Complaint
The ECU received 22 complaints about the treatment of Diane Abbott MP during and immediately before the recording of this edition of the programme.Μύ 15 of them complained that a misleading impression about the standing of the Labour and Conservative Parties in the opinion polls, though subsequently acknowledged by the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ, had not been properly corrected.
Μύ
Outcome
The ECU found no grounds for the suggestion that the presenter, Fiona Bruce, had referred to Ms Abbott during the preliminaries to the recording in terms which were discriminatory orΜύlikely to prejudice the studio audience against her, and nothing to support the view that Ms Bruceβs conduct of the discussion was less than even-handed.Μύ There was, however, a misleading impression arising from an exchange in which another panellist said Labour was βway behindβ, βmiles behindβ and βsix points behindβ in the polls.Μύ Ms Abbott replied βJust as a point of information, currently weβre kind of, in the polls overall, weβer kind of level peggingβ, at which point Ms Bruce interjected βBut youβre behind, Dianeβ¦Definitelyβ.Μύ Subsequent corrections on social media and on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ website βCorrections and Clarificationsβ page made clear that Ms Bruce had in mind a poll published on the morning of the programme which showed a Conservative lead (of 5%), while saying Ms Abbott was βalso rightβ with reference to recent polling as a whole, and a correction by Ms Bruce in the 24 January edition of the programme echoed this.Μύ The ECU, while acknowledging these extensive efforts to set the record straight, took the view that the effect of Ms Bruceβs intervention went beyond generating confusion between different sets of polling data, suggesting that, contrary to what Ms Abbott had said, the overall data then current showed a definite Conservative lead, and that the corrections did not entirely rectify that impression.
Partly upheld
Further action
The Editorial Director of ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News has discussed the finding with the programme team, and the posting on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Corrections and Clarifications page has been emended to reflect the findingβs terms.