The head of the BBC has been challenged to defend a "hatchet job" news report mocking Birmingham and Solihull's new £150 million leisure complex.
Resorts World Birmingham, next to the NEC, opened last week offering 18 bars and restaurants, 50 shops, a cinema, casino, spa and hotel.
But the BBC ran a seemingly sarcastic article on its website - suggesting that Malaysian owner the Genting Group faced a "tough task" persuading visitors to visit the attraction as it was "bordered by the M42 motorway, Birmingham Airport and the large housing estate of Chelmsley Wood".
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The BBC suggested the one thing that might save the "behemoth" complex was that visitors might forget they were anywhere near Birmingham.
The report was condemned as "sneering, spiteful and potentially damaging" by Solihull MP Julian Knight, who is a former BBC journalist himself.
Conservative MP Mr Knight has written to BBC director general Tony Hall, who spent part of his childhood in Birmingham and attended King Edward's School in Edgbaston, demanding an explanation.
The MP said in the letter: "In all my time as a former BBC journalist, and as someone who monitors the output of the BBC closely, have I never seen an article which is quite so sneering, spiteful and potentially damaging to an enterprise which brings hundreds of new jobs to Solihull Borough, and offers a fantastic experience for visitors to the West Midlands.
"The nature of this article is seemingly set out to find fault and potential means to do down a fantastic new local business.
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"In a competitive market, where first impressions count, your article could well endanger hundreds of jobs in the local area. Real jobs, real lives and real communities."
He pointed out that the BBC was already under fire for failing to invest in Birmingham and the West Midlands when it was pouring money into centres in London and Greater Manchester.
Resorts World Birmingham offers a number of bars and restaurants including a teppanyaki grill where Japanese chefs prepare food in front of customers.
The Midland première of the new Bond film Spectre was also shown this week at the resort's 11 cinema screens which includes an IMAX screen.
The BBC report claimed the leisure destination was in "an area few people would have on their mini-break hot list".
It added: "The idea, which has proved popular in Malaysia and the Philippines, is that once through the doors of Resorts World, visitors could be anywhere. Or nowhere."
The report sarcastically refers to "panoramic views" from the resort's hotel rooms, alongside a photograph of an overcast sky and some gravel.
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In a dig at the shopping centre, it bizarrely described the shops as "less aspirational" (meaning cheaper) than those at a shopping mall in Bicester, Oxfordshire.
A BBC spokesman said: "We take investment in the region seriously, including our own investment which has gone up by 50 per cent in the last two years to £125 million.
"This light-hearted story was just one part of our comprehensive coverage of Resorts World across radio, TV and online.
"BBC West Midlands is proud to reflect the growing global investment in Birmingham through our output and we will continue to reflect the diversity of opportunity, communities and events in our region.
"This includes, occasionally, taking an affectionately offbeat look at local life, reflecting the famous sense of humour of people in the West Midlands."
Birmingham has proved a major tourist destination in recent years attracting up to 37.5 million visitors.