Both Expat Yank (hat tip: David H in comments) and Eamonn Fitzgerald’s Rainy Day spotted something odd about the reporting of a recent BBC poll on Iraq.
Hello? Three-quarters of the tyrant’s former subjects are thrilled that the old monster is behind bars, but the BBC buries the fact at the very end of the report on its own poll. Talk of selectivity! Talk of bias!
The BBC is quick to report deaths of allied soldiers in Iraq. What about the 300 (reported) killed in recent Muslim on Muslim conflict?
The BBC is quick to report if a brick is knocked out of a Mosque by an allied soldier (desecration?) How many Mosques have been destroyed by Muslims in the recent clashes?
The Iraqi Cabinet said 379 people had been killed and 458 wounded in reprisal attacks in the week since the shrine was destroyed.
By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/saudi_terror_raids;_ylt=Ak_qPOaKf4snr7y0HuBek5es0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ–
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – The leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia and two men who helped attack the world’s largest oil-processing complex were among five militants killed during police raids in the capital, authorities said Tuesday.
DrunkenBlogging has helpfully provided a pie chart regarding that BBC global poll.
The BBC often reports the interruption of electricity and water supplies in Iraq and the bombing of oil pipelines, together with the murder of American contractors struggling to improve the infra structure. It is heartening then to discover that fellow Muslims have got their priorities right and ……
By DIANA ELIAS Associated Press Writer
Monday, Feb. 27, 2006. KUWAIT CITY (AP) – Kuwait will donate US$10 million to rebuild the Iraqi Shiite shrine destroyed in an attack last week and the Sunni mosques later damaged in retaliation, officials said Monday.
more bbc bollocks from the nicest-place-in-the-entire-world
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4754430.stm
headline is:
“Saudi women break into business”
oh wow, you think – women have suddenly been liberated in Saudi?
err.. no. buried in the report is
“New laws allow women to work throughout the economy, or at least in those areas the government deems suitable”
still no mention of last weeks Riyadh chop-chop square activities.
Last week the Iraqi Association of Muslim Scholars, a prominent Sunni group said 168 Sunni mosques had been attacked nationwide, 10 imams had been killed and 15 abducted since the shrine attack.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/02/27/national_top/000mosk.txt
No news of this on the BBC
Re my last post, I recall hearing on the BBC News, a Muslim saying loud and clear something like, “Our religious leaders have calmed the situation they are wise men and we have listened”
Thats the BBC line folks!
the bbc is pro-shia, anti-sunni?
Not quite Archduke, the BBC is just shiite…
Guess who (HE?) is AND where you will find these words
“Holding together a disparate nation
( He?) might defend his autocratic style of leadership by arguing that nothing else could have kept such a vast and diverse nation united.
And, for all that ( He?) is criticised and reviled, his opponents have not been able to nominate anyone else……..
What the outside world calls terror, ( He?) calls expediency.”
YOU WIN!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1100529.stm
Archduke
According to
Drunken Blogging
http://drunkenblogging.blogspot.com/2006/02/all-you-twatty-peace-activists-would.html
the Grauniad has reported on the same poll – but left out Iraqi opinion.
What a bunch of…..
I find BBC coverage racist. They seem to consider white misdeeds as somehow worse than misdeeds of other races. It’s as if they expect less of non-whites.
Of course I am wrong. The BBC is politically correct, and therefore they cannot be racist.
Don,
I just listened to BBC News 24 Sport at 18.44. You can call this hyperbole, politically correct or just plain racist. Reporting on cricket of all things, we are treated to comments such as,
“England up against it”
“India is still blessed with the best” and
“Cricket unifies the divide in this country (India)”
Laugh or cry?
sloppy bbc reporting – bbc gets caught – bbc apologises
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4758636.stm
Archduke,
Very topical. Watch this space for “Dispatches – Stealing Your Freedom” (a little bird tells me its about to be distributed using bit torrent ;))
YOU WIN!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…ast/ 1100529.stm
Sarge uncensored | 28.02.06 – 6:32 pm | #
Sarge
One wonders if the author of that page’s middle names are “talking out of his”. Although maybe that is a little childish.
Third item of news on BBC radio is the death of Linda Smith,comedien then some of her highlights.An anti Bush,Anne Widdecome and M Thatcher are chosen.
Don
You point is to good to let slip. Look up the definition of racism and you will find it says something like.
Racism: is to believe in the inherent superiority of one race over another.
Therefore any act of possitive descrimiation is racist by definition. Who ever does it or for whatever reason, it matters not. All types of racism are a bad thing because it divides sociaty from itself. The people have nothing to gain from this, which is why in most places people still get on fine with each other. Only and I mean ONLY when bad goverment or leaders seek to use the issue for political advantage does a natual process of peacefull co-habitation not take place. Race like many things only becomes an issue when their is a problem or when a politician wants to cause a problem. People are people the world over. They want and nead the same things. Only a bad politician would help you to think otherwise. However religion is a different matter compleatly.
