{"id":271888,"date":"2023-08-07T09:17:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T07:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=271888"},"modified":"2023-08-07T09:17:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T07:17:19","slug":"bbc-admits-to-smearing-anti-ulez-protesters-as-far-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=271888","title":{"rendered":"BBC Admits to Smearing Anti-Ulez Protesters as \u2018Far Right\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Daily Sceptic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0IAN PRICE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The BBC\u2019s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has responded to complaints about its news coverage of an anti-Ulez protest in London\u2019s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, April 15th, 2023. BBC London News broadcast at the time that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Local protestors and mainstream politicians were joined by conspiracy theorists and Far Right groups.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was among many people to complain at the time, disgusted at the BBC\u2019s smear. I was at the protest myself, the first of any kind that I had attended. Since my previous exposure to similar protests \u2013 such as those against the lockdowns over the course of the pandemic \u2013 was limited to watching clips on Twitter, I was slightly anxious. Were things likely to kick off? Were the police going to \u2018kettle\u2019 us all in a side street off the Strand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could not have been more wrong. I was overwhelmed by how many families were there, abundant small children clambering up the bases of Landseer\u2019s lions. There were a handful of Tory politicians some of whom spoke from the platform, but there was no other political presence whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I saw the BBC London news coverage, I was therefore appalled. I wasn\u2019t too concerned about the claim that there were a few conspiracy theorists there \u2013 quite a few placard-holders were plainly \u2018Team James\u2019 \u2013 but \u201cFar Right groups\u201d seemed to me something for which there was no evidence at all. This appeared to be an attempt on the BBC\u2019s part to suppress dissent towards the Ulez expansion by smearing opponents. This struck me as a sinister turn from the national broadcaster and so I complained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 21st, the BBC responded to my complaint as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BBC London had deployed a reporter to the protest and she witnessed, and documented, first hand, motifs on tabards and placards with explicit Nazi references, along with other epithets about world order and democracy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I walked around the protest for about three hours on April 15th and I must have missed the explicit Nazi references, presumably displayed by the \u201cFar Right groups\u201d. I complained again, asking for evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 12th the BBC rejected my additional complaint as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

We remain satisfied our BBC London reporter gave an honest account of what she witnessed that day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At this point, I escalated the complaint to the ECU, one of 44 people to do so on the grounds of both accuracy and impartiality. Today the BBC acknowledged the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In relation to \u201cFar Right groups\u201d, we recognised that the [conspiracy theory] groups named above might have Far Right (or indeed Far Left) adherents, but did not consider this to be evidence of the presence of \u201cFar Right groups\u201d.\u00a0The programme-makers directed our attention to the deployment by some demonstrators of Nazi imagery, symbolism and slogans directed against the Mayor of London which we accepted was consistent with tactics used predominantly by certain Far Right groups, but we saw no grounds for concluding that they were used exclusively by such groups.\u00a0We also noted the presence of an individual who seemed, from social media postings, very likely to have been associated with the presence of a Far Right group at a previous demonstration, but the evidence fell short of establishing that he was an adherent of that group, and we saw no evidence that other representatives of the group were present. While it was clear from our dealings with the programme-makers that the statement about the presence of Far Right groups was made in good faith, we assessed the evidence differently. In our judgement it was\u00a0suggestive<\/em>\u00a0of the presence of Far Right groups but fell short of establishing that such groups had in fact been represented among the demonstrators. This aspect of the complaint has been upheld.