Yahoo News BBC Radio 4's Today programme business slot has 'three times more Remainers than Brexiteers'
The BBC is embroiled in a fresh Brexit bias row after a study found that just one in six contributors to the Radio 4 Today programme’s business news slot in the six months after referendum saw the result as positive for Britain.
A report by News-watch into the BBC’s coverage on Brexit covering the six-month period after the referendum vote found overwhelmingly negativity about Britain leaving the EU.
The findings suggest BBC has breached its own impartiality rules, the campaign group said.
There were three times more pro-Remain contributors to the business new slot than Leave-supporting experts.
The report into BBC Radio 4's Today programme found that of the 366 guest speakers who appeared in the Business News segment, 192 of them (52.5 per cent) were negative about the impact of the vote.
Just 60 - 16.3 per cent of the total - expressed opinions which were pro-Brexit or saw the post-referendum economic outlook as positive. There were 114 – 31 per cent - neutral contributions.
News-watch, which carried out the investigation, has been scrutinising the BBC’s EU output since 1999.
Labour MP Kate Hoey, a leading Brexiteer, said: “This report is further evidence that the BBC has not accepted the verdict of the British people to leave the EU.”
A BBC spokesman said: "This flawed analysis is from a group with a slanted perspective and the BBC's coverage has impartially presented an accurate reflection of the business community's viewpoints.
"The BBC has and will continue to cover Brexit in a responsible and impartial way independent of political pressure.
"The job of impartial journalism is to scrutinise the issues and interrogate the relevant voices, not advocate for a position. It's precisely for this reason that the public trusts the BBC."
