Imagine that a political aide to David Cameron had said that 'Northerners are backward' in a storm over replacing elderly male MPs with young women. How much coverage would the BBC devote to the story? How many aggrieved female radio presenters would emote on the subject? How many times would Harriet Harman be given the time to spout her usual sanctimonious rubbish on the matter, ignoring at all times the fact that her husband was selected for a Parliamentary seat that had an all women's shortlist.
However this time the story, as reported by The Mail, is about Ed Miliband's senior aide, political secretary and 'fixer' Anna Yearley. So there is not a mention on the BBC news website, only if you search for Anna Yearley on the BBC news website do you find a link to The Mail's article. Bias by omission is as serious as any other sort of bias and the BBC's decisions on what news to cover and what news not to cover is worthy of your attention.
However this time the story, as reported by The Mail, is about Ed Miliband's senior aide, political secretary and 'fixer' Anna Yearley. So there is not a mention on the BBC news website, only if you search for Anna Yearley on the BBC news website do you find a link to The Mail's article. Bias by omission is as serious as any other sort of bias and the BBC's decisions on what news to cover and what news not to cover is worthy of your attention.
1 comment:
Remember next time anyone claims that there's no such thing as bias by omission: Hugh Sykes admitted to DB that there is.
http://biasedbbc.org/blog/2013/11/27/mid-week-open-thread-5/comment-page-1/#comment-357739
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