The Student Room Group

Does this prove the BBC is biased?

Rona Fairhead, the Head of the BBC Trust, attended a secret meeting of an organisation founded by the secretary general of the "European Movement", Josef Retinger to foster creation of the EU - here is the attendance list for June 2015 meeting (US Investment Banks Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan paid for "Britain Stronger In Europe" a couple of days later).

Such people are allowed to engage in personal arrangements. It's like people saying the beeb qas pro tory last year because several people are tories.

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Original post by Jammy Duel
Such people are allowed to engage in personal arrangements. It's like people saying the beeb qas pro tory last year because several people are tories.

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You suppose the jobs of these people were unrelated to their being at the meeting? Where is my invite?

Your example is wrong. What I am saying is that if the head of a media organisation, backed by the government (Osborne was there), attends the Tory Party election planning meeting then they are probably going to support the Tories. Being a Tory is one thing but participating in major, secret, planning meetings of a Tory supporting group with the financial backers of the election campaign in attendance is entirely different.
Reply 3
Original post by newpersonage
You suppose the jobs of these people were unrelated to their being at the meeting? Where is my invite?

Your example is wrong. What I am saying is that if the head of a media organisation, backed by the government (Osborne was there), attends the Tory Party election planning meeting then they are probably going to support the Tories. Being a Tory is one thing but participating in major, secret, planning meetings of a Tory supporting group with the financial backers of the election campaign in attendance is entirely different.


Does it prove the BBC are biased?

Easy answer: no.
Original post by newpersonage
You suppose the jobs of these people were unrelated to their being at the meeting? Where is my invite?

Your example is wrong. What I am saying is that if the head of a media organisation, backed by the government (Osborne was there), attends the Tory Party election planning meeting then they are probably going to support the Tories. Being a Tory is one thing but participating in major, secret, planning meetings of a Tory supporting group with the financial backers of the election campaign in attendance is entirely different.


Somebody being in a position and abusing that position are two different things. This is not proof if bias because it is not proof that coverage is being slanted in favour of in.

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Original post by newpersonage
You suppose the jobs of these people were unrelated to their being at the meeting? Where is my invite?


Oh for goodness sake. I means absolutely nothing. Laura Kuenssberg interviewed David Cameron. Does that suggest the BBC is biased towards the government?
Original post by ByEeek
Oh for goodness sake. I means absolutely nothing. Laura Kuenssberg interviewed David Cameron. Does that suggest the BBC is biased towards the government?


There is a huge difference between interviewing a politician and attending secret meetings where that politician is being financed (without reporting on it). One is the simple pursuit of an employment and the other is becoming a supporter of a cause.

It is the head of the BBC we are talking about here who was parachuted into the job by Cameron when he realised his manifesto would force him to call the referendum. She was CEO of the FT, who were also at the meeting, before being head hunted for the BBC.

"Sources such as The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph reported that her appointment had caused surprise at the BBC, which had expected someone with a higher public profile to get the job."
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Jammy Duel
Such people are allowed to engage in personal arrangements. It's like people saying the beeb qas pro tory last year because several people are tories.

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The BBC is pro-Tory. David Cameron literally threatened to shut them down. Not that it makes much difference, because most of the media in this country was already pro-Tory.
Reply 8
BBC already gets EU funding
Original post by JordanL_
The BBC is pro-Tory. David Cameron literally threatened to shut them down. Not that it makes much difference, because most of the media in this country was already pro-Tory.


And they would get shut down if they were pro tory, there are strict rules regarding neutrality of broadcasters

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Original post by Jammy Duel
Somebody being in a position and abusing that position are two different things. This is not proof if bias because it is not proof that coverage is being slanted in favour of in.

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Yes, that is the great thing about bias in broadcasting, you cannot measure it.

Obviously even attending such a secret meeting is proof of bias in the Chair of the BBC Trust. If the head is biased the body probably is as well, but as you say, we cannot prove that the body is biased so it is reasonable to assume that, in the absence of you proving the opposite, the bias in the head of the organisation = bias in the organisation. So over to you - prove that the BBC is not biased.
Original post by newpersonage

Obviously even attending such a secret meeting is proof of bias in the Chair of the BBC Trust. If the head is biased the body probably is as well, but as you say, we cannot prove that the body is biased so it is reasonable to assume that, in the absence of you proving the opposite, the bias in the head of the organisation = bias in the organisation. So over to you - prove that the BBC is not biased.


Wow - using logic like that, you could be a chief political advisor. How on earth do you get from

person attends meeting = person is biased = whole organisation is biased ???

This is the chair of the BBC Trust we are talking about which doesn't have any hand in the operation of the BBC. If the trust started dictating how the BBC should cover politics I can guarantee there would be a very public bun fight about it.

And you can measure impartiality. You simply measure the amount of time and coverage given to a particular party or view point and compare it to the amount of time given to the opposing view or party.

Of course, if you are biased strongly to one opinion or another, you are more likely to miss views that align with your own and focus on views that do not and therefore assume the output was biased because they said something you disagreed with.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by newpersonage
Yes, that is the great thing about bias in broadcasting, you cannot measure it.

Obviously even attending such a secret meeting is proof of bias in the Chair of the BBC Trust. If the head is biased the body probably is as well, but as you say, we cannot prove that the body is biased so it is reasonable to assume that, in the absence of you proving the opposite, the bias in the head of the organisation = bias in the organisation. So over to you - prove that the BBC is not biased.


That is dreadful logic, last i checked the Laboir party is biased in favour of remaining in the EU but tjeir leader is dead against that, fpr instance.
Original post by ByEeek
Wow - using logic like that, you could be a chief political advisor. How on earth do you get from

person attends meeting = person is biased = whole organisation is biased ???
.

Its simple:

Head of organisation attends secret meeting planning finance for Remain = Head is biased, Head sets overall values of BBC = BBC is biased

Its simple when you add the actual events - your version was: person attends innocuous meeting = person biased = whole orgn biased - missed out the status of the person, the secrecy of the meeting, the purpose of the meeting and the role of the head of an organisation.
Original post by newpersonage


Head of organisation attends secret meeting planning finance for Remain = Head is biased, Head sets overall values of BBC = BBC is biased


But this isn't the head who sets values. It is the chair of the trust. She has no control over the operations of the BBC. All she does it head a committee that ensures the BBC follows its mandate as set out in the charter. Her position may be compromised, but it is a massive leap of faith to say the whole BBC is biased by one person.

Like I say - plucking rollocks out of the air like that with no evidence to support it - you should be an advisor to someone like Boris Johnson where you would go far. :smile:
(edited 7 years ago)

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