Some of you say you want to know about media engagements.Ā This morning BBC Newsnight invited me on for tonight. They wanted to know if I was happy to talk about energy or the Northern Ireland Protocol and I said Yes, either or both. Chasing them this afternoon for the details they then said they had changed their mind and cancelled it. No idea why, as I would imagine they would have to follow at least one of those stories.
They then said they did want me but after a long preliminary private Ā interview Ā decided my views were not suitable so they cancelled me again. They seemed to want me to adopt caricature austerity views which I have never held.
October 12, 2021
Didn’t they have the decency to tell you that they had cancelled it?
Perhaps they are only seeking opinions that reflect their opinions!
October 12, 2021
If you don’t follow the Pro EU climate alarm and Brexit narrative you won’t get a look in.
I stopped subsidising them after the referendum campaign.
October 13, 2021
@QM; Oh the irony, suggesting the BBC only want to interview those who share their own opinions, isn’t that what GB News do, never mind the hard right Fox/Max etc news channels in the US do?
October 13, 2021
@jerry
I realise this may be too subtle for you but the BBC is a publicly funded, public service broadcaster. Impartiality is the price it pays for extorting money from anyone who wants to watch live television from any broadcaster.
The other broadcasters you mention are orivate companies. You do not have to watch them if you donāt like their output.
October 13, 2021
@Mike Wilson; Oh dear, not that silly chestnut again…
Please cite the law(s) that makes anyone watch TV, thus fund the BBC via the TVL fee?
On the other hand even the deaf-blind fund commercial TV.
October 13, 2021
Mike Wilson: “Impartiality is the price it pays for extorting money ”
The BBC pays no price, nor is it impartial. It is the tail that wags our government dog. As was demonstrated last year with the hysteria, panic and terror it engendered among the population.
The primary reason the Tories are getting such a easy ride, is that they are by and large, implementing all the policies that the BBC advocate.
October 14, 2021
@APL; The BBC dose not write its own charter, the govt. does and the last renewal was in 2017, so if the govt are “getting such a easy ride” it is the fault of this govt, well Mrs May’s -of which Boris was a senior member, being SoS at the FCO.
It is also in the gift of the govt to set the remit/laws under which Ofcom operates, so if Ofcom is allowing the BBC (or any broadcaster) an easy ride it is again the fault of the govt.
The BBC are slaves to their own future, the meddling of the govt of the day (remember 2003 anyone…), there has been many examples of BBC Director General’s being forced to resign due to alleged or actual failings, one of the more recent only lasting 54 days in the job, after each the BBC is made to change its ways – now compare that with how some of the commercial MSM have been allowed to behave, scandal after scandal, but nothing ever changes…
October 13, 2021
The BBC is meant to be neutral, most other news channels are not under that delusion.
October 13, 2021
@Peter; Incorrect, under Ofcom rules, like all broadcasters here in the UK (listed on the UK EPG), the BBC is merely meant to be “balanced”, nor does that mean equal air-time etc. This is why some foreign broadcasters have had their Ofcom licences revoked and are no longer listed/accessible via the UK EPGs here in the UK.
Has Mr Corbyn been invited onto GB News yet, what about Hilary Benn etc?…
October 12, 2021
Probably realised that you know what you’re talking about and didn’t have any suitable counter party who fancied making a fool of themselves. Expect the usual line with selected safe Green pro EU clones.
October 12, 2021
BBC is a lost cause Sir John – they probably discovered you didn’t tick all the right boxes and that France has been reading your ideas for energy and NI all along and crediting Macron instead.
October 12, 2021
Sir JR
it would be much better for you to participate with the BBC news instead of GB news the Ukip channel.
October 12, 2021
More common sense views on GB News
October 12, 2021
If invited bill.
October 12, 2021
Quite obviously, the very opposite is the case. GB News and TalkRadio are fair and honest stations that allow the interviewee to express his opinions without constant interruptions. The BBC, on the other hand, are deceitful and dishonest. They have a far-left agenda and distort, rather than report, the news. Boris Johnson is, once again, to blame, for being too cowardly to decriminalise non-payment of the Licence Fee and for failing to appoint a hardline BBC Chairman with the task of sacking all the marxist extremists.
