Well I know Natalie has a substantial post below, and I do recommend you read it and follow the links (and comment), but I notice that we have a little watershed moment to mark: The BBC recognises the work of Biased-BBC. It’ll be interesting for those visiting from the BBC site (a site we don’t yet link to, for reasons I’ve never quite fathomed) to find their arrival anticipated by this post, but that’s the responsiveness of the web for you. Welcome, BBC readers! Yes indeed.
Regular readers here won’t be totally surprised as we’ve had a number of visits from Paul Reynolds where he’s volunteered his thoughts in the comments sections- and I recently recognised his progressive approach in a post here. The article linked above is his, and it is essentially a mix of praise and openmindedness concerning the benefits, current and potential, of blogs like this one. He also recognises the work of some of our friends, like USS Neverdock and the American Expat.
It’s a great read and I fully recommend it as it outlines many of the highpoints of blogging over the last year or two. It illustrates the manifold strengths of blogging, and I might take this chance to point out another case, with current relevance: the October publication of the original Jyllands-Posten cartoons in an Egyptian newspaper, as revealed by this blog here. The cartoons were published in full in the Egyptian newspaper Al Fagr- and guess what, no outcry! During Ramadan too, when religious sensibilities might be enhanced. So, er, when the BBC or another media organisation try to pin the current kerfuffle and violence on the intrinsic offensiveness to Muslims of the real Jyllands-Posten cartoons (as indeed they have- in an article quietly updated from the originalto acknowledge the fakes which have done the rounds too), they need to explain that- and I don’t think they could.
Some good news – Ayaan Hirsi Ali gets coverage.
(from front page – link is
“Dutch MP gives cartoons backing” on
the right)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4698528.stm
Well add this link for an article in today’s New York Post outlining how this issue came to be so prominent – and the role of Al-Jazeera and Livingstone’s buddy Q – and the fact that the EU funds Q to spread his message of hate
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/61596.htm
From the BBC link:
“Muslim writer Ziauddin Sardar likens them to anti-Semitic images published in Europe in the 1920s and 30s, with Muslims being demonised as violent, backward and fanatical.”
But surely muslims are violent, backward and fanatical?
New London postcards a hit with tourists…..
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004448.htm
Another prominent apostate, Ibn Warraq, has also lent his weight to the cartoons’ publication.
(Sorry, I can’t remember where his article was published. I shall check)
On topic – When I first published the cartoons on my blog I got a message from a Danish woman saying “Thank God for blogs.” Ain’t that a fact!
Today’s Radio 4 special “Denamrk:In The Eye of the Cartoon Storm” would never have been made without the info that blogs have turned up. Who in Britain would’ve known a fake cartoon from a real one but for bloggers?
And it’s worth pointing out the invaluable role that the comments section of Biased BBC has played. Keep on keepin’ on!
Off topic (though only slightly) – another BBC online edit. Can’t quite figure it out – suggestions welcome.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4698240.stm
Putin invites Hamas to talks in Moscow.
Can ANYONE figure this one out?
Answers on a postcard please.
TAoL: Ibn Warraq was surprisingly featured in “Der Spiegel”: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,398853,00.html
There’s another interesting piece by a German commentator, Henryk M. Broder: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,398532,00.html
Well done Paul Reynolds. Welcome to the TruthZone…. 8-P
Looks like Newsnight might have picked up on the “hypocrisy” meme prevalent on a lot of blogs – they’re covering anti-semitic Arab cartoons as their lead item
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/4698552.stm
Latest cartoon Rage map. Note how the UK is ONLY major European country to have not published the cartoons:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6337/2188/1600/world_02_09-212.gif
no wonder 100,000 muslims are going to “protest” and want us to change our laws. They go “boo” , we go “please dont bomb us. please”
Well now we know: We are up against the Kos:
“I also benefited from the Daily Kos site when the issue of the use of white phosphorus by the US military in Iraq was under discussion.
The Pentagon initially denied its use as a weapon but the bloggers were able to link to an article from an embedded reporter who had watched marines using it as such and to a report in an army magazine about its use in Falluja. ”
Except of course that it was a complete fabrication. As shown by the blogs. So still biased then.
Well done for the recognition, but still going to need to keep a close eye on stuff…..
Wow. I can’t believe that Paul Reynolds’s superiors actually allowed him a link to Biased-BBC in the “Related internet links” sidebar. I have to keep going back and checking to make sure it’s real.
