I Wish to Register a Complaint

Readers of the Daily Sceptic will be aware that complaining to the BBC is normally a futile gesture. Nonetheless, it is occasionally worth looking at a case study. The art of complaining is to be as baldly factual as possible and not to write emotional rants, but as we’ll soon see that carried little weight when the complainee is its own judge and jury and has already made up its mind. The other day your correspondent filed a complaint about The World At One on Tuesday September 2nd 2026.

At 02:40 into the news bulletin at the top of WATO the newsreader’s script was:

“He’s [Farage’s] under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over his failure to declare a £5 million gift in the months before he became an MP…”

The use of word “failure” was not appropriate, at this stage. As the story made clear, Mr Farage is under investigation for this. That investigation has not been concluded, and no judgement has yet been made about Mr Farage. Including the word “failure” before that has happened clearly suggested that Mr Farage is already guilty of misconduct, and was therefore in my view poor editorial judgement. It gave the impression of editorial bias.

What could have been said would have been “He’s [Farage’s] under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over not declaring a £5 million gift in the months before he became an MP…” This would have been accurate and avoided bias.

If Mr Farage is subsequently found to have fallen short by the Parliamentary Commissioner then of course the word ‘failure’ could be justifiably used thereafter.

The response from the BBC arrived five days later:

We note your concerns regarding the use of the world “failure” when reporting on the investigation into a donation made to Nigel Farage.

‘Failure’ is defined as “the fact of not doing something that you must do or are expected to do”. (Please note the BBC is not responsible for any content on external sites.)

Therefore, in reference to this investigation the use of this word accurately reflects the situation.

In all our news coverage we are committed to reporting fairly, accurately and with due impartiality. We are editorially independent and not subject to political influence or agenda.

That being said, we appreciate that you felt an alternative word should have been used in this report.

There are two points that could be made immediately about that response. To begin with it assumed your correspondent needed assistance in understanding what the word ‘failure’ means. Secondly, it was quite apparent that regardless of a Parliamentary Commissioner’s investigation being underway, the BBC has apparently already determined that Farage was supposed to have reported the gift and thus would have been expected to do so; not to do so thus constituted a “failure” on his part.

In short, there is no need for an investigation because the BBC has already decided that Farage is at fault. Your correspondent replied to the complaint:

Your response to my complaint quoted the Cambridge dictionary and stated that the definition of ‘failure’ was applicable when referring to Nigel Farage’s non disclosure of a gift of funds. This missed the point completely. It is up to the Parliamentary Commissioner, not the BBC, to determine whether Farage had not done something he was supposed to do or was expected to do. This is why the gift concerned is being investigated; if that had already been determined then there would be no investigation underway. If the BBC is declaring that Farage should have done this or was expected to have done so, then the BBC is pre-empting the Parliamentary Commissioner’s decision. I do not think the BBC appreciates how this plays into the hands of those who believe the BBC is biased.

It’s unlikely anything will ensue in the form of a climbdown. Losing face is not something the BBC or its staff are very good at. But hopefully this example will show how the BBC incorporates bias, whether conscious or unconscious, even with the casual and gratuitous use of a single word. Its only function was to suggest to the listener that Farage is guilty of committing a Parliamentary misdemeanour in advance of the Parliamentary Commissioner’s findings. In this respect, its inclusion is likely to reflect the views of whoever wrote that part of the newsreader’s script and to whom it never occurred that anyone else might think differently.