BBC’s topical comedy shows biased against Right, study finds
BBC topical comedy shows appear to be overwhelmingly biased against figures and institutions on the Right, analysis by The Sunday Telegraph has found.
Episodes of Have I Got News For You on BBC One, The News Quiz on Radio 4 and The Mash Report on BBC Two, broadcast during lockdown, featured 13 times as many jokes aimed at Rightwing figures and issues as opposed to those on the Left.
They were largely aimed at the Conservatives, Brexit and Donald Trump, with just 10 jokes in six episodes criticising Labour or Left-wing figures including Sir Keir Starmer and Joe Biden, the US presidential nominee.
The Telegraph analysed two broad
casts each of Have I Got News For You, The Mash Report and The News Quiz between April and June.
The May 22 edition of Have I Got
News For You made five references to Boris Johnson’s perceived incompetence plus questions about his family.
There were also digs at Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and the Government’s messages on easing lockdown. Charlie Brooker, its guest host and a
Guardian columnist, said on the show that “the Press have got it in for Sir Keir Starmer”. Panel regular Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, said Sir Keir had “performed quite well” as Labour leader.
The May 29 episode featured 27 jokes about Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s chief adviser, after his visit to Durham during lockdown. Hislop suggested Mr Cummings “should resign” three times. There were 15 further comments about Mr Johnson and his party but nothing critical of Sir Keir or Labour, something that provoked complaints to the BBC, which said it had “a long tradition of satire”, and that “jokes and asides” were not expressions of fact.
The May 1 episode of TheMashReport on BBC Two targeted the Conservative Party and its politicians 11 times, including a questionable claim that “people who used to detest the NHS suddenly love it … the Right-wing press, Conservative politicians and men who like golf ”. The show also made five references to the US president. In one, presenter Nish Kumar said he “talks nonsense”. The episode made no mention of a Left-wing political leader or institution.
The Tories were under fire the following week, with 17 jokes about the party and its politicians. Again there was no mention of Sir Keir or Labour.
There was better political balance concerning the US presidential election, with more evenly balanced humour regarding Mr Trump and Mr Biden and a segment featuring Geoff Norcott, a British Tory-leaning comic. On Radio 4, two episodes of The
News Quiz on May 29 and June 5 featured 14 mentions of Mr Trump and five punchlines about Mr Johnson, while there were three references to Sir Keir and no mention of Mr Biden.
None of this perceived bias is new. Among the 20 Have I Got News For You hosts since 2016 to have commented publicly on politics, 10 expressed Leftwing views and a further nine went on record with liberal opinions.
These include staunch Labour supporters Jo Brand and David Harewood; Gary Lineker, who called for a second referendum on Brexit; Ed Balls, a Labour MP for 10 years; and Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister.
The only apparent Right-wing guest host has been Jeremy Paxman, who in 2014 described himself as a “one-nation Tory” and said his views often meant he found himself at odds with liberal Newsnight colleagues.
The BBC declined to comment but has previously said: “The BBC has a long tradition of satire and it isn’t unusual for public figures to have their actions scrutinised. No one in the public eye is exempt. We don’t consider that [the Cummings] story received disproportionate coverage on the programme.”