First, an apology for absence. Some work took rather longer than I had anticipated and I had to drop the blogging for the week. Here are some emails and posts that caught my eye.
- A commenter writes simply “terrible article” and sends a link to this. It’s called “Israeli poll deepens Palestinian gloom.” I didn’t think much of it, either. Throughout the Palestinians are presented as seekers after peace cruelly thwarted by Mr Olmert and his new Kadima government. For instance,
The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, clearly suspects that genuine negotiations may not be on the Israeli agenda.
I call this technique Bias by Assumed Telepathy.
Of Hamas, the article says,
It considers not only the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as occupied Palestinian territory – but the whole of Israel too.
Nearly there, BBC, and congrats for bringing yourselves to say that much. In fact if one goes to the Hamas Charter you can learn about the aims of Hamas as described by Hamas:
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
I think it’s safe to presume that the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, subscribes to the Charter of his own organisation, belief in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and all. The BBC as usual did not see fit to mention this fundamental context when it quoted Mr Meshaal as saying that:
“The Zionist position,” he said, “be it that of Kadima or others, is one that buries the peace process, negates its existence and does not give it a chance.”
Incidentally, the linking headline for this story was “From Bad to Worse.”
- Here is a relatively new media bias blog, Newsround, dealing with the BBC children’s news programme of the same name. The masthead says,
BBC Newsround is biased and patronising and non-inclusive, particularly about lgbt issues and homophobia. For over two years I’ve made suggestions to try to get them to improve it, without any success so far.
I expect there are a range of opinions among both commenters and B-BBC posters on how or whether Newsround should treat these issues, but that variety of opinion is no obstacle to my adding Newsround to our links on the sidebar to the right.
- A few days ago someone emailed me thus:
The last few days in Denmark have been a bit of a media feeding frenzy regarding comments by one of the Danish imams who went on the tour of the middle east to whip up the cartoon furore. Caught on a secret camera suggesting bombing a moderate muslim politician who has formed a group of moderate muslims to distance themselves from the rabid imams and their followers, the imam first denied doing it then said it was a joke (having seen it on tv there’s a small smile on his face but no laughter and no criticism from any others).
You can read more on it here: Agora
Suffice it to say the BBC have totally ignored the story.
Since that email was written, the story has had a line or two from the BBC, here. A line or two. And the story was mentioned as having been covered by the Danish press in this European Press review.
dumbcisco,
I suspect that they picked Reich so they could have a go at him about the Contras rather than to provide the alternative view. When he started to fight back all they could do was shout him down.
Palast’s brown nosing was sickening and more so when journos that criticise Chavez get arrested.
Ian Barnes
I would have thought that David Cameron smearing two and a half million UKIP voters as being mostly loonies and racists was really stupid, peurile. The Tory Party needs to win those voters back, not insult them. Hardly a clever way to “make friends and influence people”. Time was when any Tory front-bench spokesman making that sort of remark would have been sacked by the party leader.
I have never thought about voting UKIP. But Cameron’s slide to the left is making me think that way for the local elections in May. Plus the Tories’ pusillanimity on Iraq.
GCooper is indeed correct to say “it was revealed that Esler was pally with the Sandinistas in the past.”
Esler’s piece here deserves a full read to appreciate how he must have been salivating at the prospect of unloading 25 years of angst into Reich.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4861320.stm
Nicaragua is close to my heart. What has happened there for the past 20 years sums up the failures of US policy across Latin America.
And how about this for young English middle class romanticism about revolutionaries, writing of Nicaragua in the 1980s –
After the polls closed in the capital, Managua, I stood in a counting station next to a young Sandinista woman in green military fatigues. Shaking with emotion she brushed away a tear as the voting papers piled up for the Washington-supported opposition candidate, Violeta Chamorro.
Good find, Will
Gavin Esler’s view that Nicaragua sums up what has been wrong with US policy for 20 years is simply ridiculous. What has happened is that democracy has replaced dictatorships – with a lot of US help. Starting with Caspar Weinberger’s crucial help to Britain in the Falklands which undermined the junta in Argentina.
dumbcisco
you almost sound like a bbc exec.
no doubt this story has been launched forward, because the blair govt has nothing else to go on, other than try to undermine the success and popularity of Cameron.
