Boris Johnson says the BBC is biased – but previously admitted he rarely watches it

May 14, 2012 3:37 pm

Boris 2012

“the prevailing view of Beeb newsrooms is, with honourable exceptions, statist, corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and, above all, overwhelmingly biased to the Left.”

Boris 2010

“I consume vast quantities of news – but almost entirely without the assistance of the BBC.”

So what exactly has the BBC done to upset a man who admits he rarely watches their coverage? What has given him the impression that the BBC is “overwhelmingly biased to the Left”? Could it be this?

Boris Johnson doesn’t like the BBC, because Boris Johnson doesn’t like scrutiny.

  • treborc1

    I mean your on TV in front of Millions and you swear like that, he really is a pure 100% Tory Toff, and plainly  on another planet.

    As for the BBC we all know they will back whom ever is in power, they always have, but they might be a bit miffed about the fee being  held back. After all the BBC is getting more expensive and please do not tell that other New labour bloke, it’s getting as expensive as  my Sky, but should not have on benefits, but then again I do not smoke, so perhaps that ok.

  • Bill Lockhart

    He’s right about the BBC.

    • http://twitter.com/johnringer John Ringer

      At the risk of being accused of lowering the tone, my message to you and your ilk is simply:

    • Dave Postles

      Yes, all you get on Radio 3 is the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.  Why can’t we have continuous Wagner?

      • Bill Lockhart

         Although Johnson was talking about BBC News, your examples are poor: the BBC’s breathless eulogising of both of the ensembles you mention has far more to do with political correctness than music. The West-East Divan Orchestra would not be appearing at the Proms once, never mind for a week-long residency, if musical excellence was the primary criterion.

        • Dave Postles

          That’s strange, because I’ve rarely heard mention of them on Radio 3.  I suppose Petroc, the two Sarahs, and Rob must all be communists. 

          • Bill Lockhart

            I was talking about the BBC, not BBC Radio 3. Anyway, Johnson’s point remains- BBC News and current affairs coverage clearly starts from a left-liberal set of assumptions.

          • Dave Postles

            ‘He’s right about the BBC.’
            Your comment was derogatory about the entire BBC.  FYI, BBC Radio 3 is still an integral part of the BBC.

          • Bill Lockhart

             Not derogatory, descriptive.  And your anecdotal failure to notice coverage on R3 about the orchestras you mentioned is, well, anecdotal. You’ll be hearing plenty about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra all over R3 this summer.
            They have dropped the “Youth” , by the way: it is now the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.

          • Dave Postles

            Oh, I see, it was made in a disinterested and indifferent fashion.  Pardon me.  I’ve yet to hear ‘breathless eulogising’.  Indeed, many commentators have accused the BBC of conspiratorial silence, whilst themselves engaging in rapturous comments about the Divan.

        • Brumanuensis

          Because of course, musical excellence can be determined in a perfectly objective fashion.

          • Bill Lockhart

             Not perfectly, but yes, of course it can be determined. It is necessary to audition in order to enter a music college.  The Berlin Philharmonic is musically superior to the Baden-Baden Philharmonic. And so on.

            The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is a political phenomenon, not a musical one.

            From the incorrigibly elitist Guardian:

            “The opener was Liszt’s own symphonic poem Les Préludes. An enjoyable
            example of his grandiloquent rhetoric and sumptuous melodic style, it
            was finely shaped by Barenboim, though an occasional muddiness in
            ensemble and balance reminded us that this is, after all, a youth
            orchestra, with some inexperienced players. Similar minor problems
            intruded on the Prelude and Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde,
            though again without seriously distorting the fluid emotional curves
            conjured up by Barenboim’s baton.”

            http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/23/proms-48-49-barenboim-review

      • Brumanuensis

        Hey, hey. Don’t knock Wagner. Life is a poorer thing if you haven’t heard the overture to ‘Tanhauser’.

        • http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone

          “Don’t knock Wagner.”

          With you on that, and I took Dave’s apparent enthusiasm at face value – perhaps I’m too innocent… But yeah… that overture, I first heard it as a teenager and it knocked me sideways, the love affair endures still.

      • Bill Lockhart

         Both of those orchestras play Wagner. Was there a point you were hoping to make?

        • Dave Postles

          Note the adjective ‘continuous’.

