverage.
According to reports the signatories included former Cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa Villers, alongside dozens of their colleagues,  DUP MP’s and three Labour MPs – Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins and Graham Stringer.
It comes after Theresa May announced she would start divorce proceedings with the European Union next week on Wednesday by serving notice of her invocation of Article 50 to Brussels.
The letter, which was put together by the Conservative MP Julian Knight, who campaigned to stay in the EU, added that the BBC had suffered a “collective nervous breakdown” over the referendum result.
“One example is the prominent coverage given to so-called “regretful Leave voters” in the aftermath of the vote, even though all available polling suggests no shift in public opinion towards the EU since the vote,” Mr Knight added in his blog.
The letter adds: “It particularly pains us to see how so much of the economic good news we’ve had since June has been skewed by BBC coverage which seems unable to break out of pre-referendum pessimism and accept new facts.
“Some of the signatories of this letter shared many of the concerns about the economic impact of Brexit, but all are delighted to find forecasts of immediate economic harm were at best misplaced. So-called ‘despite Brexit’ reporting may be expected of a partisan press, but licence fee-payers have the right to expect better.”
The letter says that “BBC bias can have a substantial effect on national debate. We fear that, by misrepresenting our country either as xenophobic or regretful of the Leave vote, the BBC will undermine our efforts to carve out a new, global role for this country."
But in a response the BBC said: “While we are always live to our critics and understand that passions are running high on all sides of the debate, it is the job of the BBC to scrutinise and analyse the issues on behalf of the public and to hold politicians to account across the political spectrum.
"That is what the BBC has been doing. It is what the BBC will continue to do. It is precisely because of this that the public trusts the BBC."
Writing about the letter in a blog for the Conservative Home website Mr Knight, also a former BBC journalist, said the organisation must be careful not to lose the trust of those who voted for Brexit “as well as those Remainers like myself who respect the will of the people”.
He added: “In fact, I think the corporation could do with dwelling a bit more on its full title. I don’t want to see it drenched in the Union Jack like the propaganda station of a tin-pot dictatorship, but I do think that it would do well to keep in mind its status as a national institution.”
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/over-70-mps-write-open-letter-to-bbc-accusing-broadcaster-of-bias-a7640756.html
      More about Brexit: 
    http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/brexit