DS Forums

 
 

Question Time Bias?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 06-12-2016, 23:40
BanglaRoad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Stirling/Windsor/Overseas
Posts: 14,338

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016...?utm_hp_ref=uk
Not the bias you may have expected.
BanglaRoad is online now   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 06-12-2016, 23:44
MARTYM8
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 40,288
I expect if he has been promoting remain, the Lib Dems or Labour they wouldn't have bothered as that's station policy!
MARTYM8 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2016, 23:46
BanglaRoad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Stirling/Windsor/Overseas
Posts: 14,338
I expect if he has been promoting remain, the Lib Dems or Labour they wouldn't have bothered as that's station policy!
Who knows Marty?
But it certainly blows out of the water this myth that the producers have a left wing bias.
BanglaRoad is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2016, 23:52
Jayceef1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Kent
Posts: 3,039
Who knows Marty?
But it certainly blows out of the water this myth that the producers have a left wing bias.
It's one out of a team. hardly conclusive of bias. A picture of a poppy for remebrance day is not exactly controversial.
Jayceef1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 00:00
shaddler
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Station Eleven
Posts: 3,476
Who knows Marty?
But it certainly blows out of the water this myth that the producers have a left wing bias.
The article only refers to one man.
shaddler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 00:04
delegate zero
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,452
I expect if he has been promoting remain, the Lib Dems or Labour they wouldn't have bothered as that's station policy!
Its a "she" and she has been using her social media to EXCLUSIVELY ask EDL members to be in the audience.


http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/12...ake-audiences/

The parlour game of raging at the goggle-box every week as the BBC reeled out another panel of right-wing eejits for Question Time was getting a bit tired. We’d had wall-to-wall Farage and even Nick Griffin; trainloads of right-wing ‘think-tanks’ and ‘pressure groups’ you’d never heard of; programmes dislocated from place, attempts to shut-down speakers talking about Scotland in Scotland; bizarrely imbalanced panels and chairing that seemed to favour the hosts own chummy predilections. And the audiences seemed to be like cross-sections of a world you’d just never been in. Eventually I assumed that this just was the world outside my own bubble and that conspiracy notions about fixing BBCQT audiences were just my own daft lefty paranoia.
But – thanks to an alert reader – it seems that might not be so.
Step forward Alison Fuller Pedley job title ‘Audience Producer at BBC Question Time’, and member of the British Patriotic Front Facebook group. She also promotes ‘Britain First’ online.
The role of the Audience Producer is to select the people who will form the audience, as this ‘Behind the Scenes’ article confirms:
“According to the the Question Time website, the heart of the programme is its audience. “We don’t invite anyone” said Hopkin. “We have a dedicated producer who chooses a representative audience that reflects the demographic length. It is an honestly picked audience.” Every week audience producer Alison Fuller has to select the audience and, depending on the city they are in, this can mean considering more than 4,000 applications. This process involves checking the background of every applicant against their political affiliations, campaign involvements, advertising intentions, and many other factors. As the 150 people she selects are intended to embody the image of their city in the eyes of the programme’s nationwide audience, her job is one of the most important for the programme’s production.”
Her own Twitter account appears to be a muddle of BBCQT stuff and Leave endorsements.

She even invited the English Defence League to join the audience. As the Daily Politik wrote back in September:
You might ask, ‘what does it matter? She is an Audience Producer. She probably advertises to all sorts of social media groups, from the far right to the far left, trying to attract people to be part of the Question Time audience’. If that were true, I would not be writing this. Fuller Pedley posted the above post on the EDL Demonstration Page and her own Timeline only. She did not advertise audience positions to any other social media groups. Why would a BBC producer be encouraging members of EDL, exclusively, to apply to be in the Question Time audience?”
Perhaps it is simply the cynical realities behind tv production? Invite an audience and pepper it with extremists, it just makes for better telly? Is that what’s going on here?
We’ve heard a lot about fake news in recent days, maybe we have fake audiences too?
Mentorn Media has produced Question Time since 1998. We approached them for a response and will update you if and when we receive one.
delegate zero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 00:13
Cythna
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: London
Posts: 2,970
That's pretty shocking. I had been thinking that there was something different about QT audiences. It wasn't so much their opinions as the hostile and angry way they expressed them. Anyone who supported remain or leftish views was likely to be heckled, and Dimbleby seems unable to stop it. It makes for ugly viewing.
Cythna is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 08:09
BanglaRoad
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Stirling/Windsor/Overseas
Posts: 14,338
It's one out of a team. hardly conclusive of bias. A picture of a poppy for remebrance day is not exactly controversial.
If only it was just a picture of a poppy.
The point is that for years, right wing types have been saying that audience selection was biased in favour of left wing members. This was said without any evidence at all.
BanglaRoad is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 09:44
snowy ghost
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: East Angular
Posts: 12,903
I read something in the Canary about this too

