Huw Edwards has hit back at BBC bias accusations, but nearly half of Brits (48%) say they don't trust BBC News journalists to tell the truth. This figure was 41% just back in October https://t.co/UVZoNbiOC5 pic.twitter.com/Rx0OxAwPQR— YouGov (@YouGov) December 16, 2019
Update: Given that the BBC has, over the past couple of years or so, been relying rather too heavily for its defence against its critics by citing a BBC-sponsored Ipsos Mori opinion poll showing public trust for the corporation holding up, this YouGov poll will surely go down very badly with them.
In fact, I suspect it will be about as welcome as norovirus.
To the question, 'How much do you trust BBC News journalists to tell the truth?' only 8% said "a great deal". The other options were 'a fair amount', 'not much' and 'not at all'.
Meanwhile, the BBC's John Simpson has been in action today retweeting ex-Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger saying:
And to all those saying "no-one trusts the BBC" the evidence is not with you. This is a 2017 snapshot, but pretty consistent over the years, and, imho, won't have changed much.
I doubt it will ever have crossed John's mind to think that citing Alan Rusbridger in defence of the BBC is exactly the kind of thing people like us expect of people like him at the BBC!
Very interesting particularly the rise since October. Brexit bias bounce.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC should be concerned but they won’t be.
Agreed.
DeleteBBC on the way out. Even trusting them a "fair amount" is not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?
I wonder what the response would be if the four categories were:
"I very much trust
Sorry, left some text there I decided to cut...
DeleteWell spotted Charlie. It IS a dramatic rise since October.
DeleteThe YouGov poll was conducted over 1st-2nd December. It's tempting to think that Andrew Marr's interrupterview with Boris early on 1st December might have played some part in boosting the public's scepticism about BBC journalism in that poll. The caveat there is that the vast majority of voters won't have watched 'The Andrew Marr Show'. But maybe enough did and then got interviewed by YouGov...Who knows?
MB, I was writing my update as you were posting your comments. It struck me the same. 'A fair amount' isn't a ringing endorsement. And even that lukewarm support falls well short of the combined totals for 'not much' and 'not at all'. And that just 8% said the trust the BBC "a great deal" should be devastating for the BBC.
It would be very interesting if the data contained some information as to precisely why trust is waining.
ReplyDeleteAfter 16 years of not trusting the corporation, I can pinpoint exactly why - some of my mis-trust would be considered pro-left, some pro-right, and some conspiracy theory. Hats off to the festive 50, but for me it all comes down to omission.
The BBC news is cut and pasted from the Guardian and Independent... one wonders why they employ so many "reporters" as like Huw Edwards, they just read out Guardian/Indy news snippets in front of a camera (TV) or into a microphone (radio).
ReplyDelete