An opinion poll taken at the end of the Liberal Democrat Conference earlier this autumn put the Liberal Democrats ahead of the Labour Party, it was accompanied by a raft of other polls which also showed significant increases in our support.

The reason for this sudden upswing in our poll rating was relatively simple: for one short period in the political calendar, the broadcast media had provided us with a fair volume of coverage and the public had liked what they saw.

Regrettably, conference season and General Election campaigns apart, the broadcasters rarely comply with their duty to give us due prominence. We think it’s time that changed and we need your help to make it happen.

Media squeeze

But first the bad news. Traditionally the tendency to deny us fair coverage actually gets worse in the period leading up to the General Election campaign itself. The media establishment become obsessed by a two-party focus and our voice gets squeezed out.

The result is usually a slump in our poll rating as the public conclude that we must have packed our bags and gone on holiday. It happens time and again in the lead up to a General Election.

In March 1997 as the broadcasters increasingly excluded us from coverage, our poll ratings fell back to a monthly average of less than 13 per cent and the same happened in March 2001.

In 2005 the focus on the Iraq War protected our poll rating to some extent but we can expect a similar attempt to squeeze us ahead of next year’s Election. It is critical that we prevent this from happening.

Already we are witnessing worrying signs that the broadcasters may be heading back down this road. The BBC’s news and current affairs programmes appear to be showing significant, consistent and unacceptable bias at both national and regional level. Our spokespeople are regularly denied airtime even when we hold the distinct position on an issue and Labour and the Tories agree with each other.

BBC bias

A recent debate on Radio 4’s Today programme which excluded our distinctive opposition to new nuclear in favour of an obscure argument over process between pro nuclear Tory and Labour spokespeople, was just one more example in a growing litany of BBC bias.

Our media team is working hard to counter the increasing examples of this bias that we are witnessing. A new complaints system has recently been instituted to ensure that every example that we encounter is challenged and, wherever necessary is escalated up the BBC management structure; our monitoring and analysis service has been beefed up to help build the body of evidence we need to challenge the BBC and we are regularly reminding it of its duty to give us due prominence in their reporting.

We will continue to press the BBC in this way. But to maximise our effectiveness we need your help. Over six million of the BBC’s viewers and listeners voted for the Liberal Democrats at the last election and we think it is time that the BBC heard their voice.

Complain directly

So we are asking you to help us.  Complain directly to the BBC whenever you witness a clear example of bias on national, regional or local TV or radio and we want you to copy us in on those complaints so that we can build up the mass of evidence we need. It is important that we avoid frivolous complaints and focus only on issues where bias is clear and uncontestable.

You can direct your complaints to the BBC in a number of ways: via the website at www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/homepage/ , in writing at BBC Complaints, PO Box 1922, Glasgow, G2 3WT or by phone: 03700 100 222 or textphone 03700 100 212.

Copy us in

However you choose to lodge your complaint, please be sure to copy us in setting out the nature of the complaint, the name of the programme you are complaining about, the time and date it was broadcast and the TV or radio station it appeared on. Then send it to us either by emailing [email protected] or by writing to Liberal Democrat Media Watch, 4 Cowley Street, London SW1P 3NB

Your help in logging examples of bias across regional and local broadcast media is a key part of our plans to resist the traditional squeeze on coverage ahead of the elections. That could prove vital in maximising the number of votes and seats that we win at the next election.

Jonny Oates is the party’s Director of Election Communications