Your Complaint
Location
England
First half of UK Postcode
NG12
Type of complaint
BBC News (TV, Radio and website)
Which news service is it about
BBC News website
URL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35916062
Complaint category
Bias
Contacted us before
No
Complaint title
Failure to report with impartiality Royal Colleges
Complaint description
The headline "A&E strike should be suspended, say
medical leaders" is one sided and lacks impartiality, in breach of BBC
Guideline: "News in whatever form must be treated with due impartiality,
giving due weight to events, opinion and main strands of argument."
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges statement starts with the
sentence: "This is a time of unprecedented crisis for the NHS." This
indicates an initial accusation of failure of health policy-makers. The
third sentence starts with a call on both sides. The second clause
mentions suspending imposition. Therefore an unbiased reporter would
include both sides in the headline, or even emphasise the need for
politicians to take action. The BBC news article fails in 3 ways; 1) the
headline mentions only suspension of the strike, 2) the picture is of a
clinician, 3) The headline & subheading both refer to action by
medical profession, whereas politicians are only mentioned in ordinary
text. In these three ways a bias is created which fails to reflect with
impartiality the statement of AoMRC, thus misleading the public.
No doubt the reporter's defence will be that the story is about patient
care and hence the strike action is a priority. This view does not take
account for the future deterioration of patient care following
imposition of contract, and therefore still fails at impartiality.