The BBC, UKIP and Calais

Continuing with last night's Newsnight....

The programme presented a report from Calais from BBC reporter James Clayton (who I think I'm now officially entitled to describe as "controversial"). 

Newsnight presented his report as being done at the instigation of a UKIP MEP, Mike Hookem.

Whether it was or wasn't (and, obviously, like you, I've absolutely no idea), but...

Mike was shown making his point about how easy it is for the illegals in Calais to breach the fences protecting the Channel Tunnel but James (of the BBC), doing his Jon Ronson impersonation, 'innocently' noted that some people on Twitter have accused the UKIP man of acting like a vigilante and then asked Mike if he was a vigilante. 

Still, Newsnight probably thought it was being 'brave' in inviting a UKIP man to feature in its report. 

"You understand the desperation, don't you?", asked James.

James (of the BBC) then invited Mike (of UKIP) to please think of the children....and, predictably, an exchange followed with James of the BBC repeatedly interrupting Mike of UKIP on behalf of  the children.

An Eritrean man wants to reach his wife, already living in Britain. Mike interviews him, and then James interviews him, highlighting the difficulty of his journey. He's come a long way, says James of the BBC.

James (of the BBC) then repeatedly presses Mike (of UKIP) on whether the latter feels "sorry" for that poor Eritrean at all, asking:

How can you not feel sorry for someone who's come from Eritrea, a war-torn country....?

Well, James Clayton of Newsnight, Eritrea isn't "warn-torn" at all. It's horribly oppressive but it's not war-torn. 

Anyhow, James continues, pressing the UKIP MEP:

...an incredible journey. You can say all sorts of things. You can say that they don't have a right to enter the UK but you can't say you don't feel sorry for someone?

What would Mike do about a woman rolling in the grass? I'm not here to be a vigilante, said Mike.

Mike says that some thing are being done by the authorities to tackle the situation, security-wise, but that the problem will never be stopped until people are stopped from crossing the Mediterranean.

And on that point the report ended. 

Was it biased? If so, featuring UKIP, was it biased in favour of UKIP? Or, despite featuring UKIP, was is actually strongly biased against UKIP? Or was it perfectly balanced between those two positions and, thus, impartial?

I think you might be able to guess what I think.

Cutting to the chase?

The other thing to be said about Monday night's Newsnight is that James Clayton's report on the failed asylum seeker from the Gambia focused on a woman who Newsnight had made a central figure in one of its news reports a couple of years ago. (I remember seeing that).

And now she's here in the UK. And Newsnight went for a catch-up.

The woman in question had been the village 'cutter' - i.e. a practitioner of Female Genital Mutilation - in Gambia. Her family claims she was forced to carry it out. She claims she fled here to escape doing so. The British authorities have rejected her appeal to stay.

James Clayton's report emphasised the less-than-entirely-uncomfortable conditions she is now staying in while appealing her rejection decision, and tied her hardship to new government legislation. Her complaints about her treatment (as a result of that legislation) appeared in the programme's opening headlines too and were elaborated later too. 

Susceptible types on Twitter were duly moved and took to bemoaning the inhumanity of modern Britian as a result, lauding the lady as someone who fled and fought against FGM (many of them seemingly misunderstanding the story). Her statement that if she's sent back she'll be forced to 'cut' again wasn't challenged - either by Twitter or Newsnight. (She could go back and not cut, or move to somewhere else in Gambia, couldn't she?) 

The following studio discussion between Conservative SPAD Shaun Bailey and Labour SPAD Sonia Sodha was balanced enough though, with Shaun playing the part of the calm, compassionate Conservative and Sonia breathlessly emoting from the Left and tying the FGM lady from Gambia's story to the general point that the migrants beating at our borders are fleeing conflicts (even though Gambia isn't in a state of conflict at the moment - which no one pointed out to her).