{"id":84037,"date":"2025-07-16T16:32:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=84037"},"modified":"2025-07-16T16:35:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T15:35:24","slug":"the-bbc-biased-oh-yes-and-most-especially-in-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/07\/16\/the-bbc-biased-oh-yes-and-most-especially-in-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"The BBC, biased? Oh yes…and most especially in Scotland"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story has been published by The National<\/a> in the last couple of hours and refers to an interview I did with BBC Radio Scotland this morning:<\/p>\n

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As they note:<\/p>\n

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ECONOMIST Richard Murphy clashed with a BBC Radio Scotland presenter as he ripped into the corporation for being \u201cbiased against the nationalist cause\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Murphy took part in the phone-in on the Mornings show presented by Connie McLaughlin on Wednesday when the pair got into a spat.<\/p>\n

Midway through an extensive discussion on impartiality at the BBC, Murphy came onto the programme to say he did not have confidence in the BBC, highlighting that the \u201cnationalist community\u201d does not trust the broadcaster because it is \u201cso absolutely pro-Unionist\u201d.<\/p>\n

After former BBC political editor Brian Taylor was brought back into the discussion \u2013 having spoken on the programme already \u2013 alongside ex-BBC Radio 4 presenter Roger Bolton, Murphy and McLaughlin then got into a heated back-and-forth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eventually, after many interruptions from the presenter, who seemed totally unaware that the producer had invited me onto the programme because, apparently, they could find 'no one in Scotland' who had a word of criticism to make about the BBC, I was allowed a word in edgeways and got to say:<\/p>\n

The BBC is biased in favour of big business, it is biased in favour of the right wing media because it uses that as its news sources in the main for discussion, it is biased against the nationalist cause in Scotland, it is biased against the Palestinian cause in its claim and its right to have a state, [and] it is biased in favour of Israel very clearly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lesley Riddoch captured the exchanges in a Tweet, which I share below.<\/p>\n

The bias was staggering. In a supposed discussion on bias in the BBC, which had BBC employees or ex-employees appear one after the other to sing its praises, including the fact, as one suggested, that in 35 years he had never seen editorial bias, I was interrupted from the moment I began to criticise it, as if to prove that everything I had to say about bias was justified.<\/p>\n

Even more bizarrely, when they introduced me, they said I was a 'columnist' but would not even mention The National newspaper that I write for - so biased are they against it. I had to correct them.<\/p>\n

Never doubt that the BBC is biased.<\/p>\n

And most especially, never doubt that it is very biased in Scotland, where Unionism is the only cause that it represents.<\/p>\n

No wonder no one wanted to go on: the odds were grossly unfairly stacked against me as a critic. And that, apparently, is an absence of bias in the BBC lexicon.<\/p>\n

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Unbelievable exchange this morning on Radio Scotland between the presenter and Professor @RichardJMurphy<\/a>, interrupting him and conducting an interview with barely concealed contempt. Really bad. pic.twitter.com\/24foHLktqn<\/a><\/p>\n

— Lesley Riddoch (@LesleyRiddoch) July 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n