(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has launched an attack on the British mainstream media, labeling aspects of the industry shallow, facile, and misinformed. The opposition leader’s angst about his portrayal in the press inspired a fierce attack against the BBC, in particular, in which he accused the outlet of being “obsessed” with trying to damage his leadership.
“There is not one story on any election anywhere in the U.K. that the BBC will not spin into a problem for me, it’s obsessive beyond belief,” he said during “Jeremy Corbyn: The Outsider,” a half-hour documentary by Vice News. The special, which aired in the U.K. last week, provided unusual access to the workings of the Labour leader’s office over an eight-week period. Viewers got a rare glimpse into life behind the scenes as Vice followed him through the Panama Papers scandal, local elections, and recent accusations of anti-Semitism against the Labour Party.
Corbyn claimed one thing he has learned over the past six months is how shallow and ill-informed many of the “supposed well-informed” commentators in the U.K. media are. Accusing them of shaping a baseless and narrow debate, he chose to blast Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, who he described as being “kind of” obsessed with him.
Although colossal conflicts of interests at the BBC are public knowledge, there remains no question of the sway the broadcaster holds over public understanding. In the wake of last month’s local elections, Corbyn said the whole BBC narrative was that his party would do badly — despite the fact Labour lost 11 seats and the Tories lost 49.
Back in May, the corporation came under fire for biased coverage of local elections. Thousands signed a petition calling for BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg to be sacked. The petition was later removed after allegedly being hijacked by people using sexist and hateful abuse.
Since the Labour leader’s statements in the documentary were released, some commentators have claimed the press doesn’t hate Corbyn, arguing the situation is more complicated. In contrast, results of a recent poll in The Mirror show 91% of its readers believe BBC is biased against Jeremy Corbyn.
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