Post by Teddy Bear on Aug 11, 2013 22:43:05 GMT
Nothing that we didn't know already but it's good that research on statistics found on BBC programmes confirms our perceptions.
BBC is biased toward the left, study finds
The BBC is twice as likely to cover left-wing policy proposals than those that are right-wing, a study has found.
By Hayley Dixon
The corporation has long been accused of left-wing bias, but now researchers claim to have found statistical evidence that challenges the broadcaster’s claim to fairness.
The BBC are more likely to cover left-wing think tank reports and to hail them as “independent” while giving right-wing research a “health warning” by pointing out its ideological position, the Centre for Policy Studies have found.
Oliver Latham, who compiled the Bias at the Beeb report, said: “Our results suggest the BBC exhibits a left-of-centre bias in both the amount of coverage it gives to different opinions and the way in which these voices are represented.”
The team compared the coverage given to think tanks on the BBC website with that given by the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph.
The BBC covered seven out of ten of the stories on the Guardian, but only mentioned three out of ten reports which had been covered by this newspaper over the set period.
Of reports on four left-of-centre think tanks only one received a health warning - defined as statement of a think tank’s views, ideological position, or connection to a political figure - more than 10 per cent of the time, and one never received a warning.
In comparison, the warning appeared on between 25 and 60 per cent of reports on five right-of-centre organisations.
“In other words, the BBC seems to treat right-of-centre views as being more "extreme" and in need of caveats than roughly equivalent left-of-centre views,” Mr Latham wrote in the Sunday Times.
A similar trend was discovered in the corporation’s tendency to reinforce the views of an organisation by describing them as “independent”.
Three of the left-of-centre organisations were described as independent, compared with just one of the right-wing think tanks.
“The implication seems to be that the BBC sees left-of-centre views as being more reliable than right-of-centre ones. Overall, the picture is that the existing accusations of bias at the BBC are supported by a more dispassionate, quantitative analysis,” Mr Latham said.
He said they could not answer where this slant came from, but added: “The results are consistent with both subconscious "group think" among BBC journalists or a more deliberate left-of-centre bias.”
Mr Latham called on the corporation to be more open to criticism and to respond to it, adding that it was in their “best interest” both because of its commitment to impartiality and because if a media organisation “loses its reputation for balanced reporting is also likely to lose its ability to influence and persuade the public”.
Previous research has also found evidence of a bias, for example on the Today programme roughly twice as much coverage was given to pro-EU voices as anti-EU.
But the research was all based upon specific case studies rather than a broad approach, the team claim.
Tim Knox, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, itself a right-of-centre think tank, said: “This is the first statistical evidence of the bias.”
Despite heated debate over bias at the BBC it remains the most trusted news organisation in Britain, polls suggest.
In response to the research a corporation spokesperson said: “BBC News is required to provide impartial and independent coverage, reporting on a range of views.
"It is policed by the BBC Trust, its own editorial guidelines and its audiences. We have yet to see the report and it doesn't appear that the authors have contacted us about it, but will respond when it is published."
The BBC is twice as likely to cover left-wing policy proposals than those that are right-wing, a study has found.
By Hayley Dixon
The corporation has long been accused of left-wing bias, but now researchers claim to have found statistical evidence that challenges the broadcaster’s claim to fairness.
The BBC are more likely to cover left-wing think tank reports and to hail them as “independent” while giving right-wing research a “health warning” by pointing out its ideological position, the Centre for Policy Studies have found.
Oliver Latham, who compiled the Bias at the Beeb report, said: “Our results suggest the BBC exhibits a left-of-centre bias in both the amount of coverage it gives to different opinions and the way in which these voices are represented.”
The team compared the coverage given to think tanks on the BBC website with that given by the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph.
The BBC covered seven out of ten of the stories on the Guardian, but only mentioned three out of ten reports which had been covered by this newspaper over the set period.
Of reports on four left-of-centre think tanks only one received a health warning - defined as statement of a think tank’s views, ideological position, or connection to a political figure - more than 10 per cent of the time, and one never received a warning.
In comparison, the warning appeared on between 25 and 60 per cent of reports on five right-of-centre organisations.
“In other words, the BBC seems to treat right-of-centre views as being more "extreme" and in need of caveats than roughly equivalent left-of-centre views,” Mr Latham wrote in the Sunday Times.
A similar trend was discovered in the corporation’s tendency to reinforce the views of an organisation by describing them as “independent”.
Three of the left-of-centre organisations were described as independent, compared with just one of the right-wing think tanks.
“The implication seems to be that the BBC sees left-of-centre views as being more reliable than right-of-centre ones. Overall, the picture is that the existing accusations of bias at the BBC are supported by a more dispassionate, quantitative analysis,” Mr Latham said.
He said they could not answer where this slant came from, but added: “The results are consistent with both subconscious "group think" among BBC journalists or a more deliberate left-of-centre bias.”
Mr Latham called on the corporation to be more open to criticism and to respond to it, adding that it was in their “best interest” both because of its commitment to impartiality and because if a media organisation “loses its reputation for balanced reporting is also likely to lose its ability to influence and persuade the public”.
Previous research has also found evidence of a bias, for example on the Today programme roughly twice as much coverage was given to pro-EU voices as anti-EU.
But the research was all based upon specific case studies rather than a broad approach, the team claim.
Tim Knox, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, itself a right-of-centre think tank, said: “This is the first statistical evidence of the bias.”
Despite heated debate over bias at the BBC it remains the most trusted news organisation in Britain, polls suggest.
In response to the research a corporation spokesperson said: “BBC News is required to provide impartial and independent coverage, reporting on a range of views.
"It is policed by the BBC Trust, its own editorial guidelines and its audiences. We have yet to see the report and it doesn't appear that the authors have contacted us about it, but will respond when it is published."
