BBC additional response to my complaint - and my response

Dear Tom

Reference CAS-5182836-DCZY8T

Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate that you were dissatisfied with our previous response and felt strongly enough to write to us again.

1. We treat Brexit like any other news item - the same rigorous guidelines on due impartiality apply to it as to all topics we report on. They are available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality
2. We don't routinely provide this information as part of our complaints process. However, we have made your specific request known to our FOI team who will respond directly to you in due course.
3. Each programme team put great care into the planning and execution of each episode. Great effort goes into bids for interviews and contributors to ensure a breadth of opinion, taking into account recent guests, their views and arranged guests confirmed for subsequent appearance. When a particular item, like Brexit, is regularly covered, a reasonable period of time is used for including the full spectrum of opinions. That will differ for each programme depending on whether it's a daily or weekly slot, rolling news and hourly radio bulletins will achieve the same over a series of hours as the conversation unfolds in real time.

It's not true to say we overlook the Remain argument on the Today programme. Just looking at recent editions alone, it's featured a range of voices about the wider Brexit debate - including Carolyne Fairbairn (CBI), Anna Soubry, Shami Chakrabarti, ex-European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, Ken Clarke, Jo Johnson, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Tony Blair, David Lidington, Justine Greening, Nicky Morgan, and Chuka Umunna.

We have read and noted your points but don’t consider they suggest evidence of a possible breach of standards. Opinions do vary widely about the BBC and its output, but this does not necessarily imply there has been a breach of standards or of the BBC’s public service obligations. For this reason we regret we don’t have more to add to our previous correspondence, and so will not respond further or address more questions or points.

If you are dissatisfied with this decision you may ask the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to review it. Details of the BBC complaints process are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/ where you can read the BBC’s full complaints framework.

If you wish to ask the ECU to review this decision, you should contact it directly within 20 working days of receiving this reply. Please explain to the ECU why you believe there may have been a potential breach of standards or other significant issue to investigate. You can email ecu@bbc.co.uk, or write to: Executive Complaints Unit, BBC, Broadcast Centre, London W12 7TQ. Please include the case reference number we have provided in this reply.

If you have a disability which means you cannot write to the ECU and may need the BBC to provide a reasonable adjustment to access stage 2, you can telephone the ECU on 0303 0806145.

Thank you again for contacting us.
Kind regards
Donal Rainey
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

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I do not believe that the response (included below) provided adequately deals with the complaint as it does not address the points that I raised. I would have preferred to await the results of the Freedom of Information request that I made before submitting this response, but as you have only given me 20 days to respond, and I cannot guarantee that I would have the time to understand the response to the Freedom of Information request whenever I receive it and be able to respond within your time limit.  I may therefore need to add to this once I receive that response.

My complaint in short is that the BBC shows severe bias in its Brexit interviews by

• Giving undue weight to “hard Brexiters”.
• Giving undue prominence to Conservative party members.

It is rare for a discussion not to include “hard Brexiters”, but may omit Remainers, and it is common for all, or at least a significant majority of the people being interviewed to be Conservatives.

The response only provided anecdotal information, which does not go to the core of the problem (the plural of anecdote is NOT data), and does not help to dispel the view that there is bias.  Indeed, the failure to provide any sort of numerical data (despite the request) strongly suggests that the BBC is trying to hide something.

In your guidance to impartiality https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality/breadth-diversity-opinion you say in section 4.4.2

“Impartiality does not necessarily require the range of perspectives or opinions to be covered in equal proportions either across our output as a whole, or within a single programme, web page or item.  Instead, we should seek to achieve 'due weight'.  For example, minority views should not necessarily be given equal weight to the prevailing consensus.

“Nevertheless, the omission of an important perspective, in a particular context, may jeopardise perceptions of the BBC's impartiality.  Decisions over whether to include or omit perspectives should be reasonable and carefully reached, with consistently applied editorial judgement across an appropriate range of output.”

But you clearly fail in this. “hard Brexit” is clearly a view held by only a minority of people see, for instance, https://whatukthinks.org/eu/questions/if-there-was-a-referendum-tomorrow-with-the-option-of-accepting-the-governments-brexit-agreement-or-leaving-the-eu-without-a-deal-which-would-you-support-2-2/

Fieldwork End Date / Pollster	Remaining in the EU	The government's Brexit agreement	Leave the EU without a deal	Don't know
15 November 2018 / Survation	43%	16%	28%	13%
15 November 2018 / Opinium	32%	21%	24%	23%

A hard Brexit is clearly only supported by a minority (a minority that is probably increased by the frequency with which the BBC pushes the idea) but is perpetually offered as though it is the main alternative to accepting the negotiated deal.  It is rare to hear a discussion of Brexit on the BBC without the no deal Brexit option being offered, while frequently we do not hear from a remain spokesperson (despite this being a much more commonly supported idea). 