October 13, 2021
@bill brown; Indeed, those who give interviews to GB News might as well be shouting into a vacuum, those that hear you are already the converted, those who are not likely never watch GB News.
October 13, 2021
I hate to break it to you, but the audience for Newsnight is small, and consists of those who tend to agree strongly with its world view along with those who enjoy baiting of tethered bears. It and GB News get publicity when other journalists pick up on something of interest from an interview or report. That route has seen GB News influencing the news agenda probably rather more than Newsnight.
October 13, 2021
@Mark; I hate to break it to you, but the audience for GB News is small, and consists of those who tend to agree strongly with its world view along with those who enjoy baiting of tethered bears. Ho-hum….
Even if Newsnight is non mainstream, it always was, heck it ever has to go up against QT one day a week, not forgetting the both the BBC and Sky news channels who entrap many with both sports news and paper reviews etc. the content from the programme often gets repeated or becomes the lead on other programmes, total audience access is thus very high for interviewees. On the other hand the audience for GB News remains very low, and they offer little or no added accessibility, beyond perhaps YouTube.
October 13, 2021
Perhaps you should read more widely. Plenty of other news outlets pick up on GB News stories. They even share some of the same journalists.
October 13, 2021
@Mark; I have no doubt, picked up by other right wing media outlets.
The point you refuse to accept is, preaching to the already converted does not further your cause, you need to preach to the unconverted, that means accessing them by-way of what they watch or read, ie the BBC, Ch4 news, writing opt-eds for The Guardian or who ever.
Softly, softly, catchee monkey!…
October 14, 2021
It seems you think the role of news is to preach. A very BBC mindset, if I may say so. I think it is about information. Once a strong suit for the BBC, but no longer.
October 14, 2021
@Mark; Stop putting YOUR words into my mouth, it is you who seems to wants the media to preach your message for you. What I want is for the broadcaster (along with the press), to be nothing more than a conduit, allow the politicians to put their case, not put it for them.
Unlike you I see no advantage in just asking those who almost certainly already vote a given way to carry on voting that way, doing so does not further a cause, if anything doing so reeks of insecurity!
October 13, 2021
Rubbish.
October 12, 2021
Logic suggest the BBC believe the far bigger (human interest) story is the DHSC/S&T joint Select Committee findings in to the govt handling of CV19…
October 12, 2021
@re jerry; Posted before JR amended his blog, adding a further paragraph.
October 13, 2021
Would that be the hindsight report
October 13, 2021
@BW, But much of it was not hindsight, just deaf ears, or more likely idealogical deafness. You might have a point had CV19 first been found/reported here in the UK.
October 13, 2021
For 45 minutes? That would be Newnight and not Newsnight
October 13, 2021
@NS; I admit to not having watched Newsnight for about ten years now, but in the past the programme did not shy away from giving over the entire programme to a single big story when warranted, just as in the past programmes like Panorama often spent 55 minutes reporting a single issue.
October 13, 2021
Attention spans have waned in 10 years Jerry. They now have at least three stories per show.
October 12, 2021
Why would you voluntarily speak to an organization who post facto would routinely have its so called fact checkers cast doubt on your words to make a trap for fools?
You might instead speak to one of the BBC’s competitors – and then invoice it for Ā£159.
October 13, 2021
@formula57; I would never advise anyone to give a pre-recorded interview to any broadcast news organisation, not just the BBC. Being interviewed live on the other hand is an altogether different proposition, once you say it has been broadcast, nor has it been edited (of course the line can always be ‘lost’ midway through). As for facts checking, on the whole the BBC actually does a fair job there, of course those who do not like facts will suggest otherwise…
October 12, 2021
Maybe Newsnight will run a story about how this government is considering giving aid to the terrorist taliban whilst asking the 60 to 66 year olds to pay for their NHS prescriptions . You just couldn’t dream it up . Let the taliban fail.
October 12, 2021
+1
October 13, 2021
+1
October 12, 2021
Some quite big items have cropped up today, haven’t they, Sir John?
