Saturday 14 December 2019

Of the few not the many


Just to go back to a point raised here yesterday by MB and Arthur T, has the BBC has been shy about using the word 'landslide' to describe the Conservatives' victory in the general election?

Well, using TV Eyes I've checked BBC TV and found 32 uses of the word 'landslide' by the BBC since the start of yesterday.

On the bulk of BBC News, these have related to "the SNP landslide" in Scotland (or past landslides by Labour in 1997 or the SNP a few years back.)

But...and this was surprising (well, to me anyhow)...I have found two BBC presenters who did use the word in connection with the Conservatives yesterday: Emma Barnett on Newsnight (once) and Emily Maitlis on the BBC's rolling election coverage (three times).

As for Radio 4, I've found 11 uses of the word. Five relate to the Conservative victory, four to the SDLP's victory in South Belfast and two to Labour's victory in 1997. The World at One was the programme that made most of the term in connection to the Conservatives.

So, they may not have been many but there have been a few uses of the word 'landslide' in connection with Boris's win in the election. 

3 comments:

  1. Yes, I wasn't really demanding the BBC use the term...but I would have thought it would have been raised as a question: is this a landslide victory? I think many a BBC presenter was consciously avoiding raising that ideological spectre.

    I'd say: not quite but very close. Probably 400 seats is a reasonable marker for a "landslide" in the Commons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was enjoying the vocal gymnastics to avoid use of the word.

      Delete
  2. Good Morning Britain used the "L word" in their strapline:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdi9oWWEk_w

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.