My own very small-scale contribution (at the moment) to monitoring the BBC's coverage of the EU referendum is to look at Newsnight, specifically the fairly-easy-to-answer question, 'Is there a balance of guests between pro-Leave and pro-Remain?'
It's only 'fairly-easy-to-answer' because you need a consistent starting-point for including the guest in the final list. In other words, if, say, Steven Woolfe of UKIP is interviewed by Newsnight (as he was on 20th Jan), but only on the topic of immigration, and he isn't asked about the EU and doesn't mention the EU himself, well, that obviously excludes him from the list.
But what of those who are on to discuss the migrant crisis and who do make strong pro-EU points (though not points about the UK's membership of the EU)? Veteran German MEP Elmer Brok (on 26th Jan) is such a candidate. That's a trickier one. He's famously pro-EU and was bound, when invited, to make pro-EU points - as Newsnight might have been expected to realise. But, no, overall I don't think he should be included because his comments were pretty much 'in passing'.
That leaves us then with the following list for January 2016:
5/1 - Ken Clarke MP, Conservative - REMAIN
& Liam Fox MP, Conservative - LEAVE
13/1 - Alan Johnson MP, Labour - REMAIN
14/1 - George Osborne MP, Conservative - REMAIN
27/1 - Carl Bildt, former Swedish PM - REMAIN
29/1 - Lucy Thomas, Britain Stronger in Europe- REMAIN
& Dan Hannan MEP, Vote Leave - LEAVE
These were all substantial interviews, exclusively or largely focused on the issue of the UK's membership of the EU.
Now. some might question the labelling of George Osborne as 'REMAIN' as he sometimes calls himself a 'Eurosceptic', even though pretty much every reporter (pro-EU or anti-EU) reckons he's among the most pro-EU members of the present government. Paddy Ashdown's hat would have to be eaten by huge numbers of people if Mr Osborne came out on the LEAVE side - and no-one, as far as I can see, thinks that's even remotely likely. So he remains a 'REMAIN' in my list.
What the list shows so far is that REMAIN has received five spots and LEAVE just two.
Both of those LEAVE interviews were conducted alongside interviews with REMAIN supporters (one consecutively, the other simultaneously). The other three REMAIN interviews had no such counter-balancing interviews with LEAVE supporters.
Even if you put George Osborne in some kind of Schrödinger's cat-style limbo - as neither REMAIN nor LEAVE (or both) - that's still a striking imbalance, isn't it? The interviews with Alan Johnson and Carl Bildt were both substantial, rather hands-off and heavily focused on why the UK should stay in the EU. There was no equivalent interview with a LEAVE supporter.
We'll have to see how Newsnight fares as the months go on (unless the BBC cancels it of course!). It's not got off to a good start though, has it, on this evidence?
Now. some might question the labelling of George Osborne as 'REMAIN' as he sometimes calls himself a 'Eurosceptic', even though pretty much every reporter (pro-EU or anti-EU) reckons he's among the most pro-EU members of the present government. Paddy Ashdown's hat would have to be eaten by huge numbers of people if Mr Osborne came out on the LEAVE side - and no-one, as far as I can see, thinks that's even remotely likely. So he remains a 'REMAIN' in my list.
What the list shows so far is that REMAIN has received five spots and LEAVE just two.
Both of those LEAVE interviews were conducted alongside interviews with REMAIN supporters (one consecutively, the other simultaneously). The other three REMAIN interviews had no such counter-balancing interviews with LEAVE supporters.
Even if you put George Osborne in some kind of Schrödinger's cat-style limbo - as neither REMAIN nor LEAVE (or both) - that's still a striking imbalance, isn't it? The interviews with Alan Johnson and Carl Bildt were both substantial, rather hands-off and heavily focused on why the UK should stay in the EU. There was no equivalent interview with a LEAVE supporter.
We'll have to see how Newsnight fares as the months go on (unless the BBC cancels it of course!). It's not got off to a good start though, has it, on this evidence?
