A Conservative MP has slammed the BBC over the extensive coverage given to returning Irish group U2.
What’s this? Another U2 story? The second of the day actually, but don’t worry, this one is fairly amusing. Anyone with a television set couldn’t have failed to notice the coverage the BBC has given U2 recently, and it appears to have riled one Conservative politician.
Under the slogan ‘U2=BBC’ the broadcaster has presented various programs about the group and the album, including a special edition of ‘The Culture Show’.
U2 will also be previewing songs on a special edition of Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge, while the group have even bagged a separate section on the Beeb’s website. All that, and they don’t even pay a license fee.
MP Nigel Evans (from the culture, media and sport select committee) asked “why should licence fee-payers shoulder the cost of U2’s publicity?”
The politician told the Daily Mail that the coverage is “the sort of publicity money can’t buy”.
A BBC spokesperson responded by saying “we take extreme care in making fair decisions about how we make popular artists accessible to our audiences, especially when the timing is around the release of a new album/book/film.”
U2 release ‘No Line On The Horizon’ on March 2nd.