The committee report on the catastrophic mishandling of the covid19 epidemic – notably completely ignoring Italy’s begging the Government to act swiftly and effectively – has been given very high prominence in Italy’s news today, incidentally.
October 12, 2021
The Committee with Perfect Hindsight.
Despite saying nothing at the time.
October 13, 2021
The two chairmen have political axes to grind and personal scores to settle with the PM. I won’t forget the sight of Cummings being drawn out by them to damage the PM and then being ruthlessly shut up by Hunt when Cummings wanted to talk about the Hunt era of the NHS; this was followed immediately by Hunt assassinating Cummings’s character – as if he doesn’t already do it all by himself!
This inquiry was held far too soon, begun a year ago. Just imagine if they had done that with the inquiry into the Crimean War, begun it while the war was still going on. It will be at least a year before we can get a proper perspective on the pandemic and who “did better” across the world. But that was not the purpose of this inquiry, was it? And as intended, the media are having a hate fest of the Government, and the PM in particular.
If they had had any integrity they would have seriously considered whether we should have shut down, but they themselves are suffering from the ver groupthink they accuse others of. For them, the main object was to accuse the PM of not shutting down the country soon enough.
Given that we did shut down, there is quite a list of things HMG got right:
The curfew itself went smoothly and peaceably
The furlough scheme was hailed as the best in the world, despite being got up in four days flat
The bankers who administered much of it worked through the night from home (though they never got clapped.)
Universal Credit was dispensed on an unprecedented scale without a hitch. You would have heard about it otherwise.
The homeless were brought in off the streets. Did any other country do that?
A huge volunteer army was recruited across the country which really worked. That was uplifting in the circumstances.
The building of the Nightingales was impressive as was the airlift of PPE when the Chinese had been found to have bought up the world’s supply in January.
The PM’s courageous early investment in the vaccine project was a brilliant hunch matched only by Trump’s. Sir Patrick Vallance’s negotiation of the contract was brilliant. The EU could have done with someone like him.
The administration of the vaccines was smooth and orderly and compared to most other countries very successful in uptake.
October 13, 2021
By the way, we shut down the same day as the Germans. Did the Germans shut down too late ?
October 14, 2021
An excellent post Rose
October 18, 2021
Rose, P2: On 13/03/2020, German states mandated school and kindergarten closures, and prohibited visits to nursing homes. German borders with Austria, France, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland were closed on 15/03. Only the ones with PL, NL, CZ remained open. Curfews were imposed from 22/03. It was not the full lockdown, which indeed was only imposed on 23/03, but all these measures previously taken by Germany were not taken by the UK before the 23rd. Hancock had talked about a lockdown on 16/03 but nothing whatsoever became effective before the 23rd. And legally the main restrictions in England only became enforceable on 26/03 at 1pm when the Health Protection (Coronavirus, restrictions) Regulations 2020 came into force.
One could produce the same type of comment about France (the first full lockdown was only implemented on 23/03) but Macron had announced a full confinement on 16/03 mostly applied from 17/03. I flew back from France on 19/03, meeting three cars while driving 80 km to Montpellier, a practically empty MPL airport, but getting to a lively Gatwick airport, a half full bus to the APH car park near Gatwick and a normal looking traffic on the M23, M25, M3 and A329 to Reading.
I doubt your kind will ever read āFailures of Stateā, Calvert & Arbuthnott, 2021, 426 pp. or the 147 pages of the HSC and ST report āCoronavirus: lessons learned to dateā. That would require a bit of curiosity and self-doubt. But passed a certain age, could it be that the brain is not so vivacious and avid of considering different points of view.
October 13, 2021
No hindsight was needed.
The world had just been given an object lesson by what was happening in Italy.
That country also made a special point of pleading with this government, to stop wasting precious time, but to no avail.
The UK is now by far the worst in western Europe for new cases and deaths, and that fact is high on the Italian news running order, certainly on RAI’s GR1.
October 14, 2021
You post on here telling us how SAGE is great and we should follow the advice of such experts NLH/MiC and in terms of lockdown the Government did follow that advice.
October 18, 2021
P2, is that a pectoral, caudal or dorsal fin of a red herring? Or is it just a clever piece of rhetorical deflection?