Unlike other professional broadcasters/ websites, who are all talking about railway investment, the importance of pensions, the environment and positive attributes in british society…
the bbc can only try to make a mound out of a mole hill…
we all know what New Labour is up to here, what concerns me is that the BBC is all too often, too eager to go along with it….
a sad day in journalism history..
dumbcisco and Will are clearly more than just friends, perhaps even new labour sympathisers?
ot on the bbc
one headline reads:
on the UK page
‘UKIP demand Fruitcake apology’
now on the home page its
‘ukip demand cameron apology’
come on BBC do i have to keep reminding you to run a professional show here?
funny thing is i remember when a labour mp accused michael howard of being racist last year, he never received an apology…
Ian Barnes
What a silly post. If you think I am a NuLabour supporter you have nil political judgment. Your endless loony posts about the BBC being in No 10’s pocket are a waste of space.
But Blair is right on Iraq and the Tories are far too weaselly.
And Cameron is an ass to be attacking UKIP voters as loonies and racists.
dumbcisco
thanks for confirming exactly what we wanted.
have a good day.
Ian Barnes
Is that the royal “we” ?
Good work from Will, there, dredging up that piece of romantic nonsense from Esler.
It was pretty clear from last night’s interview that Reich was more than conversant with Esler’s previous and that was what had rattled him.
It seems Esler might be as much a prisoner of juvenile revolutionary romanticism as other BBC hacks like Guerin and Plett.
In its way it’s such a condesecending attitude (“Oh, darling – aren’t Latin Americans so wonderful” )that it’s almost a form of racism – though I can’t imagine any of the BBC crowd seeing it that way.
Tory leader Cameron’s remarks about UKIP confirms his credentials as Blair MK11. Even before he gets into No.10 he attempts to denigrate a political party with insults and sarcasm (the lowest form of wit).
If any one is a loony I respectfully suggest it’s anyone who cycles to work to reduce his carbon footprint as someone already on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
A Carbon Cloud Hangs Over Green Fuel
http://alternet.org/envirohealth/33969/
Thinking of becoming a vegetarian? This witty blog on all things vegetarian (and many things carnivorous) provides lots of food-supply and nutrition information with links to articles spanning the globe.
What Would Jesus Drive?
It’s difficult to know for certain, but this network of eco-evangelicals brings a fact-filled and meaningful perspective to the SUV debate.
Perhaps Cameron the Green would do better to criticise the judiciary who sentenced Mr Singh to an all expenses paid stay at taxpayers expense for killing a young woman with his car.
dumbcisco | 04.04.06 – 11:49 am |
Seconded, friend
Until this attack of verbal diarrhoea by Cameron The Green I mistakenly imagined that his espousal of green policies was merely vote catching, now I know he is as greasy and supercilious as the spiv and wideboy Blair.
No doubt if the young girl killed by a hit and run driver had been a “CYCLIST” saving the planet, Cameron the Green would be exploding like Mount Etna.
Conversely, and hard to believe, my estimation of journalist Peter Hitchens observation of “useless Tories” has the ring of truth.
Even more so when a Tory MP blogs against Peter Hitchen.
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2006/03/peter-hitchens-new-bonkers-blog.html
His name was Otto Reich. Was it just me or did Esler relish pronouncing the name to bring out is full Jewishness,
What’s Jewish about the name Otto Reich? Esler’s more Jewish-sounding than Reich. Are there any sane people amongst the groupies here, or is it paranoid lunacy all the way?
I read that wage rates for jobs like shelf-stacking are lower in Central London than outside London because of the “pool of labour” which the government has imported.
They operate like true Marxists – commoditising manufactured goods through CHinese imports; holding down wage costs through importing labour; and creating the dictatorship of the proletariat through illiberal legislation and creation of an apparatchik class
Rick | 04.04.06 – 6:38 am | #
The wages for McDonalds are definitely lower in the capital than in Salisbury (my home town).