You also omit many perspectives.  You never, or almost never, cover the idea of greater integration with the EU than we currently have, though this is a legitimate idea and part of the perspective and part of the debate that we need to be having, and which you have a duty to cover.

I would therefore like to have the data I have requested, and to know what action you are taking to ensure that you end the bias in your coverage of Brexit.

Best wishes

Tom.

Tom Franklin

email:    tom@tomf.org.uk

BBC response to my complaint of bias - and my reply

I wrote to the BBC complaining of Bias on 10 November

Here is their response:

Dear - Franklin

Reference CAS-5173865-KL2G8M

Thanks for contacting us regarding the Radio 4 programme ‘Today’ broadcast on 10 November 2018.

I understand you felt there were a lack of strong remain viewpoints.

Thanks for rising these concerns. The reports on this edition were focused more on Theresa May’s inner party divisions and to gather viewpoints from party members about those concerns. It wasn’t focused specifically on leave or remain viewpoints from the EU referendum. Due impartiality isn’t necessarily always achieved in one single report or programme, so we would ask that you take account of how we cover a topic over time. This means if Jacob Rees-Mogg appears on a programme, then we wouldn’t necessarily have a counter version of Jacob on the programme to offer immediate view. Balance is more achievable over a more reasonable period and the programme features a wide spectrum of political viewpoints.

Also note that presenters would play devil’s advocate and put forward counter viewpoints when challenging comments made by interviewees. These interviews can be very robust and aggressive if they feel the interviewee isn’t directly addressing the concerns in the question put forward.

Impartiality is a core value of the BBC, and one reason why we believe our news coverage is trusted and respected around the world. We apply this principle to our reporting of all issues. BBC News never takes a position on anything that we cover, but we always aim to reflect a broad range of voices on any given subject. The BBC is of course independent of any political or commercial interests, and our news agenda would never be influenced by any outside organisation.

With regards to Brexit coverage in general, we aim to cover the ongoing Brexit negotiations with due impartiality. This means we carry a wide range of views about the European Union from across the political spectrum on our output.

We approach the story with the required level of impartiality, with input from various commentators and experts. 'Feedback' on BBC Radio 4 has addressed the issue of complaints about how we cover the story. Our Chief Political Adviser and the controller of the BBC's daily news programming joined Today presenter Nick Robinson, to discuss the common complaints from all sides. You may be interested in the sections at 3mins and 13mins especially: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z688x

As with any story we cover, BBC News does not have an opinion on the European Union, or on the UK’s position within it. Instead we try to explain the different and sometimes complex issues affecting our audience during Brexit. Our aim is to give them the information they need in order to follow the process clearly.

We appreciate your concerns and hope this helps to explain how we approach our reporting of this subject.

That said, we value your feedback about this issue. All complaints are sent to senior management and programme teams every morning and I included your points in this overnight report.

These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensures that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future programmes.

Once again, thank you for contacting us.

Kind regards

Philip Young
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaint


Thank you for your rapid response to my complaint of bias over Brexit coverage at the BBC. Unfortunately it doesn’t really address the issue. Although you make assertions that there is impartiality there is nothing in your email which actually demonstrates this.

I would therefore be grateful if you would supply me with information that will enable me to understand how you ensure impartiality. In particular could you send me

1. A copy of your policy on impartiality in relation to Brexit. Given the nature of Brexit. I presume that you do have one.
2. Data on who you have interviewed on Brexit on national radio and TV, in what programmes and time slots where appropriate (eg the Today Programme), how long they were interviewed for, what their position was deemed to be in relation to Brexit (or why they were chosen).
3. How you monitor impartiality within and between programmes

If it helps, this can be considered to be a Freedom of Information Request as well as a complaint.

I am sure that you understand that unless you are gathering and monitoring this (or similar) information yourself you cannot know whether or not you are being impartial.

I look forward to your response.

Bias in the BBC - a formal complaint

Once again on the Today programme you are only interviewing Tories on Brexit.  It is not as if other parties don't have views on the issue, but you had an interview, quite correctly, with Jo Johnson, followed later by one with a minor back bencher who is a particularly extreme brexiter ie Rees-Mogg.

I have yet to hear from an extreme remainer on Radio 4. And whenever Brexit is discussed you seem to want to have an extreme brexiter. This pushes the whole debate in that direction and is not a neutral act.

Once again, you are supporting a particular type of brexit by giving it a platform over all other forms of brexit.

BBC bias - The response

So the BBC has sent out the blandest possible non-response...

Dear - Franklin

Thanks for contacting us regarding the Andrew Marr Show on November 4.

