BBC has ‘lost public’s trust’ over grooming gangs scandal, damning poll reveals

The BBC has lost the trust of the British public to cover the grooming gangs scandal, a damning new poll has revealed.

Friderichs Advisory and JL Partners, who conducted the representative poll of 2,002 British adults between January 10 and January 13, found that just 14 per cent of Britons have a great deal of trust in the BBC to accurately cover the grooming gangs scandal.

Almost half, 48 per cent, have not very much trust or no trust at all in the BBC’s coverage.

Almost two-in-five Britons, 38 per cent, say that they still have a fair amount of trust in the BBC.

Newspapers have also been hit with a loss of trust over the grooming gangs scandal.

Friderichs Advisory and JL Partners found that just eight per cent of respondents have a great deal of trust, with 34 per cent retaining a fair amount of trust.

And the proportion of Britons who have no trust in newspapers to cover the scandal jumped to 58 per cent.

Confidence in social media has also taken a knock, with total trust levels sitting at just 35 per cent and distrust rising to 64 per cent.

Around two-thirds of Britons believe that media outlets need to cover the grooming gangs scandal irrespective of whether it damages social cohesion and race relations.

All groups expressed net support for covering the scandal even if it upsets people, including a plurality Black and Minority Ethnic respondents.

More than two-in-five respondents also strongly or tend to agree that the media did not cover the grooming gangs scandal due to political correctness, with just 18 per cent strongly or tending to disagree with the suggestion.

Speaking to GB News about the polls findings, JL Partners co-founder James Johnson argued that liberal-leaning media outlets had lost trust to cover the scandal.

Johnson told the People’s Channel: “This polling shows that traditional media, or at least more liberal-leaning media has lost the trust of the British public on covering these issues.

“In the rest of the poll we see people saying that they think the media has prioritised political correctness over reporting the truth and I think we are seeing that in the low trust as a result.

“It’s not like it’s just the BBC, it’s a lot of the mainstream media and also social media, and it shows, frankly, the absolute value in outlets like GB News who are willing to report it straight to the public.”

In a statement about the BBC’s coverage of the grooming gangs scandal, a BBC spokesman said: “The BBC has provided extensive coverage of grooming gangs, including reporting public inquiries and criminal trials, highlighting survivors stories, broadcasting documentaries and the award-winning drama Three Girls, about grooming gangs in Rochdale.”

However, Friderichs Advisory and JL Partners’s poll comes just weeks after GB News exclusively revealed that Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips had rejected calls from Oldham Council to hold a national inquiry.

Phillips instead argued that the local authority was best-placed to carry out any future probe.

Despite Starmer accusing MPs who support an inquiry of “jumping on a badwagon” and “amplifying what the far-right is saying”, a growing number of Labour bigwigs now want a national probe.

Labour MPs Dan Carden, Sarah Champion and Paul Waugh joined Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in urging Starmer to rethink his position.

A number of grooming gangs survivors have also called for Starmer to back a national inquiry.

Sam told The People’s Channel: “A Government inquiry is the only way to hold Oldham Council and GMP accountable for their huge failures that led to hundreds of survivors being mistreated and not listened to.

“A Telford-style inquiry will give answers to survivors but it won’t give justice to those who deserve it.”

Jack, whose daughter was another grooming gangs survivor, added: “Let’s just get on with it and put this to bed for good.

“People of this country deserve to know what our children are facing and they’re facing it today.”

In response to calls for full, independent inquiry, a Government spokesman previously said: “No child should ever suffer sexual abuse or exploitation and it is paramount we do more to protect vulnerable children – which is why we are working at pace across Government to drive forward real action to implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, chaired by professor Alexis Jay.

“The comprehensive independent inquiry ran for seven years and continues to work with survivors of these heinous crimes – and this Government is committed to working closely with survivors and expert groups like Act on IICSA.”