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This shows pretty clearly that the idea of \u201cFar Right groups\u201d being present at the protest was a complete fiction. Feelings are running high about Khan and some placards quite possibly likened his administrative style to infamous dictators of the past but for anyone to have spun this as evidence of \u201cFar Right groups\u201d is a stretch to say the least. As for the \u201cindividual who seemed, from social media postings, very likely to have been associated with the presence of a Far Right group at a previous demonstration\u201d, the words \u2018straws\u2019 and \u2018clutching\u2019 spring to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to upholding the complaint about accuracy, the BBC has also partially upheld the complaint on impartiality which derives from the close resemblance of the BBC\u2019s language in its news report to that of Khan himself at a People\u2019s Town Hall in Ealing in March. When asked about people\u2019s misgivings about the Ulez expansion, he said that its opponents were \u201cin coalition with the Far Right\u201d and \u201cjoining hands with some of those outside who are part of a Far Right group\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBC has now acknowledged the \u201cimpression of bias\u201d and upheld this part of the complaint, while spinning it as something of an accident, something that \u201cmight well have been perceived as lending a degree of corroboration to the Mayor\u2019s comments\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is a step in the right direction for the BBC to uphold two aspect of the complaints, there remain unanswered questions about its broader coverage of Ulez and to what extent its coverage is being unduly influenced by Sadiq Khan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Daily Express<\/em>\u00a0published on 24th June about a senior producer at the BBC that made contact with Reform U.K. London Mayoral candidate Howard Cox to blow the whistle on the BBC\u2019s suppression of coverage critical of the Ulez expansion. (Cox, by the way, was also in attendance at the April demo but had not at that point declared as a Mayoral candidate):\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The leak to Reform U.K. Mayoral candidate Howard Cox\u2026 reveals that Mr. Khan had applied pressure on the\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0over reporting the issue. It said that journalists wanting to run stories now needed top level clearance over something that is set to be a major electoral issue in the London Mayor election and general election both next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Express<\/em>\u00a0article went on to explain email exchanges that the senior BBC producer had received:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0producer was told in an email to news staff from Dan Fineman, Senior News Editor\u00a0BBC<\/a>\u00a0South East: \u201cIf any platforms are doing a story on Ulez charges in the South and Southeast we now need to do a mandatory referral to Jason Horton or Robert Thomson (re) outstanding complaint with the Mayor of London which is very live at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Jason Horton is the BBC\u2019s Director of Production for BBC Local Services and Robert Thomson is Head of the BBC in London and the East. This suggests a level of collusion between very senior staff at the BBC and Sadiq Khan with a direct influence over editorial approaches to news coverage of anti-Ulez protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also reported by the whistleblower that a BBC London investigation into Ulez was now been paused because of the Mayor of London\u2019s pressure on the BBC.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, Khan appears to be exercising at the very least some form of influence over the BBC\u2019s coverage of anti-Ulez protests. This is not an \u201cimpression of bias\u201d \u2013 this more closely resembles a real, undiluted bias against anti-Ulez campaigners on the part of the nation\u2019s publicly-funded broadcaster at the behest of the Labour Mayor of London. The BBC has come up with a partial and grudging apology but I suspect that the truth about its willingness to suppress dissent with \u201cFar Right\u201d smears is more extensive than it\u2019s prepared to admit. I hope that doesn\u2019t make me a \u201cconspiracy theorist\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The BBC\u2019s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has responded to complaints about its news coverage of an anti-Ulez protest in London\u2019s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, April 15th, 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":271896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821530,691818389,691821656,691821657,691821658,691821199],"class_list":{"0":"post-271888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-anti-ulez","9":"tag-bbc","10":"tag-far-right","11":"tag-liberal-bias","12":"tag-political-bias","13":"tag-protests","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-200.png?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-18Ji","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":261053,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=261053","url_meta":{"origin":271888,"position":0},"title":"BBC upheld just 25 complaints of bias in five\u00a0years","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m surprised it\u2019s as many as 25!!","rel":"","context":"In \"BBC\"","block_context":{"text":"BBC","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bbc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0EDZ2IVNKMSEWTLK4LMUU5K3RMU.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0EDZ2IVNKMSEWTLK4LMUU5K3RMU.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0EDZ2IVNKMSEWTLK4LMUU5K3RMU.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0EDZ2IVNKMSEWTLK4LMUU5K3RMU.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0EDZ2IVNKMSEWTLK4LMUU5K3RMU.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":366625,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366625","url_meta":{"origin":271888,"position":1},"title":"London\u2019s Blade Runners: Climate, Class War and the Corruption of Science","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The UK papers carried stories recently about the punishing penalties that London\u2019s drivers have paid under Mayor Sadiq Khan\u2019s Ulez (ultra-low emission zone) scheme. 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