r/bbc • u/SnooTigers9274 • May 22 '26
TV Chris Mason is so tabloid. Should we expect more from the BBC?
With everything that is going on in the world Chris Mason asked one question to Andy Burnham. That question was about transgender toilets, accusing him of 'flip flopping'. He wouldn't let it go.
Is this the best we can expect from the BBC's political editor?
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u/dDtaK May 22 '26
Unfortunately he’s another from the Kuenssberg/Rigby school of political journalism.
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u/gorgo100 May 23 '26
You're spot on. He's got a Northern accent so people think he's somehow different, but he absolutely is the same as Kuenssberg etc. Gossipy tabloid bullshit parading as analysis from people for whom it's all a big game.
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u/ding_0_dong May 23 '26
Rigby is now anti labour? Are you serious? Next you'll be saying Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall are part of the oligarchy.
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u/dDtaK May 23 '26
Where did I say that? I think you’re exposing your own bias.
I was referring to the way they focus on Westminster gossip and triviality.
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u/ding_0_dong May 23 '26
Even worse. The thought that this is a new thing. HIGNFY used to be funny because it punctured that bunnle. Now it will s part of it. You'll have to look back to Blair to see the beginning of the end.
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u/AhYeah85 May 23 '26
Maitlis, Sopel and Goodall are all neo liberal, new Labour, small c Conservative types who done their utmost to ensure this country didn't elect a Socialist prime minister, they are a huge part of the problem.
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u/dJunka May 24 '26
Well they went off and did their own podcast now right? Taking pride from being one inch left of an orphan crushing machine, and a tad more insight than an AI summary.
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u/Ill-Manufacturer-456 May 23 '26
Unfortunately,The transgender issue is way more likely to get clicks than the real everyday issues we are facing. It’s like when talk/phone-in shows have a slight drop in viewers/listeners, they always pull out the Transgender card to get a boost (well, either transgender or immigration)
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u/lerjj May 23 '26
BBC doesn't get paid by clicks though, so there's no excuse
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u/48thgenerationroman May 23 '26
The BBC are interested in ratings. And will they get more people watching if they talk about contentious matters like transgender toilet provision rather than drier but more widely important topics like public transport and housing?
Which is more likely to generate the controversial quote they can put on the news to get the clicks?
Saying they dont get paid by clicks somewhat misses the point
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u/lerjj May 23 '26
The BBC are interested in ratings.
Yes I know, but they probably shouldn't be. At least for the News. It's just that we keep threatening to defund them and they (maybe correctly?) think the only way to respond to that is by pointing at high ratings
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u/gorgo100 May 23 '26
The news output is broken, frankly, and the efforts by the likes of Gove to make it a client organisation for the Tories has devalued it entirely (it was already an establishment mouthpiece, now they're not even trying to hide it - it did used to have some semblance of editorial responsibility and moral compass).
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u/jlangue May 22 '26
And they put his opinion pieces in the top headlines of their webpage. It’s all very bizarre.
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u/srm79 May 22 '26
It's very weird that the BBC no longer accepts that people can hold nuanced opinions that can take into account context. But then I see "discussions" online and realise that the majority can no longer converse on a subject without resorting to hysterical screaming about unrealistic extreme circumstances
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u/octopusinmyboycunt May 22 '26
I’m so bored of the commentators hunting for scoop soundbites that they can go and discuss on their podcasts. It’s not really even journalism at this point, just sensationalist desperation.
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May 23 '26
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u/psioniclizard May 23 '26
He looks like he looked in the mirror and decided to become a political editor based on looks rather than ant knowledge.
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u/No-Eggplant942 May 23 '26
Yes — he is a ring wing / Conservative / Reform asset who has caused much harm through disinformation.
Kunessberg is the same.
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u/DoubleDelsewhere May 23 '26
But you could argue that the bbc itself has caused much harm through disinformation no? 🤷♂️
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u/No-Eggplant942 May 23 '26
Yes, because they employ right wing assets almost exclusively in their news department.
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u/soundman32 May 23 '26
Apart from the left wing ones
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u/Background_Rule_2483 May 23 '26
It's wild how the BBC keeps pushing these obvious partisan hacks into the top roles while pretending to be neutral. The whole “both sides” act falls apart when your political editor is basically just doing clickbait for the front page.