October 12, 2021
How very rude of them!
Who wants to be on BBC anyway? They never listen, just interrupt and bully.
Another extremely good interview on GB News the other day and they actually give the interviewee a chance to air his/her views.
October 12, 2021
Actually, isnāt it a bit iffy ferreting out your views and then screening you out?
Not exactly balanced or non discriminatory.
They deserve to be given the run around if they ask again.
āSorry. Sir John has a previous engagement!ā
October 13, 2021
@EH; It’s called research….
October 13, 2021
@EH; “Another extremely good interview on GB News the other day …//…”
But who else watched it?!
Our host or anyone else is never going to win the argument, what ever it is, if only 1% of the TV viewing public ever hear his words. Yes those already converted will feel even more warm & comfy but that changes nothing.
October 13, 2021
‘… and they actually give the interviewee a chance to air his/her views.’ Yes, just like RT too.
October 12, 2021
You were not ācancelledā. They chose not to have you on the show. That is an exercise in editorial freedom. You do believe in freedom, do you?
October 12, 2021
The BBC donāt believe in freedom. Last time I saw Mr. Redwood on Newsnight he was interrupted constantly and not allowed to make a point. They only seemed to have him there so they could shout him down. Iām still waiting for him, or someone similar, to interrupt the interviewer and ask them who the hell they think they are and what the hell do they think they are doing. And remind them the BBC is allowed to take three and a half thousand, million pounds off you each year to present current affairs IMPARTIALLY sand not so they have a dominant platform for THEIR bloody views.
October 13, 2021
If politicians refuse to address the question asked and talk about something else instead, then they can expect to be interrupted.
Indeed the journalist has failed if they allow that to continue.
Sadly on the BBC they often do.
October 13, 2021
Of course he was cancelled. Itās nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with the BBC propaganda and indoctrination machine.
October 13, 2021
Rene, on a far smaller scale, I can confirm that the BBC attempting to provoke a proposed ‘interviewee’ does actually happen. About 25 years ago I was, as a Conservative Association Chairman, asked by BBC Radio News if I would give my opinion on some controversial political matter, about which it was quite obvious that they were expecting me to have very harsh and un-liberal views. Having failed, despite considerable prompting, to provoke me into saying something outrageous, the very huffy researcher promptly closed down the conversation and I heard nothing more about it.
October 13, 2021
There is a difference between ‘Editorial freedom’ and censorship.
October 12, 2021
Do you speak with your colleagues in Parliament about this Sir John?
Do many potential appearances get cast by the wayside after preliminary interviews?
If news programmes are trying to win arguments by presenting the poor opposite case this really should be called out loudly and often.
October 12, 2021
As always it is never about reporting actual news some ones views, but manipulating a situation to fit their own ‘personal political’ narrative. Its called impartiality
October 12, 2021
Youāve been an MP for decades, covered in every paper, radio, TV, and yet one time Newsnight look elsewhere you claim to be ācancelledā. Pathetic victimhood
October 12, 2021
Comprehension is clearly not your strong point. They didnātālook elsewhereā. When they realised he was not going to be their fall guy they cancelled him.
I think it is high time Mr. Redwood and colleagues really began to call out the BBC and make an issue of their bias.
I am so glad I donāt pay the licence fee.
October 14, 2021
Sky promised us Sammy Wilson after the EU’s propaganda offensive, and then surprise, surprise, he just didn’t appear. Same problem I would guess. He wasn’t going to play up to their bigoted idea of an Ulsterman.
October 12, 2021
One time?
Prove it Len.
October 13, 2021
Logically, the UK justice system, like virtually all others, requires the accuser to prove their case.
Sir John is implicitly accusing the BBC. Len is not, however, but merely commenting on the context of the accusation.
There is no burden of proof on him therefore.
It remains for the accuser to dismiss his claim instead.
October 13, 2021
*English justice system.
October 14, 2021
Len said “one time”
Completely wrong NLH
And you know it.
Hence why you come up with your nonsense post.
October 13, 2021
Len
It is not the first t JR has outlined this same scenario.
