Post by Teddy Bear on May 4, 2015 23:20:04 GMT
The BBC make sure that at least half its viewers won't be watching Nigel Farage.
Why does the BBC think Peter Kay is more important than Nigel Farage?
The BBC evidently believed that Peter Kay's Car Share was more important than questions from the public to the leader of major political party
By Andrew Reid, Treasurer, the UK Independence Party
I believe the ‘Ask Nigel Farage’ Question Time special that aired on Thursday last week was a sign of what the BBC can achieve if after listening to reasoned representation if it decides to sheds its partisan outlook on the world.
Broadly speaking, we, the UKIP team were happy with the format, the compilation of the audience, and yes, even the tough questions. We’re not the sort of party that stage manages everything, but we won’t put up with being bullied by the state broadcaster, and I fought pretty hard to make sure that Nigel’s appearance on Thursday wasn’t another stitch-up, as we have come to expect from the Beeb.
In fact the only issue arising out of Thursday was the timing of the programme. It’s clear that while the other party leaders had their say earlier in the night, at a more ‘prime time’ slot, Nigel’s appearance was held back until after an extended news programme, thus putting him on television at 10:50pm, by which time a lot of the working population of Britain had gone to bed.
Further still, as a ‘major party’ that is not regional, but rather a party with representation across the United Kingdom, it would have made sense to have him on the same programme as Messrs Cameron, Clegg, and Miliband. Instead we were relegated by the BBC, which doesn’t abide by Ofcom’s rulings, to the same sort of programme as the regional parties the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
Furthermore this is despite the fact that the cabinet office considers UKIP to be a major party however the BBC has “its own mind on this subject!”.
The initial viewing figures from the BBC indicated that while 4.3 million people watched the establishment party leaders, the fact that Nigel was on almost three hours later, and well into the night, meant that the audience had dwindled to 2.3 million.
In fact the programme the BBC aired immediately after the leaders’ debates was some Peter Kay comedy called “Car Share” – which the BBC evidently believed was more important than questions from the public to the leader of major political party.
What is alarming about the timings, and therefore audience figures, is that the BBC told me themselves that they’re not interested in what Ofcom says, and that they make up their own rules about what is a priority and what isn’t. According to them, UKIP simply isn’t important enough and the cabinet office position is not binding on them.
Obviously I disagree. As a political party polling around 14 per cent of the national vote, while the Liberal Democrats languish on around 8 percent, I would argue that we are more important. But the BBC isn’t just stuck in its establishment mindset, it is also stuck thinking in the bankrupt terms of our First Past the Post electoral system.
I think, to echo Nigel’s comments earlier this week, that the BBC is becoming somewhat of an anachronism – and a part of me considers that a shame when outside of its news programming, it does make some very good shows. For the entire organisation to be let down by a very small section of it seems to me a complete waste: of the BBC’s history and of licence fee payers’ money.
If the BBC news continues to act like the mouth piece of a despotic state rather than a democracy it will make itself redundant.
Without some urgent reforms, I sense this might be the last election the BBC plays a major role in. UKIP has the highest engagement rates on social media of any of the other political parties, and if I may say so, the BBC’s competitors coverage has been balanced, engaging, and honest.
From misquoting Nigel, to failing to use clips they demanded we take time our of schedule to do, and even ignoring one of the biggest moments of the campaign – Nigel’s visit to Strasbourg to stand up for British interests last week – the BBC has over this campaign period revealed its hand.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is as much in the pockets of the establishment as the other big corporates who abuse their position in Britain.
Andrew Reid is Treasurer of the UK Independence Party
The BBC evidently believed that Peter Kay's Car Share was more important than questions from the public to the leader of major political party
By Andrew Reid, Treasurer, the UK Independence Party
I believe the ‘Ask Nigel Farage’ Question Time special that aired on Thursday last week was a sign of what the BBC can achieve if after listening to reasoned representation if it decides to sheds its partisan outlook on the world.
Broadly speaking, we, the UKIP team were happy with the format, the compilation of the audience, and yes, even the tough questions. We’re not the sort of party that stage manages everything, but we won’t put up with being bullied by the state broadcaster, and I fought pretty hard to make sure that Nigel’s appearance on Thursday wasn’t another stitch-up, as we have come to expect from the Beeb.
In fact the only issue arising out of Thursday was the timing of the programme. It’s clear that while the other party leaders had their say earlier in the night, at a more ‘prime time’ slot, Nigel’s appearance was held back until after an extended news programme, thus putting him on television at 10:50pm, by which time a lot of the working population of Britain had gone to bed.
Further still, as a ‘major party’ that is not regional, but rather a party with representation across the United Kingdom, it would have made sense to have him on the same programme as Messrs Cameron, Clegg, and Miliband. Instead we were relegated by the BBC, which doesn’t abide by Ofcom’s rulings, to the same sort of programme as the regional parties the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
Furthermore this is despite the fact that the cabinet office considers UKIP to be a major party however the BBC has “its own mind on this subject!”.
The initial viewing figures from the BBC indicated that while 4.3 million people watched the establishment party leaders, the fact that Nigel was on almost three hours later, and well into the night, meant that the audience had dwindled to 2.3 million.
In fact the programme the BBC aired immediately after the leaders’ debates was some Peter Kay comedy called “Car Share” – which the BBC evidently believed was more important than questions from the public to the leader of major political party.
What is alarming about the timings, and therefore audience figures, is that the BBC told me themselves that they’re not interested in what Ofcom says, and that they make up their own rules about what is a priority and what isn’t. According to them, UKIP simply isn’t important enough and the cabinet office position is not binding on them.
Obviously I disagree. As a political party polling around 14 per cent of the national vote, while the Liberal Democrats languish on around 8 percent, I would argue that we are more important. But the BBC isn’t just stuck in its establishment mindset, it is also stuck thinking in the bankrupt terms of our First Past the Post electoral system.
I think, to echo Nigel’s comments earlier this week, that the BBC is becoming somewhat of an anachronism – and a part of me considers that a shame when outside of its news programming, it does make some very good shows. For the entire organisation to be let down by a very small section of it seems to me a complete waste: of the BBC’s history and of licence fee payers’ money.
If the BBC news continues to act like the mouth piece of a despotic state rather than a democracy it will make itself redundant.
Without some urgent reforms, I sense this might be the last election the BBC plays a major role in. UKIP has the highest engagement rates on social media of any of the other political parties, and if I may say so, the BBC’s competitors coverage has been balanced, engaging, and honest.
From misquoting Nigel, to failing to use clips they demanded we take time our of schedule to do, and even ignoring one of the biggest moments of the campaign – Nigel’s visit to Strasbourg to stand up for British interests last week – the BBC has over this campaign period revealed its hand.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is as much in the pockets of the establishment as the other big corporates who abuse their position in Britain.
Andrew Reid is Treasurer of the UK Independence Party