Tv coverage of the european elections was sorely lacking. Sky and the bbc must pull their socks up | thearticle

The obvious losers of the European elections were Labour and the Conservatives. The third big loser of the night was the TV coverage. Some of this was down to the big parties. The Big Beasts

of Labour and the Conservatives ran for cover. Where were Milne, McCluskey, Corbyn or McDonnell to defend their hopeless policy of fudge? They didn’t dare stick up for the disastrous

policy, which led to the worst results for Labour in a national election since 1931.  Where were all the Tory leadership candidates? Nowhere to be seen. Not one cabinet member turned up in

the TV studios to defend their government’s policy. It was the same story on this morning’s _ Today _ programme. Richard Burgon, David Lammy and Nadhim Zahawi – not Johnson, Gove or

McDonnell. This left the BBC and Sky with two choices. First, either go for a bunch of minor MPs and unelected pundits (Suzanne Evans, Gina Miller, Alastair Campbell) or mix politicians with

some thoughtful analysts like Matthew Goodwin, Eric Kaufmann David Goodhart and John Gray who could talk about the big picture. And where were the best commentators: Fraser Nelson, Stephen

Bush, Tom Newton Dunn? Predictably, the broadcasters went for minor politicians. The BBC began their coverage with Suzanne Evans, Emily Thornberry and Helen Whately, the Deputy Chairman of

the Conservatives. What was the point of that? Suzanne Evans has no official relationship with any political party, Helen Whately was the sacrificial lamb put up by the Conservatives because

none of the big players wanted to be associated with this disaster, and Emily Thornberry defended the indefensible all evening, on both TV channels, and was only troubled when Laura

Kuenssberg asked her when she’d changed her mind. Second, the BBC and Sky failed to offer the audience a proper choice. Both gave the same mix: presenter and studio panel, a few interviews

and lots of stats. Sky could have offered a more original and exciting format, but didn’t. Both the BBC and Sky also decided that their viewers wouldn’t be interested in any European

coverage except for the occasional perfunctory report. Their coverage was deeply parochial. Parochial and middlebrow. Then there were the smaller bad decisions. Who at the BBC decided that

just as Alastair Campbell was getting up a good head of steam, they should cut away to Pembrokeshire for a bi-lingual announcement of the results? Obviously, they should have recorded the

announcement and cut the Welsh version. At least Huw Edwards could translate the Welsh. He’s a decent man and an experienced broadcaster, but Edwards is no Paxman or Dimbleby, both of whom

relished these grand occasions. They would have loved the discomfort of the two big parties. The BBC has a huge problem. Too many grand old men are retiring: Humphreys, Naughtie, the

Dimblebys, and there aren’t the presenters to replace them. Thank goodness for Laura Kuenssberg, Katya Adler and John Curtice. Curtice (who didn’t appear till 11.15) spoke more sense in a

few minutes than anyone on either channel through the whole evening. The country’s polarised, he said. Neither Remain nor Leave have won. It’s a draw and “the centre ground of British

politics is very thinly populated.”   Apart from Curtice, it all felt very dreary, in part because there were no surprises all night. The results were accurately predicted by the opinion

polls and barely fluctuated. Brexit won between 36-38% almost everywhere. Labour and the Conservatives lost everywhere, even in their leaders’ constituencies, in Islington and Maidenhead.

The Greens and Lib Dems did well everywhere. That was it. Oh, for some fun. Interviewing celebrity candidates like Ann Widdecombe, Rachel Johnson or Annunziata Rees-Mogg   are not real

personalities. How we all longed for Paddy Ashdown promising to eat his hat, Jimmy Goldsmith baiting David Mellor in 1997 or John Sergeant and Peter Hennessy doing their double act on Radio

4’s _ Broadcasting House _ . British politics has become a world of political pygmies, too many former parliamentary researchers who have no hinterland. There was a little mini-spat between

Brexiteer Richard Tice and Alastair Campbell, but it didn’t last long and Huw Edwards’s heart wasn’t in it. The BBC needs to find a new presenter for these big national events. It needs to

find producers who have a good contacts book, and executives who tell their producers that guests like Jo Swinson and Helen Whately are not good TV, late on a Sunday night on BBC1. For once

bias wasn’t the problem, and we were mercifully spared the likes of Owen Jones and Ash Sarkar. But both the BBC and Sky News need to have a good hard look at themselves today.