Has Question Time lost its punch?

 

Talking of Question Time...

Alastair Stewart made a couple of observations about the programme's travails the other night which I thought I'd pass on: 

How BBCQT can appear to flounder, given the Brexit aftermath, an impending Budget & Covid19, is truly beyond me.

A friend writes, in confidence, that the BBC and the producers of BBCQT should be mighty relieved the criticism focuses on left/right bias - from both the left & the right. He has a point.

When someone replied, "I think the ratings decline is explained by the fact the show no longer attracts "A" list politicians or interesting celebrities who often bring based humour and opinions into the debate", Alastair replied, "I wonder if that is a chicken/egg problem."

I'd guess it is. The days of big-hitters appearing do seem to be over. Why would they bother now?

And talking of 'big hitters'...

I have the Question Time of 30 years ago to thank for making me understand the power of the word 'claptrap'. 

Whenever John Prescott appeared his answers, often prosperously overblown, would get louder and louder and wilder and wilder until he was almost breathless and red in the face by the end, but he'd almost invariably trap a good clap from the audience as a result of his efforts.

Boxing Day matters

 

Hope you had a lovely Christmas Day. Thank you for keeping the blog so well-fed with comments. There's been a lot going on, hasn't there?

*******

1. Yes, BBC newsreaders on BBC Radio 4 really are repeatedly saying "France has confirmed its first case of the new variant of coronavirus which originated in the UK" this morning - which is poorly-worded at best, and 'fake news' at worst. The BBC has previously acknowledged that the variant may well have originated outside the UK and merely been detected here first by our well-equipped scientists. At least they're not calling it "the English virus"...yet.

2. Watching the BBC Reality Check correspondent Chris Morris making countless appearance on the BBC News Channel on Christmas Eve made me think of 'Why the long face?' jokes, usually made about horses. Chris had a long face on all day. After all his endless scaremongering 'on behalf of reality' over the years, here was the thing he had been so relentless down on for years coming to fruition, against all his gloomy predictions. Never was a long face more easily explained. His misery later got translated into a very negative piece on the BBC News website containing plenty more gloom. He's still carrying on regardless, and will be allowed to do so by the BBC.

3. I read recently that June Sarpong OBE, the BBC's part-time diversity chief, has recently been made a trustee of the Donmar Warehouse. Her irresistible, seemingly limitless rise continues. Despite that she's talking about "the unfairness baked into our system" in Daily Telegraph today and using the highly divisive phrase "white privilege": 

I don’t for a single second say that all white people are privileged. Of course not. But there are benefits even if you come from a low income and you’re white. You’re never judged on your race. You may be discriminated against because of class, you may be discriminated against because of your age, you may be discriminated against because of gender, size, etc, but you will never be discriminated against because of your race and that in itself feeds into the concept of white privilege.

Bring on the satirists! 

4. Lewis Hamilton is guest-editing Radio 4's Today today. and talking 'race' as much as 'races'. Even former ITN stalwart Alastair Stewart, a massive fan of Lewis, has his reservations though:

On the big issue of black history, I'd have preferred to hear Lewis Hamilton challenged by a critic, than in conversation with the like minded David Olusoga. He could easily have dealt with it. 

5. Returning to the theme of an earlier post which listed the recent questions put by BBC Politics reporters at the Downing Street press conferences and found that they were remarkably consistent in the pushing the 'The Government is not acting fast enough or hard enough' line over coronavirus, well, the last one before Christmas brought a double dose of that from BBC political correspondent Leila Nathoo. This is what she asked Matt Hancock & Co:

23 Dec: LEILA NATHOO, BBC: You've just said when it comes to coronavirus that it's better to act sooner but the Prime Minister said on Saturday that the new strain was present across the country, your chief scientific advisor said on Monday that it wasn't possible to stop it spreading beyond the South East. and you're only announcing today the widening of Tier 4 within the South East and East of England and only from Boxing Day. Haven't you wasted valuable time in trying to get ahead of the new strain of the virus? And if I may to Dr Harries, you talked about yet another more transmissible strain being identified from South Africa. How confident are you that the new four-tier system is strong enough to tackle that?