We've received a wide range of feedback from our audience regarding Arron Banks’s scheduled interview on the programme. To allow us to reply promptly and use our resources as efficiently as possible, we’re sending this response to everyone. We’re sorry we can’t reply individually, but we hope this will address most of the points raised.

There is strong public interest in an interview with Arron Banks about allegations of funding irregularities in relation to Leave.Eu and the 2016 EU Referendum. The Electoral Commission has laid out concerns about this in public and it is legitimate and editorially justified for Andrew Marr to question Mr Banks robustly about them, which he will do on Sunday morning.

We do appreciate your feedback on this issue and once again thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

BBC bias and platforming of fascists

Complaint to the BBC:

Tomorrow on the Andrew Marr Show Aaron Banks is due to be interviewed. This is giving voice to a fascist currently being investigated for fraud relating to Brexit.  This is grossly irresponsible as it is rewarding criminality which was used to get a platform on the BBC (and other sites) in the first place.

As Aaron Banks achieved platforming through fraud it is totally inappropriate to reward this by more air time. 

I have seen in your early response that you claim that this is appropriate to interview people being investigated for criminality.  If that is so, what are the editorial guidelines that determine which crimes are worthy of giving air time to those under investigation and which are not?

Also, this is not a new story, but one that has been emerging for months, how come you are willing to give the person under investigation TV time whilst you have given almost none for those raising the allegations in the first place.

This is evidence of persistent and systematic bias by the BBC in favour of Brexit.

Complaint of bias in BBC

3 July 2018

On World at One today we only heard from Tory politicians on the issue of Brexit.  Most of the time was taken up with one extremely hard brexit  backbench MP who represents a small group of MPs.

We did not hear from any party other than the Tories.
We did not hear from any remain MPs
We did not hear any real challenges of Rees-Mogg's position.

This is part of a huge trend where we here mostly brexit speakers and increasingly rarely from politicians who are not Tory.

While it is more extreme in World of One today we are increasingly seeing alternative (to hard right Tory Brexit) squeezed out of the BBC.

There was absolutely no balance today.

BBC bias the brush off

So, following my complaint about bias in the BBC

http://tomfranklin.blogspot.com/2018/04/bbc-bias-failure-to-report-islamophobia.html

their response and my further complaint http://tomfranklin.blogspot.com/2018/05/bbc-bias-bbcs-response.html

They have now given me a total brush off, but I will be responding.


Dear - Franklin

Reference CAS-4917021-G1CZX1

Thank you for contacting us. We appreciate that you were dissatisfied with our previous response and felt strongly enough to write to us again.

We have read and noted your further points but don’t consider they suggest evidence of a possible breach of standards. Opinions do vary widely about the BBC and its output, but this does not necessarily imply there has been a breach of standards or of the BBC’s public service obligations. For this reason we regret we don’t have more to add to our previous correspondence, and so will not respond further or address more questions or points.

If you are dissatisfied with this decision you may ask the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to review it. Details of the BBC complaints process are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/ where you can read the BBC’s full complaints framework.

If you wish to ask the ECU to review this decision, you should contact it directly within 20 working days of receiving this reply. Please explain to the ECU why you believe there may have been a potential breach of standards or other significant issue to investigate. You can email ecu@bbc.co.uk, or write to: Executive Complaints Unit, BBC, Broadcast Centre, London W12 7TQ. Please include the case reference number we have provided in this reply.

Kind regards

Janine McMeekin
BBC Complaints Team

BBC Bias - The BBC's response

Dear - Franklin

Thanks for contacting us about recent BBC News coverage of UK politics.

We note you feel there hasn't been enough coverage of alleged incidents of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. It's clear you find a difference between this and the media treatment of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. This has been shared with news staff and senior colleagues in BBC News.

Following Baroness Warsi’s comment, the Muslim Council of Britain’s complaint about the Conservatives has not been picked up by other organisations or Westminster politicians - as the anti-Semitism allegations within the Labour Party have been. The Muslim Council of Britain appears to have made these most recent comments in a statement to another news organisation. At the time of writing, the MCB has not issued a press release, or put these comments about the Conservative Party and Islamophobia on its website.

However, we have reported on the suspension of specific individuals in the Conservative party - online examples remain here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43959705
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-43647990
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-43656434

In 2016 we also reported criticisms of the tone of the Conservative Mayoral campaign in London: https://bbc.in/1qYgdbd

We have also reported on attitudes to and the treatment of Muslims more widely in the UK. For example, earlier this year Panorama recently reported from Blackburn, a town with a large Muslim Asian population, looking at divisions along ethnic lines in the town and how they have changed over time.

We will continue to report impartially and fairly on developments, both at a Party level and more generally speaking.

