is the BBC News Online strap to a pop-up ‘in pictures’ collection of US election bumper stickers. It has been featured on various News Online pages over the weekend, currently appearing on the Vote USA 2004 index page.
But does the BBC keep to the impartial middle of the road ‘driving politics’, or do they pull to the left or the right? Here’s a BBBC round-up of the BBC’s chosen stickers, each with its BBC caption and my assessment:
- Bush/Cheney ’04
San Marco, Texas: Bumper stickers in the US are often used to express political views. Here there is support for President George W Bush.
So far, so good – a standard Bush/Cheney bumper sticker. Will it be a standard Kerry/Edwards sticker next?
- a) Stop mad cowboy disease
b) Somewhere in Texas there’s a village missing an idiot
Boulder, Colorado: Both sides have come up with witty slogans, like this one suggesting that Mr Bush is a lost village idiot.
Nope. Both sides might have come up with witty slogans, but here we have two anti-Bush stickers for the price of one…
- Support W. for real peace!
Austin, Texas: Many Bush supporters say his response to 9/11 has made America safer. They fear that John Kerry would not do so well.
This one’s hardly a witty example, but it is pro-Bush…
MissionNothing Accomplished – Defeat Bush in ’04Boulder, Colorado: This sticker mocks the “Mission Accomplished” banner that hung behind Mr Bush when he declared Iraq hostilities over.
Let’s call this one for Kerry – it is a MoveOn production…
- a) Asses of Evil
b) More Trees Less Bush
c) Leave No B[illionaire Behind]
d) We’re Gooder!
Boulder, Colorado: This driver attacks Mr Bush’s “Axis of Evil” speech, as well as his education and environmental stances – and verbal gaffes.
Gosh – this must’ve been the BBC van! – four anti-Bush stickers…
- It’s a woman’s job to vote – BPW/Texas
Austin, Texas: Not all bumper stickers are directly related to the presidential campaign. This one backs causes such as abortion rights.
Er, no, if you go to the web address on the sticker, you’ll find it’s actually the Business & Professional Women’s Club of Texas, Inc., who have 117 pages cached in Google, none of which even mention abortion, let alone express an opinion on it…
- Texas supports our troops – red, white & blue ribbon
Austin, Texas: Some bumper stickers avoid endorsing one candidate or another, such as this one in Texas – a state with strong military ties.
Okay, this one’s arguably neutral, but let’s be generous to the BBC and count it as a half point in favour of Bush…
- Pray for our troops – yellow ribbon
San Marco, Texas: This one uses the motif of the yellow ribbon that families tie in hopes of bringing their loved ones home safely.
I’m not sure that this qualifies as a ‘voter view’ – more a straightforward human plea to a higher power.
Okay, that’s twelve stickers in all. So how did the BBC do this time?
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BBC bumper sticker scorecard |
|
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Pro-Bush/anti-Kerry: |
2.5 |
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Anti-Bush/Pro-Kerry: |
7.0 |
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Neither candidate: |
2.5 |
|
Total stickers: |
12.0 |
Oh dear. Is it just me, or is the BBC’s ‘driving politics’ selection showing evidence of a distinct pull to the left?
Worse, presumably some BBC bod has been wandering around taking these pictures (on salary and expenses, natch), only to end up with such a poor selection (or perhaps, in fairness to the bod, to have them edited poorly).
It might have been worth doing a spot of research on the subject, before leaving home, to find a broader, funnier, selection, such as these or these.
this site is now ranked third in a search for the single word ‘biased’ on google. i hope this means more people can realise how skewed to the left this supposed ‘impartial’ public broadcaster is.
Well, nobody can say you’re biased. I visited both bumper sticker sites but I admit that liked one more than the other.
“…Business & Professional Women’s Club of Texas, Inc., who have 117 pages cached in Google, none of which even mention abortion, let alone express an opinion on it…”
“Reasonable people everywhere agree that no woman should be forced to bear children; no family should be threatened with economic ruin as a result of unintended pregnancy; and no person should ignore the consequences of unwanted pregnancies.” This is from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ which the BPW website links too. Just so you know Andrew…
I also score it 3-2 Kerry with 3 for neither.
It might also be fairer to score on ‘number of photos’ rather than ‘number of stickers’.
Equally, I suspect from the tone of the election that there may well be more people with anti-Bush stickers than with standard Kerry/Edwards stickers – the BBC’s role in this assignment is to reflect what it sees, not to provide perfectly even coverage…
Political car stickers?? This is what happens when a country doesn’t play proper sports.
By the way, anybody sporting a Man U sticker in their car around my way can expect large and recurring respraying bills. Has the concept of expressing your affiliation by raking your keys down the side of an ‘opposition’ vehicle not spread to the States yet?
I second that motion.
Rich has a good point.
To put up a Conservative party poster in the front window of homes in some parts of this country is to invite bricks through windows and other vandalism.
Perhaps the level of Bush-hatred, as evidenced in Manhattan during the GOP convention, inhibits some from putting pro-Bush stickers on their cars?
