BBC Bias: Saying something important has happened when it hasn't

Pretending the something important has happened is the most obvious and common way that the BBC shows its pro-Tory bias. There were two very good examples of it today.

In the morning a sacked minor minister Owen Paterson called for Climate Change targets to be dropped and, despite being a nobody with no influence, managed to get plenty of time on the BBC to put his point of view. Liam Fox is another ex-Minister (and do not forget why he had to become an ex) who only has to speak to have the doors to the BBC open for him.

But the story that I wanted to give as an example was David Cameron doing nothing about immigration.

All that happened was he said that something needed to be done about immigration, which he had said many times before, but the mere fact the he said it was enough for the BBC to give it top-billing on their News page. This gives the false impression that something is being done and that Cameron is doing it.

The Conservatives would love to be able to buy publicity like this, and perhaps they are.

BBC Bias: It is how you present the story

One of the most obvious ways that the BBC shows its pro-Tory bias is the way that it presents stories and so, effectively, defines what the story is.

There are many example is this, here's one from today.

The real story here is that Tory Minister Lord Freud suggested people with disabilities could be paid less than the minimum wage as they were "not worth the full wage".

That is a damning insight to the private thinking of a prominent Conservative.

But, by presenting the story as his apology the BBC manages to make the villain of the peace something of a hero and hides the crime for which he has had to apologise for.

BBC Bias: It's the words that they use

The way that the BBC most clearly shows their pro-Tory bias is in their choice of words.

For example, the Bedroom Tax is now the "so-called Bedroom Tax" simply because the Government did not want it called that. Normally it is common usage that defines what words mean and what things are called, and everybody except most (not all) Conservative politicians call the Bedroom Tax the Bedroom Tax.

Often the words that the BBC chooses to use are taken directly from the Tory press release and so immediately reinforce the Tory viewpoint, such as in this case today.

By choosing to echo the Tories' word "freedom" the BBC is already telling us that this is a good thing.

But freedom is not always good. The banks were given too much freedom, also known as "light-touch regulation", and that plunged the world in to a deep recession.

And there are very good reasons why people were not given the "freedom" to take their pensions early before. Put simply, this was to make sure that people had the money to look after themselves in their old age rather than having to call on the State to do so.

It does not matter which side of this argument you are on, the point is by describing it as an issue of "freedom" the BBC has already decided that it is a good thing and so implied that there is no argument here to be had. The simple word "changes" would have been more accurate.

BBC bias: Hide the story

One of the more subtle ways that the BBC pursues its pro-Tory agenda is to hide stories that suggest that the economy is not doing as well as the Tories would have us believe.

That's why, for example, most people think that the deficit is falling when it is actually rising again; it's up 6% this year.

Part of the reason for the rise is that Income Tax income is less than expected and that is because many of the much heralded 2 million new jobs are low paid and so pay little Income Tax, as the latest figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show. To quote them, "many new jobs were low paid or created through low-paid self-employment."

This is clearly big news as it shows that the Government's economic plan is not working (the deficit cannot be reduced without tax income) but you'd struggle to find it on the BBC News website - it's second from bottom in the list of minor stories at the bottom of the page, and it's not even visible at all until you scroll down the page.

The story is also missing completely from the Politics page. The BBC is treating it as a Business story though it has little to do with business and everything to do with politics. Putting the story on the Business page is just another way of hiding it.