A fair amount of bickering ensued on BBC’s Newsnight program the other night over how News Corp newspaper The Sun handles reporting on the EU referendum.
Hosted by Evan Davis, he was accompanied by associate editor of The Sun, Trevor Kavanagh, and journalist Alistair Campbell, who was the director of comms to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. The pair embarked on a heated discussion where Kavanagh accused Campbell of bias, and with Campbell shooting back The Sun tells lies.
The Sun has recently been in the spotlight for a front-page article claiming the Queen backed Britain’s exit from the EU – known as a Brexit; a British exit. A statement from Buckingham Palace at the time said the Queen remained neutral on political matters. The Palace has since filed a complaint with the UK press watchdog, and as such Kavanagh couldn’t comment on the story itself on Newsnight.
However, that didn’t stop some fierce talk coming from both parties.
“They present only one side of the story,” argued Campbell about much of the media in general during the opening remarks. “Also, they do tell lies.”
To which Kavanagh hit back at Campbell saying in a conversation they’d had before, Campbell had said he’d never been a journalist, he’d always been a propagandist.
“At least I admit it,” fired Campbell.
Watch the full exchange below.