  • https://mikestallard.virtualgallery.com/ Mike Stallard

    Hey – wait a moment. I realise that, here on the left, the Beeb is seen as a Tory Stronghold.
    For us on the right, however, it is seen as an entrenched hub of socialism. In the Telegraph today, Boris wrote an excellent article saying that the Conservatives ought to put someone in at the very top who is an out and out Conservative.

    I think he is actually right.

    The present selection of Editors in Chief and the Staff of news night are all Oxbridge, of course, but they are also entrenched left wingers. This was brought out most strongly when Mr Cameron first made his pitch on TV. They all went for him. Gavin Essler and Kirsty Wark, for example, are both convinced left wingers. Question time seems, from our perspective,too, to be very biased with the Chairman constantly interrupting the token right wingers and letting the lefties ramble on.

    Boris’ point is simple. It is the mind set. The assumptions. The tacit agreement never to deal with the EU, the deficit, the debt, immigration, the scandal of the Welfare scroungers or the unequal electoral boundaries. The example he cited was that the new red thinggy for the Olympics should be free. the riots, too, were firmly reported from a very left wing point of view during their first few days.
    http://biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk/
    If you are a Guardian Reader all this is, of course, obviously true and it makes no sense to criticise it. To us on the right, however, it is very noticeable.  

    • John Ruddy

      I take it then you dont seen Chris Patten as a Tory?

    • AlanGiles

      Boris Johnson is barely capable of doing the job he is paid for, pontificating on the BBC  doesn’t make him appear any less of a buffoon.

      * Kenny Wheeler (1930 –   )

    • Dave Postles

      Any chairpersons worth their salt would have silenced Smith who constantly droned on rudely whilst other people were having their turn.  Nor is it the first time that right-wing rabble-rousers have attempted to monopolise AQ.  When a party is the administration, it should expect its representatives to be interviewed robustly. 

    • MonkeyBot5000

      “Hey – wait a moment. I realise that, here on the left, the Beeb is seen as a Tory Stronghold.
      For us on the right, however, it is seen as an entrenched hub of socialism.”

      Which would imply that they’ve probably got the balance about right. People who freely identify themselves as left/right wing will always be to the left/right of the majority of the population so when you have news that’s politically neutral, both groups see it as biased.

      Interestingly, the people who complain the loudest about bias at the BBC, tend to be those who happily trade in biased views but excuse this as opinion and perspective. The one private news source that sells itself on neutrality – The Independent – often seems to think that neutrality just means having equal numbers of opposingly biased articles.

      And that’s fine, because the people who buy the Telegraph share those biases and the same goes for people buying the Socialist Worker and they both get what they want. TV news on the other hand – both public and private – is far less biased than any of the print media.

      Question time seems, from our perspective,too, to be very biased with
      the Chairman constantly interrupting the token right wingers and letting
      the lefties ramble on.

      Again, you’ll probably find that the lefties complain about the opposite. Instead of just taking personal opinions as fact and assuming any perceived bias is real, get someone neutral, sit them down with a stack of tapes and a stopwatch and let them measure it.

      Once you’ve got data that shows the presence/lack of bias, then do something to fix it (if it exists at all).

      It’s interesting that Boris doesn’t call for someone neutral to be appointed so he obviously doesn’t care about the existence of bias in BBC news coverage as long as it’s biased in his favour.

      • https://mikestallard.virtualgallery.com/ Mike Stallard

        “ sit them down with a stack of tapes and a stopwatch and let them measure it.”

        http://biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk/

        • MonkeyBot5000

          I had a look at their “Question Time” section and there was nothing I
          could see about measuring the amount of time given to each side.

          The link you pasted isn’t to a report of someone sitting down and actually analysing the tapes to see if they are biased, it’s someone who has decided the BBC is bias and then set up a website called “Biased BBC”.

          Hardly a neutral assessment.

          It’s a site with a right-wing stance that just lists examples of how the BBC doesn’t match the bias of the site – the real give-away is the navbar. If it was a neutral assessment, you’d have options like “Party Politics” and “Israel/Palestine” instead of “Pro-Labour” and “Anti-Israel”.

          • howard

             BBC is very concerned for the condition of the imprisoned right-wing ex-premier of Ukraine. Meanwhile the hunger strike of 1600 Palestinian prisoners has all but been ignored. Equally the fact that not one of those 1600 men has had a trial or a legal conviction.

          • https://mikestallard.virtualgallery.com/ Mike Stallard

            The style and desperate language of some of the post above do, frankly, suggest defence of the very left biased BBC.