October 12, 2021
That is the BBC all over….interested if you play along to their script. Make it clear what you would say and ‘sorry we’ll call you’…..bum’s rush.
No great loss Sir John, what is the audience level anyway?
October 12, 2021
Typical of the BBC and Newsnight in particular. They are a pure propaganda outfit. People forced to pay a licence fee to have moronic propaganda pushed at them. On the EU, on left wing āeconomicsā and on the insane net zero agenda in particular – worse still they are wrong on every issue.
We know the BBC stance on almost every issue. The Boris government could reform it, abolish the licence and have fair competition but they are choosing not to.
They could do this for health care and education too but the Tories are clearly state monopoly enthusiasts, socialists and obviously against any fair competition here.
October 12, 2021
The BBC have done this to you before haven’t they?
Thank heavens for GB News, 236 on Freeview.
October 12, 2021
Rose. I couldn’t agree more. Farage and Colin Brazier a refreshing change from the woke BBC.
October 13, 2021
And Talk Radio.
October 12, 2021
Well there is a surprise, they do not want to report the news, but just control all elements of it, to suit the opinion they hold.
Shameful for a supposed public broadcaster.
October 12, 2021
So the BBC don’t want someone with a view, they want someone with their views of tory, labour & libdem…and their narrative
October 12, 2021
You did not , of course, accept the label “austerity” which was what the left called Osborne`s careful and successful balancing of risks after the 2008-2010 Recession. You were, on the other hand, consistently supportive of fiscal restraint and scathing of those who (1.5.14 ) ….
” ……were reluctant to accept that a country does have to avoid excessive debts and deficits, just like an individual or company. They seemed to think there is a free money tree in every stateās back garden which just has to be harvested to make us all rich. They did not accept that if you print and borrow too much one day you run out of other peopleās money to spend ”
Got’em all in there I think !
You have changed your views considerably since Brexit, as has the Conservative Party , which is now more socially and economically illiberal . It is because you have abandoned these Conservative principles I have regularly, “called you out” as a tergiversator.
Reply I still hold the same views, urgently support ending QE and cutting the deficit by increasing the growth rate.
October 12, 2021
Ah John .. if you were on a track that people could identify with I would have no difficulties with but you are on a track that few agree with and therefore in a way you are on your own.. nothing wrong with that of course.. just that you’re an oddball
October 13, 2021
Shameful pre-vetting. The TV Licence has to go.
You could counter by:
1. Refusing any pre-interviews. Or
2. Lying your head off in pre-interviews and then “telling it like it is” in the real thing š
A case of fighting fire with fire. But destroying trust in the process of course.
So option 1 is the only way to go. Which means you’ll be on GB News more than BBC š
October 13, 2021
Completely off topic!
The saga of the credit card payment taken without my permission continues, Iāve written to Sean Duckworth, recorded delivery, signed for to ask for a refund and when I access the Royal Mail website my letter has vanished into the ether, emails only receive an acknowledgment, if I ran a business and took an unauthorised payment from a customerās credit card then surely I would be accused of theft?
My MP never replies to my emails, I only ever receive an acknowledgment, Iāve phoned his office and enquired why and I was promised that this would be sorted out.
Surely I have the right as a voter to receive a reply, but this attitude perfectly reflects the governmentās attitude
It may only be Ā£25 but it rankles and Iām determined to pursue this to the end, when I cancelled my Telegraph subscription I sent back my unused books coupons because I only read the online edition and they, unbidden, sent me a cheque for the difference , that was the correct response!
October 13, 2021
I see Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency and Alok Sharma have gone completely climate armageddon. Why are they in their jobs exactly?
We should merely adapt as is needed – be it warmer, wetter, dryer or colder – the idea that heat pumps, wind solar, green hydrogen and a UK war on CO2 will do anything useful is idiotic.
October 13, 2021
They’re fully paid up members of the new climate cult….there target is 100% of cabinet
October 13, 2021
Newsnight, BBC, enough said.
October 13, 2021
BBC bias has been well-researched and documented over the past 15+ years. But this cowardly Government STILL hasn’t decriminalised non-payment of the BBC Poll Tax or done anything meaningful to reform it.
