Continuing on from John Simpson yesterday and Paddy O'Connell this morning...
Matt Zarb-Cousin, former spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn (see also here), contributed to The World This Weekend's sympathetic profile of Robbie Gibb, and this is how part of his discussion with Shaun Ley went:
Shaun Ley: In his view this is particularly the case because Robbie Gibb is not the only BBC journalist to leave broadcasting in order to work for the Conservatives:Matt Zarb-Cousin: You look at the backgrounds of a lot of the political journalists at the BBC at the moment and you can maybe conclude that a lot of them are right-leaning or Conservative. Whether or not that manifests itself in their work is a matter of debate, but it's incredibly difficult, I think, to expect it not to.
Shaun Ley: A lot of people reading the press might think it was anything but the case. They might think the BBC was a den of lefties.Matt Zarb-Cousin: That was the perception for a long time but, I think, if you just look at the background of the political staff the BBC at the moment I don't think you could really conclude that it's a den of lefties anymore.
Note how Shaun blames "the press" for making people think that the BBC is 'a den of lefties'.
Whether or not that manifests itself in their work is a matter of debate, but it's incredibly difficult, I think, to expect it not to.
ReplyDeleteYet we've been told for years that it's not the case, and we're only imagining it. Now that it's about alleged right-wingers, though, those people are unable to leave their opinions at the door?
Laura Kuenssberg is right-leaning? Norman Smith? Maybe James Landsdale. What political reporters is he talking about? The is list of LinkedIn profiles shows a group uninfested by right-wing backgrounds. It's mostly BBC lifers
https://www.linkedin.com/title/political-reporter-at-bbc
Of course, there was that Northern Ireland reporter who quit a couple years ago to become a nun.....
That Linkedin list is a useful new resource (for me). Thanks David.
DeleteWhat I've been hearing from the BBC shows them taking huge pleasure in all the cross-claiming confusion caused by the 'complaints from both sides' fallacy.
The ability of the BBC to imagine itself not to be a news medium seems oddly honest.
ReplyDelete