Do you know the meaning of the word ‘invest’? ‘Our’ BBC doesn’t

Wednesday-Thursday blog

Here’s just one of the many utterly-futile complaints I’ve made to our useless, UK-hating, Labour-loving, migrant-hugging, climate-crisis-proseletysing BBC recently.

YOUR COMPLAINT: 

The usual BBC Pro-Labour Bias 

When reporting about the Labour Party, the BBC reporters constantly claim Labour are “investing” in public services. The definition of “investing” is “put (money) into financial schemes, shares, property, or a commercial venture with the expectation of achieving a profit.” This does clearly not apply to public services. What Labour are doing is “spending more” on public services and there is no prospect of a financial return or profit.

Could the useless Labour-adoring BBC please stop using the word “investing” for money wasted on our failing, self-serving ludicrously-misnamed public services and start using the word “spending”? 

And here’s their answer:

Reference CAS-7930099-X7S4C6 

Dear Mr Craig,

Thank you for contacting us in relation to our broadcast of Breakfast on 24 September and for sharing your thoughts with us.

We note your concerns relating to the use of ‘investment’ when referring to government spending, we have reviewed this for you.

At this time, the BBC had been covering the Labour Party conference with Breakfast looking ahead to the upcoming speech from the Prime Minister. As part of this coverage, our political correspondent Henry Zeffman reported from the conference centre and focused on what was to be expected in the speech, looking at what areas Keir Starmer would focus on such as increased investment in public services. Later in the programme we also spoke to Pat McFadden who provided some insight into what that would mean.

The wording used on this occasion was simply a reflection of what the Prime Minister was expected to say in his speech where he spoke at length about public services. A key part of the role of our political coverage is to offer analysis on any given story and we would assure you that we think carefully when selecting which terminology to use. We would also assure you that in all our news coverage we are committed to reporting fairly, accurately and with due impartiality. We are editorially independent and not subject to political influence or agenda.

We very much value your feedback. Complaints are sent to senior management and we’ve included your points in our overnight reports. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC. This ensures that your concerns have been seen by the right people quickly, and helps to inform decisions about current and future content.