“the BBC is quick to report deaths of allied soldiers in Iraq. What about the 300 (reported) killed in recent Muslim on Muslim conflict?”
the washington post is reporting 1,300 killed – just in Iraq, in the past week.
Archduke
I dont beleive the BBC is inherently “pro” anybody. Apart from a few Islamist Iranian and Saudi spys scatterd about and a good few loony lefties that is. However they are tottaly united against anything that threatens their well payed, cushy jobs. Greg Dyke made sure of that.
OT –
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&threadID=1108&edition=1&ttl=20060228214650&#paginator
‘H5N1 found in a wild duck in France!!!!!’ This is pathetic journalism BBC. You are a public service information portal. Where are the in-depth reports on whether Bird Flu is actually contagious or whether it’s safe to eat poultry.
H5N1 is about as deadly as vCJD, the former plague that refused to stick to the script and killed fewer people than Cartoon riots. I’d bet this one will turn out the same.
mark mcfarland, hong kong
Recommended by 56 people
Ho ho ho!
Wonder how long this will last!
“Third item of news on BBC radio is the death of Linda Smith,comedien then some of her highlights.An anti Bush,Anne Widdecome and M Thatcher are chosen.
Robin”
In deference to her panel co-members I feel her demise should be commerated in true warm hearted Hardy-esq manner:
Now there’s a thing. What a shame it was nothing contageous.
Menawhile the Beeb in a sidebar alongside the report on deaths of two British soldiers…how do ther British cope now that the local authorities won’t work with them….
the local authorities won’t work with the Brits (a) because their Iranian masters have told some of them to stir things up and (b) because the bloody media delighted in publishing videos and pictures gauranteed to annoy the locals! Yet they won’t publish cartoons…. freedom of speech is guaranteed by the deaths of these soldiers and some of the media and their friends act all surprised when their actions cause British soldiers to be killed or stoned? Aaargh!
News 24, tonight (Tues), 9.25 ish.
Covering the New Orleans festivities. John Sopel busting a gut trying to get some big fella (an official of some sort?) to say how terribly the rebuild operation had been. He simply refised to play ball.
Back to the studio, where tw*tfaced presenter says: “I don’t know if you saw the passer-by with a FEMA hat on – that is, of course the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Tch! Black sense of humour” I don’t suppose it’s possible that he might have been a FEMA employee?
Then off we went to the weather forecast.
I am an aficionado of Radio 4 panel-shows (with the exception of Just a Minute) and I liked Linda Smith. I had no idea she was ill and I am rather sad to hear of her death. 48 is no age.
Rob White
Could not agree more. What the hell is going on here. Whenever medical experts comment, they all say that there is nothing to worry about, unless it mutates. I personaly have every reason to believe them. That is with only an A level in biology to guide me. Most people at the BBC are highly educated, so they must all know this.
This story has run for over a year. If the BBC/media made this amount of fuss about a animal disease that MIGHT be a problem, they would not have time to show any other programs.
I dont think they really give a dam about the birds dieing. Its not because a BBCs favourate mad scientist is trying to sell his new book. So it must just be for making the “silly little people” think they need the BBC and big goverments “or we are all going to die.” Keep the plebs confused paranoid and laking in confidence, its worked for them so far.
Remember where this story originated from; communist China.
For all those that missed Dispatches. There is a copy available here:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/239132
To download the file, you will need a bittorrent client. I use Azureus.
http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
To watch the programme, you will need to install the DivX codec.
http://www.divx.com/divx/play/download/?hp3playdl
The video quality isn’t amazing. I guess the person sharing the file, wanted to keep the size down ;). Don’t forget to keep sharing the file once you’ve finished downloading.
I’m going to write to the BBC with a programme idea. People will buy and sell bric-a-brac to each other in a genteel surrounding. The BBC can’t get enough of this type of rubbish so my chances of getting knocked back are negligible.
the local authorities won’t work with the Brits (a) because their Iranian masters have told some of them to stir things up and (b) because the bloody media delighted in publishing videos and pictures gauranteed to annoy the locals!
Dave T……I hope they are despatching Met Officers to Al-Amarah to investigate this crime and take witness statements. When British soldiers are murdered like this the Human Rights Act should be implemented and the Police should investigate.
Maybe the Express could take a break for Diana & The Drunk Driver to send reporters down to check out the Iranis spies angle ?
The Weapons Intelligence Section are apparently on the ground now checking whether the bomb WAS yet another of the Iranian supplied Remote Controlled IEDs…funny how the Government has gone all quiet about that after they point blank accused Iran of supplying the bombs a few weeks ago? We are not just fighting the mostly foreign and unwanted ‘insurgents’ we are fighting the Iranian Secret Service and the Iranian backed local hoodlums such as Al Sadr and his merry militia….what Iran would love is for the South to break away and ask to join Iran – at a stroke cutting Iraq’s access to the sea….
grimer -> thanks man. grabbing that torrent now.
