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Talking about nominations…
Nominate This Year’s Dishonest Reporter
I’d say we’re spoiled for choice.
Previous ‘winners’, The Dishonest Reporter ‘Award’ 2005
[…]
But one news service’s skewed coverage stood out the most, “winning” the award in a landslide. From the first day votes came in, it wasn’t close, which may explain the dearth of nominations for perennial runner-ups like the NY Times, Associated Press and The Independent. The 2005 Dishonest Reporter of the Year Award goes to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The impact of BBC coverage cannot be understated. A Google study found that for breaking news, internet users around the world were more likely to turn to the BBC than CNN. More than 270 million TV viewers around the world watch BBC World. Even more people listen to BBC World Service, which broadcasts in 42 languages.
Readers provided a full laundry list of complaints and we found the most effective way to condense the biggest offenses was in a simple list form. The examples of bias from the year past indicates a pattern of naivete, dishonesty, forcing facts conform to a narrow worldview and, arguably, a desire to inappropriately influence events – all paid for by British television viewers through the TV License Fee, which costs the typical household 126.50 GB Pounds per year.
Here are the top 10 reasons (listed in chronological order) why the BBC is HonestReporting’s Dishonest Reporter of the Year.
[…]
See for yourselves…
Did someone recently accuse the BBC of regurgitating reports as news?
CLIMATE ALTERING UK MARINE LIFE (yeah yeah, I know, but please try to stay awake)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6191828.stm
The biodiversity and productivity of seas around the UK could already be suffering the consequences of climate change, a report has concluded.
The “Annual Report Card” pulls together leading research on climate change’s impact on the UK’s marine environment. The study was compiled by the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership.
No bias there then. I really couldn’t imagine anyone’s job being jeopardised at the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership
if they outed themself as a heretic.
Misbah http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6192406.stm
Misbah http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1959675,00.html
Molly http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=HPKIFW5CK1U2ZQFIQMGSFFWAVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2006/11/29/ucampbell129.xml
Molly http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2477686,00.html
Molly http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2023929.ece
Molly http://www.itv.com/news/britain_4eb5153075a867dc9dd3b708194a553e.html
Molly http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006550479,00.html
Eh?
GAZA RELISHES MOMENT OF PEACE
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6190964.stm
Let’s skip over the first few Jew-bashing paragraphs until we get to:
The Israelis said their assaults on Beit Hanoun were part of efforts to halt the firing of rockets from the area into a nearby Israeli town. Two civilians died in the town, Sderot, in recent attacks. Groups like Islamic Jihad said that their crudely-made missiles were a response to Israeli raids and air strikes. And elements in both Islamic Jihad and Hamas threatened the truce within hours of its start. They launched fresh volleys of rockets into Israel.
Eh? How can you threaten a truce by breaking it?
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the job will be the need to preside over the inevitable winding down of the poll tax funding system. This already looks like an anachronism in an expanding, competitive broadcasting environment, and will inevitably become more so. The next BBC chairman faces an awesome, and perhaps dispiriting, challenge.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/11/29//dl2901.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2006/11/29/ixopinion.html
SiN
From that Telegraph piece:
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the job will be the need to preside over the inevitable winding down of the poll tax funding system.
Oh I dunno, I think it can be done quite easily and painlessly. After all, I wound down the BBC’s poll tax funding system, as it relates to me, a number of years ago. You just stop paying.
Times :
Molly must return to Scotland, Pakistani judge rules
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2477686,00.html
Telegraph :
Molly must return to Scotland, court rules
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/29/ucampbell129.xml
Independent :
Molly ordered to return to mother in UK
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2023929.ece
BBC :
Court victory for Misbah’s mother.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6192406.stm
And for more extremely biased reporting on ‘Misbah’ you have to hear the World at Ones coverage – full of ‘how can the ruling be stopped’ and ‘are the protocols in the best interests of the child’ and so on…
Anon was me, by the way.
Socialism is Necrotizing | 29.11.06 – 11:53 am
Superb work. BBC == Grauniad TV.
Grade leaving is a wondering opportunity for License fee payers to elect the BBC board.
Maybe I should write a webshite?
My suggestion for Mr Grades replacement at the Beeb is —–
Kermit the Frog — Ta daah
Lets face it, they’re all a bunch of Muppets anyway.
Very much O/T, but it’ll be of interest to some:
LOANS CRISES FOR LABOUR AS £7m DEADLINE NEARS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/29/nloans29.xml
The Labour Party is on the verge of financial ruin after figures released yesterday showed it has to repay £7 million in bank loans by January.
Oh what joy. It’s not often that you hear good news, but this has cheered my right up. In fact, it’s made my week, and I just wanted to share the happy news.
It appears that the recent atrocities in Iraq may be a bit suspect too:
http://floppingaces2.blogspot.com/2006/11/getting-news-from-enemy.html
Matt Frei on Thanksgiving:
WASHINGTON DIARY: BUSH’S TURKEY
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6194840.stm
Frei actually starts off being quite complimentary about Americans and Thanksgiving, but he’s clearly just stuffed his fat face in the company of liberals. And then we get:
Most families have the inevitable row about whether to put auntie into an assisted living community or whether junior should be allowed a PlayStation for Christmas. Perhaps the Bushes row about how to get out of Iraq. And when. So, does Barbara take the side of her embattled and beloved son? Does George Senior rub salt into Junior’s wounds? Does the current president storm off in a huff to consult “the father of a higher order” as he once told reporters? Does Jim Baker, the family consiglieri aka the Velvet Hammer, say grace? Does Jeb bite his tongue? And by the way, now that he is no longer Governor of Florida and another Bush White House would seem excessive, what will he do with the rest of his life?