          • MonkeyBot5000

            I don’t think that shows right-wing bias either. I’ve heard both stories reported by the BBC and thought they were even-handed.

            It shouldn’t be surprising if the Ukraine is mentioned more often as it’s one of the biggest countries in Europe and heads of state are talking about boycotting a major sporting event. There’s a lot more movement with that story so it’s more likely to make it in to news bulletins.

        • howard

           What you and Boris want is a permanent Fascist Monarchy with 10 Downing Street and the BBC enforcing an identical singular world view.
          Oh wait a minute YOU ALREADY HAVE THAT !! Stop moaning neither the Downing Street nor the BBC ever responded to chance of slaughtering more Arabs and Muslims while kissing American arse that they could not wait to glorify !!

    • howard

       The riots reported with a Left Wing view !! You are insane they reported the riots with a tone of a Fascist state.

  • Brumanuensis

    Let’s leave aside for a moment the questionable assumption that the best means to combat bias is to appoint someone biased (I know. I don’t understand it either).

    Which bits of the BBC are actually left-wing?

    The Chairman of the BBC Trust is a Conservative Peer – albeit Lord Patten might be a bit ‘wet’ for the likes of Boris Johnson.

    Nick Robinson, the Political Editor, is a former President of Oxford University Conservative Association and a former national chairman of Young Conservatives.

    Andrew Neil is, well, Andrew Neil. A man with pretty well-established right-wing views and who presented a programme last year calling for the return of grammar schools.

    James Landale, the Deputy Political  Editor was educated at Eton alongside David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Not proof that he’s a Tory, but I doubt it disposes him to be wildly left-wing.

    David Dimbleby is famed for his scrupulous neutrality, although his first foray into TV journalism led to a spat between Labour and the BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/bbcandgov/yesterdays_men.shtml

    Jonathan Dimbleby, who presents ‘Any Questions’, the R4 equivalent of ‘Question Time’, is also famed for his neutrality.

    Jeremy Paxman appears to have been left-wing in his youth, but has been described by Jon Snow as ‘not very political’ and his book ‘On Royalty’ was a defence of the monarchy. In any case, his aggression towards his interviewees is uniform.

    So who might be left-wing?
     
    Andrew Marr is a vaguely liberal type and he’s married to Jackie Ashley – not really relevant, but it’s the sort of the thing the right would bring up.

    Paul Mason, Newsnight’s Economics Editor, strikes me as left-of-centre, but he’s a highly-regarded journalist independent of that.

    And that’s about it. I genuinely can’t think of anyone else.

    The BBC is a large organisation and occasionally it will make mistakes. It is not riddled with left or right-wing bias. If right-wingers want to wallow in a paranoid victimhood complex about how only the nasty left-wing BBC prevents endless Tory governments, then fine, but don’t expect the rest of us to take you seriously. Just console yourselves with the thought that you basically control the print media, even after phone-hacking crippled Murdoch.

    And hey, two can play at this game: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/sep/18/liberalsabandonthebbc        

    • howard

       Andrew Marr is a Right Wing Tony Blair arse licker…unmatched !!

    • treborc1

       It’s not about being right wing or left wing, it’s about following the party that is in Government, now the Tories have held the license fee for a few years and the BBC has to make cuts maybe the BBC will hope that Labour gets back in.

      (joking of course)

    • Hugh

      So, just Andrew Marr and Paul Mason, then. And, of course, the 1,340 BBC employees who, when giving a description of their politics on Facebook, described  themselves as “liberals”, against  340 “moderates” and 120 “conservatives”.

      It’s curious too, that the Beebs own internal reports on topics such as the EU, Israel, and climate change and poverty campaigns have also all concluded it has been guilty of bias, as well as the fact that the BBC’s leadership and high profile staff – such as Marr – have admitted th left-wing bias in the organisation.

      • Dave Postles

        Ah yes, ‘Facebook’, entangled early on in the tentacles of that giant squid, Goldman Sachs: only a social and economic ‘liberal’ (zucker) would remain a user of Zuckerberg’s plaything, the perpetrator of another dotcom boom.   

        • Hugh

           Since the choice was between “conservative”, “moderate” or “liberal”, I think it fairly safe to assume they correctly understood it in the American sense of left-wing – or that they are morons.