Wonder how many tiers would satisfy the BBC? 

'Walking on a thesaurus of eggshells'

 

Watching and listening to news reports about events overnight in Birmingham, I think Alastair Stewart OBE has it right:

The reporting, this morning, of these hideous events demonstrated my concerns about 'walking on a thesaurus of eggshells'. Sensitive reporters ended up linguistically dancing around the facts of who did what to whom, and why. They are choosing their words so slowly and so carefully that what appear to be central facts are left a tad opaque. Generalities and euphemisms serve no one.

******* 

P.S. Here's a little exchange on a related matter:

Paul Embery: So there is a major manhunt happening in Birmingham, but police have said they are not releasing a description. I appreciate there may be a good reason for this, but I can’t think what it might be.

Lee Hurst: Be fair, they’ve narrowed it down to ‘man’ as in manhunt. That’s all we need to assist them in their investigation. I’ve called twice already having seen men in Birmingham on at least two occasions. Hoping it helps.

The Battle of the Generations

 

And it wasn't just Nick Robinson...

I see that Newsnight policy editor Lewis Goodall entered the fray too - while simultaneously continuing his feud with former BBC head of news/Mrs May spokesman Sir Robbie Gibb. 

Earlier yesterday he tweeted the following:

I’ve been trying to think of a way to show that often, when someone attacks the BBC or other broadcasters for not being impartial it’s really because it’s saying something they don’t want to hear and would rather have their own views reflected back at them. Well, here we are.

He then linked to a Mail on Sunday front page story headlined Top Tory launches rival to 'woke wet BBC'...and that 'top Tory' turned out to be none other than old nemesis Sir Robbie Gibb (who repeatedly criticises him for showing bias).

Lewis isn't, however, being either fair or accurate in reflecting the aims of what Sir Robbie's new outlet, GB News, seemingly intends to be, which the direct quotes in the MoS piece make clear: 

'The channel will be a truly impartial source of news, unlike the woke, wet BBC. It will deliver the facts, not opinion dressed up as news.'

'Everyone who works for GB News will have total commitment to quality journalism, to factual reporting and to impartiality.’ 

Lewis continued,

There’s been an effort for a while by some to try to make scrutiny and partiality one and the same. Needless to say, they are not. Indeed lack of proper scrutiny is the worst partiality a journalist can be guilty of.

He's talking about criticism of his own reporting of course, which he evidently sees as very much being about "scrutiny" not "partiality". 

Hmm, but if the target of your "scrutiny" is focused overwhelmingly in just one direction only it can still be "partial", can't it Lewis?

Thankfully, his usual echo chamber on Twitter was invaded by hordes of critical voices, many emerging among the 'most-liked' comments. A lot of them cast doubt on his own impartiality.

Alastair Stewart, another veteran broadcaster Lewis Goodall fell out with over impartiality, also responded (seemingly taking Lewis's tweets personally) by suggesting Lewis is being "disingenuous and desperate" :

If I object to a lack of impartiality from BBC staffers - or anyone else working for any Ofcom regulated network - it is because I object to a lack of impartiality. 

I don't want to hear my views, instead, or anyone else's. 

Any other suggestion is disingenuous and desperate.

Lewis will doubtless continue to drag the BBC into these kinds of argument though and, of course, go on having his own say on everything under the sun - unless new DG Tim Davie does something about him. 

Watch this space

Referring to his own Spectator article and Charles Moore's piece in the Daily Telegraph, former ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart's Twitter feed yesterday evolved into an interesting conversation. It sounds as if Alastair has been having some interesting conversations with people high up in the BBC.

(The one slight snag with this thread is that it is unusually full of people called Alastair.) 