I’ve completely changed my mind about Paul Reynolds. Well done to him.
“Except of course that it was a complete fabrication. As shown by the blogs. So still biased then.”
Still biased perhaps, but not on the evidence of this issue. You’ll find Paul Reynold’s summary is correct except for the important blunder of saying it was the “Pentagon” that had denied White Phosphorus use in Fallujah. In fact it was the US State Department:
http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive_Index/Illegal_Weapons_in_Fallujah.html
and it has partially corrected its error.
Perhaps The Pedant-General in Ordinary and Paul Reynolds will correct theirs. 😉
.
Many thanks, Disillusioned Friend. 🙂
I think that Paul Reynolds also does a minor disservice to Blogworld in that he doesn’t really give it credit for running stories that the mainstream media will not touch. He mentions bloggers’ ability to unearth embarrassing factoids but there are also sites who are providing excellent ‘alternative’ news sources.
Richard North’s EU Referendum site is one. Though he is a researcher by trade, he has recently devoted vast amounts of reportage to ‘EU’ political stories and defence matters; stories which journalists should be covering. Indeed, when mainstream hacks do cover such stories he appears to spend much of his time correcting their basic errors!
Now, I am not saying for one minute that Dr North is a balanced, objective or disinterested commentator but stories such as the EU Waste Directive and Galileo project will have a major impact on UK citizens. They are simply not being covered by the mainstream meejah – or if they are, the level of reporting is so superficial as to be worthless.
There are others but EU Referendum is the one that came to mind when I started this posting.
So then. Just when you think they can stoop no lower they do.
The BBC wouldn’t show the cartoons of “the paedophile Mohammed” (sorry this is my reaction to the BBC now referring to Mohammed almost exclusively as “the Prophet Mohammed” these days) but they are quite happy to show the Muslim animated film of Jews slitting the throats of Christian babies to make the bread at passover.
They really have taken the biscuit with that one, disgusting. I know the free press thing but the BBC are supposed to follow standards of decency aren’t they? They just have to cheer up their Muslim viewers a bit by showing that, they’re sick of all the bad press they’ve been getting, regardless of the fact that it is justified.
taol – i presume you mean EU reporting like this?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4696204.stm
now, i’m not complaining about Mr Mardell. He’s easy to read, his reports are easy to watch – but thats just it. they’re fluffy – nice. There needs to be another aspect to EU Reporting IN ADDITION to the nice Mr Mardell – more in depth, more factual , about what the hell is actually going on IN the E.U. – the details, the directives, the processes , the general “stuff” that goes on – after all , we’re paying for it , arent we?
on another note i have to give praise for a nice bit of anti-dhimmitude creeping in – Hirsi Ali is the top story on the BBC Europe page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/default.stm
well done to whoever made this decision. She deserves to be heard.
Paul Reynolds ain’t the only bright spot in BBC darkness. Judy Swallow, of the World Service’s ‘Newshour’ is another.
She was grilling some editor or whatever from that rag, The Independent, about why they’d published the cartoon of Ariel Sharon eating a Palestinian baby but hadn’t published the Mohammed cartoons.
He claimed they hadn’t published them because the quality was not up to standard, can you believe it.
“That’s a cop out,” said Judy.
So true. The lady don’t take no sh*t from nobody.
Little L -> i trust that we see Jewish people shouting “Death to the BBC” outside their studios tommorow, and burning the british flag.
oh wait.. no. maybe not.
Archduke, yes and they gave her a good few minutes on ‘World Have Your Say’.
“sorry this is my reaction to the BBC now referring to Mohammed almost exclusively as “the Prophet Mohammed” these days”
thats crept into the Irish state broadcaster RTE in all their news reports too. Probably an EU directive that Mr Mardell hasnt reported on.
this is the point i’m bashing on about – i find the coverage of EU issues to be utterly woeful. Instead we get “corruption in Kenya” , as if the British Empire still existed.
Now, i’m not saying that the BBC go all pro-EU propaganda – but i want it to start being factual. Reporting on whats going on. that is all. its up to us , as voters, to make up our own minds.
just breaking this one here:
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-09T165931Z_01_N09220676_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-RELIGION-CARTOONS-ANNAN-COL.XML
“Annan also defended an attempt by Islamic nations to insert anti-defamation language into an already controversial founding document for a new U.N. human rights council to replace the discredited Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission.”
