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Newsnight's anti-Cummings rant exposes the BBC's true partisan colours
Madeline Grant
27 May 2020 • 5:40pm
Last night’s episode began with a monologue that stood out, even in these partisan times, as brazen propaganda. From the first sentence, it displayed a level of editorialising that should astonish even viewers who agreed with every word. At times, I couldn’t believe I was watching British TV at all. The BBC has since acknowledged that the introduction “did not meet our standards of due impartiality” in a statement released this afternoon. Apparently speaking for the nation (itself a problematic starting point) Emily Maitlis began: “Dominic Cummings broke the rules. The country can see that-'
The press needs to hold the government to account. Remaining 'neutral' on the issue of blatant lying from the government is hardly remaining neutral. As a side note, where does that leave Jeremy Hunt on the political spectrum: he has said he won't be resigning, but does think Cummings broke the rules? He appears to miss the point that much of the country's anger and most of the people who are writing to him are writing because his government are saying Cummings didn't break the rules. Perhaps he didn't get the memo.
Confusingly, The Telegraph just tweeted as I was writing this:
I guess that's brazen propaganda from the police then.
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Just as the overall Cummings' story is, in my view, primarily of importance because of what it tells us about those in power (corrupt, complete lack of regard for human concerns and lives - this last specifically because behavioural scientists spoke out on Sunday about the risk to public health caused by breaking trust, and Cummings went on and gave his speech anyway) this is primarily of importance about what it says about the BBC, impartiality and general media power structures.
Maitlis is not scheduled to present the show again this week - Emma Barnett is fronting Thursday's programme, with Kirsty Wark on Friday.
Tuesday's programme opened with Maitlis saying "the country can see" government adviser Mr Cummings had "broken the rules".
The BBC said the show should have made clear the remarks were "a summary of the questions we would examine" about the prime minister's aide.
It added the news programme's staff had been reminded about its guidelines.
At the beginning of the BBC Two programme, Maitlis said the country was "shocked" that the government could not see that Boris Johnson's aide had broken the rules by travelling from London to County Durham during the coronavirus lockdown.
She said the "public mood" was "one of fury, contempt and anguish", and that Mr Cummings had made people who struggled to keep to the government's rules "feel like fools".
She continued: "The prime minister knows all this. But despite the resignation of one minister, growing unease from his backbenchers, a dramatic early warning from the polls and a deep national disquiet, Boris Johnson has chosen to ignore it.
"Tonight we consider what this blind loyalty tells us about the workings of Number 10."
GETTY IMAGESIn a statement on Wednesday, the BBC said it had "reviewed the entirety of last night's Newsnight, including the opening section".
"While we believe the programme contained fair, reasonable and rigorous journalism, we feel that we should have done more to make clear the introduction was a summary of the questions we would examine, with all the accompanying evidence, in the rest of the programme," it continued.
"As it was, we believe the introduction we broadcast did not meet our standards of due impartiality."
On Thursday, media regulator Ofcom said it had received 247 complaints about Maitlis's opening remarks.
Clearly, not all is well within the British Broadcasting Corporation:
Concerns about the Government's treatment of the police
This government has contradicted the police on numerous occasions over the past days. The latest is that the police are saying DC did breach the rules and the Gov are saying he did not.
I have seen at least one tweet saying a 'minor' breach is weak: it's worth noting in defence of the police that the government - Cummings - made the rules, and they are now manipulating caveats within the rules (e.g. safeguarding, which was intended to protect victims of domestic violence). The rules were simple, we all believed, but the caveats were nebulous; it might be difficult to say factually that Cummings committed a 'major' breach. I commend the police for standing up against the government. They are by many accounts struggling currently as members of the public breaking the rules now retort with comments about Cummings. Public beaches and parks were very busy at the weekend.
The public need to trust the government and the police. It should be made clear here that I think we should not trust this government; my point is that they don't even seem to care about presenting the same view as the police, showing little regard for public wellbeing and that of those working in the police force.
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