Interesting to see several ‘right-wing’ commentators suggest that the BBC is giving us a balanced view of the EU referendum…and yet it’s just not true. Certainly there have been many debates and interviews that give the suggestion of balance but comparing them the Remain camp gets an easy ride and the underlying tone of the BBC narrative is pro-Remain…very uncritical of Remain’s claims…such as Brexit will cause a new world war, that Brexit is based on the racist hatred of foreigners or that the economy will plunge off a cliff on Brexit…where is the ‘Reality Check’ on the latest ‘Treasury’ claims? The BBC pushes those claims as fact…the language used is intended to make them sound credible and authoritative…the ‘treasury analysis’ sounds scientific rather than the obedient regurgitation of the Treasury’s boss’s (ie Osborne) words and Osborne ‘warns’ rather than ‘claims’…altogether more dramatic and intense than a mere ‘claim’.
Charles Moore in the Telegraph suggests that the BBC white paper, or is that the white flag from the government?, was part of a deal, the quid pro quo being the BBC’s unstinting support for the pro-EU side…not sure that’s a good deal as such a stance from the BBC was pretty much guaranteed anyway. He notes the BBC’s complete lack of interest in the leaked letter that reveals the collusion between Big Business and No10 on the pro-EU campaign….such collusion the right-on BBC would normally be desperate to expose….such as when Murdoch was supposed to be in cahoots with the politicians. Not now though.
The BBC is though far more rigorous with the Out camp’s claims….such as on the NHS or immigration. On the Today show we had Nick Robinson exploring the issues (08:08)…he starts off with some voices telling us that the Brexit camp’s claims about Turkey are racist, unrealistic and offensive. No voices telling us how accurate the concerns really are. In fact what we got was the BBC’s Chris Morris giving us a very aggressive, anti-Brexit campaign lecture on the ‘facts’ telling us that the claim that there are 76 million Turks is wrong, there are 79 million…the Out camp must check its facts. Well, a minor point and hardly one of great importance but let’s check the facts with…the BBC…from May this year…
Republic of Turkey
Capital: Ankara
- Population 74.5 million
Well, it’s not 76 million, but then again the BBC isn’t stating the correct figure of 79 million itself. Maybe the BBC should check its facts and get its story right Chris. Morris is stridently trying to imply the Out camp cannot be trusted and is a ramshackle shambles unable to check facts….therefore presumably we must conclude the same about the BBC..and that Morris is biased.
Morris went on to tell us in no uncertain terms that Turkey will never be allowed to join the EU….accept of course the way is being paved and the politicians like Cameron would be more than happy to open the door regardless of what the population of Europe thinks….and regardless of which with visa free travel Turkey may just come to Europe anyway….by the train, car and plane load regardless of what the official status of Turkey is….and in 2014 ‘The UK Foreign Office says it expects Turkey to be ready for membership “in a decade or so”.’
Robinson links it all to the Far Right and suggests that Turkey wouldn’t want to be in Europe alongside Marie Le Pen…that’s a Turkey ruled by an Islamist dictator involved in violently suppressing the Kurds, who is accused of killing and locking up journalists and who has locked down the country so that any opposition to him his stamped ruthlessly out. Yes, I can see he wouldn’t feel at home in a fascist Europe run by supposed extremists.
Robinson goes on to imply that the Brexit campaign is in fact empowering said extremists (as the BBC sees them) because it whips up a distrust of politicians and the supposed pillars of society….not something the BBC could ever be accused of as it cheerleads Islamist terrorism, the likes of Corbyn and his cabal of communists, the anti-Establishment Occupy and various anti-Establishment groups such as Cage and Stop the War.
So if we Brexit it is all a Far-Right plot and we’ll get fascism and war across Europe once again. The BBC is great isn’t it as it totally ignores the rise of the extreme left and the Islamists?…well, not ignore, the BBC, as said, cheerleads for them whilst ignoring any threat from them to a stable, wealthy and peaceful society.
The likelihood is that Turkey will be allowed to join the EU eventually and that the conditions supposedy imposed will be ignored or met to a minimal standard deemed to be ‘acceptable’ and good enough for the politicians to claim they have been met. Even if this takes a decade it is still an important part of the discussion on the EU…10 years flies by and then what? We have a massive Muslim country that will have a big influence over how Europe is run and will have a large Muslim population already in place inside Europe to leverage that influence. There are legitimate concerns over how a Christian, democratic, liberal and progressive Europe will be effected by such a large and influential Muslim population that is rapidly increasing now…in 10 years that may be massively larger due to immigration, not least from Turkey, and a higher Muslim birthrate combined with a very aggressive Islamist lobby that is not averse to using the threat of violence combined with claims of Muslims being victimised to press their own political advantage.
The BBC refuses to contemplate such things preferring instead to suggest, in line with Cameorn and Co, that Brexit will lead to societal collapse and war due to the rise of Fascism.
Balanced coverage? Hardly.