BBC bias officially admitted
02 September 2010
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“The admission by BBC Director General Mark Thompson in The New Statesman that the BBC has a history of a “massive bias to the Left” should act as a reminder to us all that the Corporation’s output should be treated with caution to say the least. The BBC was massively biased not just in the 1970s but remains so today.
“In Northern Ireland the Corporation still refuses to move out of the “liberal-minded comfort zone” described by Mr Thompson. Throughout the so-called peace process it has relentlessly pushed a pro-appeasement message. Those who dissent from the perceived wisdom of releasing terrorists from jail and elevating them to government frequently find themselves excluded from the airwaves.
“My own dealings with the BBC are littered with examples, one such was when they attempted to exclude TUV from all their coverage of the murder of the two soldiers in Antrim. TUV had to fight for days to get any space on the airwaves at all and when we got it the time was kept to a few seconds, the absolute minimum.
“The same bias can be seen when it comes to the allocation of party election broadcasts and time on political discussion programmes.
“Although Mr Thomson is anxious to claim that the BBC has now changed and is fundamentally different from the organisation which he joined, any objective analysis of the Corporation’s output will reveal that it retains a deep seated bias against those coming from a right of centre perspective.
"In light of Mark Thompson's admission I call on the local BBC Controller to face up to the local dimension of this inherent bias and commit, not just by word, but by deed, to its elimination.”
