News management

After London primary school teacher Sabina Nessa was murdered, I saw plenty of comments about how the BBC was seriously underreporting the story, probably for the usual BBC reasons of social cohesion.

No one had a suspect then, though many were clearly guessing.

Then, particularly after it became clear that the suspect appeared to be white, the BBC's coverage suddenly exploded, and Sabina became a second Sarah Everard - a focus concerning women's safety.

.

Newsniffer records 17 separate BBC articles about her - the first dated four days after her murder on 17 September. 

The breaking news this afternoon - reported by the likes of The Times - is that the suspect is Albanian, which will doubtless complicate matters for the social cohesion promoters at the BBC. 

The BBC News website hasn't got round to reporting that yet. 

Their latest report, posted late this morning, and with no subsequent updates, and with its very BBC headline Sabina Nessa: Man questioned on suspicion of murder, is no longer even on the BBC News home page.

We'll soon see if Sabina Nessa now vanishes straight back down the BBC memory hole again.

The BBC News homepage has seemingly moved on already. They're on the BBC's preferred ground, their 'safe space' perhaps, and talking instead about the far-right. 

Britain First registers again as a political party is one of their top headlines right now.

UPDATE - Just checking for the obvious test - whether the story would appear on tonight's BBC One News at Six, after featuring in BBC One's major bulletins for days now. 

It didn't feature at all.

It really speaks volumes about the BBC. They've evidently made an editorial decision.

FURTHER UPDATE [28/9] - At 8.50 last night, the BBC published a report on the BBC News homepage, and it's still prominently placed. 

Noticeably though, where The Times says of the suspect “who is from Albania” and The Sun describes him as an “Albanian national”, the BBC are refraining from mentioning that, evidently still 'managing' the story.