G Cooper
Nice one!
Another day another revelation, Nick Ross went to my old school,
http://www.wcgs.org.uk/artman/publish/article_198.shtml
Wallington Grammar, well, he can’t be all bad, even if he does make programmes for the BBC(2) “The schools lottery”.
It’s clear that selection by exam at 11 plus is now selection by cheque book.
Why are socialists so thick and tories such namby pambies?
What’s Jewish about the name Otto Reich? Esler’s more Jewish-sounding than Reich. Are there any sane people amongst the groupies here, or is it paranoid lunacy all the way?
Bilo
Hi, paranoid lunatic here. Did you hear Esler, Bilo?
Yes I did wonder about the name Esler after I wrote the comment.
What I was originally refering to is the BBC journalists fondness of giving the names their best German accent, whilst the Americans to whom they refer have Angicised their names.
So Wolfowitz uses W, BBC uses V.
So German ain’t Jewish, but it has a strong connection in the case of American’s with Germanic names.
The more and more I listen to the twaddle that mans speaks the more I am starting to become suspicious about David Cameron. No way is this man a Tory. I’m starting to think he’s a liberal or commie stooge planted to try to destroy the Conservative Party from the inside out.
How long before Cameron out campaign starts? Now I hope, this man cannot stand as their leader at the next general election, he’s too Liberal even for the Liberal Party.
The top three stories on Google for ‘UKIP racists comment’ reveals surprise surprise! the BBC in bed with the Left.
Ukip demands apology from Cameron Guardian Unlimited
Cameron attacks UKIP ‘fruitcakes’ BBC News
Ukip are closet racists, says Cameron Independent
DAW, until David Cameron actually starts working for the BBC, can we stop with the party political broadcasts.
DAW
Take a look at this,
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008427.html
Actually Cameron is to the Conservative Party what Rowan Williams is to The Anglican Church……..
What’s Jewish about the name Otto Reich? Esler’s more Jewish-sounding than Reich
Don’t know, Robert Reich is a Democrat – I believe he is Jewish. The main point is that Jews in Central Europe did not have surnames until ordered to acquie them by the State and some took names from towns like “Warburg” or copied familiar German names
http://www.jewfaq.org/jnames.htm
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot tell whether people are Jewish from their surnames. According to the Jewish genealogy site Avotaynu, the third most common surname among Jews in the United States is Miller, which is also one of the most common names among Gentiles. …….. A lot of the surnames that sound Jewish to Americans are simply German names such as Klein, Gross or Grossman, Weiss or Weisman, Rosen, Schwartz or Schwartzman, Segal, Siegal or Sagal, and anything that contains berg, stein, man, thal or bluth. German surnames are very common among American Jews, and many people seem to have inferred the converse: if most Jews have German surnames, then most people with German surnames must be Jews. The reasoning is appealing on a gut-level but logically flawed. Consider this absurd but logically identical argument: most Jews have ten fingers, therefore most people with ten fingers must be Jews.
One reason for the frequency of German names among Jews is related to a misunderstanding of a 1787 Austro-Hungarian law. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which controlled a substantial part of Europe, was the first country in Europe that required Jews to register a permanent family surname.
Rick, spot on!
I hope the Tories are obliterated forever at the next election. I had high hops for Cameron but should have become suspicious when The Damilola Channel (sorry, I mean The BBC) started to get all watery eyed over him.
The death of a child is always a tragedy. It’s just a shame that the BBC didn’t give this case even 10% of the attention that other, more ‘fashionable’, cases have received.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3481719.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3473907.stm
The immigration status of Kadri, who was born in Algeria, meant he was not entitled to drive.
At his trial, Judge Anthony Thorpe told him: “Had you left the country when you should have done, and not stayed on as an illegal immigrant, you would not have been driving that untaxed, uninsured car that had no current MoT on January 1, 2004, and so that young child would still be alive.”
Kadri admitted having no tax, MoT, or insurance at the time of the crash, which happened on New Year’s Day this year.
He admitted failing to stop after an accident, failing to report an accident, driving without insurance or tax and using a false passport.