I’d stick with GB News Mr Redwood. The BBC will never provide a fair platform for discussion of issues on which they have already got a fixed (left-wing/green) position.
October 13, 2021
It’s clear that they BBC don’t want contributors capable of elequently arguing positions with which the corporation disagrees. They are obviously worried that the other guests, their Woke/Climate Change/Remainer stooges, will lose the argument.
October 13, 2021
Isn’t this a typical case of the media creating the news rather than reporting it?
October 13, 2021
What if the contributors were to check the 7- and 28-day ratings published by BARB (the Broadcastersā Audience Research Board) before writing their comments? (barb.co.uk).
Look for āweekly viewing summaryā then enter Year, Month, Week and Sort by Channel.
From that, I see that in the week 27/09-03/10 (and 4-week slot between 06/09 and 03/10):
BBC News had 12,426 k viewers (1.24 % of the total viewing time over a 4-week period), Sky News 7,960 k viewers (0.7 %), GB News 2,039 k viewers (0.25 %).
But as usual I do not expect the half-brained regularly commenting on this blog to take much notice.
October 13, 2021
We can’t all be as clever as you heffy.
October 18, 2021
Not sure about that P2, you have improved the tenor of your posts these last few months, do not be shy about it.
October 13, 2021
Newsnight is a completely different programme with low viewership. At one point it was threatened with cancellation.
October 13, 2021
That is interesting. The bias of the BBC is often not explicit but hidden in the way they choose exactly what constitutes “news” (for example large the anti-Covid-passport demos in Italy are of no interest to them) and then how they choose talking heads to comment on their self-selected news. They often claim that as they’re attacked by both the Corbynite and the Conservative/libertarian right that means they must be balanced, but it doesn’t, they actively promote and are biased in favour of a Blairite centrist position (pro-EU, pro-lockdown, pro-immigration etc.).
October 13, 2021
The public deserve to get a balanced view of news from their national broadcaster, especially when an elected member of Parliament is being interviewed.
October 13, 2021
We’re living in a time of mass psychosis, which the BBC promotes. Better off out of it Sir John.
October 13, 2021
Do people still listen /watch the globalist EU funded left wing BBC. If they do that is why the population is in a coma relative to what is truly going on.
October 18, 2021
Please tell us how much the BBC has received from the EU since 1 February 2020.
The funny bit is that three bits of the BBC were receiving some money from the EU before that date:
– BBC Media Action, the international development charity to help developing countries set up news coverage (in 2017-18, it got Ā£3.1 m from the EU, 9% of the BBC MAās budget).
– BBC R&D the bit working on Freeview, digital TV and DAB radio, Ā£1.2 m received from EU in 2017-18).
– the Independent Production Companies providing programmes to the BBC received a total of 6% of their cumulated budgets, as grants from the EU.
Total budget of the BBC 2021-22: Ā£5.283 bn (downloads.bbc.co.uk, āBBC Annual Plan 2021/23, March 2021) ā¦
ā¦ which makes the past contributions of the EU to the BBC budget much smaller than 1% of it š¤Ŗ
Plus the fact that this money when it WAS available was not used in anything related to editorial policy. But as some say here, do your research ā¦
October 13, 2021
Dear Mr Redwood, MP.
Are you in sympathy with poor Mr Peter Bottomley MP, who is finding it so difficult to manage his affairs on Ā£82,000pa + expenses, + communications allowance + directorships ( that he only gets because companies want him to influence government policy ).
Are you finding it just too hard to manage on your MP’s salary, too?
You could put a ‘paypal’ button on your site, and those of us living on less than Ā£82,000 per year, could contribute some of our lavish income to help you ( and poor Peter ) improve your impoverished lifestyle.
Those on more than Ā£82,000 would no doubt wish to contribute a lot more.
The old addage, ‘you only get what you pay for’, is a ‘thing’, and what with the state of the Economy the energy supply system, the NHS, we really need a better class of MP.
I think the pay pal button is the ‘way to go’.
Reply I do not agree with Mr Bottomley
October 13, 2021
BBC =Propanda incofporated. Andse pay!
October 13, 2021
They also knew that you would write about their change of mind?