Explains a lot
snowy ghost is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 10:15
jjwales
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 25,437
I expect if he has been promoting remain, the Lib Dems or Labour they wouldn't have bothered as that's station policy!
It's not station policy. Don't be daft.
jjwales is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 10:44
burneside
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Isle of Dogs
Posts: 2,143

That's pretty shocking. I had been thinking that there was something different about QT audiences. It wasn't so much their opinions as the hostile and angry way they expressed them. Anyone who supported remain or leftish views was likely to be heckled, and Dimbleby seems unable to stop it. It makes for ugly viewing.
Did you actually read the article? The QT audience is selected by a team of people, any alleged bias of one person would hardly skew an audience to any degree.

The accusation in the article that the producer "may have far right sympathies" for sharing a post encouraging people to wear a poppy is beyond ridiculous. I see that Wiki describes The Canary as a left-wing blog; enough said.
burneside is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 11:22
platelet
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: GL51 0EX
Posts: 14,090
I see that Wiki describes The Canary as a left-wing blog; enough said.
Accuracy on a wiki? Blimey that's rare
platelet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 11:40
angarrack
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,404
Question Time is basically an 'entertainment' show despite all the BBC huff and puff about it being the premier people's debating forum. Dimbleby likes to point out that the audience is the most important part of QT and that he encourages them to have their say.

But all the choices made by the BBC and their producers, from panel selection to location selection, to audience selection, to question selection, suggests their primary aim is entertainment. Lets brighten up the panel with a comedian or some other controversial celebrity; lets prepare a few traps for the politicians; lets make sure we have a 'lively' audience preferably with some activists on hand for the questions we know are going to come up.

Its all so predictable.
angarrack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 11:54
Doctor_Wibble
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 10,892
I never realised people used 'Front' in political type group names any more.

So what happened to the Popular British Patriotic Front then, is that him over there? What about the People's Front? etc


Perhaps it is simply the cynical realities behind tv production? Invite an audience and pepper it with extremists, it just makes for better telly? Is that what’s going on here?
That suggestion has been doing the rounds for a long time, and as long as there was some form of nominal balance between people on different sides of 'strongly held views' there would not be a problem. Is there a member of the audience-gathering team that specialises in extreme lefties?

There's also the other possibility of which sorts of political leanings tend to have people more inclined to apply to be in an audience in the first place.
Doctor_Wibble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 11:57
Thiswillbefun
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 2,582
Who knows Marty?
But it certainly blows out of the water this myth that the producers have a left wing bias.
You really thought there was a left wing bias?

They have the likes of Farage or one of his UKIP minions on every week.
They have a Tory on every week.
They have a right wing media representative on every week from the Mail, Express, Sun etc
The Labour representative they usually have on are anti-Corbyn, such as Chuka Umunna. Which usually means we're led to a "is Corbyn fit to lead" question the Labour MP sniggers at.

Then we have the one left-wing representative, which is usually a comedian, writer or singer such as Eddie Izzard or Charlotte Church, who have been allowed on as they can be easily dismissed.

This from a 2014 article. Not much has changed.

The chairman of the BBC Trust is Chris Patten, a former Conservative cabinet minister. The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, was once chairman of the Young Conservatives. His former senior political producer, Thea Rogers, became George Osborne's special advisor in 2012. Andrew Neil, the presenter of the BBC's flagship political programmes Daily Politics and This Week, is chairman of the conservative Spectator magazine. His editor is Robbie Gibb, former chief of staff to the Tory Francis Maude. After the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders left for a £400,000-a-year job at JP Morgan, she was replaced by its business editor Robert Peston. His position was taken by Kamal Ahmed from the rightwing Sunday Telegraph
Thiswillbefun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 12:37
angarrack
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,404
You really thought there was a left wing bias?

