Saturday, 7 January 2017

Checking 'Reality Check'



Here's a list/summary of the latest stand-alone Reality Check articles on the BBC News website (back to the start of November). 

Each entry details the person/organisation who is in the BBC Reality Check 'dock' and gives their position towards the question and a general overview of where they stand/where their latest comments stand. And below that is the BBC's verdict, which I've summarised into a one-word answer, wherever possible. 

(You can, of course, check them all for yourselves as links are provided to each piece).

Source of statement to be judged: Michael Gove, Conservative/Change Britain (arguing 'yes', pro-'hard Brexit')
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: John Healey, Labour (arguing 'no', anti-government)
The BBC's verdict?: True.

Source of statement to be judged: Nick Clegg, Lib Dem (arguing 'yes', anti-prison)
The BBC's verdict?: True.

Source of statement to be judged: Philip Davies, Conservative (arguing 'yes', pro-men)
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Mick Whelan, Aslef (arguing 'yes', anti-train companies)
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Peter Lilley, Conservative (arguing 'yes', anti-EU membership)
The BBC's verdict?: False

Source of statement to be judged: Jeremy Hunt, Conservative (arguing 'yes', pro-government)
The BBC's verdict?: False

Source of statement to be judged: The BBC News website (arguing 'yes' and 'no' in two different articles)
The BBC's verdict?: Neither true nor false, looking at different things.

Source of statement to be judged: Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative (arguing 'yes', anti-OBR)
The BBC's verdict?: False

Source of statement to be judged: Sir Michael Wilshaw, England's chief inspector of school (arguing 'yes', anti-North/South divide)
The BBC's verdict?: True.

Source of statement to be judged: A teenager who wants to be her cryopreserved (arguing 'yes', pro-cryopreservation)
The BBC's verdict?: Impossible to know at this stage.

Source of statement to be judged: Donald Trump in 2012 (arguing 'yes', anti-Obama in 2012) 
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Newspaper headlines (arguing 'yes' to a sharp rise in immigration, anti-mass immigration) 
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Change Britain campaign (arguing 'yes', pro-Brexit), 
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Robert Chote, OBR (arguing 'yes' to 'Brexit is costing us', anti-Brexit), 
The BBC's verdict?: True.

Source of statement to be judged: Wolfgang Schaeuble, German finance minister (arguing 'yes', pro-EU), 
The BBC's verdict?: True.

Source of statement to be judged: Jeremy Corbyn, Labour (arguing 'yes', anti-government), 
The BBC's verdict?: False.

Source of statement to be judged: Dominic Raab, Conservative (arguing 'yes', pro-Brexit), 
The BBC's verdict?: False.


From that can be drawn the following list of 'winners and losers':
Those debunked by the BBC: Michael Gove, Philip Davies, Mick Whelan, Peter Lilley, Jeremy Hunt, Iain Duncan Smith, Donald Trump, Change Britain, Jeremy Corbyn, Dominic Raab   
Those supported by the BBC: John Healey, Nick Clegg, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Robert Chote of the OBR, Wolfgang Schaeuble
The list of 'the Debunked' essentially consists of the political Right and the hard-Left, whereas the list of 'the Supported' (to put it crudely) consists of more centrist, 'Establishment' figures. 

Also striking is the number of articles debunking the claims of those who want us to leave the EU (or backing the claims of those who want us to stay in), which may be summarised as follows:

Reality Checks debunking Remain (or supporting Leave) talking points: 0
Reality Checks debunking Leave (or supporting Remain) talking points: 7

Of course, 'pro-Remain, left-liberal, mainstream, Establishment, Twitter-using types' will doubtless be keen to proudly proclaim (as they so often do in such cases): "All that proves is that reality has a liberal bias". 

On the other hand it could simply 'prove' that the BBC has a liberal bias on everything from the EU and immigration to prison reform, the far-Left and 'men's rights'.