Update on Monday: I should have done this at the beginning, but here is the link for the audio and script of Bush’s latest weekly address from the Whitehouse. The BBC, of course, had taken the audio down by Sunday morning, but not before they had apparently used it to extract a little soundbyte which doesn’t in fact exist. According to this report “On Saturday, Mr Bush again promised that the government would learn from mistakes made last year.”
Unfortunately for the BBC and the accuracy of their reported speech, Bush said no such thing (see below post, where the Bush “mistakes” meme was first identified).
It was not mistakes they would learn from, but lessons that Katrina had revealed- it’s quite a different point, and the word mistake doesn’t anywhere appear in the address.
The BBC, preferring freeze-frame journalism to the sort where things move on and need reporting to reflect that, still have Bush in apologetic mode (which to be frank he was never really in anyway, and with reason).
“Bush promises to learn from Katrina mistakes”
So quoth the BBC, as they reported Bush’s weekly address (the full description was “US President George Bush has used his weekly radio address to talk about the anniversary of hurricane Katrina. Mr Bush praised the “heroism” of those involved and promised to learn from mistakes made in the aftermath.”)
In fact, Bush never mentioned mistakes- and certainly gave no hint of acknowledging personal culpability. The nearest he got was in saying briefly that “Federal, State and Local Government” had been underprepared for dealing with the magnitude of Katrina. He also talked of “learning the lessons” (not personally, of course, but institutionally and collectively.)
Not paying too much attention to such items usually, I have no idea if they always report his weekly address. I don’t think so, but it would be interesting to catalogue how often such a report- really the lede to the audio- carries a negative spin for W.
Katrina mistakes, by Bush, were of course part of the BBC’s catechism for 2005. Matt Wells was temporary teacher of the catechism, as I recall from B-BBC history.
Well, fair enough, the BBC hate G W Bush… (no, no, no, this is not fair. This is bias– but what can one do?)
But even given that, isn’t it just a teensy weensy bit unfair to report it this way since the main item in Bush’s address was that of a man, Rocky Vaccarella, who had driven all the way to Washington to personally address Bush with thanksfor the actions of the Federal Government in the aftermath of Katrina?
I see nothing about this from the BBC- yet anyway- but certainly you can already sense the imposition of the meme of “culpability Bush”, no matter what.
ps.- it’s not all US politicians the Beeb gives a bad spin to- take for example this guru in Edinburgh.
Climate change or Global warming?
The former seems undeniable the latter, frightening.
Either one is promoted as clear example of the excess of capitalism.
Its been a year since Katrina and it seems obvious that if we dont have a big hurricane soon the BBC will have to make one up, you know, like a “Walking with Hurricanes” show, witha a Kenneth Branagh voice over.
Lets hope Ernesto doesnt kill anyone in just a boring place like a carribean island with a few people on it.
Its gotta hit the land of capatilsm the USA to form a rewarding STORY!
Gore is beginning to look a right bloater. Is he pitching for the Michael Moore vote?
Slightly off topic, but the BBC give the Hizbollah leader a puff-piece leader:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5291420.stm
My response is “you cynical f*cking liar” but then again I do not posess the sophisticated antennae of a beeboid, being a simplisme conservative who believes actions are more illustrative than words.
The BBC, however, allow him to state that if he thought the kidnapping (strong word for the BBC) would lead to war, then:
“I would say no, definitely not, for humanitarian, moral, social, security, military and political reasons.”
Humanitarian and moral reasons? Someone who authorised the kidnapping of soldiers in a clear act of war is worried about humanitarian and moral reasons? Presumably any civilised person would have considered these before ordering such an attack.
Oh, and BBC: let’s have an article on how the UN force will not prevent Hizbollah, an organisation on the UN’s terrorist list, from being reinforced with missiles from Syria and Iran. What is the point of this force, except as a screen to aid it’s recovery until it is in a position to attack Israel again? And when it does, and gets thrashed within the first week, the “international community” will once again intervene with a “cease fire” to prevent its rout.
Also look at the “sincere” photo of the subject of that article. The BBC obviously haven’t scoured their archives for the worst possible photo, but then again he isn’t a member of the Conservative party.
“More than 1,000 Lebanese died in the 34-day conflict which left much of southern Lebanon in ruins.”
Will the beeb tell us ow many Israelis died?
Purely in the interests of balance.
Of course.
Don’t hold your breath.
‘”More than 1,000 Lebanese died in the 34-day conflict which left much of southern Lebanon in ruins.”‘
No mention of how many were terrorists, no mention of damage and/or deaths in Israel, and a blatant lie about ‘much of southern Lebanon [being] in ruins’.
As people can now fact check them the BBC is soon going to find that its laughable complaints procedure and ‘we’re always right’ attitude wont cover them any more.
Off topic: C5 now has better ratings than BBC2.
ed thomas: I see nothing about this from the BBC- yet anyway- but certainly you can already sense the imposition of the meme of “culpability Bush”, no matter what.
It’s so silly that, it’s not even serious. I used to live in New Orleans. New Orleans has had African-American leadership for the past 30 years. Thirty. Three – Zero. Nearly every city office from Dog Catcher on up to Mayor is occupied by African-American Democrats. The reason it’s such a poor city is precisely because three decades of one-party rule have led to corruption and tax-happy policies that have driven so many businesses away. The entire city infrastructure is in shambles. You couldn’t even get the trash picked up on a consistent schedule. So contrary to the BBC’s portrayal, New Orleans was not a city of prosperity and racial harmony until George W. Bush came along. Far, far from it.
…So quoth the BBC
With the emphasis on the past tense as it looks like this story has now been re-written with less emphasis on “Blame Bush”
Did you get a screen grab?
Poor old al-Beeb, yet another vicous attack on British people by the plumbing community. MinTruth in full-on spin mode no doubt, or else people might get the idea that letting Turkey into the EU is a mite foolish idea.
So many lies to tell, so litle time to tell them in.
And such great talent at making them appear to be the truth.
No mention on al-Beeb of the extensive, permanent defensive emplacements built by Hezb’ollah within a few hundred feet of the border, and some within 70 feet of UN watchtowers. Sky News however had a good, long article on them.
Go RBNY wrote:
“New Orleans has had African-American leadership for the past 30 years. Thirty. Three – Zero. Nearly every city office from Dog Catcher on up to Mayor is occupied by African-American Democrats…..The entire city infrastructure is in shambles…”
Is it not the case that people who migrate from their homeland tend heavily to the competence level of people in their homeland. That’s why Australia, NZ, Canada etc are organised at a level comparable with that of the UK. And that is why New Orleans tends towards the level of Lagos.