Tory minister criticises ‘biased’ News Quiz and Art Attack’s Neil Buchanan in ‘laughable’ gaffe | indy100

Tory minister says BBC is biased because of satirical news quiz

Sky News

Just one day after Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer embarrassed herself by appearing to confuse perception with evidence when talking about alleged BBC bias, transport minister Huw Merriman decided to continue the Tory humiliation on Sky News by criticising a BBC Radio 4 comedy show for being “completely biased”.

Merriman, the MP for Bexhill and Battle in East Sussex who once stepped in human excrement on a visit to Dover, was the latest Conservative politician to be grilled by veteran broadcaster Kay Burley, as he too was asked about accusations of bias within the Beeb’s news content.

“I was listening to TheNews Quiz, which is on Radio 4 at 6:30 on Friday, I was driving from my constituency office to home. For 10 minutes, all I heard – and it wasn’t satirical, it was just diatribe against Conservatives, not the government.

“And I did listen to that and think, ‘for goodness’ sake, where is the balance in that?’

“So yes, I’m afraid to say, despite the fact that I’ve always been a big supporter of the BBC, that struck me as completely biased.”

Except, rather than being a piece of straight news reporting, The News Quiz is described as a “topical panel quiz show taking its questions from the week’s news stories” helmed by comedian Andy Zaltman, and Burley made this clear to Merriman in response.

She said: “OK, you understand that The News Quiz is comedy, and nothing to do with actual news?”

Merriman replied: “It may not be The News Quiz, it was 6:30 on a Friday, and, as I say, it didn’t strike me … as being particularly satirical.

“Listen to the first 10 minutes, I challenge any of your audience to do it. It was totally biased…”

The first 10 minutes of the show actually takes aim at the Rwanda policy and Lee Anderson’s resignation as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party over the new bill currently going through parliament.

So while there were digs at the Tory MP, mocking the Rwanda plan isn’t exactly a “diatribe against Conservatives” and “not the government” when the proposals to deport asylum seekers to the country is… well… a flagship government policy.

Merriman’s interview has since been ridiculed by Twitter/X users:

@Haggis_UK They\u2019re not very good at this are they.
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@Haggis_UK The real comedy is this interview \ud83d\ude02
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@Haggis_UK You mean Have I Got News For You *isn't* a serious current affairs show??\n\nWell I'll be damned...
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I\u2019m rather proud to have been part of what was a bloody brilliant episode of @TheNewsQuiz which had the CHEEK to make fun of the ruling party. Can you imagine that?! Time to ban all comedy which isn\u2019t nice about the government of 13 years. You can catch it on BBC Sounds!
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Ironically, Huw Merriman thinking The News Quiz is the same as \u2018the news\u2019 is likely to lead to another 10 minutes of people taking the piss out of the government on The News Quiz.
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The News Quiz is the only example that two Tory Ministers have been able to name in their allegations of BBC bias. They've had two days to look at this and a satirical comedy radio exerpt is the best they can come up with. \nPitiful. \n\nhttps://t.co/T4jLiwlWwo
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They are so badly prepared for these interviews. Attacks the News Quiz, then backs down and says it might not have been the News Quiz. Then claims he loves satire but this (whatever it was) wasn\u2019t funny. According to him.
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\u201cI love it when politicians get lampooned!\u201d I bet you don\u2019t Huw. I bet you don\u2019t.
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And to make matters worse, when Merriman was later pressed to give specific examples of BBC bias in its news reporting, he shared an anecdote about “a reporter, Neil Buchanan” producing a story on Universal Credit – appearing to confuse actual journalist Michael Buchanan with the presenter of Art Attack:

@Haggis_UK Did he say at the end that Neil Buchanan was mean to him and that\u2019s why the BBC are biased? Art Attack Neil? \ud83d\ude02
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The minister cites \u201cNeil Buchanan\u201d, the former presenter of children\u2019s crafts show Art Attack, as a BBC social affairs journalist, when he likely means Michael Buchanan (@BBCMBuchanan).
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Tory MP Huw Merriman cited R4's News Quiz as an example of BBC bias and mistakenly named 1990s host of Art Attack, Neil Buchanan. Have I Got News For You expected to be next in the firing line - no comment from Ian Hislop or Paul Merton (below with guest host Alexander Armstrong)
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This government minister, pressed for an example of BBC bias, names a reporter called Neil Buchanan. \n\nThere is no BBC reporter named Neil Buchanan. \n\nNeil Buchanan presented Art Attack on CITV in the nineties and noughties.
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First they came for the @nationaltrust \nAnd I did not speak out.\n\nThen they came for the @RNLI \nAnd I did not speak out.\n\nThen they came for Neil Buchanan\nAnd I lost my fucking shit.
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You've had 24hrs since the Frazer viral fiasco. You know Burley will press you for real examples of BBC 'bias'.\n\nYour only example is a decade old AND you get the name wrong, naming Art Attack's Neil Buchanan instead of award-winning @BBCMBuchanan?\n\nGo back to bed, minister. ~AA
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This government minister, pressed for an example of BBC bias, names a reporter called Neil Buchanan. \n\nThere is no BBC reporter named Neil Buchanan. \n\nNeil Buchanan presented Art Attack on CITV in the nineties and noughties.
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The Tory MP’s comments come after the UK Government published its mid-term review of the BBC on Monday, which saw them commit to extending Ofcom’s regulatory powers to cover the BBC’s online content on platforms such as YouTube.

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