BBC Apologises for Putting ‘Corrective’ Subtitles Under MP’s Parliament Speech

MP Andrew Bridgen addresses parliament on Oct. 20. (Screenshot/BBC Parliament)

The BBC has apologised after it ran several live counterarguments on the bottom of the screen during MP Andrew Bridgen’s speech, some saying “COVID-19 vaccines used in the UK are safe.”

The BBC is to review the way it uses captions during such proceedings after its Parliament Channel put live messages on the screen defending COVID-19 vaccines as MP Andrew Bridgen spoke in a Parliamentary debate on excess deaths.

In October, the former Conservative and now Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen made a series of claims in the House of Commons that there was a “clear stepwise increase in mortality following the vaccine rollout.”

He used the adjournment debate to attempt to draw links between a recorded rise in excess deaths in the UK and COVID-19 vaccinations.

In the live-streaming of Bridgen’s address, BBC Parliament Channel put several slogans onscreen throughout his speech.

Some of them included that “the NHS says COVID-19 vaccines used in the UK are safe and the best protection from getting seriously ill with the disease.”

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Another included that “the NHS says measles and mumps are rising in England due to a drop in the number of children being given the MMR vaccines.”

In response to the captions at the time, writing on X (formally known as Twitter) Mr. Bridgen said that “this partisan commentary during my speech on Friday is nothing short of appalling from a supposedly neutral broadcaster. ”

Also at time, a spokesperson for the TV regulator Ofcom told The Epoch Times by email: “The Ofcom Broadcasting Code contains a number of rules to protect audiences from harm. Broadcasters have editorial freedom to decide how they achieve compliance with those rules.”

Showed Bias

In a statement on its corrections site published on Friday, the BBC said that it had reviewed its use of on-screen captions.

It said that there were concerns that the captions, which outlined the NHS guidance on vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases, showed bias against Mr. Bridgen who “was making a speech that challenged the government’s position on the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.”

“It is normal practice to provide accurate information and context to these debates on screen and in this case it was an important aspect of our coverage due to the nature of the assertions being made in relation to public health,” it wrote.

“However, we accept that there was a lack of consistency in our use of these captions and that the number posted during the speech was not proportionate, nor always relevant, which created the incorrect impression that there was an editorial approach in relation to the views expressed,” it wrote.

“We apologise for this and are reviewing the way we use captions during such proceedings,” it added.

Responding on X, Mr Bridgen wrote, “Almost a full apology from the BBC.”

“Regarding the captions added to my speech on Excess Deaths, the question is, ”Will the BBC refrain from adding such captions in future?' If not, it is surely time to defund the BBC.”