Newsnight row moves even Labour’s opponents to speak up for Corbyn

Last Updated: March 17, 2018By

Turnabout is fair play: If Newsnight insists on depicting Jeremy Corbyn as a Communist, perhaps it should run a backdrop with Theresa May as a Nazi. It wouldn’t be too far from the facts… [Image: The Agitator on Twitter].

The BBC’s news editors really blundered on this one.

Yesterday, This Site reported – in passing – on the decision by the BBC’s Newsnight team to run a debate about Jeremy Corbyn’s attitude to the Salisbury poisonings and the international incident with Russia that has arisen from it, last Thursday. They created a special projected backdrop for the studio – an image of Mr Corbyn with a Photoshopped hat (to make it look more Russian) set against Russian-esque buildings and a red sky (to evoke Soviet imagery).

It seems others were more bothered by this casual act of BBC bias than I was. I’m used to it, you see – I’m exposed to it on a day-to-day basis. As Mr O’Neill points out below:

The matter was brought to a head by Leftie journalist Owen Jones on the same programme the following evening:

https://twitter.com/Limitless_Josh/status/974784270404333570

Notice that the show’s anchor, Evan Davis, tried to pretend that the image had not been Photoshopped. Judge for yourself:

The transparency of the lie (which, let’s be kind, was probably piped to Mr Davis via his earpiece by panicking producers) led to ridicule and vilification:

I particularly like the following Tweet because it leaves no room for doubt:

Omnivorist framed an obvious question that must have occurred to casual readers everywhere:

In fact, it’s propaganda – of a kind that has no place on a supposedly balanced news outlet.

And it was recognised. Even people who don’t support Labour sympathised with Mr Corbyn over this blatant attempt at brainwashing:

More seasoned commenters considered it to be time for stronger action than a mere complaint:

Sue Jones, of the Politics and Insights blog, stated:

It is a blatant attempt at shaping public perception and disgraceful breach of the BBC’s impartiality obligations.  This was also most certainly a deviation in coverage from objective truth.

It’s the kind of nasty tactic that we ordinarily expect from the right wing rags.

The government have reduced politics to crude ad hominem attacks, aggressive posturing, overly simplistic sound bites and negative, divisive and emotive appeals. The media have reflected a corresponding lack of sophistication in their delivery of ‘news’.

Newsnight is a repeat offender in this regard:

Tory tomfool James Cleverly rushed to the BBC’s defence:

You can always judge an organisation by the quality of its friends:

Already there are demands for a regime change at the BBC. An organisation called the Media Reform Coalition launched proposals for “radical reform” this weekend. Among those proposals, it states:

Governmental influence over the BBC threatens to undermine its capacity to deliver impartial news and information. Whilst the BBC’s current Royal Charter states that it should be ‘independent in all matters’, it also stipulates that governments are responsible both for appointing the chair and four directors to the BBC Board, and for setting the level of the licence fee. The periodic renewal of the Royal Charter is another means of governmental influence over the BBC.

These procedures should be abolished so the BBC becomes truly independent of governments. In place of these mechanisms of accountability, members of the BBC Board should be directly elected by licence fee payers and BBC staff. The BBC should be put on a permanent statutory footing and an independent, non-market, regulator, acting solely in the public interest, should set the level of the licence fee and periodically review the BBC’s constitutional remit.

A more immediate course of action has been proposed by the campaigning organisation 38 Degrees, which is hosting a petition calling on Ofcom to hold the BBC to account for its “spiteful and manipulative coverage of Jeremy Corbyn”. Visit and sign here.

And the satirists have proposed a much more immediate form of compensation – equal treatment for the Tories – as follows:

https://twitter.com/UKDemockery/status/974953017953914880

Meanwhile, the Media assault on the facts continues unabated:


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14 Comments

  1. Tommy glynn March 17, 2018 at 11:52 pm - Reply

    They ar3 not biased, they are telling it how it is? Corbyn is a throwback to the communist era?

    • Mike Sivier March 18, 2018 at 2:02 am - Reply

      The evidence (or lack of it) suggests otherwise – with regard to both the Tories and Mr Corbyn.

    • Steven Allchurch March 18, 2018 at 6:34 am - Reply

      We can see you read the sun and the daily mail rags

  2. Steven Allchurch March 18, 2018 at 6:33 am - Reply

    BBC are the Tory mouthpiece

  3. aunty1960 March 18, 2018 at 8:59 am - Reply

    Did not watch it. Knew where it was going as soon as Evan Davies opened his slimy mouth and introduced the panel, so switched it off. Cannot stand the bloke brown nose sucky upper. Awful, what a dreadful replacement for Paxy

  4. Tammy Pax March 18, 2018 at 9:16 am - Reply

    The Tories and the BBC know he’s not involved in all what they’re saying about him, they know pictures are altered to suit, they know that people will believe this rubbish and will do the shouting for them, therefore distracting from other disasters, like taking food out of childrens mouths,( but not the Irish) giving security firms the powers to arrest, taking money off the disabled, covering up on the paedophile MPs, selling arms to terrorists….the list goes on. But that’s not the real reason, the real reason is because they know in a straight fight they will lose, they will lose the next election because the tory government are only interested in themselves and keeping their money and making more, they don’t care about all you out there standing up for them (until they need your vote), if you think i’m wrong ( I was asked this) then answer me this, name 5 things the Tories have done for the working man/woman.

  5. Barry Davies March 18, 2018 at 9:31 am - Reply

    The biased broadcasting corporation has been at it for a long time, whether it is the continual anti NHS narrative especially the continuation of referring to scandal hit mid staffs, the real scandal was the misreporting and claims of thousands of preventable deaths extrapolated from possibly one, and the almost gleeful reporting of underfunded trusts struggling to provide services as if it is the trusts fault they are underfunded. Add to that the pro eu anti Brexit stance especially on programmes like politics today and any Laura kuensberg reports and you have an especially biased propaganda spreading media outlet the equivalent of many so called rogue nations.

  6. John Dowson March 18, 2018 at 11:02 am - Reply

    Blatant Brainwashing for the Conservatives

  7. Ruth Rafferty March 18, 2018 at 11:52 am - Reply

    That petition is 2 years old. I don’t think the petition author is doing anything with it.

    • Mike Sivier March 18, 2018 at 5:49 pm - Reply

      I think they are. It has passed 100,000 signatures now, and will be handed over soon, as I understand it.

      • Ruth Rafferty March 18, 2018 at 6:19 pm - Reply

        Have you been in touch with them then? I’ve tried two methods of contact and had no response. The email address the petition author left in one of their updates seems to have been deactivated.

      • Ruth Rafferty March 18, 2018 at 9:28 pm - Reply

        I have now received a response, it seems she is indeed waiting for more signatures after being advised it would have little impact below hundreds of thousands.

      • Ruth Rafferty March 18, 2018 at 9:39 pm - Reply

        (I’ve asked her to put another update on the petition)

  8. wildswimmerpete March 18, 2018 at 1:06 pm - Reply

    Problem is that many if not all of the BBC’s news staff are Tories. Nick Robinson is a known Tory activist.

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