BBC ‘misinformation’ exposed as they try and highlight ‘misinformation’!

Dear Readers,

UNN was one of the first major news networks to expose the links between the organisation Jo Swinson’s husband works for with the EU along with the Open Society organisation. We had let you know about the fact the BBC were going to publish an article and they have done so here. 

We at UNN find it somewhat ironic that the journalists involved in this failed to do a basic fact check on who we are as a news organisation and you can read our complaint below in full:

Good Morning,

My name is David Clews and I am one of the co-Directors of Unity News Network. In a piece entitled: “How a misleading story about Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson went viral
By Joey D’Urso and Marianna Spring BBC Trending” we were spoken about in the following way:

“It got even further traction over the next few days when it was written up by politically themed Facebook pages with big followings that purport to post news stories.

One called “Unity News Network”, which was set up by UK Independence Party activists, put up a post broadly similar to the examples above. The post linked to an article which hinted at “sinister facts” and asked: “Does Mrs Swinson have a vested interest in remaining in the EU?”

Oliver Down of Unity News Network told the BBC: “We did not imply anything but merely asked the question to allow readers to make up their own mind.”

The first part we take exception to is we are directly labelled as a Facebook page with big followings that ‘purport’ to post news stories. The dictionary definition of purport is as follows: “appear to be or do something, especially falsely.”

UNN is an IMPRESS regulated news organisation and we have a top rating from NewsGuard. We are a pro-brexit news organisation but we do not deliberately peddle falsehoods. We are not just a Facebook page but have profiles across all social media platforms and we find this massively derogatory.

It then says that our organisation was: “set up by UK Independence Party activists” I have never been a member of UKIP or campaigned for them in my life whilst my colleague Carl Pearson left UKIP in March.

We find it both hypocritical and ironic that in an article designed to ‘expose misinformation’ the journalists involved couldn’t even get their facts right in what is either a deliberate smear or a basic lack of asking the correct questions. We look forward to your response.

UNN has also just received an apology from the Editor of the piece with the following:

Hi – I’m the editor of the piece. Having looked into it I have determined that the following is more accurate:

One called “Unity News Network”, which was set up by pro-Brexit activists, put up a post broadly similar to the examples above.

I’ve amended the piece accordingly.  My apologies.

Whilst we are grateful for it being amended and the apology the question remains as to why on an article around supposed misinformation have the BBC failed to even get their basic facts correct? This is our issue with the BBC, not only are they the publicly funded broadcaster they set themselves up as holier than thou and totally impartial which we know couldn’t be further from the truth. This is why confidence in the BBC is hitting rock bottom, how much more misinformation goes out under the guise of ‘real news’?

Everyone makes mistakes but this article is part of a wider series we have been following with interest which is attempting to highlight the ease with which ‘misinformation’ reverberates around Facebook and other social media channels. Unlike the top down BBC we believe in empowering individuals to make their own minds up about what they read as people aren’t stupid.

What we found very interesting about this article is that it is receiving criticism from the left as well who are accusing it of being favourable towards the Liberal Democrats.

In relation the to the lead correspondent on the article we did a simple search of her public twitter profile around the time of the EU referendum and discovered these tweets which have since been deleted:

Our investigations noted that Marianna was at this time working for ‘Cherwell News’ which is a student paper of Oxford University, she then went on to work for The Guardian before joining the BBC.

It is pretty clear that she was not happy with the result of the EU referendum vote in 2016. What we find galling is that a simple search of these tweets can highlight this and they are still on her timeline. If you were going to work for the publicly funded and ‘impartial’ BBC would you not remove the incriminating evidence or does it point to the idea that these views are acceptable in the BBC?

We have issued a full complaint and we are grateful that an apology has been issued in the first instance and amendment to the article made however it raises wider questions around potential bias within the BBC and not checking facts correctly. All we say to the BBC is remove the plank from your own eye before taking the speck from your brothers!