Yesterday’s Daily Politics programme on the BBC was a case study in the kind of BBC output that infuriates left-wing Labour supporters – or simply those with an interest in the UK having a genuinely impartial state broadcaster – to distraction.

In its first broadcast since Haringey council leader Claire Kober announced she would step down after May’s local elections, the Daily Politics opted to discuss Ms Kober’s allegations of bullying, sexism and personal attacks over the controversial ‘HDV‘ housing-giveaway project that was opposed by members of all local parties, local unions and many residents.

Except it didn’t. Discuss ‘allegations’, that is. Host Andrew Neil discussed them as fact:

Ms Kober’s allegations should be investigated properly and not dismissed out of hand. However, a balanced or impartial broadcaster would not completely fail to mention the many people, including centrists, who have alleged that the bullying has been of the left-wingers by centrists and that Ms Kober’s gender has nothing to do with the opposition to her plan.

Nor would it ignore the widely-known fact that opposition to the HDV has been huge and widespread, not limited to ‘Momentum’:

Which version of events is most accurate. It hasn’t been investigated yet, so who knows? Certainly not Andrew Neil or the BBC’s Daily Politics programme.

Do we have a right to expect their output and comments to better reflect the fact that there are two conflicting sides to the story?

According to the BBC itself, we absolutely do:

The BBC says that impartiality is part of its ‘contract with audiences’ and prides itself that this makes it different from other news sources.

It failed in that contractual obligation again yesterday.

The BBC was contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.

The SKWAWKBOX needs your support. This blog is provided free of charge but depends on the generosity of its readers to be viable. If you can afford to, please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal. Thanks for your solidarity so this blog can keep bringing you information the Establishment would prefer you not to know about.

If you wish to reblog this post, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.

Like this: Like Loading...