BBC presenter’s cosiness lets former Tory chair Brandon Lewis off hook
On the same day it was revealed that the BBC is to broadcast a programme on ‘impartial journalism’ featuring a panel of anti-Corbyn journalists, BBC Question Time hit a new low last night as presenter Fiona Bruce got very cosy with former Tory chair Brandon Lewis.
Lewis was facing an awkward point raised by an audience member and Bruce initially pressed the point.
Then, as Lewis stammered and searched for an answer, she patted him on the arm and said, “Ok, I’m teasing you, I’m teasing you” – and then moved on, allowing the Tory MP to dodge the issue:
The interchange was spotted by Liam Lavery, who commented on Twitter:
So, a difficult question was asked to Brandon Lewis about David Cameron. Fiona Bruce noticed Lewis was struggling so patted him on the arm and said, “I’m just teasing you”. Unbelievable. #BBCQT
Quite.
Bruce has been criticised previously for a lack of impartiality on the programme, with the BBC eventually admitting that she mocked Diane Abbott to the audience before a show in which the Shadow Home Secretary was about to appear.
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This is the presenter who warmed up the Question Time audience by seeking to degrade Diane Abbott, who encouraged them to mock Diane and who misquoted poll results in order to undermine her .She got off with it -not even a slap on the wrist -presumably she was carrying out BBC policy.
Now she is cosying up to a Tory and getting him off the hook when he is asked a difficult question – what a surprise! I haven’t been so shocked since I found out the pope is a Catholic LOL
Could hardly hear it but if the accusation was just that Camoron had promised to stay on as PM even if leave won – and then decided he was for turning – it wasn’t much of a gotcha anyway.
Turning up the volume , it was also
” Do you wish he ( Camoron ;-D) ) had stayed on ” in other words , what do you think of Boris the buffoon ….
So yes , he should have been left to answer the question .
If he struggles with that what else will she allow him ( or another tory ) to avoid .
Would she “impartially” do the same for a Labour politician …
Yeah right .
Turning up the volume , it was also
” Do you wish he ( Cameron) had stayed on ? ”
In other words – What do you think of Boris .
He shouldn’t have been let off so easily.
If she allows that what else will she do for him,
or another tory.
Would she “impartially” do the same for a Labour politician?
Yeah right .
Duplicated post – some delay in original appearing .
With her dismissal of food banks as a legitimate topic last week, she’s back and as obnoxious as ever!
Why any Labour MP goes on there is beyond me. Question Time is shit who have had shit presenters. BBC should be shut down.
Stopped watching it some time ago – treat it with the same contempt as the S(c)um .
I can’t remember the last time I saw a complete show. I have tried but couldn’t complete the course. The whole of aunty should be reduced to rubble. Sorry, it has, years ago. Regards.
Obviously the beeb hierarchy aren’t THAT concerned about the govt blaming them for bringing in means testing for the over 75’s licence fee.
A lot of space gets devoted to BBC News and Current Affairs output. I think many of us have written it off as a reliable output of record: I almost never listen to ‘Today’, and only by accident hear – often second-hand – ‘Question Time’. Similarly ‘Any Questions’ and ‘Newsnight’
A major further downward step was the way in which the BBC essentially just repeated propaganda over the ‘antisemitism’ issue.
There is a two-part problem. The more easily dealt with is the increased government hold over the BBC in terms of governance and management. The second is more intractable : the insulated, unimaginative, lazy bubble that journalism has become where the agenda is largely self-generated and feeds off itself. And, despite good historical evidence of establishment bias in the BBC’s output, I reckon this insulation has got worse, with fewer quality journalists putting their head above the parapet. One can have some sympathy with those good journalists, given the sort of pressure that was put on Jeremy Bowen, for instance, when he was prone to tell it as it is concerning Israel.
But behind the BBC and its lazy journalism lies another, more insidious part of the bubble – the printed media. This sets the agenda that the BBC picks up and which shapes its output. The breadth of printed coverage has narrowed markedly in the last half-century, and has largely fallen into foreign and non-domiciled hands with a broadly similar right-wing agenda. Of course, this trend was actively encouraged by the Tories.
The argument is frequently made that print readership is falling, and is therefor not a significant factor in opinion shaping. This declining influence is demonstrably not the case – the propaganda lines of that press can easily be identified in conversations and interviews every day, – the propaganda is all pervasive.
… which is a prelude to noting the bleedin’ obvious : that Labour has a major problem with a propaganda network that is highly biased against the Party.
So – what are the proposals for dealing with it in a coherent, structural way? It really isn’t a side-issue.
No,it isn’t a side issue,control of the narrative is the front line in the struggle against those that have the power,and as regards the corporate media,and I include the BBC in that definition,it is pikes against tanks.Without the internet there would be no hope,and that is why they are working desperately to get control of online content.
It always amazes me when radio & TV programs “review today’s papers”. Why don’t they just read them out on air & save on that “lazy journalism”?
Most of Fiona Bruce’s interjections are driven via her earpiece.