Fisking 'Feedback' on the BBC's Brexit coverage

Whatever reservations some of us might have about Samira Ahmed's Newswatch and its usefulness (though I'm glad it exists and that it's to the credit that the BBC broadcasts it), I really don't think it can be credibly denied that its teeth are a heck of lot sharper than its Radio 4 equivalent, Roger Bolton's Feedback...

...or that the otherwise very opinionated, censorious Samira Ahmed does a far, far better job of concealing her own views than Roger Bolton ever manages to do.

For example, Samira would never begin an edition of Newswatch like this: 

Roger Bolton: Hello. It's nice to be back. Nothing much has happened at the BBC since we've been off-air, just a little local difficulty about gender equality and presenters pay and the usual accusations of leftie-liberal bias. Oh, and the BBC is now the prime target in the age-old political game of 'Shoot the Messenger'. The reason? This:

BBC newsreader: Senior ministers will meet tomorrow to discuss what the government wants from the final Brexit deal. 

Roger Bolton: Yes, Brexit.

Note the dismissive, mocking tone of "the usual accusations of leftie-liberal bias" followed by the emphatic, preemptive, opinionated, even-more-dismissive defence of the BBC in "Oh, and the BBC is now the prime target in the age-old political game of 'Shoot the Messenger'" (specifically in connection with the BBC's coverage of Brexit).

Yes, Samira Ahmed (however opinionated and illiberal she might be on Twitter, or in newspapers, or in magazines, or on other BBC programmes) would never glibly mock viewers' concerns on Newswatch itself.

She's a professional.

And, likewise, nor would she openly prejudge the main subject of her programme (such as the BBC's impartiality over Brexit) by openly giving her own view of the subject in advance - as Roger Bolton did here. 

We were less than a minute into the first episode of  a new series of Feedback today and already the presenter's own bias had completely scuppered it for me, impartiality-wise.

I can still see the point of Newswatch, but, really, what is the point of Radio 4's Feedback? 

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That was, of course, just the introduction to today's Feedback and Roger, in true BBC style, might have come over 'all impartial' later. 

Did he?

(Go on, have a guess!)

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So let's move on to his introduction to main segment:

First, what is the point of trying to make a balanced and impartial programme about Brexit? The country is so divided that members of the same families aren't speaking to one another, and the generations and the nations are split down the middle. Facts are scarce and always contested, and fears are omnipresent. So I admire the courage and ambition of Chris Morris who, this week on Radio 4, began a third series of Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed. Subjects covered include: medicines, potatoes and Gibraltar. As with Brexit itself listeners, were deeply divided in their responses...

Professors of English Language could use this a case study of how to skew an argument in a certain direction before either the pre-interview listener comments or the interview itself had even begun. 

The opening rhetorical question was obviously intended as a preemptive sigh on behalf of Chris Morris.

The next sentence is hyperbole.

The third is loaded.

The fourth (beginning "So I admire the courage and ambition of Chris Morris...") is another blatant signal of where the 'impartial' presenter stands.

The fifth sentence is descriptive.

The sixth is a variant of our old 'complaints from both sides' friend...

...but the vox pops then featured did NOT show a classic 'complaints from both sides' situation, or that the audience was particularly divided. A man called Alan criticised Chris Morris's programme for being pretty relentlessly negative about Brexit. All of the other criticisms weren't bias-related. And none of the others went all 'Lord Adonis' by claiming the reverse. 

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And then came the interview with Chris Morris. 

Well, as with Chris's previous series of his Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed, I found this one to be a severe test of patience because of its overwhelming negativity about Brexit. I intend, time permitting, to spell out why at huge length over the coming couple of weeks why I've found the latest series so biased (as I've done with previous series), but what interests me here - besides Chris Morris's utter blindless to his own bias - is Roger Bolton's questioning. 

Note how feebly Roger represents the views of Alan. 

And note how, intentionally or unintentionally, he weakens him even further by turning him into a straw man with his suggestion that Alan would say "And, of course, you've got to trust our governments" (shades of Cathy Newman 'So you're saying' there!)

