BBC incorrectly describes York MP Hugh Bayley as conservative

York Central MP Hugh Bayley York Central MP Hugh Bayley

THE BBC had problems with the party allegiance of York Central MP Hugh Bayley in its coverage of the Richard III reburial parliamentary debate.

Mr Bayley has been a member of the Labour Party for many years and takes the Labour whip in the House of Commons.

But when the BBC rebroadcast his speech on its Democracy Live website, it described him as Conservative. The caption below the video broadcast read: “Conservative York Central MP Hugh Bayley led a debate on the licensing of the reburial of King Richard III, on 12 March 2013.”

However, the caption in the video of the York MP read correctly “Hugh Bayley, Labour.” It also showed him wearing a large white rose.

Comments(16)

Podlet says...
10:29am Thu 14 Mar 13

And The Press have never, ever got anything wrong?

Guy Fawkes says...
10:52am Thu 14 Mar 13

Getting facts wrong is something the BBC does in virtually every news broadcasts, whether the errors come from their own journalists or their interviewees, in footage that is presumably broadcast without being checked first. Therefore, this is a complete non-story. The real story is why we are still compelled to pay the BBC for the legal right to watch its rivals' output (e.g. a professionally run news channel such as Sky). I say privatise the BBC, scrap the licence fee, and if they really are as good as they and their defenders (most of whom, ironically, are to be found in The Labour Party) claim that they are, they will be able to fund themselves through subscriptions and pay-per-view without any problem whatsoever.

Magritte says...
10:59am Thu 14 Mar 13

Guy Fawkes wrote:
Getting facts wrong is something the BBC does in virtually every news broadcasts, whether the errors come from their own journalists or their interviewees, in footage that is presumably broadcast without being checked first. Therefore, this is a complete non-story. The real story is why we are still compelled to pay the BBC for the legal right to watch its rivals' output (e.g. a professionally run news channel such as Sky). I say privatise the BBC, scrap the licence fee, and if they really are as good as they and their defenders (most of whom, ironically, are to be found in The Labour Party) claim that they are, they will be able to fund themselves through subscriptions and pay-per-view without any problem whatsoever.
TOTALLY AGREE!

RingoStarr says...
11:02am Thu 14 Mar 13

Magritte wrote:
Guy Fawkes wrote:
Getting facts wrong is something the BBC does in virtually every news broadcasts, whether the errors come from their own journalists or their interviewees, in footage that is presumably broadcast without being checked first. Therefore, this is a complete non-story. The real story is why we are still compelled to pay the BBC for the legal right to watch its rivals' output (e.g. a professionally run news channel such as Sky). I say privatise the BBC, scrap the licence fee, and if they really are as good as they and their defenders (most of whom, ironically, are to be found in The Labour Party) claim that they are, they will be able to fund themselves through subscriptions and pay-per-view without any problem whatsoever.
TOTALLY AGREE!
...and me! Biased Broadcast Corporation!

Jeff_li says...
11:11am Thu 14 Mar 13

Well done York Press, this "News" is right up there with the time you went out and measured a sandwich.

TheTruthHurts says...
12:34pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Well conservative is the last word i would use when describing Hughs expenses claims

inthesticks says...
1:02pm Thu 14 Mar 13

I would be suing for libel and defamation of character. I couldn`t think of a worse insult.

myselby says...
2:55pm Thu 14 Mar 13

and Sky are not biased? keep the BBC-

Garrowby Turnoff says...
4:13pm Thu 14 Mar 13

RingoStarr wrote:
Magritte wrote:
Guy Fawkes wrote:
Getting facts wrong is something the BBC does in virtually every news broadcasts, whether the errors come from their own journalists or their interviewees, in footage that is presumably broadcast without being checked first. Therefore, this is a complete non-story. The real story is why we are still compelled to pay the BBC for the legal right to watch its rivals' output (e.g. a professionally run news channel such as Sky). I say privatise the BBC, scrap the licence fee, and if they really are as good as they and their defenders (most of whom, ironically, are to be found in The Labour Party) claim that they are, they will be able to fund themselves through subscriptions and pay-per-view without any problem whatsoever.
TOTALLY AGREE!
...and me! Biased Broadcast Corporation!
'Ang about. Are you sure Rupert Murdoch's Sky News is unbiased? Personally I'd like a £5 TV Licence - and more beer in bigger glasses.

TheTruthHurts says...
4:55pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Comments are closed on this article.

