Biased Radio 4
After listeners’ repeated complaints, News Quiz comedy show is found guilty of prejudice against the Tories
‘Satirical comments’
BBC bosses have upheld a complaint that a long-running Radio 4 comedy show was guilty of anti-Tory bias, it was revealed yesterday.
The News Quiz was found to have broken the broadcaster’s rules on balance after a panellist accused Theresa May of cowardice.
Comedian Susan Calman said the Prime Minister was a coward if she failed to challenge abortion legislation in Northern Ireland, after Ireland voted to overturn its abortion ban. Such a move would have faced stiff opposition from the Democratic Unionist Party, which gives Mrs May her slim majority in Parliament.
Miss Calman, 43, who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing last year, said: ‘There’s been a lot of chat about if Theresa May’s a feminist she needs to step in. ‘This is not a feminist issue. You don’t need to be a feminist to say that women should have equal rights. What she is is a coward. And unless she steps in, that is one part of the United Kingdom where not only gay people but also women don’t have the same rights as other parts of the United Kingdom.’
The Scottish comedian, who married her long-term female partner in 2015, made the comments in an episode broadcast in June, just after the Irish referendum on the abortion ban.
One of her fellow guests on the Radio 4 show, comedian Angela Barnes, compared the Prime Minister to a passenger in a taxi with a racist driver, saying she could not challenge the DUP because they kept her on the road.
The BBC’s executive complaints unit upheld a complaint of bias against the Conservatives on the show, which started in 1977 and has just finished its 97th series. The unit’s report on its findings has yet to be published.
Radio 4’s comedy panel shows have faced frequent allegations of political bias. The station’s Feedback programme, which highlights listeners’ views, featured complaints that The News Quiz had depicted Leave voters as ‘completely stupid’.
A former commissioning editor at Radio 4, Caroline Raphael, has previously said it was ‘very difficult’ to find Right-wing comedians.
The BBC said in a statement: ‘Our comedy programmes have a long history of panellists making satirical comments aimed at politicians from across the spectrum.
‘Clearly, the expectations around impartiality in a comedy series are different to a news programme. Expression of a personal and political view is not a breach of the BBC’s guidelines but they require all programmes to show due impartiality.’