And note how Roger tells Chris "You are right to point out it's a problem" before employing an emphasis on 'he' to say that he - Alan - would say something else. [Rhetorically-put: 'You're right but some bozo would say...']. 

Poor Alan strikes me as being the fall guy for pro-Brexit BBC bashers here. Roger isn't helping him.

And note how the 'complaint from the other side' is presented with much greater clarity and conviction...

...and by misstating the argument...(19 anti-Brexit economists v 1 pro-Brexit non-economist, as if Patrick Minford & Co. aren't economists.

And note how Roger then amplifies that marginal, hardline Remain view about BBC false balance' yet further with his  2+5=4' v '2+2=5 stuff...

...and how he then again sympathises with Chris about how "very, very tricky" his position is. And under how much "pressure" he is.

And Roger's final line, however jokingly, one final time expresses sympathy with poor put-upon Chris too. ("I hope he's getting well paid for it").

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As for Chris Morris's replies, well, he's obviously sticking to his guns and conceding nothing..

...except (in classic BBC style) in conceding that the 'false balance' Remain hardliners complain about might be "a problem"!

His one concession, you'll note, goes in just one direction. 

He's content - despite knowing how much it infuriates people who want Brexit - to say he thinks concentrating on the worst case scenario is justified because....well, because "that shows that we're taking Brexit seriously"...and it's a massive "challenge".  

Hmm, I'm not sure that will reassure people that the BBC is being impartial here!!

And I don't think the two questions he cites as being the ones to ask - 'What are your concerns?' and 'What are your worries?' - will convince such people either. Couldn't he, in his 'road-testing', have also chose the questions 'What are your hopes? and ' What good things are you expecting?' as just-as-valuable questions? 

Isn't the positive worth road-testing as much as the negative? 

And our Chris is very fond of the word 'experts' - rather provocatively so. His tone made the intent of his provocation clear. 

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Please feel free to call this post a sledgehammer to crack a nut...

...but for BBC Radio 4's flagship 'watchdog' programme to discuss the crucial question of bias and for its presenter to dismiss it and mock BBC critics at the start and then for that same BBC Radio 4 presenter to conduct a biased pro-BBC interview with the BBC reporter supposedly 'in the dock' is  beyond being funny. It disgraces the BBC, doesn't it?

Please listen for yourselves here or read, at leisure, our transcript below:

Roger Bolton: Well, I'm now joined by Chris Morris, presenter of Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed. Chris, why are doing the programme? Because Alan Giles says, "It's just all based on supposition".
Chris Morris: I think that began with the desire to get away from some of the political maelstrom, the daily mud-slinging, as you heard from one of the contributors there. A lot of the coverage in the media is about the politics of Brexit. To begin with - it's changing a bit  now - but there was less about the practicalities of Brexit. And when we were asked to do this programme - essentially 15-minute bite-size chunks (not just for Radio 4 but of importance for a podcast audience as well) l said, well, I'm happy to do so long as it as doesn't sound like 15 minutes of the Today programme because there's plenty of coverage of the politics of Brexit elsewhere on Radio 4.
Roger Bolton: But that's not a surprise because this is essentially about judgment about the future, isn't it, and, going back to Alan Giles's point, it's supposition. So where are the facts that you can, if you like, you know, bring out?
Chris Morris: Well, there are plenty of facts in  there. I agree that what is difficult is the debate around economic forecasting, because by its nature that is something which is essentially trying to predict the future. Now, maybe it's done by people who have expertise in economics, but it's still a prediction of the future. But let me give you one example: a programme we did this week about medicines. There are thousands of medicines which are currently registered in the UK, and if we leave the European Medicines Agency pharmaceutical companies will have to move the registration of those medicines to elsewhere in the EU to continue to be able to sell them. That's a fact. They've told us that, and they're going to do that fairly soon. Similarly with the nuclear medicines, we heard Alan complaining that it's just about supposition, Well, the people we were talking to - with the chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, a representative of the British Nuclear Medicines Agency - these are people who I don't think have axes to grind. They are experts in their field...
Roger Bolton: But Alan's point would be: Well, this is the worst case scenario. And, of course, you've got to trust our governments. They're not going to do anything suicidal like this. They're obviously....you are right to point out it's a problem but he would say the assumption is it's an insuperable problem. 'Be more optimistic!' That's what he'd say.
Chris Morris: In some cases it is the worst case scenario, but I think that shows that we're taking Brexit seriously. We're assuming it's going to happen and I think it is without doubt the biggest change this country is facing in decades and, so, I think we have a responsibility to road-test it. And by road-testing we can say, well, we go to the people in various sectors - whether it be medicines or the nuclear industry or potatoes - and say 'What are your concerns?' and 'What are your worries?' and then we explore them.
Roger Bolton: Now, there's a lot of criticism about balance, in it's simplified form, because some people would say, 'You've got 19 economists saying this is potentially disastrous, and you've got one non-economist saying 'No, it won't be' and the BBC will have one person representing the 19 and another person representing... what? In other words, you are simply going tit-for-tat and the public is no wiser. Is that a problem with what you're doing, this almost artificial sense of balance?
Chris Morris: It can be. And I think when it comes to our coverage of...One of the reasons why we wanted to avoid politicians is that we didn't want to have a say, well, if we're talking to that person from this party we have to talk to somebody from another party. So we have gone to what we believe are experts in the field. Now everyone has an opinion. I understand that. That's natural. But I think, as a journalist, you do have to make a judgment whether you think the opinion that somebody brings to the table is valid, and that's what we're trying to do.
Roger Bolton: So you're not impartial between right and wrong? If somebody says to you '2+5=4' and the other says '2+2=5' you say 'One's wrong; the first one's right'? You have due impartiality -where it's, as it says, it's due. That is very, very tricky in such a toxic political atmosphere.
Chris Morris: It is very tricky but we're not, in this series, trying to say 'Brexit is good' or 'Brexit is bad'. We are trying to test what Brexit might mean.
Roger Bolton: How much pressure are you under? You're obviously under pressure from those, as it were, outside the BBC who have passionate views about this, and the various campaigning groups. What about within the BBC itself?
Chris Morris: You know, we have what I would say are robust editorial discussion all time. As we should, I mean, I'd be disappointed if I didn't have editors who say, 'Are you sure you want to say that?'. That's part of the process of journalism. In some ways, because you've got people saying 'Are you sure this is correct? Are you sure you're comfortable saying this?', it sharpens the editorial process. I mean, I was based in Brussels - two different postings for eight years. We had that all the time in coverage of the European Union. And my argument about the EU has always been: I don't really care whether you love it or hate it you but you should take it seriously.
Roger Bolton: Well, let's look at the way you presented the programme because Rosalind Fox talks about 'gimmickiness'. She thinks you've gone too far. When you listen to some of the things you've done, including some of those puns - 'cheesy' would describe one or two of them! - do you think you did go too far?
Chris Morris: No, I think it's been deliberate. I think it's sort of knowingly cheesy, if you like. I've done hundreds of hours of very serious, very sober broadcasting on the EU and on Brexit. If you look at a lot of the audience research we get , it's (a) that people are a bit bored of the political mud-slinging. Some people get turned off by the 'He said. She said'. And this is an attempt just to present it in a different way. I accept that some people won't like it. That's fine. It's their right to have that opinion. But I think it's not patronising the audience - which I think was the suggestion from one of the callers. I think which would be patronising the audience would be playing fast and loose with the facts. We are as scrupulous as we can be that we get the facts right, that we try and have a bit of fun with the way we present them. I think we should always be looking at different ways to present things because we know there's a big audience out there that we don't tap into yet, and we want to do that.
Roger Bolton: Chris Morris, the presenter of Radio Four's Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed. I hope he's getting well paid for it.