Judge Anthony Thorpe sentenced him to eight months for the motoring offences and 16 months for the passport offence, making a total of 24 months.
But on Monday the CPS said Judge Thorpe had only been legally allowed to give Kadri a six-month sentence for the driving offences.
I hope the Tories are obliterated forever at the next election. I had high hops for Cameron but should have become suspicious when The Damilola Channel (sorry, I mean The BBC) started to get all watery eyed over him.
How quickly people fall for propaganda. New Labour and its broadcasting arm, the BBC call Cameron both a right winger and a lefty and people fall for whichever lie their prejudices allow.
And most UKIP voters are pretty odd.
What I was originally refering to is the BBC journalists fondness of giving the names their best German accent, whilst the Americans to whom they refer have Angicised their names.
Ah, I see what you’ve done. You’ve confused bias with pretentiousness.
Bilo – why do BBC supporters, coming to this site, have to resort immediately to abuse? Couldn’t you contradict my comment without accusing me of being a paranoid lunatic?
The BBC do have some form on this.
In a recent Newsnight report on the discovery that British civil servants had secretly colluded with Israel to enable it to develop nuclear weapons we had this
For what Newsnight alleged was that Michaels had behaved in this treacherous way because he was a Jew who was a keen supporter of Israel. ‘Indeed’, Crick reported breathlessly, ‘his middle name was actually Israel’
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/archives/001629.html
The observation about Michael’s middle name was considered important enough to be used by Newsnight in their daily email promoting the programme.
Perhaps the BBC are paranoid about the WJC.
Yes, citing Melanie “dhimmi” Phillips is bound to persuade me you’re not a paranoid lunatic. I saw the Newsnight report in question and Phillips take on it is predictably batty.
He`s Congressman
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1925894.stm
Yet he`s a Republican
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4874566.stm
Funny that!
Apparently the US has the same trouble with “unconscious” bias that we do here, as noted by Clive Davis http://clivedavis.blogs.com/clive/2006/04/onetrack_minds.html
So Wolfowitz uses W, BBC uses V.
Hmm. I wonder if they refer to the late US President as “Eisenhowver.”
Susan
The original German spelling of Eisenhower must have been Eisenhauer so no W or V. Mind you, it was bad enough that his nickname was “Ike”
dumbcisco,
The right wing socialist Cameron somehow just gets worse.
I’m voting UKIP.
Mind you, it was bad enough that his nickname was “Ike”
In the US, Ike is a common nickname for the name “Isaac.” The Beeb would probably read something sinister into that if Eisenhower was around today.
On the BBC and South America thing, I heard a bit of something called Four Corners on Radio 4 yesterday. The BBC anchor introduced a couple of South American journalists to discuss South America’s leftward trend, gave a bit of an intro along these lines and then asked the first journalist a question. Her reply was that Hugo Chavez wasn’t a leftist, but a rightist former army officer. What about the anti-US rhetoric, the chumminess with Castro, the hostility to multinationals, asked the anchor, more than a little thrown. Irrelevant said the journo, income inequalities haven’t moved much in Venezuela, so he can’t be a leftist. Somewhat taken aback by finding his first interviewee so far to the left of him that she thought Hugo Chavez was a right winger, the perplexed anchor moved to journo No.2, a Brazilian, in the hope of getting some support for his South America moves left proposition. Well, said journo No.2, in Brazil everyone says they’re left, but they’re not. Lula is no leftie. At which point the poor BBC anchor, realising that his producer had dealt him two la lutta continua fruitcakes, so far left as to be remarkable even on the BBC, gave up.
Well, Juan Peron was considered a leftist in his day but he was quite chummy with Adolf H.
Lee..it shows that if you start with a script it is not easy for others if they haven’t seen it.
There is a case that Chavez is a demagogue and nothing more who wants absolute power and will push a few programmes to tweak the nose of the Us……………….isn’t that the whole story of Dole and the USMC in Central America in the past ?
At the end of the day power in South America is in the hands of the banks and the banks look to Wall Street or at least to 52nd and to Citicorp……….most banking in South America is there to fund governments and MNCs rather than small business or mortgages so in the end it is a game of the elites and they are rarely Left.