I beginning, finally, to understand why Dubya sent his attack dog John Bolton to the UN.
I like Mark Mardell but his diary is just that: a diary.
archduke
the BBC is the broadcast equivalent of Briish Leyland.
If you want to know whats going on, read the blogs, especially this one http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
Even the BBC are turning to blogs for news.
The internet has been the finish of many a traditional business model,Lazy Journalism is next!
Oh dear. Has Newsnight decided to be brave and follow the Independent on Sunday’s stance by publishing a cartoon?
No blurred photos? No artist’s impression? No photo of a photo of a photo? An actual cartoon?
Ah yes. That will be an anti-Semitic cartoon, of course.
BBC News doesn’t just maintain the high standards we have come to expect of them – it doubles them. Repeatedly.
“they are quite happy to show the Muslim animated film of Jews slitting the throats of Christian babies to make the bread at passover.”
Ah, it’s a drama, not an animation. It was shown on Syrian telly during Ramadan. Newsnight, bravely, showed an excerpt of this film.
(Actually, it was a good report)
Did anyone see Saira Khan guesting on “This Week”? Instead of the usual apologists, we get someone talking perfect sense.
Let’s have more moderate muslims like her on the BBC!
taol – have a look at this map
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6337/2188/1600/world_02_09-212.gif
no think about how the rest of Europe perceives the UK. our real friends, our real allies.
why the Brit government and the British media thinks its ok to give in to Islamofascism is beyond me.
its sickens me to the core.
typo “now think”…
i get a feeling that in years to come, anytime some brit bangs on about the British “bulldog spirit” , some Dane will whip out that map.
Little L,
There is nothing wrong with highlighting the rabid anti-semitism in the Middle East.
I just wish the BBC would also show the cartoons.
The BBC probably think they are balancing their coverage, by showing the hypocricy of the demonstrators (arsonists). Instead, they simply highlight their own double standards.
If things turn nasty at this demonstration on Saturday, the cartoons will have to be shown, so that the general population can see what all the fuss is about.
At which point, everybody will be asking what all the fuss was about and why the BBC didn’t show them earlier.
The ony proper response to the cartoons was for every Western media outlet to publish them evey day until further notice.
“Ah yes. That will be an anti-Semitic cartoon, of course.
BBC News doesn’t just maintain the high standards we have come to expect of them – it doubles them. Repeatedly.”
i’m still waiting for reports from Israel about why they ARENT outraged over the bbc broadcasting anti-semetic cartoons.
“The ony proper response to the cartoons was for every Western media outlet to publish them evey day until further notice.”
the editor of the Irish Times has suggested that. he’s looking for support for the idea as we speak.
trouble is, he’s got support in the Irish media and further afield, but its a brick wall with the spineless Brit media.
there’s a stonkingly good post on EuReferendum about how the MSM and politicians are increasingly getting out of touch because of new technology such as blogs, text messaging and email.
it is seriously worth a read, in light of Paul Reynolds article. he “gets it” spot on, like a finely targetted laser beam.
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/02/consigned-to-margins.html
Wurz, I also watched Saira Khan on ‘This Week’ and thought she was marvellous. At last a true ‘moderate Muslim’ is given a chance to speak. I have never bought into the concept that a Muslim Iman is moderate or represents the moderates, by the very nature of the fact that with them their religion comes first. As the Danish PM said “they speak with folk tongues” what they say in public and what they preach in mosques too often, are two very different things.
BTW Good piece by Reynolds, considering how much stuff he ‘swiped’ from the blog for his reports, I guess he was just returning the favour.
wurz…
yep, i just seen her too, but there arent enough of her sort speaking out.
(although she was a completely insufferable twat on “The Apprentice” …. she has now redeemed herself somewhat in my eyes)
DFH notices a curious BBC stealth page edit, to do with the “Man of Straw”
http://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/02/another-bbc-page-edit.html
according to our “man of straw” i can no longer take the piss out of ANY religion, as i might hurt their feelings by breaking a “taboo” – a taboo set by them of course.
and these guys are creating the new Iraq? god help us.