Alastair Stewart: Charles Moore is a high-Tory & former Editor of the Telegraph. That said, this is powerful: "The best thing for Boris Johnson to do right now is to let the BBC stew in its own existential juice & strike when Covid-19 has passed". Agree or disagree with Mr Moore's analysis, his suggestion to Boris Johnson about dealing with the BBC, post-Covid19, will not fall on deaf ears. Those who have brought this upon themselves might well reflect how they have played into their enemies' hands.
Alastair Bruce: The British Army has Values and Standards to guide conduct of all soldiers. Perhaps this is what you are suggesting here? When I joined Sky News I was taught similar lesson by my mentor & it’s stood me pretty well. Your reference to similar guidance chimes with that sage advice.
Alastair Stewart: Broadcasting has its 'Values & Standards' equivalents: Ofcom regulations & broadcasters' Editorial Guidelines.  Many fine political & investigative journalists have demonstrated important work can be done within them. Their breach is not an act of heroism; it is a suicide dash.
Mike: I used to argue against scrapping the licence fee, as I felt that would help worsen and ingrain bias in broadcasting. But, sustained biased behaviour over the past two years have convinced me we are already in that situation and the fee is indefensible.
Alastair Stewart: You capture, perfectly, the risk that some are taking. I am a passionate supporter of the BBC and want it to survive and thrive. Recent events will not help.
Jonathan: Do you think that the problem of perceived impartiality is magnified somewhat when it’s involving a state broadcaster, one that is paid for by something akin to a tax?
Alastair Stewart: The debate over the license fee leaves the terrain open. I've just had a note from a senior figure at the BBC, terrified that Charles Moore is spot on.
Alastair Newey: I'm with Mike. BBC produces fantastic content but you can sense anti-Tory bias in many of BBC journalists social media presence. Lewis Goodall is a perfect example of that. The question is, why people higher up in BBC don't see it as a problem.
Alastair Stewart: Many do... watch this space.
Really2020?: Who on earth is mentoring the current crop!!!
Alastair Stewart: Impartiality should be front and centre of any journalism/media studies curriculum. If it isn't, institutions taking those students' fees are acting under false pretences.
Nikki Clinton: Important points made by Alastair Stewart on why it’s imperative broadcasting media leave their partiality at the door and give it to us straight, leaving us to draw our own conclusions. We never needed a balanced opinion more than now.
Graham Dish: Agree, but what will drive this to happen? Practically speaking, what policy or regulatory changes will give us this desirable outcome?
Alastair Stewart: Enforcement. Period.
Chris Crampton: May I ask if you've had feedback from within the BBC supporting your view?  It would really help to know if there were at least some of them deeply concerned by all this.
Alastair Stewart: Yes.

The biter bit

I wonder if young Lewis Goodall will be experiencing schadenfreude today. He didn't take kindly to veteran ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart making repeated calls during the election for journalists like him to stop venting their opinions on Twitter. Guess what? Alastair Stewart has had to step down as an ITV newsreader today after "errors of judgement" in his own use of social media. (As far as I can see it's because he called someone/some people "a pr*ck"/"pr*cks".) It's a funny old world.

Update: Or was it this?

Alastair Stewart responded to a black man on Twitter with a passage about "an angry ape" from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.

But it also seems worth pointing out that he previously used this passage to respond to at least one other tweeter who was not identifiably black... pic.twitter.com/MZgyyPlJuC

— Etan Smallman (@EtanSmallman) January 29, 2020

Further Update: The schadenfreude is already underway:

Mark Di Stefano (FT): The errr irony of Alastair Stewart "stepping down" for social media "errors of judgement" was he spent a lot of time on this website lashing (often young) broadcast journalists about impartiality with awful lecturing quote-tweets. Comes for us all, I guess...which is to say.... journalists who hyperventilate about how twitter does reputational damage to the profession shouldn't just be focusing on the genz-millennials on here.
Luke Jones (BBC): When the R4 programme I used to do was cancelled he kindly told me how shite it/I was.
Aasmah Mir (BBC): He was not a fan of me on Saturday Live and used to tweet about it. That was fun. Hey ho.