Guy Fawkes says...
6:03pm Thu 14 Mar 13

'Ang about. Are you sure Rupert Murdoch's Sky News is unbiased?


I said that it was professionally run, not that it was unbiased.

There's nothing wrong with bias in news coverage, just as long as it is applied honestly. The problem with the BBC is that it claims to be impartial, while in fact promoting a leftist perspective on virtually every political story it covers.

Personally I'd like a £5 TV Licence


Personally, I'd like none at all, which is the case in most countries of the world. Look at the US, for example: if you want leftist news coverage, watch CNBC, if you want the right, watch Fox, and if you want a middle-of-the-road compromise, watch CNN. For entertainment programming, you have the choice of subscribing to premium rate channels, or watching free-to-air ones with adverts. On top of that structure, the PBS system uses a small amount of funding from direct taxation (plus significantly more from philanthropic donations) to make programmes that are culturally justified (e.g. history documentaries) but not commercially viable.

The current BBC gives us the worst of both (public and private) worlds. The Royal Charter setup ensures that it is not directly accountable to taxpayers, but yet it also gives unfair competition to commercial media (regional news websites putting independent local papers out of business, for example). If there is any justification for a public broadcaster, let it be funded by direct taxation, so that it can be held directly accountable, through elected politicians, to the people that pay for it. If there isn't, privatise it and have done with it.

Buzz Light-year says...
7:17pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Maybe Mr B is only conservative with a small 'c'?

Garrowby Turnoff says...
7:41pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Guy Fawkes wrote:
'Ang about. Are you sure Rupert Murdoch's Sky News is unbiased?


I said that it was professionally run, not that it was unbiased.

There's nothing wrong with bias in news coverage, just as long as it is applied honestly. The problem with the BBC is that it claims to be impartial, while in fact promoting a leftist perspective on virtually every political story it covers.

Personally I'd like a £5 TV Licence


Personally, I'd like none at all, which is the case in most countries of the world. Look at the US, for example: if you want leftist news coverage, watch CNBC, if you want the right, watch Fox, and if you want a middle-of-the-road compromise, watch CNN. For entertainment programming, you have the choice of subscribing to premium rate channels, or watching free-to-air ones with adverts. On top of that structure, the PBS system uses a small amount of funding from direct taxation (plus significantly more from philanthropic donations) to make programmes that are culturally justified (e.g. history documentaries) but not commercially viable.

The current BBC gives us the worst of both (public and private) worlds. The Royal Charter setup ensures that it is not directly accountable to taxpayers, but yet it also gives unfair competition to commercial media (regional news websites putting independent local papers out of business, for example). If there is any justification for a public broadcaster, let it be funded by direct taxation, so that it can be held directly accountable, through elected politicians, to the people that pay for it. If there isn't, privatise it and have done with it.
What about "more beer in bigger glasses?"

Torkie says...
7:47pm Thu 14 Mar 13

RingoStarr wrote:
Magritte wrote:
Guy Fawkes wrote:
Getting facts wrong is something the BBC does in virtually every news broadcasts, whether the errors come from their own journalists or their interviewees, in footage that is presumably broadcast without being checked first. Therefore, this is a complete non-story. The real story is why we are still compelled to pay the BBC for the legal right to watch its rivals' output (e.g. a professionally run news channel such as Sky). I say privatise the BBC, scrap the licence fee, and if they really are as good as they and their defenders (most of whom, ironically, are to be found in The Labour Party) claim that they are, they will be able to fund themselves through subscriptions and pay-per-view without any problem whatsoever.
TOTALLY AGREE!
...and me! Biased Broadcast Corporation!
Me too. I don't see why they should be publicly funded if they're politically one sided. They're failing to report FSA atrocities in Syria. They are already corrupt in my opinion.

jgycfc says...
11:29pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Rupert Murdoch's news channels include Fox. Somewhat unbiased... Only kidding.

But the shocker of this story is as such:
- It's not a story
- pot calling kettle black

York Press, at a local level, can't even get articles (I'm going to have to refrain from calling them news stories) right. They sacked the fact checker a long time ago clearly.

In defense of the BBC, I think it's now publicly acknowledged they've got problems... But York Press - will you acknowledge you go looking for poor stories to fill the print, then not even check them? nope, thought not :)

oi oi savaloy says...
1:37pm Fri 15 Mar 13

i thought he was a tory... might as well be, all the engineering jobs that have gone in york under his watch!

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