Bias? What bias?

Following on from my post about BBC bias in its coverage of the #OurNHS march on 4th March, and my subsequent complaint to the BBC, I have now had a wholly unsatisfactory response from them...

Thank you for contacting us about our coverage of the NHS march in London on 4th March. We appreciate that you feel we didn’t give enough prominence to this story.
We covered this protest across BBC News platforms, including on BBC Radio bulletins, in the PM programme on Radio 4, in headlines and live coverage on the BBC News Channel, in our television bulletins on BBC One, and online.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39167350
Of course we appreciate that the NHS, and the challenges it faces, is a major news story, and one which many in our audience care about. At weekends, some of our news bulletins are shorter than during the week – but we would also point to our in-depth coverage of the NHS including a recent series of extended reports to explore this topic last month, during our “NHS Healthcheck” series.

We understand that you may still be unhappy with our coverage of this protest, but hope the above explains that we did report the protests across a range of News output. BBC News will continue to cover any significant developments relating to the NHS.
Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind Regards
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.

That they consider their previous month's coverage of the NHS during their NHS Healthcheck series an adequate explanation for their poor ongoing coverage just beggars belief.   I remain unconvinced of their lack of bias, and I certainly heard very little about the march on Saturday on Radio 4 whilst it was happening or later the same evening after it had finished.

In their response the BBC also indicated their coverage online, via the link given, which did not appear in the list of top news stories and for which I had to go hunting (as I pointed out in my complaint). This was posted under the very misleading headline "NHS protest: Tens of thousands march against 'hospital cuts'" whereas the police were quoting in excess of 200,000 people, so by diminishing the turnout by a factor of ten the BBC appeared to be attempting to reduce the apparent impact of, and the participation in, the march in support of #OurNHS. Doing so is manipulation of the facts and should be denounced.

So the question is, can I take my complaint further or is the complaints processed closed?

BBC News Media - Evidence of Continuing Bias?

Alston Labour Party Branch at the #OurNHS March London
Sat 4th March 2017 © Alice Bondi

Following on from yesterday's #OurNHS March where over 250,000 people from all over the UK marched through London, a fact the BBC and some other mainstream British media seems to have ignored or referred to in passing, I felt a formal complaint to the BBC was in order. I do not have a TV so never see the BBC's TV output, but have been told by friends who do that there was scant mention of the march in the TV news. I listened to the R4 News where the same was the case, whilst looking at the BBC News online pages you would not even be aware that there had been a march if that was your only source of news as it did not feature in their top UK news stories, and only shows up if you really dig for it.

This is yet another instance of the sort of media bias we have seen over the last couple of years - Media Lens did a big exposé of this last November under the title BBC Propaganda Watch: Tell-Tale Signs That Slip Through The Cracks. 

My complaint is as follows:

Yesterday there was one of the biggest marches in London in support of the NHS & against the cutbacks in its funding & services. Over 250,000 people (police estimate) marched through London over a 4-5 hour period. The only coverage on the BBC R4 News was scant mentions of "thousands marched through London today", whilst the BBC News website seems to have no coverage or photos of the March, nor any journalistic coverage, nor interviews with those concerned, who ranged from the Labour Party leader and Shadow Chancellor, trades union general secretaries, health service workers of all grades, NHS service consumers, and a whole raft of concerned citizens who had travelled from every part of the UK to support this march. Contrast this with the more than 2 minutes of video broadcast yesterday evening by a German broadcaster, highlighting not only the march in London but also the dire state of the NHS in the UK under the current government. This is blatant bias on the part of the BBC, who have a duty to provide impartial and comprehensive news to the people of this country. Those who make the decisions not to cover such big events are sanitising the news and colluding with an increasingly fascist and intolerant government attempting to further subdue the population through the reduction in public services and the stripping of dignity from the most needy and vulnerable citizens. As the BBC is publicly funded via the licence fee my complaint is that the biased coverage against the march and against the Labour Party's current leadership is against its own constitution and against the principles of fairness and natural justice. I request a full and detailed investigation into the lack of 4th March coverage and the bias that underpins the scant coverage of both popular mass actions and the current Labour leadership.

The BBC website Complaints pages say they will respond within 2 weeks, so I shall wait and see the outcome.

Meanwhile if, like me, you were unable to go to the march, you may like to see the video on YouTube which recorded all 3½ hours plus of it!



Contingents certainly went from Cumbria were I live, leaving home around 4am to make the journey down to London by coach to be there in time for the march start at noon. After walking through the capital, and listening to various speakers as well they set off on the journey back in the late afternoon and many will not have reached home until around midnight. Such a long day, but that so many people did make those sorts of journeys to take part shows the strength of feeling in the country in support of #OurNHS and the people who work within it.

German broadcaster takes more notice of 1/4 million march than does the BBC!

It says something when German TV gives more coverage to the London #OurNHS march than did the UK's #BBC!

250,000+ people marched through London today in support of the NHS but if you watched or listened to the BBC news yesterday you'd be forgiven for thinking only a few folks went to London to to protest against the NHS cuts.

Well, guess what? More than a quarter of a million were there on the streets, yes that's right, more than A QUARTER OF A MILLION people took to the streets of London today in support of #OurNHS.

Oh and that figure came from the Police apparently, and past experience tells me they do tend to underestimate slightly...

When more than 250,000 people take to the streets of the capital it should send a very clear message to Government that the people are a bit miffed with them. Loads more of us were not able to make the trip to London but we were with the marchers in spirit.

We are ordinary people, some working, some retired, some disabled, some still at school or university, some old, some young, some in the middle. We all share a passionate support for the NHS and outrage at the Tory government's budget cuts, privatisation of services and closures of hospitals and other health services.

Enough is enough. We stand, we fight. HANDS OFF #OurNHS !