      • Brumanuensis

        1,340. Wow, that’s approximately 5% of the BBC’s  UK-based workforce. Trot bastards. And of course you have given us no idea of:

        a). How senior these people are?

        b). Where in the BBC they work?

        c). And are relying on the assumption that they are incapable of behaving objectively, whatever their personal views.

        Marr did not say the BBC had a left-wing bias, he said it had a ‘cultural liberal bias’, which is not the same thing. The ‘cultural liberal’ point is arguable and in fact I’m inclined to agree with Marr on this, but this means that employees are more likely to be pro-gay marriage, rather than being pro-Labour. Indeed, Marr made the point, at the same time, that it was explicitly not party-political. 

        The BBC’s self-scrutiny is commendable and is far superior to any other media organisation. Do you see Sky doing that sort of thing? So please, cut out the paranoid wibble.

        Oh, and the BBC was arguably the most pro-Iraq War of the major broadcasters. Not exactly a sign of ‘left-wing bias’ is it? 

        For another view: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/15/leftwing-bias-bbc-myth

        • Hugh

          Yes, and of those five per cent 11 times as many described themselves as Liberal as Conservative. Nor am I relying “on the assumption they are incapable of behaving objectively” since the point was to show that your identification of Marr and Mason as practically the only left wingers there and implication that they are outnumbered by Conservatives is nonsense.

          What Marr said is this: “The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It’s a publicly funded, urban
          organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic
          minorities, and gay people. It has a liberal bias, not so much a
          party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal
          bias.” 

          That’s not the same as saying the liberal bias is restricted to cultural issues, but rather its culture is liberal. The “publicly funded” part suggests something wider than simply support for gay marriage – but incidentally which party broadly is likely to benefit from a “cultural liberal” bias?

          “The BBC’s self-scrutiny is commendable”. More commendable still would be if the scrutiny didn’t regularly confirm the complaints of bias.

          Yes, it is arguable the BBC was pro-Iraq war. Good luck.

          Finally, gosh, James Macintyre doesn’t reckon it’s biased. Whodathunkit. Shall I send you a link to a piece by Norman Tebbit?

          • AlanGiles

            Hugh. You have a real down on the BBC  don’t you?

            What’s the problem? Didn’t Jim Fix it for you in 1977, or didn’t you get the tickets for “Strictly Come Dancing”.

            I bet BTW Johnson doesn’t complain about bias on LBC Radio when he appears on it and Nick Ferrari licks his boots on a regular basis.

            * Bobby Wellins (1936 –   )

          • Hugh

            No, I think much of what it does is good, but its far bigger than it needs to be as a public service broadcaster and it does suffer from a problem of left-leaning bias that’s confirmed by its own staff and internal reports. The evidence of right-wing bias or impartiality on the other hand rely mainly on bald assertions by left-leaning commentators and a reliance on simply insulting those putting the alternative view .

            I’m not sure what Johnson says about LBC, but since Ken had his own radio show on it, the implication that it might suffer from a conservative bias is a curious one.

          • AlanGiles

            I think you can hear LBC on the internet, Hugh if you have never heard it.

            Ferrari at one time considered running as London mayor for the Conservatives, but decided against it when he learned he would have to give up his LBC career (such as it is).

            When BJ appears on his programme after the slightly arch introduction (“Mr Mayor”) it’s Boris this and Boris that, and other LBC broadcasters make their appreciation for the Conservative party quite clear, not least in the way they sneer at politicians from other parties.

            LBC is a strange station (especially the news station on 1152 metres MW) – they will “put London on News Alert” and then announce that some entertainer or other has announced he/she is getting married.

            If you think the BBC is biased, just sample LBC for a day and see if you don’t think the same thing.

            * Yusef Lateef (1920 –   )

          • Brumanuensis

            Have you ever considered that Thompson might have a vested interest in claiming that so-called ‘left-wing’ bias exists in an organisation that – at the time – he had only just taken over? What better way to represent himself as a ‘new’ type of BBC chairman?

            Ultimately, in spite of all your fulminations, you have no hard proof of systematic left-wing bias within the BBC other than a misinterpreted Andrew Marr comment and vague references to internal reports. The BBC does not have a left-wing bias. 

            I note you have failed to respond to any of my original arguments properly. Asininely dismissing the Iraq War point is a bit rich on your part, given that the statistical evidence cited is pretty much irrefutable. As for the ‘bald assertions’ bit, I could say exactly the same for you. As yet, neither you, nor Mike Stallard, have produced any hard evidence to support your contentions, only innuendo.

