Simpson: I was ‘ticked off ’ by boss for Brexit liars comment

JOHN SIMPSON has revealed how he was given a “ticking off” by a BBC executive for saying that the corporation had been too willing to allow people to “lie their heads off” during the Brexit campaign.

The veteran broadcaster said he would like to see dedicated fact-checking teams hired for all news programmes aired by the BBC, to ensure that pundits are telling the truth.

“After the referendum, I got a formal ticking off by a senior figure in BBC News because I’d said publicly that we were too willing to allow both sides to lie their heads off during the campaign,” Simpson told Radio Times.

He said that now the BBC has developed fact-checking systems to scrutinise “phoney claims”.

“If it were up to me, I’d attach a factchecking team to every single news programme, to counter each false statement that’s made,” he added.

Simpson also said that most of the complaints the BBC receives are not from those with extreme views, but from “middle-of-the-roaders”.

He told how “moderate-minded” people used to be the corporation’s biggest supporters, but now they are increasingly complaining that coverage is now biased. “Well, I promise you, with the perspective that 52 years of working for it gives me, it’s not the BBC that’s changed, it’s them,” he said.

He said that because of social media, people are used to hearing views that echo their own and so become “enraged by arguments they hate”.

The BBC declined to comment.