Fiction: the BBC reporting of the Rochdale by-election seems to have been tinged with the biases of the reporters, who referred to members of the public in the most derogatory ways possible.

The latest wheeze in politics seems to be ‘projection’ – claiming that somebody else is behaving inappropriately while behaving in exactly that inappropriate way oneself.

So the media at the Rochdale by-election count seem to have been keen to attack members of the public for rudeness while actually barging them out of the way and insulting them.

That is what the following video, featuring Newsnight editor Nicholas Watt, seems to be telling us:

Here’s The Canary‘s analysis of it:

We should take a dim view of this behaviour. The media exist to report the news, not to slant it towards their own political views while abusing the rest of us. For example, This Writer would never have described a member of the public in the terms used by the cameraman in the clip.

I look forward to hearing an explanation – possibly accompanied by resignations – and I hope we don’t have to wait long.