Of all the things about the UK election coverage yesterday, it was the social media reaction to Laura Kuenssberg that most caught my attention.
From lunchtime to early evening I learned from the BBC that the SNP had won big in Scotland again.
From lunchtime to early evening I learned from the BBC that the SNP had won big in Scotland again.
Their [near] triumph and Nicola Sturgeon's victory comments led the BBC One News at One and News at Six.
Both bulletins - especially the News at Six - also made much of the remarkable revival of the Scottish Conservatives under Buffalo Ruth and Labour's astonishing, absolutely humiliating third place there. [The striking (if modest) rebirth of the Lib Dems also got the briefest of mentions.]
Also in the headlines of both bulletins (and the BBC website at the time) was Jeremy Corbyn claiming that Labour had "hung on". The bulletin I watched most closely was the BBC One News at Six and, though the exact opposite of a Corbynista, I have to say that I watched Laura Kuenssberg and John Pienaar's reports and thought (especially whilst watching Laura's piece), "Oh dear! I bet the Corbynistas on Twitter are going to go completely mad about this!"...
...and the Corbynistas on Twitter did go completely mad about it. A 38 Degrees petition (of Leftists) demanding that Laura K be sacked from the BBC has rocketed up ever since. (Anti-Laura Rightists might like to join in).
And, to be honest, I really can't say I blame them (though I smiled at the thought of their discomfort throughout). Laura put on a sneering tone and was largely negative about Labour's performance here.
I was going to transcribe it to show you what I mean but the BBC iPlayer has been experiencing major difficulties over the past couple of days and that bulletin hasn't been available to re-watch.
All of this backs up an earlier exchange here at ITBB over Laura K's strange confrontation with John McDonnell which seemed unusually aggressive - and pointless - on her part.
And - as the Corbynistas on Twitter would also point out - Laura's Twitter feed has been Labour in-fighting-obsessed (and not to Mr. Corbyn's advantage).
This isn't, of course, necessarily 'complaints from both sides'. That the far-Left, the SNP and the Right feel aggrieved at the BBC while the centre and the centre-Left don't feel aggrieved (anywhere near as much) suggests that 'both sides' might have a point and that the BBC is biased towards the 'soggy' centre-Left.
All of this backs up an earlier exchange here at ITBB over Laura K's strange confrontation with John McDonnell which seemed unusually aggressive - and pointless - on her part.
And - as the Corbynistas on Twitter would also point out - Laura's Twitter feed has been Labour in-fighting-obsessed (and not to Mr. Corbyn's advantage).
This isn't, of course, necessarily 'complaints from both sides'. That the far-Left, the SNP and the Right feel aggrieved at the BBC while the centre and the centre-Left don't feel aggrieved (anywhere near as much) suggests that 'both sides' might have a point and that the BBC is biased towards the 'soggy' centre-Left.
