The Big Eu Reality Check.....on Tv Last Night....

[ToraToraTora]

Nick Robinson, started by telling us that no politicians were on the show and it would indeed be a reality check, impartial in every way. He then unloaded half and hour of pro EU propaganda! PMSL!

[Svejk]

I try and watch or listen to everything I can about the Referendum. But I gave that a swerve because I was sure it would be just as you describe.

[Old_Geezer]

You ought not be too keen to PY. Plenty of still undecided will have watched that without detecting the bias. As the verbal comments included showed happening.

[TTG]

Not watching the one tonight but someone has said the remains applause sound does not match the number of people clapping and it favours them. No suprise.

[youngmafbog]

And you are surprised by that TTT?

[Hopkirk]

If the published polls are right, why does every poll on AB show a big majority for leave?

[fiction-factory]

Do you think the viewers are just as intelligent/savvy as you and would have noted any bias?

[ummmm]

Because 'leave' are more vocal.

[Old_Geezer]

Because, on average, ABers have more wisdom from age than the general population.

[Hopkirk]

Ummmm, you don't have to be vocal to vote on an AB poll.

If it means that leavers are more motivated to vote, there could be a surprise on Friday morning.

[Ken4155]

Just as a matter of interest. According to Oddschecker, over the last 24 hours 83% of total money staked has gone on a 'Remain' vote. In total there has been a 32% rise in the total money staked through Oddschecker this week with an increase in individual bets showing an average stake for remain at £299, five times higher than the average stake on 'Leave'. Highest single bet on 'Remain' is £4,000, whilst £1000 is the highest staked on a Brexit.

[jim360]

Is there anything he specifically said that you can utterly refute, or is this just one of those times when you've utterly made up your mind and can't be bothered to check if your perceptions are entirely or even partly accurate?

[naomi24]

I didn't see it but I listened to him reporting in the run up to the election last year and found him to be incredibly biased.

[EDDIE51]

Hopkirk, AB members are far more 'Anti EU' than the general population.
In the 'official' polls there has always been a 2 or 3% advantage to 'Remain'.

[naomi24]

Eddie, the polls in the run up to the last General Election were way wide of the mark. ABers weren't.

[Ellipsis]

> I listened to him reporting in the run up to the election last year and found him to be incredibly biased.

Biased in favour of whom?

[naomi24]

Labour.

[EDDIE51]

^ As I remember it AB was predicting that UKIP would get enough seats to have a significant effect on government policy.

[Ellipsis]

Interesting naomi. Have a read of this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Robinson#Criticism

[naomi24]

Eddie, don't know about that, but I'm pretty sure the polls here predicted a win for the Conservatives.

[jim360]

I've not seen it fully myself either, but on the face of it TTT's criticism is confusing. The very first claim Nick Robinson discusses is the "£4,300 worse off", which Nick Robinson instantly describes as "... not a fact/ spun in a way to look as bad as possible, and ... likely to confuse and mislead voters." That is hardly "pro EU propaganda". On the other hand, it's also true that most economic forecasts predict that Brexit will leave us worse off to some extent. Reporting this isn't propaganda either, as long as it's made clear that the fact is in the nature of the forecasts, not their accuracy (which, in practice, we'll only truly appreciate if we do vote to Leave). You should also note that the forecasts are for the short term, and that Brexit is bad in the short term is pretty uncontroversial really. Look at what the markets have been doing recently? Brexit suddenly likely to happen? Massive downturns in the performance of the pound and the markets. Remain vote more likely? Massive upturns in the same figures. This is not an accidental correlation; the markets fear Brexit and will respond to it negatively. In the long-term... well, that depends on what Brexit actually means in practice; on what trade deals we can make, on how far or not we actually get out of the EU.

But anyway -- pessimism or realism, the program appears to give roughly equal weight to the pro-Remain IFS leader and the pro-Leave ex CBI leader. As with many other things, we see what we want to whether it's there or not.