Scott Campbell

(from Blithering Bunny)

BBC News, in its wisdom, has decided that one of the main headlines of the day is a protest march against America’s decision not to sign Kyoto. Yes, really. This is one of the biggest news stories of the day. Literally “hundreds” of protesters are expected. Wow. Even if that figure is accurate – and the leftist media has a habit of exaggerating the numbers for these protests – so what? These protest marches are a dime a dozen. Few people care much any more about them. I don’t mean that people aren’t interested in these issues (and many may in fact have some agreement with the sentiments expressed), but they’re not much interested in the marches, which are manned by the usual suspects.

One protester was interviewed by BBC, and the BBC sought fit to broadcast his quoting of a Native American saying, which went something along the lines of “Only when the last tree is cut, only when the last river is polluted, only when the last fish is caught, will they realise that you can’t eat money”. Sounds more like a modern greeny invention to me than a Native American saying (it can’t be that old, either, if it refers to money), but the journalist – someone called Graeme – said “Yes, a wise old Native American saying”. I really wonder whether the BBC was just taking the piss here.

P.S. Eason Jordan, CNN’s News Executive, has resigned after massive pressure from bloggers (but not from the MSM, who tried to ignore the story), after he claimed (at a Davos session) that the US military deliberately targetted and killed journalists in Iraq.

What led to his resignation was not so much the claim, but his bungling attempts at backtracking and cover-up, which kept the story simmering for weeks. If he’d simply said “I was wrong, and I apologise”, the storm would probably have blown over.

Instapundit has a round-up of some links, and Chrenkoff has some links to show that this sort of accusation is not new.

P.P.S. Plaudits to the BBC, though, for continuing to do good work on Zimbabwe. Another investigation is on News 24 at the moment.

PPPS. Saw another BBC interview with a Green Party member on this protest march. She said that the Bush administration is “ruled by oil interests” (yawn), and there should be a tax on US imports, because they’re freeloading by not signing up to these international agreements. The reporter, Graeme someone, said “Wouldn’t the action required to really make a difference on greenhouse have a major impact on the economy?” Yes, she said, but this wouldn’t necessarily be negative, because 40% of our energy needs can be met by using existing conservation techniques. If we used these techniques, then we’d all be better off, and poor people wouldn’t be as cold in winter. (Really. I’m not making this up).

PPPPSSZZZzzz… Matthew Parris on tonight’s BBC docu on Howard. Kenneth Clark’s going to speak. Who would ever have guessed? And here’s another shocker – Ann Wiiddecombe! Didn’t see that one coming. And Hugh Dyke, a former Tory who quit the party to join the Lib Dems.