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The BBC received far more complaints on coverage on the recent election from Conservative (right) supporters than any other group: https://www.theguardian.com/

The BBC received far more complaints on coverage on the recent election from Conservative (right) supporters than any other group: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/31/bbc-election-coverage-draws-more-complaints-from-tory-than-labour-supporters https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/dec/31/bbc-election-c... The right wing in the UK is usually the group most critical of the BBC (AKA "Brussels Broadcasting Corporation"). I would agree that the coverage during the Scottish referendum in 2014 was biased but I think that this is because the BBC is naturally biased towards the status-quo. Any organisation that can produce The Thick of It being critical of politicians and W1A about its own antics can't be all bad....

Fishman343 7y ago
In the post-trump era, right wing complaints against an organisation aren't necessarily a sign that that organisation is doing a good thing. Complaints from the factions in power in the UK at the moment are usually just a sign that their actions 'arent right enough' rather than not being right wing full stop. Also, the BBC News wing has separate management, some of whom were appointed during Cameron's time in office. So the drama and comedy produced by the BBC can be independent of its news editing.
pjc50 7y ago
Complaints are, like any "flagging" system, being weaponized to move the Overton window. There's plenty of people willing to write in and complain any time the BBC says that global warming is happening, that shouldn't be taken as a need to "correct" that. > I think that this is because the BBC is naturally biased towards the status-quo. Yes. And fearful of losing funding.
dpwm 7y ago
It's worth noting that the linked article does offer selection bias as an explanation – suggesting that conservative supporters were more likely to write letters, supporters of other parties less likely to. Number of complaints seems a pretty poor measure of bias, but it is one that is often used to reinforce the idea of the BBC's impartiality.
- arethuza 7y ago
  Well, as someone who doesn't support any of the UK major national parties I'd say that the BBC was fairly good at making pretty much all of them look equally unappealing!

Fishman343 7y ago

In the post-trump era, right wing complaints against an organisation aren't necessarily a sign that that organisation is doing a good thing. Complaints from the factions in power in the UK at the moment are usually just a sign that their actions 'arent right enough' rather than not being right wing full stop. Also, the BBC News wing has separate management, some of whom were appointed during Cameron's time in office. So the drama and comedy produced by the BBC can be independent of its news editing.

pjc50 7y ago

Complaints are, like any "flagging" system, being weaponized to move the Overton window. There's plenty of people willing to write in and complain any time the BBC says that global warming is happening, that shouldn't be taken as a need to "correct" that. > I think that this is because the BBC is naturally biased towards the status-quo. Yes. And fearful of losing funding.

dpwm 7y ago

It's worth noting that the linked article does offer selection bias as an explanation – suggesting that conservative supporters were more likely to write letters, supporters of other parties less likely to. Number of complaints seems a pretty poor measure of bias, but it is one that is often used to reinforce the idea of the BBC's impartiality.

arethuza 7y ago
Well, as someone who doesn't support any of the UK major national parties I'd say that the BBC was fairly good at making pretty much all of them look equally unappealing!