One evening recently Mrs NotaSheep and I were watching the BBC 10 o'clock BBC news where Stephanie Flanders was giving her opinion on something or other. I asked Mrs NotaSheep if she knew what Stephanie Flanders' nickname was, she said no. I told her it was Stephanie '2 Eds' Flanders, did she know why? She didn't. I did explain why but it struck me that there must be many other people watching the BBC's 'unbiased by charter' news who do not know the back-story of one of the BBC's leading journalists.
Stephanie Flanders earned her nickname as Wikipedia delicately put it
So in summary Stephanie Flanders previously dated two men who went on to be the two leading figures in the Labour party and then went on to work for a US Democrat administration.
I am not saying that Stephanie Flanders is biased in favour of the British Labour party and against the British Conservative party. I am not saying that Stephanie Flanders is biased in favour of the US Democrat party and against the US Republican party. Many would say that she is guilty of both these types of bias, what do you think? However I do think that the BBC, if they insist on presenting Stephanie Flanders as their unbiased economics editor should at least subtitle her reports with a health warning as to her background.
Stephanie Flanders earned her nickname as Wikipedia delicately put it
'She previously dated Ed Balls and Ed Miliband who went on to become Shadow Chancellor and leader of the Labour Party respectively.'What is less well known about the BBC's economics editor is that she also worked as a speechwriter and adviser to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers in 1997. You will not be surprised to learn that Mr Summers was the United States Secretary of the Treasury for Bill Clinton.
So in summary Stephanie Flanders previously dated two men who went on to be the two leading figures in the Labour party and then went on to work for a US Democrat administration.
I am not saying that Stephanie Flanders is biased in favour of the British Labour party and against the British Conservative party. I am not saying that Stephanie Flanders is biased in favour of the US Democrat party and against the US Republican party. Many would say that she is guilty of both these types of bias, what do you think? However I do think that the BBC, if they insist on presenting Stephanie Flanders as their unbiased economics editor should at least subtitle her reports with a health warning as to her background.
2 comments:
I try to inform as many people as I can of Stephanie's background - I let them know she is the daughter of Michael Flanders first just as a point of interest you know - then just add as a bit of 'gossip' about her romantic past.
Yes, if she had been of the right she would have been labelled by the BBC as "Right-Wing" so she should be labelled as left-wing.
There should be a further caveat attached to her economic predictions warning people not to take her views seriously. After all she is almost 100% wrong.
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