ALK on XR and the BBC

A.L. Kennedy, award-winning novelist and regular speaker on Radio 4's A Point of View, has had a pop at the BBC, but her echo chamber has been broken into. Will she listen?

Here's a glimpse on the action:

A.L.Kennedy: If you are - like many of us - deeply disappointed by BBC coverage (what coverage?) of XR and examination (what examination?) of climate change issues then you may wish to complain. It's easy, there's a website.

Rob Burley: This tweet makes me feel I must have hallucinated the past seven days. We covered XR on the news and on programmes too. Politics Live did it two days in a row and The Andrew Neil Show gave a big chunk of the show to an interview with XR. Was it all a dream?

David Banks (to ALK): You haven’t been watching the bulletins I have then. They were all over the news. Andrew Neil had them on to his prime time show to discuss the issue.

A.L.Kennedy (to DB): I'd have preferred an even handed journalist. I love the BBC with all my heart but News & Current Affairs have done them so much harm and alarm so many within the corporation. It's another national tragedy.

Will Leader (to ALK): Andrew Neil is probably the most respected and impartial interviewer on TV. He's famous for his research and forensic questioning. XR were exposed for making claims not supported by science.

Duncan Hess (to ALK): The key here, I think, is to maybe watch, or listen to, the output. Break out of
that bubble, the air’s remarkably fresh.

A.L.Kennedy (to DH): Oddly, that's the way I came to my conclusions... And I've lived long enough and traveled far enough to have seen much better.
A.L.Kennedy (to Rob Burley: I wish it had been a dream. But instead it was superficial, mildly to very misleading and less coverage than an average day's celebrity gossip. Media coverage of Brexit is simply gossip pre-spun by No 10. Coverage of a world changing cascade of calamities..? Same old same old.
Rob Burley (to ALK): Your original tweet (“what coverage?”) implied a lack of coverage rather than unhappiness with the nature of it. We can argue that point but it’s a different one.
BlackhandMedia Trust (to ALK and Rob Burley): I finish work at 10am. The BBC News Channel covered XR every hour. I should know I have it on in the background. Tired of ppl posting they do not cover when they bloody did. I am neutral. I dont usually care. But stop lying. They covered it loads.
Brian Toller: You will never cover subjects like this enough for obsessives unless it's the lead on every news, regular one hour specials and a plot line in every drama and soap. Then they'll still ask why it's not on the cake and dancing shows.

I think that last point is spot-on. Despite the BBC bending over backwards to please climate change campaigners over the past decade and more, it's still not enough. Despite XR campaigners being invited onto Question Time, The Andrew Neil Show and Politics Live, it's still not enough. I suspect XR want exactly what Brian says they want and when the BBC gives in they will go on asking for more and more.