TAoL
I agree – the huge difference between Linda Smith and Jeremy Hardy was that she was funny most of the time, really funny in an anarchic way, rather than grinding out endless political spleen like Hardy.
The Humphrys interview with David Cameron this morning was full of interruptions. Cameron complained several times without effect, and even had to suggest that Humphrys would end up interrupting himself.
Classic comment from Cameron on Today.
“You’re going to interrupt yourself in a minute.”
The BBC is now running its Iraq-is-a-quagmire theme with mention of a CBS poll showing that Bush support is down to 34%. It fails to point out that the CBS polling sample was heavily skewed toards Dems, so gave a false picture.
This has been common knowledge for days now on the blogosphere. But heigh-ho, the BBC cheerily overlooks this because the poll results fit their story.
Can i just start by saying i felt a sea change in the BBC news last night.
I cant say what it was, but the tone seemed lighter, almost happy. I think it was a good news at 10.
Matt Frei, reporting on Katrina, did well i thought to make key subtle points, much improved i feel.
British soldiers being killed is still terribly sad, and i think the BBC are reporting responsibly here.
The Jowell incident was moved forward last night up the pecking order, and i think that is fairly correct.
Most poignant was the Sea Harrier clip, i know i’ll be making the BBC team smirk, but it was a nostalgic moment in RN history. (although i must say the Commanders interviewed were somewhat political in their comments, no Naval Pilot would happily admit they are happy about a lack of Air Defence air cover, the MoD would have been better to openly say, we’re going to have to wait a bit and its something that concerns us).
Anyhow, a good ending story, perhaps, and i say perhaps just an idea would be to consider running a documentary on future RN/ RAF aircraft/ ships as there are many questions that need answering in terms of the capability gap which need immediate attention.
one final comment:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4759840.stm
His appearance is nothing short of opportunistic with Spacey in tow.
He;s clearly trying to stimulate last minute media attention before the locals…but i must say, he has lowered the perception and image of PM, just a few notches..
today 0810:
cameron :”the more we trust people the stronger they and society become”
“we” being government. in other words, its hands-off Tory philosophy. pretty straightforward stuff, you would think.
humphries : “why should the government trust us?”
humphries cant seem to understand this facet of Tory ideology. hmmm..
tax-cutting versus stability. Cameron says that economic stability comes first. fair enough.
Humphries trys to turn it into a stability VERSUS tax cutting issue,
whereas Cameron is just saying that both can go hand-in-hand. obviously this concept also goes over Humphries head.
Cameron later pushes the technology solution to climate change – government can only encouragethe shift away from gas guzzlers, not directly tell people what to do. (e.g. tax breaks for business doing r & d on alternative fuels)
this goes over Humphries head as well.
but overall the “you’re going to interrupt yourself in a minute” bit was a classic.
http://memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1050
A brave woman piles into the RoP. Why is she not a guest on Woman’s Hour ? Why aren’t feminists like Jenni Murray inviting them on ?
Linda Smith
I am sorry she has died, but I didn’t find her particularly funny. To be honest the Hardy-Steel-Smith “here’s yet another joke about Bush/Blair/Iraq/Tories” line ran so thin that I stopped listening to their Radio 4 programmes long ago.
Typical was this from Hardy’s radio tibute yesterday – “she hated Blair and the war in Iraq”. What a tribute.
I didn’t find Linda Smith especially funny, either, and could never understand how she topped the polls all the time, but de mortuis nil nisi bonum, as the Romans used to say.
Cheers.
dumbisco,
Remarkable stuff. A free, secular Arab speaking her mind.
Who woulda thunk it.
Makes me wonder why we never hear those views on the BBC…..
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/01032006/140/home-office-accused-jowell.html
does anyone smell a bit of a rat here? or should i say convenient cover up?
I do think someone will stumble across some detail that has been over looked if they keep looking..
Bryan
I have seen the TV clip live of that Arab-American woman – very feisty, real sharp TV. Too good for the BBC though.
Remember that Muslim Tory woman who was arguing with the Choudhury nutter on Newsnight ? Why don’t the BBC use her as a “Muslim woman” rather than endlessly calling on moonbat Jasmin Alibhai-Brown ? (who was on Radio 4 this morning again, of course). Bias, maybe ?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4759960.stm
i think the environment agency are spot on here.
water meters are vital to help promote a sustainable environment, with a drought looming this summer, the water companies should get their skates on..
listening to Radio 4 this week.
PM – We have found some anti war Americans and interview them. No opposing view.
File on 4 – Americans are doing terrible things in Afghanistan, we interview some people who confirm this. No opposing view.
General – We explore how the beneficiaries of State Socialism can get more out of sucessful people. No view that suggests that welfare may not be good for both donor and recipiient.
Its “Marxism Today”, its “Socialist Worker” in broadcast form and we pay for it.
Brilliant!