How the BBC responds to complaints

R Liddle and his supporters have had a complaint upheld about a Newsnight interview in which he was harangued by E Maitlis. She harangues most people she doesn't agree with, but Liddle or his supporters had enough persistence to get through what he calls the BBC's 'labyrinthine procedures' (where you have to persist through early stages in order to be allowed to proceed to Ofcom which alone gets the attention of the BBC). The actual report of the judgement appeared on the BBC Executive Committee's complaints reports website (the link given on an Ofcom document no longer works).

Newsnight, BBC Two, 15 July 2019: Finding by the Executive Complaints Unit

Complaint
The programme included a discussion about Brexit between Rod Liddle, columnist and author of a book about Brexit called “The Great Betrayal” and Tom Baldwin of the People’s Vote campaign. A viewer complained that the presenter Emily Maitlis was sneering and bullying towards Mr Liddle and in doing so exemplified the way the BBC views Leave voters.

Finding
The ECU did not agree that it was possible to deduce Emily Maitlis’ view on Brexit from the discussion. It also believed that it was valid to press Mr Liddle on his personal views  and noted that he had the opportunity to vigorously defend himself. However it was insufficiently clear that this was not Ms Maitlis’s view of Mr Liddle but that of his critics, and the persistent and personal nature of the criticism risked leaving her open to the charge that she had failed to be even-handed between the two guests.
Upheld

Action Point
The programme has been reminded of the need to ensure rigorous questioning of controversial views does not lead to a perceived lack of impartiality.    

Note the first class weasels. It was a mere 'a viewer', just one, who made this complaint. Eliding the complaint about Maitlis with an insupportable argument about how the whole BBC views all Leave voters guarantees a failure for any such complaint. Was this even a  specific complaint or a convenient portmanteau?

Indeed it may not be possible to deduce Maitlis's views from one discussion (especially if you don't try). They must have scores of complaints about other interventions but this one (edited?) complaint is all that is dealt with. Of course it is valid to press interviewees on their personal views -- but how are they to be pressed? With scorn,ridicule, scolding and textual shifters? Of course it was not clear whether Maitlis was pressing her own views or those of people she frequently claims she represents -- has she ever been questioned about where she gets this privileged insight into the views of 'others'?

So 'the' criticisms were 'persistent and personal', whoever they came from, but what a damp squib of a conclusion -- she risked being open to a charge. She has not even actually faced a charge! About that charge itself, the BBC says nothing, as ever.

Another solution suggests itself -- write to the Times (26 September Readers' Letters) : 

Sir, Are we now to accept parliamentary-style hysterics from BBC interviewers as a matter of course? The hectoring and accusatory approach of Emily Maitlis towards the Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin on Wednesday night was unworthy of an otherwise intelligent and excellent Newsnight host. I am no fan of Mr Jenkin but the aggressive approach of Ms Maitlis (and indeed other BBC journalists) is contributing to the lowest level of political debate that I have ever witnessed.
Robert Carter
Heswall, Wirral

PS In the very latest twist, Maitlis has lent her voice to those critcising another judgment (rather a rapid and unmealy-mouthed one) by the BBC Complaints Dept about N Munchetty voicing her opinions about Trump's motives to a storm of protest. It all goes to show how “massively out of touch with the real world” the Executive Complaints Unit is, says Maitlis. Unfortunately, the Observer reminded us that 

Earlier this month the ECU upheld a complaint about Maitlis “sneering and bullying” during a Newsnight discussion with the newspaper columnist Rod Liddle.