As the SKWAWKBOX covered earlier today, GQ editor Dylan Jones was allowed several minutes of prime radio time to disparage Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.
Radio 4 failed to mention to listeners that Jones has close links to the Tory party and paid David Cameron almost £20,000 to be able to write the former Conservative PM’s biography.
Nor did the interviewer challenge or probe his assertions in any meaningful way. BBC ‘impartiality’.
It was the BBC’s third Corbyn-related ‘mistake’ in ten days.
Jones also claimed in the interview that he had sent a staff member to interview Corbyn who was one of several younger staffers of a similar mindset. But GQ has published a ‘behind the scenes’ video of its preparation for the interview – and there’s no sign of any ardent Corbyn fans involved in the process.
For example, the ‘Features Editor’:
“The cultish masses”; “a very divisive character”.
Does that sound like he ever idolised the Labour leader? His Twitter feed, tellingly, appears devoid of any mention of Corbyn before he publicised the new interview, while a Google search for the two names returns almost as sparse results.
Not what you might expect from someone who “want[ed] to believe so much in Jeremy Corbyn“.
The staff member who interviewed Corbyn was also said by Jones to be an enthusiast, but Private Eye journalist Solomon Hughes spotted a similar disconnect:
The two images Hughes uploaded with his tweet showed the GQ staffer enthusing – seriously enthusing – about anti-Corbyn posts:
Dylan Jones and his staff are entitled to their opinion. But it’s beyond dispute that the BBC, to fulfil its impartiality remit as well as to perform basic journalistic competence – should have made clear where Jones stands politically – and asked probing questions about the assertions he made.
It did neither.
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