I love the ‘Ronald Reagan lives in my heart’ one. That would keep me laughing all the way around the M25 in the rush hour.
This scorecard is very much like the BBC’s vox pop survey in Sweden prior to the Euro vote.
7 to 1 in favour of the Euro, and we all know what happened in that referendum!
Coverage of Dan Rather has been a bit thin in the ground recently. Now why can that possibly be?
Thank you ‘tgrok’ – the BBC said that the BPW/TX sticker ‘backs causes such as abortion rights’. Given that BPW/TX’s mission is ‘to achieve equity for all women in the workplace through advocacy, education and information’ and that their links page mentions 19 organisations, inc. the one you mention, the intepretaion of you and the BBC is very tenuous.
‘john b’, ‘tgrok’ – I expect the BBC would justify their selection by counting the scores as you suggest (even though Kerry still comes out ahead!). I counted the actual no. of stickers they selected – the number of messages that the BBC exposed us to. I think that’s reasonable.
Why is it that in situations like this, where you could argue for the benefit of the dount, it’s always partiality in favour of the left that we’re asked to tolerate?
Why no multiple Bush examples? Why no humourous Bush examples? It’s just awfully convenient that it should ‘just happen’ that way!
As for the BBC ‘reflecting what it sees’ – it all depends on where and how they’re looking – the US is a big place – a genuinely objective measure would be a survey of sales rather than what the BBC ‘sees’. Either that or just treating the matter in a balanced way!
Bumper stickers have become far less common in recent years because they damage the finish and are difficult to remove from plastic, color-matched bumpers. And the selection is nowhere near as entertaining as it used to be.
Most stickers now tend to be religious in tone. There’s also a disturbing trend from the pithy to the verbose. For example: “It takes more faith to believe in evolution than it does in Creation,” and “It is a poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
I live in an area that tends to vote Republican and that went for Bush in 2000, yet the overwhelming number of stickers I see are pro-Kerry — even though he’s doing quite badly in the polls.
I think it’s more a reflection of a mindset than anything else.
““Reasonable people everywhere agree that no woman should be forced to bear children; no family should be threatened with economic ruin as a result of unintended pregnancy; and no person should ignore the consequences of unwanted pregnancies.”
Of course there is a way other than abortion on demand to avoid all these things: contraception, or even abstinence. (Oooh I just said a dirty word!!!)
Abortion is not the only means of family planning.
I was quoting a website Roxana, not trying to start a debate on abortion.
*bashes head on table*
I hope you’re still bashing your head on the table ‘tgork’ – might knock some sense into it 🙂
Be careful though in case you frighten your fellow BBC staffers – they’re probably not as used to your disturbing behaviour as we are 🙂
I’m not trying to start a debate on abortion either. I’m just pointing out that the quote cited does not *necessarily* support the liberal position of abortion on demand at any stage of gestation in the name of women’s ‘rights’. There are other forms of family planning and other ways to deal with failures of planning
Is it just my political bias that makes me think the second site has more obscene bumber stickers and more vicious hateful ones??
Thanks for that Andrew. And don’t worry my fellow members of the Eastender’s cast have seen far worse.
And tgork sounds like Star Trek character…
Typing tgork is a lot less work – and uses a lot less of the 1000 available characters…
Damn, you ignored my Eastender’s comeback. *sheds a small tear in self-pity*
Somehow I doubt that you’re a member of the Eastenders cast, or, if you were that you’d tell us, so I figured it was a wind-up on your part.
Although from what little I’ve seen of Eastenders (occasional short exposures, lasting no longer than it takes to i) detect that it’s Eastenders; ii) change the channel as quick as I can!) – it would explain a lot about you, being exposed to that sort of BBC produced environment 🙂
And to think we wonder why the country is going to the dogs! BBC News to brainwash the adults, and Eastenders to teach young people how to behave and interact with one another…
How is posting some images of bumper stickers impartial and biased? It’s just illustrative…
Start worrying about real problems in stead of counting pro-bush/anti-kerry images on the BBC.
WHO CARES!?
Rich – yes, the concept of “keying” a car is definitely known in the US.
I’ve seen some posts on blogs that tell of people with pro-Bush T-shirts or driving cars with pro-Bush bumper stickers being subjected to physical abuse and/or road rage by people who are at least anti-Bush if not pro-Kerry. That may be skewing the distribution.
Well ‘The Dude’, it’s funny how they’re ‘just illustrative’ so heavily in Kerry’s favour! Coincidence, eh?
You might not care about BBC bias (it may even suit you). You might think that a count of bumper stickers is unimportant, but remember, it’s ‘just illustrative’ of how bias manifests itself in even the most trivial of ways at the BBC – a tax-funded service with massive global reach and near dominance in the UK, yet that claims it is impartial, when it patently isn’t in many areas. That’s why I care about BBC bias – even if you don’t – and hey, if you don’t care about BBC bias, why are you reading about it and commenting on it?
RW – stop being so childish – grow up and engage in sensible debate or get back to your kindergarten.