This Eden - A Rant

Every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man

I'll be watching this one very carefully. If cravat-sporting Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale David Morris and his splendid question to PM Boris Johnson about bringing the Eden Project to Morecambe isn't the lead story on every BBC news bulletin today I'm going to write the stroppiest complaint the BBC has ever received. It will be so stroppy that even Owen Jones would gasp at it, so massive would the chip on my shoulder be. And Boris was quite right to say that Morecambe itself is Eden. I have, however, crossed ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart off my Christmas card list as he sent out a tweet calling Mr Morris the MP for Morecombe & Lunesdale. Now, yes, I might be able to tolerate a BBC continuity announcer making an absolute pig's ear of pronouncing Lionel Shriver's surname but putting an 'o' six letters into 'Morecambe' has shocked me to the core and already made me turn into the Incredible Sulk (alterego of the aforementioned Owen). I ought to set a Twitter mob on Mr Stewart. Right, back to Twitter. 

"They take us as fools. We are not"

Here's an interesting Twitter chat between veteran ITN newsreader Alastair Steward and Dame Helena Morrissey:

Alastair Stewart: "We do not tell you want to think. We show you how the world is and leave you to decide". A quote used to head-line a Giles Coren restaurant review in The Times magazine of 22/12/19.It also happens to sums-up pretty well everything I believe in about broadcast journalism.
Helena Morrissey: I’d prefer a quote saying “we show you how WE THINK the world is and leave you to decide”. Showing “us” what (you think) (not you Alastair!) the world is THE problem. It is exactly why those doing the showing us are losing. And will continue to fail.
Alastair Stewart: Interesting. The failures, in my book, are those who pretend to report facts, as they see them, then sprinkle them with their own partisan political observations. They are the 'losers' and they are 'losing' audiences to TV news.
Helena Morrissey: The key is “as they see them”. Because how they see is also a “sprinkling”. We all have biases & filters but too often media can’t imagine they have them too! They don’t realise they are not reporting facts. And “facts” are not always real or true. Accepting this is a good start!
Alastair Stewart: The ones I abhor are those who know, all too well, they have their biases and think they can camouflage them as 'reportage', with the addition of just a little 'quelque chose' of their own spin. They take us as fools. We are not.

Robbie Gibb's Little List - a further discussion

The conversation continues:

David Aaronovitch: There’s a lot to recommend several of your points Robbie. But if you were to critique them yourself, where do you think the weaknesses or complexities in your own checklist are?

Robbie Gibb: I’m not sure people truly understand impartiality - as you know it’s not just about balance. It requires broadcasting extending its gene pool of staff to include diversity of background and political views (as well as gender and ethnicity). It could take years.

Jill Jervis: Definitely no impartiality on TV or newspapers this GE. In fact there was nothing but pure lies about Labour & no critic of Cons so the sooner the better TV licence goes.

David Aaronovitch: Jill, how do you explain to yourself that Tories and Brexiteers seem just as convinced that broadcasters are totally biased against them? And if your explanation is that they’re mistaken then isn’t it just as possible that you are?

Peter Lamb: This argument that "everybody criticises us so we must be doing a good job' is way over used and fails the most basic scrutiny. A classic case of BS baffles brains.

David Aaronovitch: That’s not my argument.

Peter Lamb: My concern is that an assumption that criticism is symmetrical and of equal merit tends to encourage exaggeration. We now observe intense criticism of the BBC and others. Is it possible that this is amplified by the casual dismissal of criticism under the balance defence?

David Aaronovitch: Possibly, but I don’t think that’s a primary factor.

Robbie Gibb: It is possible that broadcasters can be biased against the right and left at different times. My argument is things need to change to prioritise impartiality starting with twitter and broadcast interviews.

Alistair Stewart: There is also the tricky issue of broadcast reporters being one thing 'on-air' - balanced & impartial - and believing they have can have another personae on social media - the partisan lobbyist. They are the same person, with the same duties.

Bias, Camera, Action!

