Allister challenges BBC’s 'feeble contention' it couldn't publish clarification because of News Letter report
The TUV leader Jim Allister has said that the BBC has belatedly acknowledged it shouldn’t have claimed he ‘stole’ his Westminster seat.
The North Antrim MP issued a statement yesterday saying that the corporation would “belatedly acknowledge on one of its own platforms for the first time that they should not have claimed that I had ‘stolen’ the North Antrim Westminster seat”.
Mr Allister was referring to a BBC bulletin the morning after the general election, which said “in the big shock of the night, the Paisley stronghold of North Antrim was stolen by the TUV leader Jim Allister”.
The TUV argued that that the word “stolen” was inappropriate and indicative of bias because it didn’t use the neutral language ascribed to other parties.
The North Antrim MP said: “This was something TUV drew to the attention of BBC NI immediately after the broadcast of the offending news bulletin back in July and we did receive a private acknowledgment that this should not have happened.
“Now, however, the BBC have conceded that they need to acknowledge that what they said was wrong on one of their own platforms.
“I do not accept the BBC’s feeble contention that because we passed the private acknowledgement of an error to the News Letter they could decide not to publish anything on their own corrections and clarifications page before now”.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We dealt with the TUV’s complaint fully, promptly and in clear terms the day after receipt. The Executive Complaints Unit operates impartially and independently of programme-makers, and we accept its conclusions.”