The BBC was forced to retract and apologize after claiming the Reform Britain party founded by Nigel Farage was “far-right”.
Establishment media often brand Europe’s populist parties as ‘far-right’, even though many only support principles and views recently put forward by conservative parties. Reform UK has been forced to retract and apologize for that characterization. As the Brexit Party.
In a statement, the publicly funded broadcaster said: Said: “In an article about the Liberal Democratic Party’s spring conference, we incorrectly described the party Reform UK as far-right when referring to the poll.
“This sentence did not meet normal editorial standards and has since been removed from the article. The original wording was based on the news agency’s copy and we take full responsibility and apologize for the error. ”
However, British Reform Party leader Richard Tice suggested that legal action could still be taken against the broadcaster. write On social media: The BBC has apologized after the news website called Reform Britain ‘far-right’, following intervention from my lawyer.
“My lawyers have also been in touch with other news organizations who have repeated the BBC’s statements. Let me be clear: I consider this libelous and defamatory.”
BBC appoints anti-Brexit journalist to top post https://t.co/T0ThgdOrWW
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 17, 2021
This is not the first time the BBC has been forced to apologize to party members, with the broadcaster reporting last year that it falsely claimed that Nigel Farage’s bank account was canceled as a result of the account holder falling short of financial standards. was criticized for.
This turned out to be untrue, with the Brexit leader and honorary chairman of Reform Britain publishing internal documents from NatWest, the owner of Coutts Bank, which revealed that the bank had accessed his accounts for political reasons. indicated that it was closed.
BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness and business editor Simon Jack joined Jack in apologizing to Mr Farage. write He said he had received the information from “reliable senior sources” – later revealed to have ousted NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose – but added: “The information is incomplete and inaccurate. I would therefore like to apologize to Mr Farage.”
The BBC has long been accused of bias in its reporting, but this is clearly against its own rules. In return for unbiased reporting, the station is given special status in the UK and is supported financially by a license fee tax that imposes fines and even jail time on those who watch TV broadcasts in the country. There is.
But Britain’s left and right have accused the neoliberal broadcaster of being biased in favor of Westminster’s elitist establishment.
BBC refuses to respond to allegations that its disinformation fact checkers are spreading disinformationhttps://t.co/SQvyjbCYLg
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 17, 2023