            If you want to believe in conspiracy theories, at least believe in something interesting, like the lizard people of JFK being assassinated by the mafia.

          • Hugh

            People can judge for themselves whether I’ve misinterpreted the Andrew Marr comment. And he’s far from alone: Justin Webb admitted at the same meeting the BBC is anti-American; Helen Boaden also criticised it for leaning left; Peter Sissons has said it became too PC; Michael Buerk supported him. Robin Aitken has been vocal about it.

            The Marr comment I believe fed into its report From Seesaw to Wagon Wheels, which noted, among other things that it broke its own guidelines by supporting the Make Poverty History campaign. Meanwhile, its 2005 independent report confirmed complaint of pro-European bias, particularly on Today, and earlier this year the Beeb finally won its legal battle to keep its 2004 Baden report on bias in its Middle East report confidential – at a cost of £350k, presumably because it showed they were doing an impeccable job of impartial reporting.

            It’s odd that these reports and the BBC staff I’ve mentioned also fall for this conspiracy theory. Perhaps it’s not so far fetched after all to believe that an organisation hiring mostly arts graduates to work in urban centres using adverts in the Guardian might suffer from a problem of a certain tendency to approach issues from a left-wing perspective. Of course that could tackled, but I’d suggest it would take some fairly close and consistent monitoring of its reporting on an ongoing basis. To my knowledge it does none.

  • sawk

    But even Mark Thompson, the Director General, said the BBC used to be massively biased to the Left..it would be preposterous to suggest that it has changed that much to even be anywhere near neutrality

  • ThePurpleBooker

    Most Tories believe that the BBC is biased but the BBC Chairman is (or was) a Tory so they should get over themselves. I didn’t hear David Cameron or Boris Johnson complaining that News Corp was too biased to the Tories, now they are attacking an organization which is fairly impartial because it is not on their side.

  • ThePurpleBooker

    Perhaps, we should challenge Boris and make it a commitment to democratise the BBC when we reach office so that licence fee payers can elect the BBC Trust and have a say over which BBC services they want. That will shut Tories like Boris up!

    • Brumanuensis

      Maybe a portion of the BBC Trust, but not all of it. 

    • JC

      The only way to democratise the BBC is to allow people to vote on whether they want to pay, not to elect the BBC Trust. Remove the licence fee from the mainstream BBC and let it take adverts.

      • Slakah

        People vote with their viewing figures. As the most watched/listened to service is the UK I really don’t understand why you believe people don’t like it.

        • charles.ward

           The Sun is the UK’s best selling newspaper but it would be unfair to force those who do not like it to buy a copy.

          • Brumanuensis

            The Sun is not a public-service broadcaster. The analogy doesn’t work.

  • geedee0520

     Boris is right – if you listen to Today, the 10pm news etc on Radio 4 all you hear is ‘cuts cuts cuts’ presumably because they have to subsist on £3.2bn for the next few years without their usual increase.

    • Dave Postles

      ”the 10pm news etc on Radio 4′
      If you mean The World Tonight (as presented by Robin Lustig or Ritula Shah), then I do not recognize your caricature.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

    BBC left wing?! Come off it!  It gives this govt the easiest possible of rides, barely offering any critique at all.  Johnson speaking rubbish as usual.

  • treborc1

    Dispatches watching the detectives is on now, bloody hell  somebody has to do something about this it’s making phone hacking look like child play

  • Slakah

    Stephen Nolan and Victoria Derbyshire.

  • Brumanuensis

    The BBC’s left-wing bias illustrated:

    Er, Michael Buerk chairs ‘The Moral Maze’. Michael ‘I hate feminists’ Buerk (I paraphrase). So yeah, the BBC is riddled with left-wing bias all right. That’s why Delingpole is never ever ever invited on and Melanie Philips is ostracised.

  • Jcollet_01

    The difference between complaining about the perceived bias at the BBC and, say, News Corporation is that one is a publicly funded entity with a mandate that strictly emphasises its commitment to unbiased news reporting, the other is a PLC with no such mandate whatsoever; if you own a TV you can’t get away from the BBC, if you don’t like News Corp you can just not buy their newspapers/avoid their websites. Comparing the one with the other is comparing apples with cod – completely irrelevant.

    • Brumanuensis

      “if you own a TV you can’t get away from the BBC’.

      Or you could just change the channel. That helps.

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