Thanks for taking the time to share your reaction with us.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

---

I do not think that this in any way addresses the problem that I complained about in my previous post.

I will therefore be taking this further, addressing what they say and restating the point.

I find it seriously worrying that you only consider something newsworthy if it is "picked up by other organisations or Westminster politicians".  The BBC employs a large number of journalists who should be researching these stories themselves, rather than relying on other media or the MPs to do their work for them. When did the BBC stop looking for news stories and only pick them up from other organisations.  

I think few would dispute that the vast majority of the main stream media ("other organisations") are conservative supporting, and certainly anti-Corbyn (and anti-Green Party too).  This means that you are taking your stories from a very biased source and creating the very echo chamber that is so often decried.  This simply reinforces the so called "Westminster bubble" and it is imperative for the survival of democracy in this country that you use a much wider set of sources.

Secondly, on the specifics of your response.  Yes, the three stories  that you cite were reported online, but the anti-Semitism story was the lead story for day after day and in the news for weeks. What is more, a quick search of your site finds plenty of stories of Labour councillors being suspended such as

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-43836166

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-43825864

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-43655793

And, I could easily find more.

So, to suggest that a few articles about suspension of individual Tory councillors (when there are a similar number of articles on suspended Labour councillors (and quite possibly from other parties if I could be bothered to look), simply does not balance the endless stories about anti-Semitism in the Labour party.

Indeed, I find the response so disingenuous that it is quite clear that you are trying to cover up the degree of bias that exists at the BBC.

BBC bias - failure to report Islamophobia in the Tory Party. Complaint to the BBC

Baroness Warsi, ex co-leader of the Tories, has recently spoken out about the high level of Islamophobia in the Tory Party.  The Muslim Council has called for an enquiry.  None of this has been reported on the BBC, in stark contrast to the endless reporting of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.

I am a Jew, and member of neither Labour nor Tory parties, and find this totally different way of covering the stories shows clear bias in repeated criticising of one party for racism, and not even mentioning it in other parties.

Bias isn't just about how stories are covered, but which stories are covered and how much coverage they are given.  In the current context I would expect the BBC to report on the levels of racism to be found in all parties.

Bias in the BBC - follow up

The BBC has responded to my compaint about bias in the Bottom Line as follows:

Reference CAS-4031583-87CDXY

Thanks for contacting us regarding BBC One’s ‘The Bottom Line’ broadcast on 1 October.
I understand you felt there was not enough union representation and workers during a discussion on Theresa May’s business plans.

While the programme discusses business matters and hears from ‘people at the top’, it’s not always possible or practical to include all viewpoints within a particular programme. Contributors to our programmes are appointed on the basis of their experience and talent, but judgements are often subjective and we would never expect everyone to agree with every choice we make.

We have circulated your complaint to senior management and ‘The Bottom Line’ programme in this overnight report.

These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensures that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly. This helps inform their decisions about current and future programmes.

Thanks once again for taking the time to contact us.

Kind regards
Neil Salt

BBC Complaints Team


so I have followed up the original complaint with the following:

The response addresses neither the specific nor the general complaint,

you say ", it’s not always possible or practical to include all viewpoints within a particular programme" which is true, but there is never a trade union voice in the bottom line.  This was a progamme specifically about workers, but no ordinary worker was heard.  That it was not deemed necessary to provide such input shown just how ingrained the bias is that it has become normal.

Nor is there an equivalent programme to the Bottom Line where trade union voices are heard.  Therefore there is systematic bias; both within the Bottom Line and generally across, at least, Radio 4 where it is extremely rare for a trade unionist to be heard without a response from management, but very common to hear managers without any response from trade unions.

We need to hear from trade unionists more often, perhaps a new programme? Workers united?

BBC Bias

Having just listened to The Bottom Line on Radio 4 I was struck once again by the degree of bias in the BBC.  Can you imagine the BBC having a series where only trade unionists were panel members? Where the business community did not get a right of reply? Where trades unionists were supposed to speak for bosses?

I suspect that it makes your mind boggle.  But here was a programme where bosses were saying what workers need.  Four bosses, and their representatives.  No workers, no trade unionists; not even representatives of civil society.

Anyhow I have put a complaint into the BBC as follows:

"The Bottom line only represents one view of business, which is normally bad enough anyhow (how about a discussion programme with unions members every week?).  This week the discussion included workers rights, business ethics etc. but we only got the view of business owners we did not see hear the views of workers or wider society.

This is actually an issue that goes wider than The Bottom Line, and affects most reporting on the BBC, where it is very rare to hear a union spokesperson without a view from a business representative, but we very frequently hear from business spokespeople without any workers' voice."

Let's see how they respond.