Diane Abbott’s treatment on ‘Question Time’ proves media and politics are entrenched in bias

Repeat interruptions, short introductions and a minimisation of the shadow home secretary on the BBC programme indicate implicit bias, say Robin Bunce and Paul Field

Monday 04 February 2019 10:21 GMT
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Abbott (second right) was interrupted twice as often as prisons minister Rory Stewart (third left), even though Stewart spoke more often and longer
Abbott (second right) was interrupted twice as often as prisons minister Rory Stewart (third left), even though Stewart spoke more often and longer

Question Time has put issues of media bias back in the headlines. For Diane Abbott, a politician with extensive media experience, the show was a “horrible experience”, the worst of her many appearances on the programme. Having appeared on something like 30 episodes, that’s significant. After all, some of her early experiences were almost as eventful.

Her appearance on Question Time in July 1987 was particularly memorable. Abbott shared a panel with Liberal MP Cyril Smith and Conservative minister Michael Heseltine, with Robin Day in the chair. Then, as now, it was the discussion of opinion polls that caused uproar. The polls, Smith commented forcefully, showed that Labour was unelectable, “and one of the reasons for it,” he added, “is Diane Abbott and people like her...”

The largely white audience applauded, and after a moment’s delay chuckled, seeming to get some unspoken joke. Abbott called him out: “If Mr Smith believes that having black people in parliament for the first time is in some sense a backward step, thousands of people that voted for me in Hackney North would disagree.”

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