Blimey. As Paul Mason would say, it's all kicking off on Twitter tonight between ITN veteran Alastair Stewart and Newsnight's incoming policy editor Lewis Goodall:

Lewis Goodall: Am going to write something about the cataclysm of the Lab results in next few days. But as tempting as it is to get consumed by Labour watching and recrimination (as most on here now are) we shouldn’t forget the govt hardly covered itself in glory in the conduct of the election.
Alastair Stewart: I earnestly hope you include a thought or two about how we, in the media, performed...
Lewis Goodall: I’m not minded to opine about the work or failings of my colleagues. But I’m sure we can rely on you for a thought or two, Alastair.
Alastair Stewart: There is more in this than you probably intended. It is deeply and profoundly disappointing.
Lewis Goodall: I am deeply introspective about my journalism and journalism more generally Alastair. Unlike you, however, I don’t sit there night after night attacking the journalism of others, deligitimising others and setting myself up as some kind of arbiter of what journalism is. To do so fuels the cynicism of journalism we both seek to avoid. I’m not going to get into any more of an argument with you about it, as you seem so desperate to do day after day. Happy to take it offline.

They didn't. It continued:

Alastair Stewart: We tried that; you didn't listen. Partiality in broadcast reporting is what fuels cynicism. I never once named a name. Tonight I asked you to reflect on 'our' collective performance. You attacked. So revealing.

Lewis Goodall: You do nothing but attack. Repeatedly and obliquely to other journalists. Just because you don’t name others doesn’t make it any better. I’m sorry you don’t enjoy someone standing up to you about it. In the meantime, impartiality is a wonderful thing: [Link to old tweet from AS saying, "Brilliant. The core problem with a policy of egalitarianism is that it can easily become monetary & social dumbing-down rather than a genuine effort to redistribute opportunity & wealth. Empirically, aspirational self-improvement is more effective, as my working class dad showed."]

Alastair Stewart: It is not about 'enjoyment'. It matters so much more than that. That, I suspect, is the difference between us. Good night.

Alastair Stewart has been worrying all this election about high-profile broadcast journalists endlessly spouting their opinions, and taking UK broadcast reporting into ever more dangerous territory. Lewis, from a much younger generation, is far more relaxed about journalists (like himself) spouting forth while claiming to be impartial. 

"Am I awake or still dreaming?"

Veteran ITN newsreader  Alastair Stewart tweeted the following yesterday:

I fell asleep in the car on the way back from Cheltenham Races only to wake to BBC Radio 4's Weekend Woman's Hour. They discuss the heteronormative, the de-colonising the curriculum, and seeing sex as you see your experience of chocolate croissants....Am I awake or still dreaming?

His Twitter friends soon gave him the answer:

• Dan Salt: Sadly awake. Demonstrates why the BBC is looking at having its license fee changed.
• Mark Challoner: Welcome to the world in a bubble that is the BBC.
• Claire Fox: I heard it too. Made my skin crawl.
• Iain Martin: Suspect BBC R4 is going to need a management meeting early in the new year for a rethink. 
• William Hogarth: It's a totally bonkers programme. The decolonising of the curriculum feature advocating teaching African number systems in maths was particularly hilarious. Either all the Woman's Hour producers are smoking crack, or else the BBC has completely lost it.
• Eric Morton: Absolutely correct. The de-colonising of the curriculum especially was beyond belief. Accepted without challenge, obviously. What has our country become with this anti British self loathing?
• Vince Phillips: It feels like the equivalent of the Japanese soldier refusing to accept the war is over and come out of the jungle in 1961. 
• Stuart Robertson: Bless the BBC. Fingers on the pulse of Workington Women. 
• Bill Rodgers: You should have watched last night's Question Time. It's still stuck on last Wednesday.

A warning

Wise words from senior ITN news presenter Alastair Stewart:

If TV reporters insist on giving partisan commentary on political affairs it will confuse viewers over their role and the role of the supposedly impartial news organisations they work for. We need balanced, impartial, go-to outets more than ever.

— Alastair Stewart (@alstewitn) August 1, 2019

Wonder if he's got anyone particular in mind?