Chavez is a reactionary just as Fujimori – both love power and become tyrants.
Some feedback on Esler’s Newsnight report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4766936.stm#latam
Something else from the Newsnight feedback. Grumbles above re Cameron are supported by this comment
Labour Party voters appear to have adjusted over the past decade to their party’s move away from Karl Marx. I wonder how Conservative voters will cope with David Cameron’s move towards the philosophy of Groucho Marx which the comic summed up as “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others.”
Greg Hewson, Dublin
Rob Read
I have now heard the way Cameron smeared UKIP. I am sick and tired of the epithet “racist” being thrown anyone at people who criticises excessive, uncontrolled immigration. Cameron was a real fool to speak in those loose and insulting terms. I bet UKIP increase their preoportional vote in May – simply because people who may have been drifting back towards the Tory fold are repelled by Cameron’s insults.
The BBC are of course loving the spat – another black mark against Cameron. If he wants to attack “loonies” he should aim at the multiculturalists, many of whom are actually reverse-racists, seeking to marginalise/subjugate the spirit and mores of the British.
Personally, I think it is Cameron who is loony. Politically inept, arrogant, naive and rather nasty – all rolled up in one. God help the Tory party under his leadership, he is blowing his opportunity.
the unedifying spectacle of the Conservative party eating its own young.
The BBC are in ecstasy, the presenters were struggling to contain their laughter.
The only legitimate anti-europe party branded as racist (mud always sticks) swivel-eyed loons and the chap who does it portrays himself as a politically immature prat.
Dumbcisco:
I don’t think it will happen.
It’s the ‘rascist’ slur that will prevent people from voting UKIP.
At a guess, I think the poll turnout will be at an all-time low.
Regarding our little friend, Bilo, is it too much to ask that he refrains from the usual ad hominem approach, which seems to be par for the course for BBC types visiting this blog?
It’s rather telling that none of them ever seems to want to tackle an issue – certainly not when there’s a player to aim for, instead.
Come on, Bilo – why don’t you try to justify Esler’s antics last night?
We could all use a laugh, I’m sure.
Last night, Esler made Justin Webb and Matt Frei look neutral, unbiased.
Esler was the Orla Guerin of South America ?
Meanwhile Orla keeps whining about poverty in Africa, without hammering the UN or the pan-African organisations who let the political chaos and murder drift on. Maybe the BBC could cut its lavish entertainment and hotel budget to help out ? Its executives are amongst the highest paid in Britain, even though they have a monopoly position, why don’t they adopt a village or two ? And John Simpson could adopt six.
orla whining about Africa. who would have thought?
in other news – the sun is going to rise tommorow, and Iceland is very cold.
And John Simpson could adopt six.
He looks like he could eat six.
More paranoia to delight Bilo.
Among the comments at Newsnight expressing incredulity about Esler’s performance we get this laughable puff piece
Bravo! Bravissimo! For the lords of Newsnight and its broadcast last night, Monday, 3rd April, 2006. Gavin Esler’s interviews of Peruvian politicians and public figures were fascinating and revelatory, as well as his difficult but deeply important interview of Otto Reich. Greg Palast’s piece on Hugo Chavez was reporting at its finest – which is exactly what we must not only demand, but also expect from the blessed BBC.
Michael Carmichael, United Kingdom
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4766936.stm#latam
Now for the paranoia, could this Carmichael fellow be a blogger who wrote this
Jack Straw’s presence was a signal that the right-wing elements behind the sternest security policies of the state of Israel are standing firmly behind Rice, a stalwart Christian Zionist, in support of her quest for the American presidency. Straw has been a steadfast and stalwart supporter of the global neoconservativism of Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld, and he is seen as a steady international operator whose influence can help activate major donors loyal to the Israel Lobby for her presidential campaign.
http://planetmove.blogspot.com/
His blog has it all – Condi as Uncle Tom, evil neoconservatives doing the bidding of evil Israel.
& Carmichael’s CV includes
He has appeared as a public affairs expert on the BBC, European Business News, NPR