They have the likes of Farage or one of his UKIP minions on every week.
They have a Tory on every week.
They have a right wing media representative on every week from the Mail, Express, Sun etc
The Labour representative they usually have on are anti-Corbyn, such as Chuka Umunna. Which usually means we're led to a "is Corbyn fit to lead" question the Labour MP sniggers at.

Then we have the one left-wing representative, which is usually a comedian, writer or singer such as Eddie Izzard or Charlotte Church, who have been allowed on as they can be easily dismissed.

This from a 2014 article. Not much has changed.

The chairman of the BBC Trust is Chris Patten, a former Conservative cabinet minister. The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, was once chairman of the Young Conservatives. His former senior political producer, Thea Rogers, became George Osborne's special advisor in 2012. Andrew Neil, the presenter of the BBC's flagship political programmes Daily Politics and This Week, is chairman of the conservative Spectator magazine. His editor is Robbie Gibb, former chief of staff to the Tory Francis Maude. After the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders left for a £400,000-a-year job at JP Morgan, she was replaced by its business editor Robert Peston. His position was taken by Kamal Ahmed from the rightwing Sunday Telegraph
Seeing left wing bias or right wing bias is all part of the fun of watching Question Time. Its like recognising the stereotypes in the audience.

It used to be the person who played the trump card: 'its all about oil', then it was the person who blamed everything on 'the cuts'. Now its the self-proclaimed NHS worker who reckons his occupation merits special respect for his views.
angarrack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 14:32
Parker45
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: London
Posts: 2,247
It's been clear for some time from the comments they make that many Brexiteers in the audience have not been ordinary members of the public but have been activists for Leave.
Parker45 is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 14:44
burneside
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Isle of Dogs
Posts: 2,143

It's been clear for some time from the comments they make that many Brexiteers in the audience have not been ordinary members of the public but have been activists for Leave.
I gave up watching QT a long time ago, but started viewing again once the referendum was announced. I think the Brexiters in the audience were just ordinary members of the public expressing their pent-up anger and frustration of being part of EU project for the last 43 years. Given the mood of the QT audience in the months leading up to the referendum, the result was no great surprise.
burneside is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 15:19
TeeGee
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Dark Satanic Mills
Posts: 4,813
I gave up watching QT a long time ago, but started viewing again once the referendum was announced. I think the Brexiters in the audience were just ordinary members of the public expressing their pent-up anger and frustration of being part of EU project for the last 43 years. Given the mood of the QT audience in the months leading up to the referendum, the result was no great surprise.
Unfortunately they were ignored for the last 43 years and voted accordingly. The government just never saw it coming such was the certainty of their own superiority.
TeeGee is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 16:33
Inkblot
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: West London
Posts: 24,303
Unfortunately they were ignored for the last 43 years and voted accordingly. The government just never saw it coming such was the certainty of their own superiority.
If that were really true, wouldn't UKIP have been much more successful much more quickly? Euroscepticism has been around as long as the EEC, EC, EU etc.

Many people will remember when the only time you saw any publicity for UKIP was when you drove through the countryside and some farmers would have UKIP billboards in their fields. Do you still see them? I'd say no, because UKIP changed from being a lobby for British businesses against European regulation to being something else entirely.

And it's that something else entirely that got them on Question Time, and got them noticed by disaffected voters looking for something to blame for the way the country had changed.
Inkblot is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2016, 16:40
TeeGee
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Dark Satanic Mills
Posts: 4,813
If that were really true, wouldn't UKIP have been much more successful much more quickly? Euroscepticism has been around as long as the EEC, EC, EU etc.
.
Voting UKIP would not have got a UKIP MP but given away a seat to Labour by splitting the Conservative vote. A Referendum was a certain win and a major upset for the government.
TeeGee is online now   Reply With Quote
 
Reply



Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 20:04.