BBC Question Time Audience Producer is apparently Vote Leave, Britain First supporter

[Denzil_DC]

If this story doesn't get picked up by the MSM, it'll be the result of a cover-up.

The makeup of studio audiences (let alone the panels) in the BBC's long-running Question Time has long raised eyebrows among those who live in the towns and cities it visits. "I never knew we had so many right-wing people living here" is a common reaction.

It turns out there may be a good reason for that.

Let me introduce you to Alison Fuller, a.k.a. Alison Fuller Pedley, whose Twitter profile says she runs "Full House Audience Management which researches and coordinates TV audiences for programmes where the people take part in the debate".

Her Facebook account (presumably more up to date) reads:



She's done this for years. This is from a profile written in 2010:

"At the heart of the programme is the audience," states the Question Time website page; a rather bold statement that one could easily perceive as advertising. But Alison Fuller, the Audience Producer for the programme, will prove you wrong. Every week she has to select the audience, and depending on the city they are in, this might mean she has to consider over 4,000 applications a week.

This process involves checking the background of everyone against their political affiliations, campaign involvements, advertising intentions and many other factors. As the 150 people she singles out are to embody the image of a city in the eyes of the rest of the programme's audience, one could easily argue her job is probabl{y} the most important one.

https://cutoday.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/behind-the-scenes-at-bbc%E2%80%99s-question-time/

Indeed.

Rob Schofield at Medium.com reported in September:

Providing yet another chapter in the book I’m currently writing about our public service broadcaster titled 'Banging My Face Against A Table Until My Brains Leak Out', a pretty outrageous post has surfaced showing a Question Time Audience Producer seeking audience members from an EDL-supporting Facebook event page.

{Pic (copy and paste URL into browser to view): https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/800/1*xGYz2CtPAX1ZPs8c5bu69Q.png}

The event page publicises an anti-immigration march taking place on Saturday through Boston — the same town Thursday night’s Question Time broadcast from — and is organised by EDL members.

...

Some of the contributors to the page include one user who warns, “Dont let lincolnshire turn into a third world hell hole from invading middle eastern and north african migrants”, while another refers to those planning to attend a counter-march as “subhuman scum”.

Source

The Telegraph also covered the fuss at the time:

BBC accused of encouraging racial tension by trying to get English Defence League to appear in the audience on Question Time
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/02/bbc-accused-of-encouraging-racial-tension-by-trying-to-get-engis/

Maybe Schofield and the BBC-bashing Telegraph are reading too much into a lapse in judgement from a producer seeking balance and a little heated controversy to liven up what's become a weekly predictable travesty of debate? Well ...



Not-too-deep digging by a number of people on social media has revealed some of Fuller's personal interests. Her Twitter feed's not very active, but here's a post from 16 May this year:


https://twitter.com/Fullhouse21/status/732171630869393408

And here are a few more from Facebook:





Now, maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all this. Maybe BBC Question Time's Audience Producer is naive on social media, and just likes and faves striking pics and posts at random and wants to engage as broad a spread of opinion as she can get and sometimes accidentally oversteps the mark. Maybe. But she's reportedly a member of the following Facebook group:



Which in a sane country with a sane media would mean that, at the very least, the BBC and Fuller have some questions to answer here. So far, they've ignored all approaches for comment. We'll see if that continues.

[LeftishBrit]

1. VERY worrying

You expect this sort of thing from the tabloids but not the BBC.

It is indeed noticeable that the audiences have become more noisily RW in the last couple of years. I remember when Nick Griffin was controversially invited to be part of the panel in (I think) 2009, and the audience demolished him. Nowadays, many of them would agree with him!

And I think that the audiences are likely to have more influence on viewers than the panellists. 'This is what the people of this country think!' You would get the impression from some of the QT audiences that the overwhelming majority of people in this country are rabid Brexiteers, when just over half of those who voted (37% of the electorate) voted 'Leave', and quite a few of these didn't care that much one way or the other, or just wanted to express their disapproval of Cameron.

I don't get this impression at all with regard to the audiences and those who send in questions for Radio 4's 'Any Questions' and 'Any Answers'; so you may well be onto something with regard to audience producer bias for QT.

[shenmue]

2. Yipes

[BooScout]

3. Why the hell are we still paying a TV Liscence?

The BBC has done very little but irritate the hell out of me for the past five years.

[Bad Dog]

4. I stopped watching Question Time a long time ago.

I just ended up shouting at the telly and then couldn't sleep because I was too angry. There are some absolutely repulsive panellists like Melanie Philips who appear way too regularly, and no amount of Billy Braggs will get the bad taste out of my mouth.

This needs to be investigated, it's a slow drip drip, Daily Mail columnist Julia Hartley-Brewer is often portrayed as a slightly quirky just right of centre voice. No bloody Daily Mail journo is slightly right of centre.

[Denzil_DC]

5. A couple of developments:

Fuller's https://twitter.com/Fullhouse21 account has now disappeared.

She had another one where she seemed to have avoided some of her earlier faux pas and had recently been active (up to last night): https://twitter.com/alison_pedley

As of right now, it's disappeared, too!

I haven't checked her Facebook presence.

[Denzil_DC]

6. Finally, some media coverage:

Question Time producer is rapped by the BBC after she shared post by far-right party Britain First on social media

The audiences of Question Time are usually accused of being too Left-wing, but one of the programme's producers has just been ticked off by the BBC for spreading far-Right propaganda.

Alison Fuller Pedley, who is described as the show's 'audience producer', was a member of the British Patriotic Front Facebook group and shared an online post by Britain First, an anti-immigration organisation founded by former BNP members.

...

The BBC confirms that the bosses of Question Time, which is presented by David Dimbleby, have spoken to Ms Fuller Pedley about her online activities.

