BBC’s Question Time to get huge increase in viewers – for first five minutes of tonight’s show
Will they or won’t they? That will be the question on viewers’ minds as they tune in to the BBC’s Question Time this evening (January 24).
And if Fiona Bruce fails to apologise for joining Isobel Oakeshott in gaslighting Diane Abbott on last week’s edition, you can bet that a large number of those viewers will switch off. After that, word of mouth could cripple not only the programme’s reputation but also its viewing figures.
It would be extremely hard for Question Time, the BBC or new presenter Fiona Bruce – this incident happened on only her second show as chair – to recover their credibility and I can certainly foresee calls for the show to be scrapped and replaced with a less biased format in the future.
For those who don’t know what the row is about, not only did Ms Bruce and Ms Oakeshott lie to Ms Abbott that she was mistaken about Labour’s position in the national opinion polls…
This is scandalous 😠#bbcqt #DianeAbbott pic.twitter.com/gObm5Fugq2
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) January 18, 2019
(The BBC subsequently issued a clarification that managed to stop short of being an apology)
We've reviewed what was said re polling on @bbcquestiontime. A YouGov poll published on the day of the programme suggested a lead for the Conservatives. Diane Abbott was also right that some other polls suggested Labour either as ahead or tied, & we should have made that clear.
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) January 19, 2019
… but studio audience members have claimed a BBC employee and Ms Bruce stirred up feeling against Ms Abbott with prejudicial attempts at humour about her prior to recording of the programme. The BBC is believed to have recorded the pre-show warm-up but has refused to release this evidence.
Outraged Licence Fee-payers have been clamouring for an on-air apology ever since:
https://twitter.com/James4Labour/status/1088334992994983937
I feel strongly that #bbcquestiontime must issue a public apology to @HackneyAbbott in the first 5 minutes.
We will not let a public service paid by us all be hijacked by those who are sympathetic to a neoliberal &/or neoconservative ideology!
Please right the wrong! #bbcqt
— WeThePeople (@gaurangmorjaria) January 24, 2019
If @bbcquestiontime doesn’t offer an apology to Diane Abbott tonight, we must assume they have given up all pretence of both impartiality and opposition to racism. #BBCQT
— MM (@2SpencerRoad) January 24, 2019
Will the BBC back down? Smart money says no.
Instead, it is likely the Corporation will double down on its position and hope the outcry dies down.
But the Labour Party has made a formal complaint and may escalate this to court action if it doesn’t get satisfaction.
The national publicity of a court case could do huge harm to the BBC’s reputation as an impartial public service broadcaster.
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I used to watch question time, and indeed I have been in the audience more than once, but have watched it only periodically lately due to the BBCs shocking bias and continuous slagging off of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn and Labour by the panalists and audience. After last weeks fiasco….. no more.
Surely you mean the bias has always been the other way in the past! Many, many times anyone supporting Brexit have been talked down and the question asked moved on to something else. Many times have those speakers been outnumbered by as many as 4-1 against them.
I would not be surprised if the at the beginning of the programme the BBC stated that in respect of last week’s QT they have acknowledged the opinion poll figure question should have been clearer but as other matters are the subject of a formal complaint it would be inappropriate at this time to make further comment
The BBC is a bit effed, as there was a Black woman in the front row of the audience, who called Diane Abbott’s treatment, “definitely racial”. https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/derby-woman-calls-diane-abbotts-2451326
Don’t watch or listen to anything at all on the BBC.