The BBC was accused of ‘blatant Left-wing bias’ after bosses attacked one of their most respected journalists for a programme exposing the truth about the bloated welfare state. The BBC Trust concluded that the TV show examining the Government’s welfare reforms, written and fronted by Radio 4 Today presenter John Humphrys, breached rules on impartiality and accuracy. The ruling criticised the programme for suggesting the welfare state was in crisis and that there was a dependency culture in which some claimants preferred life on benefits to working. The programme, The Future of the Welfare State, featured Mr Humphrys going back to his working-class birthplace in Cardiff, where one in four working-age people is on some form of welfare handout. The BBC2 production suggested Britain was going through an ‘age of entitlement’, and featured claimants, including a couple on £1,600 of benefits a month, who thought ‘living on benefits an acceptable lifestyle’. Among the interviewees was Pat Dale from Cardiff, who appeared resigned to a life on benefits, saying she would be ‘working for nothing’ if she took a job on the minimum wage. Humphrys observed: ‘Obviously she sees herself as a victim, and maybe she’s right. A victim of the benefits system, the benefits culture that we have created over the decades.’ In Middlesbrough he had the following exchange with benefit claimant Steve Brown: Humphrys: ‘Well, a lot of people do work for the minimum wage.’ Brown: ‘Well, the way it worked out for me, like I say, it was just not worth going to work for it.’ Humphrys (voice-over): ‘So what Steve Brown has done is make a straightforward calculation – go out to work for very little extra, or stay home and enjoy his children. He’s chosen the latter. And that presents politicians with a massive dilemma.’ dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2381398/BBC-triggers-fresh-bias-row-censuring-John-Humphrys-programme-lifted-lid-welfare-state.html?ICO=most_read_module
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 08:05:35 +0000
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