My complaint to the BBC regarding Andrew Neil’s interview with Jeremy Corbyn

On the 26^th May I complained about the the obvious bias against Jeremy Corbyn shown by Andrew Neil in the interview that evening.  Here's what I wrote on the complaint form:

Andrew Neil spent approximately 15 minutes of an approximately 27 minute interview fixated on Jeremy Corbyn's past alleged support of the IRA followed by 4 minutes on defence policy which left very little time for the coverage of the vast array of other Labour manifesto policies.  8 minutes of coverage on nationally important election issues is not enough for the electorate to base their decision on or enough for people to base their opinion of Jeremy Corbyn's attitudes to those issues.

Mr Neil spent more time badgering or interrupting Mr Corbyn than letting him answer the questions raised.  In contrast, Mr Neil gave Theresa May a relatively easy ride in his recent interview with the Prime Minister which shows not only extreme bias against Mr Corbyn but also a abject dereliction of his and the BBC's duty to journalistic neutrality.

Mr Neil should be censured and the BBC should reflect on its duty to journalistic neutrality as a publically funded public service broadcaster.

I expected the usual crap response…and the BBC complaints department did not disappoint.

Here’s the full text of the e-mail I received from the BBC regarding my complaint against  Andrew Neil Interview programme on BBC1:

BBC Complaints - Case Number CAS-4389771-VXV641

Dear Mr Cook

Thanks for contacting us.

The Andrew Neil Interviews have provided viewers with the opportunity to see detailed scrutiny of the policies and track record of the party leaders ahead of the General Election. The interviews have been robust and challenging, but have allowed the leaders time to respond in detail to some of the big questions facing their campaign and concerning their ability to lead the country.

Just as Jeremy Corbyn faced difficult questions over defence and security, his spending plans, immigration and his leadership of the party, Theresa May faced difficult questions over social care, the winter fuel allowance, her government’s failure to meet its promises on immigration and the deficit, and her ability to account for spending promises on public services. In both tone and content, Andrew’s treatment of Mr Corbyn was fair, respectful and entirely consistent with his treatment of the other leaders in this series. He will continue to apply the same level of scrutiny to all his interviews.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind Regards

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

This is total crap as Andrew Neil didn’t give Theresa May half as hard a ride in her interview as he gave Corbyn in his.  I can say this as someone who likes Corbyn but doesn’t love him as much as some of the Labour members/supporters do.  There are some things that disappoint me about Corbyn and some views that we will potentially disagree on.  I’m also a strong advocate for a non-partisan political structure to our Parliament which would put me at odds with many Left-wingers and Right-wingers alike.

This is another attempt by the BBC to look politically neutral despite the fact that many of their senior current affairs presenters, reporters and editorial staff are, in fact, Conservative Party supporters and have voiced very anti-Labour sentiments (for one example, see the photo below)

 

With so many Tories in high-ranking and/or high-visibility roles in the BBC (see the photo below), can they really be unbiased in their interviewing and news coverage?

Even with the best will in the world many people’s political views leech into their discussions and the members of the media are no different.  Perhaps media outlets need to employ people of different political beliefs based on a quota system that needs to reflect the range of political views in the general population.  This would, of course, mean that people on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale need to have access to free education so that they may reach the educational level to access such careers.

Feel free to use the case number above to refer to if you’d like to make further complaints.