Here's that interview in full:
And some Twitter debate about it involving UKIP and the BBC's head of live political programmes:
*****
Gerard Batten: Who came out on top in my ‘interview’ i.e ambush on Politics Live? [Poll result currently 84% for Gerard and 16% for Jo].
Rob Burley: It wasn't an ambush. We've checked the email correspondence. We said we'd ask about Robinson and Islam and didn't mention Brexit. Worth noting that UKIP tweeted yesterday promoting the appearance and saying Robinson would be on the agenda.
Patrick O'Flynn: How can you not ask the leader of the party that won the European elections on a Brexit ticket about Brexit at a time like this? How can you justify excluding UKIP, of all parties, from the Brexit debate?
Rob Burley: I would say that the UKIP leader has made Islam and Tommy Robinson big issues for your party. We don't exclude UKIP from the Brexit debate but you are a small party so not on as much as the bigger ones. In any case, as you know I did invite YOU on and hope will happen before long,
Patrick O'Flynn: Er... Check back and you will see you did the same to Henry Bolton when you had him on. Never asked about Brexit. Profound bias Rob.
Rob Burley: Er, Henry had some other issues at the time.
Patrick O'Flynn: Not at that time he didn't. When you have UKIP on you don't ask about Brexit. Why not?
Rob Burley: What was he asked about then?
UKIP is deeply unhappy with the BBC, calling the interview:
A textbook example of why the abolition of the BBC licence fee is in the new UKIP manifesto.And here's a striking response to a tweet from Jo Coburn from the MP for Telford:
#BBCSwitchoff
Jo Coburn: My full interview with UKIP leader Gerard Batten MEP from Friday's Politics Live.
Lucy Allan MP: Disappointed to see BBC Politics attacking those who speak out about Councils and Police who let down CSE victims of grooming gangs - it’s hard enough speaking out about these horrific crimes without the BBC suggesting it is racist to do so.
Lucy Allan is MP for Telford if memory serves...I think that explains her comment (join the dots). Don't look for principle in a Conservative MP.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noted on another thread: how does Burley explaining telling us one moment that Tommy Robinson is not newsworthy (about 10 days ago I think) but now says he is completely newsworthy. Or when he said he wouldn't have Tommy Robinson on PL, was that because of some other reason apart from news values?
This is the BBC at their most dangerous. Through Jo Coburn the BBC were seeking to damage both Gerard Batten (and through him UKIP) and TR. But, perhaps equally importantly, by inviting Batten as a pro Brexit voice, and inviting him onto the show for that reason - according to Batten - the BBC will be able to chalk up a pro Brexit panellist even though throughout the ambush and subsequent onslaught led by Coburn, Brexit was never discussed.
ReplyDeleteThanks @Arthur for your previous point
DeleteRob thought he had covered himself, to accusations of an ambush he replied
"It's not an ambush if
a) you tell them its going to happen
and b) they themselves tweet about it happening before it happens."
... He linked to an earlier UKIP tweet
“UKIP Leader @GerardBattenMEP will be on BBC One’s Politics Live this Friday at 12.15 discussing UKIP, Brexit and Tommy Robinson’s photo with British Army recruits.”
As we know Brexit topic was not allowed
And Arthur pointed out
\\ Stew, the highlight for me came at approx 1:40 into the clip when Batten offered to talk about the TR photo with the cadets. Coburn howled 'No'.
It was obvious at that point that her ambush had failed. She hadn't the guts to allow a genuine discussion about TR. She just wanted to damage Batten and UKIP. When Batten used good debating skills to counter her line of questioning, Coburn folded. //
So we now know The topic "Tommy Robinson’s photo with British Army recruits" was not allowed also
That debunks Burley's claim of a non ambush : the topics tweeted were not allowed instead the focus was an alleged TR quote from 2005
akin to asking Batten "Has your friend stopped beating his wife ?"
To be fair, having seen the whole interview above, the photo of TR with the cadets was mentioned again right at the end of the interview, but by that time the steam had gone out of the debate.
DeleteThe BBC screenbanner throughout the piece was
Delete"is ukip becoming an anti-Islam party"
How is that the same topic that UKIP tweeted would be on the show ?
It was an ambush.
Jo seems proud of her "interview" (aka "interruptyou" or maybe it's "inter" as in "bury").
ReplyDeleteBut others beg to differ.
https://twitter.com/Jo_Coburn/status/1050732953330962433It was a poorly executed ambush.
Gerard Batten is learning the Trump way to deal with the media.
If the interviewer gets angry with you, get angry back, just much more so. If the interviewer accuses you of some moral failing, accuse them right back with their own obvious failings. If the interviewer doesn't adhere to the interview outline then expose them. I think GB did very well in the circumstances, not least in raising Savile with a BBC interviewer. He should do that every time.
If he ever gets invited back on perhaps he should take a laptop with him and play back a choice extract from Coburn the Barbarian's interview to her and say "I hope you're not going to shout and rant this time.".
The longer the BBC carry on bad-mouthing TR without ever giving him the chance to put forward his views and debate the issues, then the more TR's reputation as a thorn in the side of the BBC will be reinforced.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC position is counterproductive. Independent minded people who hold no particular view towards TR will look for themselves, go elsewhere for their news and find the videos TR has made without the need to engage the BBC and MSM.
It would be nice to think so...but what the BBC are up to here is what they accuse Trump and populists of doing - being divisive. They are deliberately dividing up the populace. They are saying "Look here is the side of virtue - we are signalling which side is virtuous...it's the pro-PC, pro-immigration, pro-equality of outcome side..." and through body language, interruption, unsmiling countenance, aggressive staring, tone of voice, distorted imagery, misleading footage etc etc they signal that the other side must be evil, pro-violence, pro-racism, pro-hate. A lot of the audience, probably the majority, are taking in by that simple kind of good v evil narrative because a lot of people are in reality quite simple in their thinking and also have the herd instinct.
DeleteThe problem we have here is that the BBC are not promoting the good but the bad. I think it's working, sadly.
I can't stand that rude cow Jo Coburn should hae been sacked some time ago! Though the BBC seem to always defend her all the time so she keeps her job! They are all to pally with her and other obnoxious presenters who are paid way too much, not professional people!.
ReplyDeleteI would have thrown them out on their ears , or booted them clean out the building sick of their big egos.