If you were thinking that you seem to have seen a lot of Labour MPs on Newsnight recently, well you have.
Here is a list of all the UK politicians who have appeared on Newsnight this month, whether as interviewees or as ‘talking heads’ in reports. (Duplicated names mean appearances in more than one edition!):
Conservatives: Cllr Gavin Elsey (who opposes the government’s immigation cap!), Damian Green, Mark Hoban, Nadine Dorries, Stephen Dorrell, David Willetts, Chris Grayling, John Redwood, Oliver Heald, Peter Lilley, Michael Portillo, Nick Hurd, Bob Stewart
****Total = 13
Lib Democrats: Simon Hughes, Chris Huhne, Simon Hughes, Lord Taylor
****Total = 4
Labour: Keith Vaz, Ed Balls, Tom Harris, Andy Burnham, Stephen Pound, Ed Balls, David Miliband, Diane Abbott, John Prescott, Tessa Jowell, Lord Myners, John McFall, Lord Dubbs, Caroline Flint, Shahid Malik, Tom Harris, Khalid Mahmood, Chuka Umunna, John Mann
****Total – 19
SDLP (Labour’s sister party): Delores Kelly
****Total = 1
(I didn’t include ex-minister Lord West, as he’s not supposed to be a Labour party man – though he did attack the new government on the programme.)
So, unlike when Labour were in power and the government dominated the airwaves, the main opposition now gets more invites to speak on Newsnight than both of the government parties combined.
That seems a bit odd, doesn’t it Mr Hunt?
What about left wing hacks Craig? I’m betting they’ve had more leftie types on than right wing by a country mile.
I have noticed that the Tories constantly have declined to come on the show, I remember one last week and Ed Balls just got free reign – I figure theyre all on holiday, hence why Dorries came on once in lieu of a minister
Yes, and when Labour declined to come on the show (before the election), they always seemed to manage to find a willing Labour backbencher to appear in lieu of the minister.
Usually Stephen Pound!
You ask the party to comment, they declined to send a representative because it’s about some silly issue in August, that’s their choice – I’m sure the Tories would take it up if they felt they weren’t allowed on Newsnight
You have more faith in the Conservative Party than I do Bob!
If you add stealth Jihad, er I mean stealth labour / anyone else who the BBC would warm to naturally being they’re oh so impartial*, you would end up with much larger figure.
Such as:
Stealth Labour, not really Labour but walks and quacks just like one
Stealth lefty analysts and ‘independent’ thick tanks
Lefty quotes of someone or other who happens to fit the bill
All helped along by the unbiased* interviewers
* Only if you have a BBC type world view.
I’m not sure if Portillo counts as a conservative anymore. He seems to have become something of a beeboid since accepting the BBC’s shilling.
Portaloo isn’t a member of the Tory party anymore, he probably had to resign to get a job at the BBC.
This reminds me of my old ‘air-time percentages’, which entailed counting the lengths of time allocated to each interviewee from a political party (on all the main current affairs programmes on the BBC) and then adding them up each month. The result was was Labour massively dominated the air-waves each month:
61.5% in September 09
52.21% in August 09
61% in July 09
60% in June 09
They may be opposition now, but they still win the war to rule Britannia’s state broadcaster’s waves.
http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/search/label/Air%20Time
Hi, that sort of answers if you have any ‘a month in the life of Newsnight’ examples under Labour.
Newsnight is a lost cause. Well done, Craig, for counting them all over a month. The Labour weighting of Newsnight is so blatant that it is obvious even without counting, so your findings are no surprise to me but extremely valuable nonetheless in documenting the phenomenon and providing concrete evidence. And your survey doesn’t even include all the labourites who are not MPs: the Alastair Campbell types, the labour-friendly economists etc.
Even by abandoning any pretence of objectivity and putting their massive, extortion-funded political propaganda machine – the likes of which’d make Goebbels blush with the audacity of it – into high gear, the BBC couldn’t save Labour.
The only thing that rivals the BBC’s partisanship is its stupidity. Stupidity is the only way a sane person can rationalise two examples of the BBC’s agenda – the Islamisation of Britain, and the break-up of Britain into its constituent parts – which’ll both lead to the BBC’s end. Mohammedans hate right-on lefty faggots more than I do. England’s electoral map is almost entirely blue. Scotland has a GDP of Third World proportions and can’t afford an extravagance like the BBC even if it is shitting out anti-English propaganda 24/7 (something it won’t have to adapt to do).
He who controls the present controls the past. He who controls the past controls the future. But that doesn’t factor in the internet. Tough shit BBC. The intertubes is like the catalyst of your demise.
But will the Conservatives do anything about this? Will they complain? Will they challenge? Of course not because they are complacent and scared of antagonising the BBC.
Incidentally good to see Craig’s analysis has found a new home…
Well at least the onscreen and online Newsnight staff are rigourously objective.
[Gloucester Old Spot banking at Angels one-nine, skipper!]
It’s really good to see that you are a main poster Craig. Your work is invaluable.
How about a graph incorporated into the Biased BBC blog banner showing e.g. the time allocated to the main parties during the previous week/month on say Newsnight. This could be linked to the statistics.
This site is really taking off but we need more publicity/links from other sites. Would statistics be attractive to them?