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

**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.