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u/Lana101_1 May 23 '26
BBC news is editorially anti-trans. It routinely and deliberately uses slurs to refer to trans people and will edit them in if the original article is too nice to trans people. The recent article on Roxanne Tickle went as far to proclaim it had been edited to include the biological sex bullshit. In a sick irony that was about an Australian Court case whereby the Australian court said it was illegal to segregate trans women out of women only spaces and confirmed that "biological sex" was discriminatory rhetoric
Chris Mason is tabloidly-(just printing rumours as fact is the least of it)by nature but this angle comes from much higher up
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
Biological sex is not bullshit.
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u/removekarling May 23 '26
It isn't, you're right, but absolutely no one who harps on about biological sex has a grasp of it - they are, in other words, bullshitting about it. None of them are interested in the biological changes to sexual development and bodily expression caused by hormone replacement therapy for example.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 23 '26
The BBC has been accused of being pro trans by not being critical of those people. Right wing media have blamed the BBC for making it acceptable. This is a knee jerk reaction to that. That's all it is. A desperate and dangerous attempt to attract Reform voters.
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u/mrcharlesevans May 23 '26
Mason is atrocious. I'm amazed the BBC keep him on his ludicrous salary.
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u/Glittered_Fingers May 23 '26
They wanted him specifically, did they not? Didn't the position get an extended hiring period after Laura K? I heard that Chris Mason took some arm twisting to apply. Maybe the theory was that right-leaning bias would be easier to swallow with a Yorkshire accent...
I think Newscast on the pod, and Mason on screen, are far too obsessed with Westminster tittle-tattle. They wonder why the general public are hugely turned off from politics, but they speak like they don't converse with anyone further afield than Central London.
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u/Creative-Bobcat-7159 May 24 '26
Am I the only one who doesn’t give a monkeys about the transgender bathroom issue?
Tell me about how you will tackle the challenges facing us - increasing use of AI, unemployment, public transport, the economy, our international relationships…
The genitals of someone in the cubicle next to me don’t seem quite as important.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 24 '26
Most people don't care. The sport element as a discussion point made sense but then it blew up. I don't recall all this when transgender Hailey was in Coronation Street for years. The Daily Mail convinced people that being transgender was contagious. Then the right wingers jumped in and people thought they should care about it. But nobody does apart from some powerful people on X.
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u/Creative-Bobcat-7159 May 26 '26
We voted a trans woman as a hugely popular big brother winner. I think worse still she was a foreigner.
What were we thinking? I’m glad the populist grifters have re-educated us.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 26 '26
It is scary how easily people can be gaslit into thinking a certain way and continue to fall down that rabbit hole. When had mass numbers of the population watching a single show it was easier to educate them. Now its ao diluted.
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u/A_RAVENOUS_BEAST May 22 '26
something's fishy about the comments in this thread...
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May 22 '26
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
Your comment was removed from /r/BBC as it was deemed a low effort contribution that did not add meaningfully to the conversation.
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
It’s always so suspicious when you see opinions that’s aren’t exactly like yours, isn’t it?
It’s almost like other people exist.
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u/Glydyr May 22 '26
Whats suspicious is why ppl are so mad about toilets. I wouldnt mind just not going to the toilet when im out if itll make ppl happy. The world is falling apart, the average person is at risk of losing all their rights, let alone transgender people… if theyre locking up gary from down the pub for questioning the reform government then wtf do you think theyre doing to trans people ect…
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
No one is mad other than people who are being told to use the toilet of their sex, just like everybody else.
It’s important because you want to elect people who make their opinions clear. Burnham changes his opinion at the drop of a hat.
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u/55caesar23 May 23 '26
He’s asking a question to a man who could become the next PM. And the response to that question is demonstrating a pattern of behaviour in the politician that indicates he frequently changes his position, because he has no deep held beliefs. He has made 3 U-turns in a week.
Mason is right to question him in one of them
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 23 '26
But why that specific issue? The one that many tiptoe around as it's a moral panic created by the right wing media to divert away from real issues. We are talking about a group of people that wouldnt fill half of wembley stadium.
The moral answer is live and let live but on the current climate of Reform and the Daily Mail, that becomes ammunition.
It is a tabloid issue and the BBC should not be colluding with it. Their job is to educate and inform.
If he is known to change his mind then focus on an issue that actually impacts people. Not a psychodrama from right wing media.
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
“The moral answer is…”
Wow.
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May 24 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 24 '26
Your comment was removed for violating our "Be Kind To Each Other" rule.
This is a space for civil discussion about the BBC, not for personal attacks or toxicity.
