Location: England
First half of UK Postcode: ****
Type of complaint: BBC News (TV, Radio and website)
Which news service is it about: BBC News website
URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47457477
Complaint category: Bias
Contacted us before: No
Complaint title: blind obsequiousness to propaganda narrative
Complaint description:
It is with great regret that I am forced to make this, my first ever complaint to the BBC. The Metropolitan police, in an act of violence towards the English language, histrionically describe a self-igniting incendiary envelope as "an improvised explosive device". To "explode" is "to burst or shatter violently and noisily as a result of rapid combustion, excessive internal pressure, or other process", which the barely-singed envelope is clearly incapable of doing. While this type of exaggeration is typical of the Metropolitan police's (undoubtedly intentional) contributions to an unwarrantedly fearful social atmosphere, I generally expect more level-headed coverage from the BBC. Nevertheless, the headline reads "Explosive packages found at Heathrow, Waterloo and London City Airport", despite the later admission that "The devices do not seem to be capable of causing serious injury". I have classed this "bias" and not "factual error" because I believe there is a narrative purpose behind this linguistic inaccuracy - the amplification of a virtually non-existent threat for political gain, by using language more commonly associated with devices which overturn troop carriers in the Middle East, rather than devices with the destructive power of a single wooden match. It is the BBC's job to present facts, not to blindly repeat propaganda.