The Beeb’s craven capitulation to Brexit continues …
Above: Gove repeats his Brexit lies, scarcely challenged by Stephanie Flanders
Many of us were genuinely shocked by the failure of supposedly serious BBC journalists to challenge the lies of the Brexit leaders during the referendum campaign, and the willingness of the BBC news to treat those lies as though they were serious, legitimate political arguments..
The BBC’s craven capitulation to the Brexiteers continues apace. I awoke this morning to Radio 4’s Today programme, compiled by ‘guest editor’ Helena Morrisey, billed in the Guardian thus: “Morrissey, who spent 15 years as chief executive of Newton Investment Management and also spoke out in favour of Brexit, said she would be “exploring the theme of ‘power to the people’ in a year when democracy reasserted itself and disruptive forces were unleashed, leaving many of us scrambling to work out what happens next”. This ultra-wealthy member of the ruling class and representative of finance capitalism, was allowed to present herself as some sort of persecuted representative of ‘the people.
The entire programme was a plug for Brexit, with virtually no balancing opinion. Michael Gove was allowed to lie (again) about what he said about “experts” (he now claims he only meant economists) and the usually excellent Stephanie Flanders scarcely challenged him, allowing him to semi-defend the “£350 million per week for the NHS” lie.
The BBC’s craven capitulation to the lies of the Brexiteers is all the more worrying in the light of the government’s ‘power grab’ whereby ministers will have increased powers to pick political allies for senior jobs at public bodies like the BBC.
Post-referendum (and the election of Trump), we live in an age of shameless cronyism, patronage, fear and ‘post truth’ – or to give ‘post truth’ its simple, correct name: lies.
Of course, some on the idiot-left continue in their state of denial.
Shiraz Socialist 
Glasgow Working Class said,
December 28, 2016 at 8:32 pm
The Brexiters were not the government. The Brexiters only pointed out the ammount of wasted taxpayers money that goes into the corrupt EU gravy train. Some suggested some of this wasted money could go to the NHS. The remainers have milked this nonsense until the cow is dry. We are almost out and a good thing too.
februarycallendar said,
December 28, 2016 at 9:07 pm
Well, two thirds of the voters of Glasgow disagree with the above.
The BBC probably never *didn’t* forelock-tug, but it seems worse and more cringing now for a multitude of reasons.
Glasgow Working Class said,
December 29, 2016 at 1:44 am
It was a UK referendum. You may disagree with opinions but the result was Brexit and that is democracy. If we Brexiters had lost then we would have had to swallow the pill and accept the EU corruption. This generation has kicked it into touch.
februarycallendar said,
December 28, 2016 at 9:43 pm
Specifically, I can think of “news” articles dehumanising the very concept of modern history, a general forelock-tug to the US and general Anglosphere ruling elite (while marginalising the dissident voices within those cultures), an obsessive and, I think, politicised pushing of the few remaining bands in the post-Britpop/landfill traditions …
Problem is: I don’t think the BBC was ever really any different. Fewer lowbrow tendencies, of course, but just as bad at the core, in different ways. And in the iPlayer age especially, Jamz Supernova is infinitely preferable to the dead air we would have once got. A big problem is that the only alternative – at the key moment of 1993/4 – would have been a Telegraph letters’ page wank fantasy which would probably have disappeared entirely by now.
The coup de grace for the Leave campaign was, of course, the completely unexpected return to prominence in the Labour Party of the deeply unappealing Stalinist Europhobe tradition, which I still think we would – in these circumstances – have been better off without, however necessary a break from the post-1979 mould was in other ways … it did not need to, even implicitly, go that far.
Glasgow Working Class said,
December 29, 2016 at 1:46 am
Stalin is pan breid!