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To: Ofcom and the BBC

HOLD THE BBC TO ACCOUNT FOR ITS SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST JEREMY CORBYN

OFCOM is the independent regulator of the communications industry and is now responsible for holding the BBC to account should it fail to adhere to certain Broadcasting Codes.

The BBC needs to be held to account for the spiteful and manipulative coverage of Jeremy Corbyn following the EU referendum and during the leadership coup, which is grossly in breach of Section 5 of the Broadcasting Code - Section 5 covering "Due Impartiality and Due Accuracy and Undue Prominence of Views and Opinions", and Section 7 which covers fairness.

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This petition has been started by a member of public and not 38 Degrees. 38 Degrees is a non-party political organisation, with no links to any political parties. If there's a campaign that you'd like to run why not start your own petition here:
http://38d.gs/start-your-petition

****PLEASE NOTE: THIS PETITION HAS BEEN AMENDED - ONLY TO REFLECT NEW INFORMATION RECEIVED REGARDING REGULATORY RESPONSIBILITY OF THE BBC.****

Why is this important?

**UPDATE MARCH 2018**

I started this petition two years ago as I was sick of the BBC's treatment of Jeremy Corbyn. It was originally referring to events surrounding the referendum and subsequent leadership coup.

I was in contact with the Media Reform Coalition at the time and was advised that for the petition to be really effective it really needed a lot more signatures - preferably 100000.
Unfortunately, two years ago Jeremy Corbyn was considered to be 'un-electable', the Labour Party was extremely unpopular with the wider electorate and people still believed the BBC were a fair, unbiased and impartial broadcasting house that told the truth. After the initial signing frenzy the interest soon died out and the signatures stopped coming in.

It has taken a really long time to get to 100 000 signatures but finally public perception is changing. The most recent case, on Newsnight, involving the blatant manipulation of a photograph of Jeremy Corbyn and framing him against a backdrop of the Kremlin has genuinely outraged many people and has shown just how far they are prepared to go to discredit and delegitimise Jeremy Corbyn.

This petition will definitely be presented, but at the moment I'm playing the waiting game. It needs hundreds of thousands of signatures before it will make any kind of impact, otherwise the BBC will just ignore it - just like they ignore or deny any complaint that questions their reportage ln Jetemy Corbyn. Please continue to sign, share and comment. We need to make this petition so huge that the BBC can not ignore the public's concerns us any longer.

**ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION**

The BBC's news coverage of Jeremy Corbyn has always been overtly biased against him and his leadership of the Labour Party, but following the EU referendum and the subsequent leadership challenge BBC news coverage of Jeremy has degenerated into journalism which I believe is nothing short of bullying, smear, lies and distortion. This is in clear breach of rule 7.1 of the Broadcasting Code to "avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations in programmes"

Article 5.13 of the Broadcasting Codes states that 'Broadcasters should not give undue prominence to the views and opinions of particular persons or bodies on matters of political or industrial controversy and matters relating to current public policy..." Undue prominence being "a significant imbalance of views aired within coverage of matters of political or industrial controversy or matters relating to current public policy."

This code has not been adhered to and the BBC coverage, on both TV and radio, of Jeremy has been relentless, crass and of the lowest standard. There are now more and more incidences of the BBC misrepresenting the facts by cherry-picking and by omission, and it can't be allowed to continue.

The most shocking attacks on Jeremy, however, have arisen as a result of the challenge to his leadership. By giving it a significantly imbalanced proportion of airtime, the BBC is broadcasting a significant imbalance of viewpoints.
By allowing former members of Jeremy's cabinet to resign LIVE on air BBC news reporting has become nothing more than car-crash journalism and should be saved for reality TV and gossip magazines.

In supporting the leadership challenge by giving it '"undue prominence of views and opinions" the BBC is effectively helping to undermine democratic process .
By giving undue attention and airtime to this leadership challenge they are sending a message to the people - that 'democratic process' is there to be ignored when it suits the agenda of the establishment.

We pay £145.50 per year through our TV licences to fund the BBC. We DO NOT want our £145.50 to be paying for this kind of 'tabloid-esque' propaganda. The BBC is not acting in compliance with article 5 of the Broadcasting Code and should therefore be held to account.

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION SO I CAN FORWARD THEM A COMPLAINT ABOUT THE CONDUCT OF THE BBC THAT THEY CAN'T IGNORE.

How it will be delivered

In writing to both OFCOM and the BBC

Updates

2018-03-17 22:26:48 +0000

100,000 signatures reached

2017-04-22 00:10:34 +0100

50,000 signatures reached

2016-07-06 20:44:53 +0100

I thank you all so much for signing this petition and for helping to make it huge, but I am appealing to you for more help!! If anyone has previously made any individual complaints to the BBC or OFCOM regarding the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn, or of general BBC impartiality and inaccuracy, I would be very interested in receiving copies of your complaints and any responses you may have received, so that I can submit them with our letters and signatures.

Please email me directly at [email protected] if you can help.

Many Thanks. xx

2016-07-04 12:14:48 +0100

20,000 signatures reached

2016-07-03 14:10:26 +0100

REALLY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!!!

Hi All, I have been informed that OFCOM does not regulate the BBC when it comes to "Due Impartiality and Due Accuracy and Undue Prominence of Views and Opinions" This is regulated by the BBC Trust itself - which frankly I find quite alarming.

There is a Memorandum of Understanding, however, between OFCOM and the BBC Trust and the BBC is required to comply with the Fairness Code under section 107 of the Broadcasting
Act 1996. OFCOM IS required to consider and adjudicate on Fairness complaints.

I therefore need to amend the petition description to include a complaint to the BBC itself on accuracy and impartiality, and a complaint to OFCOM that the BBC has breached Section 7 of the Broadcasting codes - Fairness. Article 7.1 states that "Broadcasters must avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations in programmes".

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks for reading :-)

2016-07-03 00:33:56 +0100

Hello to everyone, we have now reached 15,841 signatures and they're still coming!!!!! We are starting to get noticed!!!!! Please check out http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/07/02/petition-launched-to-end-bbc-smear-reports-about-jeremy-corbyn/

Thank you :-)

2016-07-02 09:45:07 +0100

10,000 signatures reached

2016-07-02 01:13:49 +0100

Hi again,

I have decided that I'm also going to send the complaint and the petition to both the BBC complaints department and the BBC Trust (the BBC's governing body) as well as OFCOM.

I want to make sure they can't possibly fail to hear our voice.

Maria :-)

2016-07-01 19:41:42 +0100

5,000 signatures reached

2016-07-01 19:38:50 +0100

Wow, what can I say???? 4702 people have signed this petition in just over 24 hours and the signatures are still coming think and fast!!!! A big, huge thank you to every single person who signed and left a comment. Your support for this campaign has been absolutely overwhelming. I will began drafting the formal complaint letter to OFCOM over the weekend and will post it as an update so you can see what I've written.

If our complaint is taken seriously and OFCOM find the BBC in breach of the broadcasting codes, it may start a cascade of investigations into the more widespread media bias in the UK. Which would be pretty amazing.

Once again, thank you all. :-)

2016-07-01 13:34:27 +0100

1,000 signatures reached

2016-07-01 12:54:58 +0100

500 signatures reached

2016-07-01 11:48:07 +0100

100 signatures reached

2016-07-01 08:57:08 +0100

50 signatures reached

2016-06-30 21:50:09 +0100

25 signatures reached