Why does BBC add ‘despite Brexit’ if there’s good news?

Minister hits out at ‘biased’ media and asks:

LIAM Fox stepped up the Tory war with the BBC yesterday as he accused the Corporation of being biased against Brexit.

The International Trade Secretary said the BBC and other media organisations deliberately tried to undermine efforts to make Brexit a success.

He told MPs: ‘It does appear that some elements of our media would rather see Britain fail than see Brexit succeed. I cannot recall a single time in recent times when I have seen good economic news that the BBC didn’t describe as “despite Brexit”.’

Dr Fox’s intervention underlines the growing frustration within Eurosceptic ranks at the BBC’s coverage of Brexit in the wake of last year’s referendum. Many were content with the BBC’s conduct during the referendum campaign, when it was subject to strict guidelines requiring it to give equal weight to both sides.

But they believe the broadcaster is now failing in its duty to be impartial by running negative stories about Brexit.

A cross-party group of MPs challenged news chief James Harding over the issue this week during face-to-face talks – only to be told the BBC did not accept it was biased.

Last month, Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom also hit out at the coverage of Brexit, urging broadcasters to be ‘a bit patriotic’.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the BBC last year as being ‘infuriatingly and shamelessly anti-Brexit’.

Senior figures at No 10 are also unhappy about the tone of some of the BBC’s Brexit coverage. But Downing Street stayed out of the row yesterday, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying that Theresa May believed in a free Press.

The criticism came as Dr Fox released figures showing healthy inward investment to the UK in the wake of the Brexit vote.

He told MPs the latest data ‘showed a record-breaking number of foreign direct investment projects came in to the UK in 2016/17, at 2,265, safeguarding nearly 108,000 jobs or creating new jobs in the UK’.

But he added: ‘ No doubt the usual suspects will describe it as “despite Brexit”.’

Fellow Tory Nigel Evans warned that negative Press coverage about Brexit could ‘undermine’ the prospects for trade deals with Commonwealth countries.

He added: ‘ The potential for trade with Commonwealth countries is very exciting – growing economies, strong economies. But every time I open a newspaper or listen to the radio or TV, the story is done negatively, almost as if it’s going to be impossible for us to do these trade deals.’

However, opposition MPs rounded on Dr Fox for daring to criticise the BBC.

Liberal Democrat chief whip Alistair Carmichael compared him to ‘Donald Trump without the perma-tan’, and accused him of trying to shift attention from his own department’s record. Labour veteran Barry Sheerman accused Dr Fox of a ‘silly attack’ on the BBC and called for him to resign over claims he had lost the confidence of manufacturers.

A BBC spokesman said: ‘ The BBC takes impartiality incredibly seriously and we are covering Brexit developments in depth by examining all the perspectives and arguments. We have a wide range of voices on air and will continue to do so.’

‘Could undermine trade deals’

Secretary Dr Liam Fox accurately observes that the BBC is completely incapable of reporting any good economic news without adding ‘despite Brexit’. As the negotiations gather pace, isn’t it time for the Corporation to rediscover the impartiality it showed during the referendum campaign, and has since completely abandoned?