Martin Robbins has, as he says, done a bloody petition. He hates them but did this one anyway, so you see how it is.
BBC Question Time: Please give scientists proper representation on Question Time
He provides a graph on it:
Since the last general election, scientists have been less well-represented on BBC Question time than reality TV show contestants. Nigel Farage of UKIP – a party without an MP – has appeared on the show four times more often than all scientists put together. Important debates on climate change have been conducted with denialists such as Melanie Phillips, Nigel Lawson and James Delingpole, without a single climate scientist given an opportunity to contribute. Debates on drug policy have been held between comedians and columnists, without a single medical expert present.
It’s time to end this bias. Please, Question Time producers, demonstrate that you’re interested in serious debate and put people with real scientific expertise on your show.
George Galloway, more than twice as often as all scientists. It’s a god damn outrage.
If you’ve paid attention to the Beeb’s science reporting, this won’t come as a surprise.
Wait, they have science reporting?
The existence of George Galloway is an outrage of its own.
Would any sensible scientist- would any sensible person- want to be on a programme with people like this?
The two scientists were Colin Blakemore (neurobiologist) and Lord Winston (expert on human fertility). Both men have been involved in public controversy and have had a considerable media presence – each has had more than one TV series. I suspect they were chosen for those reasons and that their being scientists was secondary.
Remember, it’s Question Time, not Answer Time. We’re not actually supposed to learn anything or come to any kind of conclusion. As such, having people in who know what they’re talking about is completely counterproductive.
QT is a case study in false balance anyway: if they put a scientist on they’d feel compelled to bring on a creationist or a climate change denialist for ‘balance’ so that ‘all sides of the controversy’ are represented.
Well, we don’t want to disturb the precious BBC establishment do we?