ONE of the BBC’s most senior journalists has defended the corporation against accusations of bias, saying the broadcaster’s faults are a “confluence of cock-ups” rather than a conspiracy against any one political party.
Emily Maitlis’s remarks came as a poll revealed that the British public now trusted ITV more than the BBC.
A new survey by Savanta ComRes revealed that just 69% of people said they trusted the state broadcaster, compared with 73% who back its commercial rival.
Half of those polled said they would rather receive news free from commercial broadcasters than pay for it through the licence fee. This falls to just over four in 10 of those aged over 55.
Labour, the Tories and the SNP have all accused the BBC of bias in recent weeks.
READ MORE: New Newsnight host says Theresa May is 'very hard to make interesting'
There are even rumours that the Tories will “withdraw engagement” from Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, in protest at the “failure” of the senior management during the election campaign.
Ahead of this month’s General Election, the SNP criticised the BBC for squeezing them out of coverage,
The party’s depute leader Keith Brown said that it was “odd” that Jo Swinson’s Liberal Democrats “appeared more than the SNP in the main BBC news bulletins”.
Following the election, Labour complained about the channels bias to Director General Tony Hall, saying the BBC was effectively “complicit in giving the Conservative Party an unfair electoral advantage”.
However, the Newsnight presenter said that anything the BBC does “is always in the spotlight”.
Speaking to the Observer, she said: “People read conspiracy into a thing when it’s really a confluence of cock-ups and the wrong button being pressed at the wrong time, or the guest you wanted gets into the wrong taxi and doesn’t show up.”
She also defended the BBC’s political editor Kuenssberg, who faced accusations of spreading “fake news” by tweeting an incorrect claim that a Tory aide had been punched by a left-wing activist.
“I have enormous respect for Laura, she does an impossible job bloody brilliantly,” said Maitlis.
READ MORE: BBC faces criticism after sidelining SNP during Newsnight again
“I just think there is a lesson for all of us in what we do with the stuff we’re told, how we double-check it and how we scrutinise what we’re told, even by people who seemingly should be trusted.”
Maitlis said politicians had been using the “populist playbook”.
She said: “It starts with denigrating experts so people don’t trust facts, then it destabilises institutions, then it works to get its message out in the media, so that’s what people cling to. And what can you do about any of that but know you are constantly pushing against that narrative?”
Last week, Hall said the criticism from all sides showed a lack of bias.
“The fact criticism came from all sides of the political divide shows to me that we were doing our job without fear or favour,” he said, in a piece written for the Daily Telegraph.
He praised the BBC’s polling coverage and said: “Around 27 million people in the UK came to the BBC website to find out about the election results.
“It was a reminder of the trust people place in the BBC.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel