The BBC’s ‘on the ground’ piece for the Christmas junior doctors’ strike is based almost entirely on uncritical quotes from two BMA officials who are not named as such. This is the award-winning journalism you pay for on pain of prosecution…
Yesterday’s article in the South of England section was titled “I am sleep-deprived, overworked and deserve more” and carried quotes from three people, one of whom was the chief executive of the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust in Reading. The only two junior doctors consulted were called Heather Gunn and Matt Bilton. Gunn said “I do not want to be strike, I want to be at work helping my colleagues. Unfortunately the reality is that many doctors like myself face the prospect of not having a job”…
Bilton said “The government… put an offer this past week but it was too little, too late, and so unfortunately we have no alternative.” Nice line that, wonder who came up with it…
Nowhere in the piece does the BBC care to mention that Gunn is deputy chairman of the BMA’s South Central Regional Council and Matt Bilton is longtime Chairman of the BMA’s Thames Valley Regional Resident Doctors Committee. Pop that piece in the bin would you darling…
The BBC has today sent an round robin email to members of a staff network:
“A message from Alice Macandrew (BBC Pride Executive Sponsor) and Simone Marquis (Chief Talent and Inclusion Officer)
Dear all,
We recognise that the last few days have been difficult for many of you. Like many other organisations, the BBC is waiting to see the updated Equality Act 2010 Code of Practice in order to understand the Supreme Court ruling more fully and any legal implications to our policies and practices.
We want to be really clear that in no circumstances will we accept this ruling being used as a mechanic to create an environment of hostility towards our trans and non-binary colleagues. We are committed to ensuring that everyone at the BBC feels safe and accepted when they come to work – and that we engender a culture of belonging. This means all of us of us working together.
For that reason, we’re keen to create a space to hear from our trans and non- binary colleagues on what more we can do to create an environment where the community feels valued, safe and respected. We would like to invite trans and non-binary colleagues to a dedicated In-Person Listening session.
It will be a great opportunity for us to meet you and for you to share how you are feeling, to help us understand what some of your challenges are and discuss your thoughts about what practical steps we could take to create an inclusive environment. Alice will host as the ExCo Sponsor while Rhodri Evans from the D&l team will be present to help facilitate the session alongside Anna Shackleton the HR Director for BBC Pride, and Matt the co-chair of BBC Pride We’ve arranged two sessions, one in London and one in Salford.”
The BBC confirms to Guido this is internal email – “a staff network message to their members, not a corporate central message from the BBC.” Talk about impartial reporting…
Guido had a cursory scroll of the BBC News website earlier and had a look at their article titled: “UK borrowing costs at highest for a year after Budget.” That headline is nowhere to be seen now…
The article was given a new headline by 10 a.m. today on online displays: “Investors reaction to Budget ‘very different’ to Truss, says Reeves’ colleague.” The entire top of the piece had market analysis replaced with supportive quotes from ‘colleague’ Darren Jones. Who happens to be Chief Secretary to the Treasury…
Gone is testimony from actual analysts:
“Yields have been driven higher after the chancellor announced a sharp rise in government borrowing… Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at trading firm XTB, said the movement indicated that the Budget ‘has not been well received’ by markets. ‘This is another sign that the chancellor overestimated the market’s desire to absorb more sovereign debt issuance from the UK,’ she said.”
That was replaced by multiple quotes from Jones claiming a spike in gilt yields was fine and normal:
“He said investors always reacted to Budgets because they present a whole load of new information. ‘We’ve all got a bit of anxiety from what happened when Liz Truss was in government.'”
The article’s headline doesn’t reference Jones, so it just reads “Investors’ reaction to Budget ‘very different’ to Truss.” So it looks to a layman like an impartial observer’s view…
Note the article isn’t a live piece. BBC readers can’t see previous updates – just the brand new Labour-positive version. Wouldn’t be the first time the BBC has caved in to the slightest pressure from the Number 10 press office…
This morning the Today Programme brought on the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, to give her analysis of Tim Walz‘ running-mate speech at the Democratic National Convention. What followed was pure fawning praise:
“It was a very impressive performance from somebody who is not an experienced public speaker and he gave the energy of your favorite high school teacher suddenly stepping up to the plate and telling the country things could be better I thought it was really interestingly brief which is always merciful in political speeches and extremely effective and he showed that this is a man who is a campaigner who is ready for the national stage even though I think most people in that hall had not heard of him three weeks ago.“
Nick Robinson tried to offer some counter by weakly adding that Republicans call Walz a “phony“. Smith was having none of it:
“That was a man dripping in authenticity that we saw appear there tonight. Somebody really very very unaffected by the national stage who looked entirely what he is: A former high school teacher a former football coach, the governor of a small state who’s proud of what he’s achieved in that state and who wants to bring things to America. There is nothing about him that seems contrived in any way at all. Now maybe you don’t want somebody bringing the ‘big dad’ energy to the campaign maybe you don’t like his small-town values but I think it would be very difficult to describe him as a phony of any kind.“
Robinson then also gave up with the impartiality malarkey and said Walz is a “very good warm-up act too“. To much agreement:
“He does, and and he was talking a lot about how proud he is of Harris and how great she will be for the country and he was a very very effective spokesperson for her.“
The entire 23-minute episode of Smith’s Americast episode about JD Vance’s RNC speech featured only impartial, to-be-expected coverage. Guido leaves it up to co-conspirators to decide whether today’s coverage corresponds with the BBC’s impartiality guidelines…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”
