False claims suggesting that the BBC has been misreporting temperatures in southern Europe have been spreading on social media.

A clip of Neil Oliver, a GB News presenter, accusing the BBC “and others” of “driving fear” by using “supposedly terrifying temperatures”, has been viewed more than two million times.

For the past few weeks, an intense heatwave has been sweeping through parts of southern Europe and north Africa, with extensive wildfires breaking out in Greece, Italy and Algeria - leading to more than 40 deaths.

Speaking about the fires on Rhodes on GB News on Monday, Mr Oliver accused the BBC, and other broadcasters, of trying to “make people terrified of the weather”.

      • JDPoZ
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        3311 months ago

        I remember being angry at people saying it was “too on the nose.”

        • @SkyeStarfall
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          511 months ago

          It’s funny, isn’t it? It’s so “on the nose” and yet perfectly reflects reality.

          “Difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to be believable…” and all that

        • P03 Locke
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          511 months ago

          There is something to be said about subtlety in story-telling. When writers tell their message with a sledgehammer, it comes off as unrealistic.

        • @ZombieTheZombieCat@lemm.ee
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          311 months ago

          The worst was the people who insisted it wasn’t funny enough. I thought it was pretty funny, but was that really the point?