“yep, i just seen her too, but there arent enough of her sort speaking out.”
muslim male dominance of females has a lot to do with.
and politically correct avoidance and turning a blind eye to it has a BIG part to play.
anyone remember the “1,000 honor killings” story that broke a while back? where PC Plod revealed that they werent really that interested in “honor killings” as it might “offend” somebody if they did?
are people now getting an idea on why moderate female muslims cannot speak out?
btw – i loved the Tory vice-chairman, Muslim woman, name escapes me right now, telling the bearded Omar Bakri supporting Choudrey moonbat to “get off this island” in that recent newsnight cartoon debate.
breath of fresh air. more please.
The Conservative vice chair is Sayeeda Warsi, 34 y/o solicitor. Cracking girl with a lot of common sense. Omar Bakri nearly choked, never been spoken back to by a woman before and on national TV. Welcome to the 21st century matey, get used to it.
http://individualfreedoms.blogspot.com/
http://bbcfarsi.blogspot.com/
Islamic caricatures
Good article by Reynolds
Did anyone else notice Reynold’s prophet has a small ‘p?’
😉
Yes to Saira Khan on ‘This Week!’
🙂
Just in case this has not already been noted.
(Daily Telegraph 10th Feb 2006)
Sir – It is interesting that Ahmad Sheikh, the president of the Muslim Association of Britain, called on the British media not to publish the cartoons that have so recently given offence to Muslims in this country. His request has, by and large, been respected.
When the BBC was requested not to show Jerry Springer: The Opera, it persisted. There were an unprecedented 55,000 complaints from Christians who felt this programme was deeply offensive to their faith.
The BBC at the time reiterated its right to “freedom of expression”, even going against its own constitution to show this programme.
Simon Pritchard, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Is that the same Simon that posts on Biased-BBC?
“btw – i loved the Tory vice-chairman, Muslim woman, name escapes me right now, telling the bearded Omar Bakri supporting Choudrey moonbat to “get off this island” in that recent newsnight cartoon debate.”
It wasn’t Omar Bakri, currently barred from the UK because his presence in Britain was “not conducive to the public good” but another nutter called Anjum Choudhary.
Note that Freddie Laker’s passing draws a “send us your comments” from(D)HYS.
If he wasn’t such a capitalist and instead spent his life sitting on Quangos you just know they’d solicit “your tributes”.
pedantics , pedantics my friend
“telling the bearded Omar Bakri SUPPORTING Choudrey moonbat to “get off this island””
anyways. “corruption in kenya” rumbles on. makes the front page
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
next week, “oxygen in the air” and “the sun rises in the morning” will be lead stories
First thing i’d like to say:
I can’t find any mention on BBC.CO.UK of the govt charging the families victims of the 7/7 bombings Inheritance Tax. Absolutely terrible if you ask me.
Second thing:
I saw John Reid, Defence Minister this week quoted in the press about his Communist and Marxist readings he refers to regularly.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,659705,00.html
I find this an utter disgrace.
More importantly just slightly worrying that the man who controls our security is indocrtinating everyone down the Communist path.
And yet no alarm bells are ringing. Could the BBC explain why?
Compare the two comments on the BBC ‘Have Your Say’ frontpage, with the “reader recommended” in the actual debate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/default.stm
BBC Have Your Say Homepage
“With freedom of speech comes responsibility to not deliberately offend”
Paul Nash, London
“Protests are a freedom of expression, but violence is unacceptable
Thandi Mwape, Pakistan”
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=1011&edition=2&ttl=20060210095358&#paginator
Reader Recommended
Added: Tuesday, 7 February, 2006, 18:26 GMT 18:26 UK
What hypociscy! Where was their outrage when the Buddhist statues at Bamiyan were destroyed in Afghanistan, or when Christian Churches are bombed and their followers killed in Iraq and Lebanon, or when a Catholic Priest was murdered in Turkey, or when Iran calls for the annihaliation of Jews and denies the holocaust happened? All in the name of Islam. The mindless mob violence by these fanatics just validates the message of the cartoon.
Victor Perry, Toronto, Canada
Recommended by 591 people
There are 5 pages of similar comments, with not one person blaming Denmark.
lets be honest Ian – wouldnt you want a hard nosed bruiser of a communist to sort out the hellhole that is Iraq, rather than some loved up “multicultural” liberal?
thats my take on it.
newsflash: EU cartoons result in rampaging mobs burning down the EU parliament, screaming “Death to Bureaucrats” and “EU is cancer – democracy is the answer”
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/02/new-cartoons-inflame-community.html
oh wait… maybe not.