'The BBC has clear impartiality guidelines covering the use of personal social media,' a spokesman says.

'This freelance producer and the rest of the programme team have been reminded of their responsibilities.'

A source tells me: 'Alison has reassured her managers that the posts were shared unwittingly and she was unaware of their wider context.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4007866/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Question-Time-producer-rapped-BBC-shared-post-far-right-party-Britain-social-media.html

BBC Question Time Staff Reminded Of Impartiality Rules After Producer’s Britain First Posts Revealed

The BBC has reminded staff on its flagship Question Time programme of the need to be impartial at work and on social media after a producer was found to have shared posts from the Facebook page of far-right party Britain First.

The corporation was forced to act after an audience producer’s Facebook profile was found to include posts from the hate group, which has long-used messages of support for armed forces and veterans to increase its reach on social media.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bbc-question-time-producer-britain-first_uk_5846dfabe4b019db8c11add0?

[Denzil_DC]

7. For completeness, a few more media reports

MSM:

Question Time producer is rapped by the BBC after she shared post by far-right party Britain First on social media

...

The BBC confirms that the bosses of Question Time, which is presented by David Dimbleby, have spoken to Ms Fuller Pedley about her online activities.

'The BBC has clear impartiality guidelines covering the use of personal social media,' a spokesman says.

'This freelance producer and the rest of the programme team have been reminded of their responsibilities.'

A source tells me: 'Alison has reassured her managers that the posts were shared unwittingly and she was unaware of their wider context.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4007866/SEBASTIAN-SHAKESPEARE-Question-Time-producer-rapped-BBC-shared-post-far-right-party-Britain-social-media.html

Campaigner Jack Monroe cancels TV licence over 'Britain First supporting' BBC Question Time producer

Anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe says she has cancelled her TV licence in disgust over claims an BBC Question Time producer expressed support for a far-right group.

...

But the BBC insist she did so "unwittingly" and does not share the group's views.

The corporation say they have "reminded" the programme's staff of the need to be impartial at work and on social media.

But writing on Twitter last night, Ms Monroe had little time for the BBC's argument.

...

"You cannot be responsible for researching 4,000 political character profiles a week, & claim to be 'unaware of the context of Britain First'"

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/campaigner-jack-monroe-cancels-tv-9417135

Bella Caledonia blog:

BBC Question Time Cosy Friends Update

...

Today a new angle has emerged with the news that when BBC Question Time was broadcast from Sutton Coldfield in September it was at the behest of one local Councillor Paul Long.

... the local newspaper Coldfield Observer revealed:

“Sutton Coldfield town councillor Paul Long (Sutton Vesey) was instrumental in persuading programme producers to come to the town, on the back of it forming the UK’s largest parish council. Cllr Long said: “Back in November I had the idea of seeing if BBC Question Time could come to the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield to mark the formation of the UK’s largest town council. “Fortunately, I knew the audience producer, Alison Fuller-Pedley, and she was very keen to see what she could do.”

... who does Councillor Long stand for? Why he’s the UKIP Communications Manager for the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield.

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/12/07/bbc-question-time-cosy-friends-update/

Sutton Coldfield Observer story here: http://www.suttoncoldfieldobserver.co.uk/sutton-coldfield-to-host-bbc-s-question-time-programme/story-29633999-detail/story.html

Paul Long now identifies as an "Independent", but at least as recently as May 2015 did indeed serve as UKIP Sutton Coldfield's press officer.


Huffington Post:

BBC Question Time Staff Reminded Of Impartiality Rules After Producer's Britain First Posts Revealed

The BBC has reminded staff on its flagship Question Time programme of the need to be impartial at work and on social media after a producer was found to have shared posts from the Facebook page of far-right party Britain First.

The corporation was forced to act after an audience producer’s Facebook profile was found to include posts from the hate group, which has long-used messages of support for armed forces and veterans to increase its reach on social media.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bbc-question-time-producer-britain-first_uk_5846dfabe4b019db8c11add0?

[Denzil_DC]

8. Opinion piece from the Glasgow Herald:

Why audience manipulation on BBC Question Time is an assault on truth and journalism

IN a year of momentous fakery – from a Brexit campaign built on lies and half-truths to Nigel Farage’s race-hate immigration poster and Donald Trump’s post-truth US Presidential election victory – this week saw new levels of distortion in the British media.

The latest twist came when it emerged that the audience producer – a job-title with more than a whiff of Orwell about it – for the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme, Question Time, had been sharing posts by far-right groups and had in the past claimed responsibility for putting a loud-mouthed unionist in the crowd during an edition of the show on the issue of Scottish independence. The concern is that Alison Fuller Pedley, who works for Glasgow-based Mentorn Media, was allowing her political beliefs to influence her professional life – and in doing so distorting the experience and tone of BBC Question Time, a show that is held by many to reflect back to us through the prism of television who and what the nation represents.

The issue kicked-off when it was noticed that Fuller Pedley was sharing Britain First posts on social media. Fuller Pedley shared five of the far-right group’s Facebook posts calling for support of the armed forces and the wearing of the poppy. She also liked a page called British Patriotic Front. Both Facebook pages carry extreme racist and ultra-British nationalist content.

In a year when Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered; in a year when Gina Miller was threatened and abused for bringing the legal case against Brexit to the courts; and in a year when the judges hearing that same case were vilified and MPs labelled traitors for voting against leaving Europe, to have someone in a such a high-profile position influencing the nation’s view of itself is extremely serious. The political debate has never been more toxic and the existence of fake news has shifted from the corners of conspiracy theory to the front page. In light of all that, the conduct of the BBC in this instance is frankly disgraceful.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14959179.Why_audience_manipulation_on_BBC_Question_Time_is_an_assault_on_truth_and_journalism