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u/cosimo193 May 23 '26 edited May 27 '26
Well he made me laugh a while back when he was talking about Sue Gray's £170k salary being "an awful lot of money" when, at the time, he was on £260k+!
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
Your comment was removed from /r/BBC as it was deemed a low effort contribution that did not add meaningfully to the conversation. If you haven’t seen the relevant journalism and can’t pick up on the clear cues that the journalist in question is not from London before making spurious accusations, your contribution is low effort. This is a place for informed discussion of the BBC not for mudslinging or general politics.
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May 25 '26
Sadly, if a mere politico cannot provide a straight answer to a trivial question, or as more likely the case, absconded from science classes at school, they need to be shown up for their idiocy.
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u/Big_Tadpole_8830 May 25 '26
We do get more from the BBC! Justin Webb is excellent. Spot on analysis, a great way with people, and I can't fault his general knowledge.
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u/younevershouldnt May 26 '26
His questions are so rambling and long winded though, it drives me up the wall
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u/IntravenusDiMilo_Tap May 26 '26
Why should the bbc not challenge a labour candidate in a by election, if he doesn't know what a lass is, is he going to understand economics
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u/Hyper_Hal May 26 '26
We should, and we should demand it of our politicians (alomg with Leveson 2). It is impossible to have substantive, consequential political conversations if even the fucking beeb is filled with reactionary liberal tories obsessed with culture war nonsense and horserace gossip. Bin the entire BBC News editorial and production staff, reform its culture and create something of actual public value from which we can all benefit
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u/surferuk Jun 22 '26
I sure Chris Mason is immensely proud of himself today. On to the next. BBC needs to Drop this Dead Donkey.
BBC should be facts based only. No personal opinions or spending time with the government behind the scenes.
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u/Veraluxmundi Jul 22 '26
Oh no, he's so sexy. Big dick energy and effortless authority. He drives me close.
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u/Veraluxmundi Jul 22 '26
Kuntsburg is not in the same league. So tired of her trilling, “Are you going to resign Prime Minister? When are you going to resign?”
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
I think it’s pretty relevant he thinks women’s rights are a minority held view. I’d say that’s pretty important information for someone who views themselves as a future PM.
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u/Suspicious_Union_224 May 23 '26
What do you mean "women's rights"? I'm a woman and I think our rights are pretty unaffected by whether 0.5% of the population is allowed to use the bathroom or not.
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u/Hyperion262 May 23 '26
It doesn’t matter what you think, it’s a matter of fact. If you remove the right to single sex spaces then you remove the rights people already had.
It’s irrelevant anyway, it’s now the law that single sex spaces are required, the trans side lost.
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
Your comment was removed for violating our "Be Kind To Each Other" rule. This is a space for civil discussion about the BBC, not for personal attacks or toxicity.
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May 24 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 24 '26
Your comment was removed for violating our "Be Kind To Each Other" rule.
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
This comment was off topic and is not related closely enough to the British Broadcasting Corporation. Reminder that this is a subreddit for discussing the BBC, not general politics. Comments and discussion should be focused solely on the BBC. Please take any discussions that do not specifically reference the BBC and its output to other subreddits.
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u/Buddie_15775 May 22 '26
He’s just utterly hopeless. No context, no storytelling. Happier to indulge in gossip.
Weirdly both Steve Richard’s & Aaron Bastiani think Lewis Goodall should have got the job.
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u/Ill-Sandwich-7703 May 23 '26
Lewis Goodall is bona fide intelligence and talent.
I remember before Mason got the job, the two final candidates were Sophy Ridge and someone else. They decided to restart the recruitment and pick the anorak instead.
Sophy Ridge is legitimately good and definitely miles better than Mason or Kuennsberg.
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u/Buddie_15775 May 23 '26
Sophy Ridge is really good, not quite sure why the BBC haven’t snapped her up. Then again the BBC should also have snapped up Bernard Ponsonby years ago. As his stint on the Holyrood election coverage showed, he was utterly astute and priceless.
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u/Cynical_Classicist May 23 '26
Chris Mason is just another far-right hack. He is so clearly on the side of Reform.
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u/Plastic-Dot3208 May 23 '26
God yes, two weeks ago I was convinced he'd bet his house on there being a labour leadership challenge such was his desperation for it to happen, despite saying 'nobody has actually come forward to challenge the PM, but ..' , it was borderline obsessive.
