Skip to main content

To: Tony Hall, Director General; Rona Fairhead, Chairman of the BBC Trust; Nick Robinson, Political Editor; Sue Inglish, Head of Political Programmes; James Harding, Director of News & Current Affairs.

BBC NEWS: STOP THIS MEDIA BLACKOUT OF THE GREEN PARTY

Give the Green Party adequate and fair coverage relative to their success.

Why is this important?

We feel the BBC News coverage of the European and Local Elections has, to date, been unfairly biased against the Green Party. This bias is not only evident in the almost complete absence of coverage of the Green Party during the European and Local Election results, but also prior to this during the campaign for the elections on Thursday 22nd May and in the months since.

Whilst we understand that UKIP made gains in the Local Elections, it has gone largely unreported that the Green Party currently have a total of 162 Councillors and are now the official opposition in Liverpool, Solihull, Islington, Lewisham, and Norwich (15 councillors to Labour's 21). They gained two seats in Bristol, one with over 47% of the vote and retained a third seat, bringing the total to 6.

In addition to their many councillors, the Green Party also have one MP, one member of the House of Lords, three MEPs, three MSPs (Scottish Greens), two London Assembly members, as well as a Green-led Council in Brighton & Hove. UKIP don't have any MSPs, London Assembly members, or run a Council.

In the European Election coverage the Green Party were only very sporadically and reluctantly mentioned by the BBC. A representative of the Green Party (Leader Natalie Bennett) was not interviewed until 2:30am (26/5/14) on BBC One's Vote 2014, members of the other four parties were interviewed multiple times prior to this. The Today programme (R4) news summary at 8:30am (26/5/14) mentioned the Lib Dems in 5th place, but there was no mention of the Greens, let alone their being in 4th. These are just a couple of examples of the blatant refusal by the BBC to acknowledge the Green Party's successes.

Seeing as the results of the European Elections placed the Greens ahead of the Lib Dems they should surely be treated as a Major Party, especially as UKIP are treated as such whilst not having had an MP until four months after these elections took place. The Green's membership has increased by 45% since January. They should receive coverage reflective of their successes and a chance to share the political floor with Farage et al not only during and in the lead-up to elections, but also in the interim period on programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time and in any Leaders' Debates. Incidentally, from the beginning of January 2014 until 22nd May 2014 Question Time has featured five UKIP representatives and only one Green representative (Caroline Lucas).

Most despicable of all was how, in much of the BBC's coverage of the election results, the Green Party were consistently lumped in with the 'Others' category and often removed altogether from statistical evidence. This is an insult to the 8% who voted for them - 1.2million members of the British public.

The BBC prides itself on painting a fair and unbiased picture of events, however in this case we feel they have not done so. All parties should receive fair, impartial coverage, whether they be Left, Right, or Centre. This apparent news blackout of the Green Party by a much respected taxpayer-funded corporation is incredibly disturbing and must not be allowed to continue.

*This petition has been edited to keep its content up to date with the changing political climate*

Category

Updates

2014-10-14 22:44:05 +0100

Please make sure you also sign and share the following petition as it specifically targets the Green Party's exclusion from the Leaders' Debates and already has over 110,000 signatures (use the hashtags #GreenPartyBlackout #GreenUprising and #InviteTheGreens when tweeting): https://www.change.org/p/bbc-itv-channel-4-sky-include-the-green-party-in-the-tv-leaders-debates-ahead-of-the-2015-general-election#

2014-10-14 01:03:20 +0100

Hello again everyone, I just wanted to clear up any confusion surrounding this petition:
I began the petition at the end of May during the Local and European Elections, it gathered approximately 50,000 signatories in just a few days and I handed it in to BBC HQ in early June. It was decided, by myself and 38 Degrees, to leave the petition 'live' so I could pick it up again in the lead-up to the General Election if it were still relevant. It seems that in light of recent decisions by the Media Monopolies to exclude the Green Party from any Leaders' Debates the petition has been rediscovered and in the last day or so has gained about 15,000 signatures! I've edited the content of the petition slightly so as to include more up-to-date information. However I can't change it too much as obviously a lot of people have already signed it and I must make sure the intent of the petition stays true to what those people originally signed for.

2014-06-28 14:01:55 +0100

50,000 signatures reached

2014-06-08 12:01:45 +0100

This is going to BBC HQ on Monday 9th June! Come along and lets make our voices heard! https://you.38degrees.org.uk/events/petition-hand-in-stop-the-media-blackout-of-the-green-party

2014-06-04 00:22:58 +0100

I'm planning on taking this to the BBC by the end of the week. Keep signing and sharing so I can take as many signatures as possible!

2014-05-26 11:45:43 +0100

20,000 in two days!!! Keep it up everyone!! Make them listen! Complain to Ofcom here and ask for the Green Party to be awarded Major Party status: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/elections/
And of course don't forget to complain directly with The BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

2014-05-26 11:36:25 +0100

20,000 signatures reached

2014-05-26 00:52:07 +0100

Is anyone else watching the European Elections live? I think The Beeb might be listening to us.. I've heard more grudging mentions of the Green Party in the last couple of hours than the entirety of last week. However, it's still not enough. Keep up the pressure, I have the suspicion we're being heard. http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

2014-05-25 20:42:35 +0100

I'm seriously taken aback by the response this petition is getting, it just goes to show the strength of feeling surrounding the appalling bias demonstrated by the BBC during this election period. Keep sharing and signing!!
Please don't forget to file a complaint directly with The Beeb here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

2014-05-25 17:15:04 +0100

10,000 signatures reached

2014-05-25 12:20:14 +0100

5,000 signatures reached

2014-05-25 10:51:06 +0100

4,100!!! Lets hope the BBC take notice, we do pay their licence fee after all! File a complaint with them directly here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

2014-05-24 22:15:06 +0100

WOW!! Over 1,000 signatures in 4 hours!! This is amazing, keep it up everyone! Share, share, share! Don't forget to file a complaint directly with the BBC here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

2014-05-24 21:53:29 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2014-05-24 20:34:07 +0100

500 signatures reached