Our national broadcaster is often too naive about how it can be exploited

20 Jan 2023 | Full Fact's weekly news
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FACT CHECK
How the BBC broadcast misleading vaccine comments

A guest on the BBC News channel last week, Dr Aseem Malhotra, claimed that the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines were “probably a likely contributing factor” to the large number of excess deaths seen recently in the UK. The video has been viewed more than a million times and shared more than 33,000 times on Twitter alone, including by some politicians.

BBC News later spoke to Professor Peter Openshaw of the UK Vaccine Network to clarify Dr Malhotra’s remarks.

It’s not clear whether Dr Malhotra was talking about the effect of mRNA Covid vaccines on the total number of excess deaths, or only on the 30,000 excess deaths mentioned by the British Heart Foundation.

While it is true that a few dozen people have died as a result of a Covid-19 vaccination, the vaccines have also prevented tens of thousands of deaths. This means that on balance there would have been more excess deaths without them. Dr Malhotra’s comments were misleading because they did not make clear that the Covid-19 vaccines, including mRNA vaccines, have on balance greatly reduced the number of excess deaths.

This interview highlights how when bad information isn’t challenged immediately, it spreads hard and fast into wider conversation, society and in this case, social media.
We wrote to the BBC with our concerns. On Wednesday, they published an update to their Corrections and Clarifications page about the interview, apologising that “we were not better prepared at the time to challenge Dr Malhotra’s points during his interview."

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"The BBC is too naive, too often, about how it can be exploited to spread misinformation."

"Just days after Andrew Bridgen MP was ousted from Conservative Party for spreading vaccine misinformation, our national broadcaster booked the author behind many of the sources Bridgen repeatedly cites, and broadcast his comments without challenge."

"It is right that as a national broadcaster the BBC airs a full range of views and opinions. But presenters and producers must be ready to scrutinise these on behalf of their viewers - especially when a guest has a track record of making false or misleading claims."

Will Moy—Chief executive
Full Fact
FACT CHECK


** Brandon Lewis misleading to compare voter ID to picking up a library book ([link removed])
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Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Brandon Lewis recently compared the new policy of needing a form of identification to vote in the UK to the ID needed to pick up a parcel or borrow a library book.

In an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk, which he later clipped and posted to his Twitter account, Mr Lewis said: “I think the government was right to say that people having a bit of ID, the same as you’d have [...] to go to a post office and collect a parcel or take a book out from the library is not unreasonable, to just give that extra bit of protection to our democratic process.”

This is misleading. As we have written before, requirements for the type of ID you need to vote are different to that when picking up a parcel, as voter ID requires a photograph. While it is true that the Post Office does require identification to pick up a parcel, the list of what constitutes acceptable ID is much broader, and includes non-photographic ID, for example a debit card. Regarding Mr Lewis’s comparison to getting a library card, as libraries are run by local councils, the requirements differ from area to area.

It was announced in the Queen’s Speech in May 2021 that the government was planning to require voters in England to show photo ID when voting. The Electoral Commission has confirmed that this requirement will be enforced from the upcoming elections in May 2023.

Previously, when people in Great Britain voted they just had to provide their name and address. Voter ID is already required when voting in Northern Ireland.

The Electoral Commission has said that passports and driving licences are acceptable forms of photo ID, along with some other forms of photo identification such as an older person’s bus pass. Documents can be out of date, as long as the photo is still recognisable.

People without an accepted form of ID can apply for a free voter authority certificate.

What forms of ID do Post Offices and libraries accept? ([link removed])
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FACT CHECK


** Diane Abbott misquoted a statement from Michelle Donelan ([link removed])
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The Labour MP Diane Abbott has wrongly claimed that culture secretary Michelle Donelan said Jeremy Clarkson was right to say the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle should be “stripped naked and pelted with excrement”. But Ms Donelan was defending Mr Clarkson’s right to freedom of speech, not agreeing with what he said.

At the time of writing the tweet has been retweeted more than 200 times and viewed more than 160,000 times.

Ms Abbott’s tweet carried a link to a story from The Telegraph which featured a number of quotes from Ms Donelan on the matter. However, the headline on the story reads: “Jeremy Clarkson has right ‘to say what he wants’ about Meghan, says Culture Secretary”.

Ms Donelan’s comments in the paper appear to have been taken from an interview she gave to BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show that same day.

What did Michelle Donelan actually say? ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
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