Sunday 30 September 2018

BBC opts against the term "second referendum"


Just under a week ago, a question...


...led me to half-complete a post. 

It originally ran as follows:
Hmm. Checking TV Eyes for Radio 4 from 6-9am that morning [i.e. 24 September] and listing all the mentions of "referendum" by BBC reporters and presenters found the following: 
"another referendum" - 6 
"a second referendum" - 3 
"a further referendum" - 3
"a new referendum" - 2 
So that's 3 uses of "second referendum" compared to 11 uses of the (non 'People's Vote') alternatives to "second referendum". Two of the uses of "a second referendum" came in a single sentence by Nick Robinson.
Well, maybe I should have finished it as it turns out that, yes, there really is a BBC editorial policy about it and, yes, "second referendum" genuinely is deliberately being sidelined as a term by the BBC. 

It’s not just Labour and the Tories who are tying themselves in knots over a “people’s vote” — the BBC has joined in, too. Its presenters and news reporters have been ordered to stop referring to a “second referendum” on the grounds that it annoys people who think we’ve already had one. 
“Some people regard 1975 as the first referendum,” says a memo from Ric Bailey, the BBC’s chief political adviser. “Others insist that, even if 2016 was the first vote, calls for another referendum now would be asking a very different question and therefore should not be described as the second.” The accepted terms are “further referendum” or “another referendum”. 
A BBC radio source seethes: “It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
It's also absolutely typical of the BBC.

3 comments:

  1. 'The People's Vote' is a more palatable name for the rerun of the 2016 vote, imagined by some sharp suited ad agency execs and focus groups - no doubt at great cost, because their sponsors are seeking to overturn the 2016 result. The only question that needs to be asked is:

    Do you believe in parliamentary democracy? Yes or No.

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  2. Quite right, perhaps we ought to add 'Maybe'. Depending on whether the rabble in the HoC respects the outcome of the vote two years ago.

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  3. whats the point in another referendum, they ignored the first one , if we vote to leave again they will ignore that one.

    If they gerrymander the result , which they will one way or another , will we then be discussing soft remain, hard remain, cliff edge remain , remain in name only.

    I think we all know the answer to that one. If they can keep us in by hook or by crook we will never be asked again

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