MP says too much recession woe on BBC compared to local community media

Liberal MP John Pugh has put down an Early Day Motion accusing the BBC of being too ready to accentuate the economic woes caused by the recession - and contrasts this to the way the local media are covering the crisis.
The EDM reads:" That this House believes that, notwithstanding the very serious problems confronting the British economy, confidence, jobs and livelihoods of real people are affected by the reporting of events by mass media; notes the readiness of the BBC, with its significant global reach to further dramatise, accentuate and underline economic woes; further notes also the public's awareness of this tendency; contrasts this approach with that of local, community-based media; and urges the commissioning of academic research on the influence of media reporting on the fragile psychology of the City and, more importantly, on the real jobs of ordinary people."

Pugh's motion was discussed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme today but, surprisingly, the BBC declined to put up anyone to defend its coverage. The BBC has past form for this. It refused to put up anyone on BBC Radio 4's Feedback programme to answer listeners' claims that business editor Robert Peston's gloomy reports were causing panic in the markets.