On Monday night I noted the left-wing biases of all four members of Newsnight's new Politics Pen. Iain Dale followed up my post and called the panel a "downright insult".
Forgive me for returning to this but I've just read the response of Newsnight's Editor Peter Rippon (bio) to the complaints posted by Iain and me and I'm even more annoyed than before.
Here's my fisk of his post:
PR: "There has been some predictable criticism of Newsnight's Politics Pen experiment for being politically biased.
As one commenter said below Mr Rippon's post: "We must try and ignore your sneering dismissal of a very fair criticism as "predictable". Has it not occurred to you that it is predictable because it is obvious?"
PR: "I would urge viewers and critics to at least watch it before rushing to judgement."
I have watched all three Pens broadcast so far and was struck by...
- The only serious money-saving proposal greeted enthusiastically has been a case for defence cuts and a distancing from America (a modest civil service savings programme was also approved).
- All four panelists rejected the eminently sensible idea from the TaxPayers' Alliance that Regional Development Agencies be abolished.
- Three of the four panellists backed HIGHER inheritance tax as proposed by the socialist Fabian Society.
- The unfunny comedian who recommended euthanasia for everyone aged 78.
PR: "Politics Pen is not a finely politically calibrated panel like Question Time or Any Questions. It does not need to be because we are trying to do something different."
It is certainly not finely politically calibrated. We can agree on that (!) but what's this about doing something different? This Pen/ Panel is passing judgment on the most important political topic of our day - the need to cut public spending and all four panel members have supported - in different ways - the government that let spending run out of control and got us into this mess.
PR: "Sir Digby Jones never joined the Labour party and was part of the "government of all talents". This is what he says on our website."
Technically correct but he did serve in Brown's government and throughout the early Labour years was a pussy cat to Brown and Blair. Digby Jones isn't a free marketeer but a corporatist (a distinction I fear may be lost on the BBC) and we've seen that in his Politics Pen defences of RDAs and, in particular, of Britain's arms industry. He is a defender of big business and of its often unhelpful links with Whitehall.
PR: "Left wing Labour luvvie? Really? Greg Dyke was a Labour donor, then a Lib Dem donor and is now working for the Tories chairing their review on creative technology."
Some of us aren't entirely happy that Dyke - a defender of the broadcasting status quo - is chairing the Tories' creative technology review but there's no evidence to suggest he's anything other than a man of the Left. He moved from Labour to the Lib Dems in large part because of Kennedy-Clegg's opposition to the Iraq war. He has donated to the parties of the Left but not to the Right.
PR: "Deborah Mattinson is employed by the Labour party - but her contributions to the Pen are not from a party political point of view - she is a pollster telling us what the likely public reaction would be to the ideas proposed."
Even pollsters have biases and Mattinson is up to the neck in the Labour project. In the early days of Brown's government her company was getting £10,000 per day from the Government. Mattinson has donated £10,000 directly and 'in kind' to the Labour Party. If she was just a pollster giving advice she wouldn't have a vote in deciding which spending cuts be approved but she does.
PR: "Matthew Taylor is a former Labour strategist, but like all the panel, he understands the idea of the Pen is to make engaging TV and at the same time illuminate the issues and pressures that decision makers have to consider in choosing policy."
Irrelevant. I like Matthew Taylor very much but plenty of centre right people are capable of making "engaging TV". Why couldn't Fraser Nelson or Peter Oborne or Simon Wolfson or George Bridges or Patience Wheatcroft or Stephen Greenhalgh or Graeme Leach or any other person of a centre right perspective be in the Pen?
PR: "It is not about expressing political views. I note that those who accuse us of bias do not point to anything that's actually been said or happened in the Pen."
Rubbish. On defence, inheritance tax and RDAs very strong political viewpoints were expressed as I've noted above.
PR: "Indeed the majority of those who have pitched have argued for spending cuts, hardly a left wing agenda."
Another irrelevant point. People have been arguing for spending cuts because the Government that all four Pen members supported has left the nation bankrupt. If you had a programme dedicated to spending rises then it would not be inappropriate (as the Politics Pen is) but absurd.
PR: "We will be running the Politics Pen again later this year. If you have views on what you would like to cut do let us know. We may ask you to pitch it in the Pen."
I wouldn't want to pitch anything to such a Labour-leaning panel.
***
Speaking to one of Newsnight's team yesterday they admitted that the programme had "F**ked up". We'd all respect the BBC more if they admitted mistakes more readily rather than attempting to defend the indefensible.