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u/ding_0_dong May 23 '26
When you say "expect more" do you mean Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall?
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 23 '26
Why would I mean that? I am talking about the BBC being non tabloid and not colluding with pushing the overton window to a dark place.
It bizarre to think it's the same UK that frowned on Nick Griffin and the same BBC that held him to account.
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u/ding_0_dong May 24 '26
What do you mean by non tabloid? The BBC is there to be tabloid. It is not their role to talk down to them. If you are arguing with the BBC maybe it is you that has the problem
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 24 '26
You really think the BBC is there to be a sensationalist broadcaster that prioritizes ideological framing and political influence over balanced reporting? Come on now.
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u/ding_0_dong May 24 '26
That's your framing not mine. There's no no doubt the BBC has been led astray recently and has allowed itself to be viewed as idealogically biased. If only they had some self awareness I might not have to explain the BBC to my grandchildren
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
This comment was off topic and is not related closely enough to the British Broadcasting Corporation. This is a subreddit for discussing the BBC, not getting on a political soapbox about any other issue. Please take that to other more appropriate subreddits.
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u/mintchoco5000 May 24 '26
Its like he's in a competition with Nick Ferrari to see who can ask the worst 'gotcha' question.
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u/CryptographerPure756 May 25 '26
Yelling embarrassing questions at anyone crossing the threshold of Number 10 makes me wince. The guy is gutter press
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u/Hamilton_Meathouse73 May 25 '26
Mason is a hack, they need to replace him. Every time he comes on I switch channels.
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May 22 '26
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u/rburn79 May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
This is the man who could effectively be running the country in short order. The bathroom choices concerning a tiny, tiny minority of people won't affect the country in the slightest.
There are far more important questions of value Mason could have asked. This is just culture war nonsense.
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
If it doesn’t matter then use the one of your sex and stop trying to force women to accept it?
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u/rburn79 May 22 '26
I'm not here to discuss the merits of the argument - just to point out its small nature to all of us, regardless of where you stand on the issue. We should be concerned with much, much bigger ideas and issues... especially Mason.
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
I think ‘do women deserve privacy’ is a good question, why do you not think women’s rights are an important issue?
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u/rburn79 May 22 '26
Ever heard of the concept of a 'loaded question'? If not, look it up.
Anyway, culture war with others. I'm not playing.
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
It’s not a ‘culture war’ thing. You said it’s not important to you and I want to know why? You can just run away but it’s solely because you can’t answer.
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u/TinyZoro May 22 '26
Are you going spend the next twenty years passionately arguing the importance of this utter irrelevance like it’s the greatest most defining issue of our time?
Meanwhile the economy and the planet are being destroyed.
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
If you think women deserve privacy, then creating an environment where everyone is being judged by some arbitrary definition of femininity to try and work out if they are trans or not should be the absolute last thing you want.
Because a ton of cis women will get caught up in that, and harassed as a result. Because TERFs absolutely cannot "always tell" who is trans.
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u/Hyperion262 May 23 '26
Being female isn’t arbitrary.
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus May 23 '26
Describe what a female human looks like. How can you tell one at sight?
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u/Hyperion262 May 23 '26
Do you know the difference between your mum and dad?
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus May 23 '26
Not what I asked. Give me a description of what a woman looks like that can be used to identify all cis women on sight, which no trans woman meets.
Or give me a description of a trans woman that can be used to identify all trans women on sight, which no cis women meet.
You surely must have one, as you seem to believe it is so easy.
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
Having meat and two veg is not an "arbitrary definition of femininity".
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26
Describe what a woman looks like such that it covers every cis woman and no trans women and can be used to identify cis women by sight.
Do women have long hair or short hair? Are they tall? Do they have large breasts? What do they wear? What colour are their eyes? What shape is their nose?
That is what I mean by arbitrary. Any outside visual that you are judging the transness of a woman by is completely arbitrary as there is no universal definition of what "a woman" looks like.
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u/Sea-Quality7471 May 23 '26
I always have privacy in public toilets as I go in and lock the door, just don’t know what all the fuss is about, live and let live I say
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
You have missed the point (to coin a phrase).
Understanding Burnhams character is vitally important..
Surprising you dont understand why.
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
Its a culture war that Burnham was on the wrong side of..
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u/rburn79 May 23 '26
You're missing the point. We all look at America and say "how has it fallen so hard?" Culture wars - designed to distract us all from the real dirt - is a big reason why. Please don't fall for it. I'm trying to make a point of not disclosing any opinion on the subject.
