Wednesday 10 April 2019

BBC Twittering (1)


Pro-Chancellor Sopel

MB provided a fascinating mini-study the other day of the impartiality of Jon Sopel's tweets:

Jon Sopel said the BBC was "impartial, free and fair". Fran Unsworth tells BBC staff they have to maintain impartiality in tweeting going Jon and that includes with respect to retweeting?  
Let's look at his ten most recent tweets/retweets: 
1. Sarcastic dig at Trump.  
2. Retweeting of a tweet critical of Trump - suggesting he has possibly engaged in illegal behaviour as President.  
3. Negative tweet about Trump in the form of a BBC question: "When do management changes become a purge by a frustrated President?"  
4. Retweeting that UK will hold EU elections - one step closer to Remaining eh Jon?  
5. Negative view of Labour-Conservative negotiations on Brexit retweeted (from let wing Mirror journalist).  
6. Attack on something call "Islamophobia" in the Tory party retweeted (from left wing Muslim Labour activist).  
7. Pro PC millionaire no borders globalist Gary Lineker tweet retweeted (non political I think...) 
8. Tweet re declaration of Iranian Revolutionary Guards as terrorist organisation. Seemed to actually be impartial!  
9. As above for 8.  
10. Mocking tweet about Trump and his recent sackings. 
I make that only 2 truly impartial tweets. One impartial but bigging up a known partial tweeter within the BBC (message to Fran perhaps?). And 7 clearly partisan or tending towards left-liberal positioning.  
Another disgrace is they are doing a lot of this politicised tweeting when they are supposed to be working for us, and are certainly getting paid for it!

Such, of course, is the way of things (with BBC reporters). One of his later tweets, however, stumped me. Why was  he retweeting it? There was surely no bias in it?


Ah but, Google-search 'Jon Sopel Southampton' and you find that the BBC man is Pro-Chancellor of the University of Southampton, where he "plays a key ambassadorial role"

#Lovely

2 comments:

  1. I think Jon was bigging up Mark E Smith because he felt sorry for him - the poor guy only gets £278,000 per annum!

    Delve further back (Sopel's Wikipedia page) and you find back in the early 80s Sopel was President of Southampton's Student Union, elected on the Labour ticket. Well you could have knocked me over wiv a fevver!

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  2. Sopel has a bad case of TDS
    that leaves him with Anti-Trump ..Tourets

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