04-11-2022, 12:21 AM
I think the lesson learned is not to give those who are looking for any excuse to bash the BBC an open goal.
Easier to uphold the complaint - which in reality means very little - than to prolong the matter by trying to explain the concept that a short clip taken out of context might have a more nuanced meaning than the one that neatly fits your agenda.
I'm glad that the BBC article puts the context in clearly, that the "gleeful" comment is surrounded by other comments about it being a busy time and the front pages are getting hastily rewritten.
"Politician makes decision not to stand for election" is not really a matter of controversy. If he had lost in an election then saying something that could be construed as a personal opinion of happiness that he lost would be much more problematic. If you interpret the "gleeful" comment the way complainants apparently did, you could spin that as endorsing his decision rather than the claims of bias that fits a narrative.
Easier to uphold the complaint - which in reality means very little - than to prolong the matter by trying to explain the concept that a short clip taken out of context might have a more nuanced meaning than the one that neatly fits your agenda.
I'm glad that the BBC article puts the context in clearly, that the "gleeful" comment is surrounded by other comments about it being a busy time and the front pages are getting hastily rewritten.
"Politician makes decision not to stand for election" is not really a matter of controversy. If he had lost in an election then saying something that could be construed as a personal opinion of happiness that he lost would be much more problematic. If you interpret the "gleeful" comment the way complainants apparently did, you could spin that as endorsing his decision rather than the claims of bias that fits a narrative.