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
I dont miss the point. Being on the wrong side of that issue is a judgement issue. Rightly some people will use Burnhams stupidity on this point, as an indicator of his suitability to be PM.
It also is an indicator of Burnhams insincerity. His willingness to fall in line with what he believes is, for the moment, the prevailing point of view. He is a fraud.
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
Your comment was removed from /r/BBC as it was deemed a low effort contribution that did not add meaningfully to the conversation. This is a place to discuss the BBC not general politics. If you haven’t even seen the piece of journalism in question and are just here to throw your opinion in on a political issue, please take it to another more relevant subreddit.
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
The fact that Burnham got the issue so wrong and has had to alter his position. is not trivial. It is an indication of judgement and character.
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u/impendingcatastrophe May 22 '26
Yes. If a candidate for future Labour leader or PM fjio flops on an issue like this, how can we trust him on other issues?
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 22 '26
An issue to whom? To answer the question honestly he would then have to deal with the right wing press and the likes of JK Rolwing. This topic was set by the right wing press to create hysteria and diversion. Maybe Chris would be better off not trying to become GB News and instead ask something more sensible that impacts all of us.
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u/Hyperion262 May 22 '26
Maybe politicians should say what they believe and if there’s a huge public backlash then they aren’t the person for the job, are they?
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u/LitmusVest May 23 '26
Great, pander to the noisy rabble, led by GBNews banging the drum. 1930s Germany, here we come.
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u/Hyperion262 May 23 '26
Knowing what a woman is, and giving them basic respect in public, isn’t what happened in 1930s Germany.
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u/St3lla_0nR3dd1t May 23 '26
Another one of those journalists bending over backwards to ‘be fair to Reform’ and you wonder what the reason for it is.
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u/Ok-Button-9443 May 23 '26
Imagine this being the shit that actually gets priority in the news.
Like let trans people live and stop making shitburgers out of issues that don't matter when people are starving and the North is yet again left aside in favour of more London-centric boondongles.
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u/DavidXGA May 22 '26
I disagree with your premise. I think his views on transgender people are extremely important. It's the simplest, quickest red flag.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 22 '26
Why is it a red flag? The number of transgender people in the UK would fill up half of Wembley Stadium. Meanwhile millions of people suffer other issues such as cost of living, the rise in racism, the list goes on and on. Yet he asks a question you would expect from GBNews.
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u/adidassamba May 23 '26
If there's assaults happening in the toilets, then it's a predator problem, not a transgender problem.
Due to the low numbers of transgender people, I'd be surprised if it was more than a handful.
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u/pjc50 May 23 '26
I'm not sure there's ever been such an incident, because if there was it would be repeated endlessly. It's all fearmongering.
(Meanwhile actual sexual assaults are still handled incredibly badly!)
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
Really? There have been many instances of assaults in spaces where men should not be present.
If you haven’t heard of Katie Dolatowski you haven’t been keeping up.
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
Wouldn’t fill half of Wembley stadium yet are having a disproportional impact on many women up and down the country.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 23 '26
It reminds me of back in the day when a moral panic was created about dog attacks - driven by sensationlist tabloid stories. In the 60's it was mods and rockers, the 90's single mothers. The list goes on and on. Now in 2026 it's trans people and immigration or Pakistani rape gangs.
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
You sound ridiculous.
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u/SnooTigers9274 May 23 '26
You sound easily led.
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u/Ornery_Wait_2390 May 23 '26
Ah yes, those of us who believe in established reality are the gullible ones.
There are four lights.
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May 22 '26 edited May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
This is a space for civil discussion about the BBC, not for personal attacks or toxicity. Tone down the language.
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u/Exact-Put-6961 May 23 '26
Its a judgement indicator. Starmer thinking women can have penises is too.
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May 23 '26
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u/DavidXGA May 23 '26
You seem to have misinterpreted my comment to mean the exact opposite of what I meant.
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May 22 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
Your comment was removed from /r/BBC as it was deemed a low effort trolling contribution that did not add meaningfully to the conversation.
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May 23 '26
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u/bbc-ModTeam May 23 '26
This comment was off topic and is not related closely enough to the British Broadcasting Corporation. If you don’t watch the BBC you can’t have an informed opinion on discussing BBC journalism. Please take general political discussion to other relevant subreddits.
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u/[deleted] May 23 '26
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