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A Tweet posted by a name I remember from the 80s asks the BBC to treat a parliamentary party with fourteen times as many seats as Reform the same way as they do Farage’s mob, bet you they don’t though.
https://x.com/tanita_tikaram/status/...Q7_AggLZAJxrmQ
A classic example of the left/right (delete as appropriate) accusing the BBC of favouring the left/right (delete as appropriate)
A rather bizarre strawman post from Tanita Tikaram though (301,000 views though so that's the main thing!) as there are about a dozen by elections every Thursday in the UK and the BBC or anyone else never gives much coverage of them, let alone "wall to wal" coverage, so why would they get excited about the Lob Dems winning a seat?
I know you think what you say should put an end to any argument, but are you seriously suggesting that Reform gets coverage by all TV channels, not just the BBC, that is proportional to the number of MPs they have compared to other parties?. Do we see more of, for example, Lib Dem MPs and the same numbers as Green MPs as we do Reform MPs discussing current events on news programmes and shows like Question Time? Of course we don’t and yet when there are election results which go against the we’re heading for a Reform Government with Farage PM narrative, they don’t get a mention.
Not sure where the first comment comes from. It's a forum, people respond and respond in kind.
You have set a specific determinant there of how all political discussions should be based - by the number of MPs. I agree that's definitely part of the equation but far from the only one. If that were the case it's a recipe for the media parroting whoever is in power.
On that basis, yes Reform get a disproportionate hearing. So do the SNP and Plaid UK wide, so do that Lib Dems I suspect as they are typically on most panels.
As for Question Time, I see three Reform MPs have been on this year, to eight Lib Dems. You can add in Zia Yusufs appearances and it's 5 to 8. So you aren't right on that one. So that's 5 out of 96 panellists in 2025.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List..._Time_episodes
I don't have the data for other panellist shows such as the Daily Politics but I suspect they are the same.
Is that fair? It's an over-epresentation in terms of MPs. It's a total underrepresentation based on the last local elections and an underrepresentation based on opinion polls.
So on balance, I reckon they probably get it about right really.
But either way, the idea the BBC ever give wall-to-wall coverage to council ward by-elections is absolutely untrue.