Eh? WTF is this all about?
Good News Item #2:
Castro’s nearly dead.
CASTRO MISSES BIRTHDAY CEREMONY
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6194168.stm
Frail Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stayed away from the opening ceremony of his 80th birthday celebrations in Havana on doctors’ orders. A message apparently written by Mr Castro was read out saying he was not yet strong enough to attend the event ….. The note did not rule out the possibility that he might appear at other events planned for later this week. But it did veer off onto a range of other subjects, including a brief criticism of US President George W Bush and the voicing of concerns over the state of the global environment. Those in the hall gave the absent author of the note a rapturous round of applause.
Thank you, Pravda.
TPO:
Socialism is Necrotizing:
AntiCitizenOne:
TPO:
Alan@Aberdeen:
BillyQuiz:
Diana:
et Al
Did you hear the one about the former Soviet spy and fugitive from U.S. justice, working at the heart of Westminster, celebrated by The Guardian and the BBC, who had a hand in the downfall of the government of the day? No? You do now…
If you have five minutes you might take a run through this – it’s fairly startling stuff I promise and throws new light on Adam Curtis of “The NeoCons dreamt up terrorism” infamy.
The slide show might take a few seconds to kick off but just be patient.
http://img180.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img180/8175/1164792200073.smil
Rueful Red re the Ken Loach “interview” or, rather, sermon. “has the Beeb “explored the link” between homelessness and immigration? Or is there no link at all? Just wondered”
There was no mention either that shortage of housing in 1966 was closely connected with the fact that rent control (of which Loach must be a big fan along with his mates at the SWP) had been in existence for 50 years which meant that the private sector was effectively prevented from providing the type of accommodation of which there was a shortage. Also no-one challenged Loach with the example of Soviet Russia which had state housing for 70 years with far worse effects than that illustrated in “Cathy Come Home”. And, as RR implies, there has been an increase in population in the UK from under 50 million to over 60 million since 1966 which might have something to do with the present position. But there you are – crap journalism and BBC bias – all in one package.
Michael Portillo for Grade’s replacement.
BBC apologises to Taliban for running old story…
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20061129story_29-11-2006_pg7_4
Nice to know that they apologise to someone, isn’t it?
Pete_London | 29.11.06 – 2:40 pm
Don’t be unfair to Pravda! Check out Pravda’s report on Margaret Thatcher’s 80th birthday:
Margaret Thatcher, the English dream, celebrates her 80th anniversary
http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/365/16306_Thatcher.html
With this typical, sneering, Beeboid offering:
Why Thatcher still looms over politics
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4335146.stm
.
Umbongo,
I’m guessing the BBC also fail to mention the collapse in House affordability was not recorded in the Inflation (lies, damned lies and) statistics.
Oh, and I can’t imagine that family breakdown, which results in far more, but smaller, households, will get much of a mention either.
JBH
Wasn’t aware of the communist spy Roth’s early work around the Profumo business. I’m a little sceptical about the role of Ward and the fact that he committed suicide (Was it suicide?) rather than face sentencing.
Also bear in mind, prior to this, the sudden and very short illness and untimely death of Hugh Gaitskell and the projection of Harold Wilson into the role of labour leader.
Many of Wilson’s cabinet were either crypto-communists or in the pay of the KGB. Just one example of their machinations at that time is the speed with which they destroyed the TSR2 programme and then ensured that all the jigs were smashed beyond repair.
My gut feeling is that Wilson was suborned by the KGB and that Gaitskell was disposed of.
Proof; None, but how about Markov and the more recent case. Prior to Markov any suggestion of Soviet hits were dismissed as rubbish. We also have examples of where the Soviet Union disposed of east european leaders that didn’t come up to scratch.
http://www.answers.com/topic/hugh-gaitskell
Now if the bbc wanted to do a credible conspiracy series instead of the spooks tosh they could start with that.
JBH
“Don’t be unfair to Pravda!”
You’re right the Pravda report on Thatcher is quite exceptionally informative and the beeboid offering a masterclass in the way they further their own political agenda with virtually no reference to facts at all.
Pete
That article definetely proves how biased and inaccurate the BBC is.
Matt Frei is openly and carelessly showing his opinion against Bush.
But where is the proof to all his statements and absurd speculations??? Why should someone who doesn’t even put sources to his ridiculous remarks be allowed to write an article?? How does this crapy hate-spew become an “article” or even a “comentary” because it is just outright irrelevant libel that doesn’t even qualify as news???
That article is definetely not journalism. It is the BBC’s agenda(through Matt Frei) of releasing all their pathetic and unfounded hatred towards President Bush.
On a second note, what “wounds” of George Bush are they talking about in this quote “Does George Senior rub salt into Junior’s wounds?”
Does he mean the FACT that George Bush Junior WON the Presidency twice even with all the liberal slanders and the left-wing hatred of the MSM.
Or how about Jeb Bush who also WON for Governor of Florida twice.
Ministers are said to be poised to issue a real-terms cut in the TV licence, rather than handing the broadcaster the above-inflation deal it says it needs.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23376331-details/Licence+fee+blow+as+BBC+reels+at+Grade+defection/article.do
What is a Civil War?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/11/what_is_a_civil_war.html#commentsanchor
“When does sectarian violence in Iraq turn into a civil war? It’s an issue we • and others • have been wrestling with for some time. This week, the US TV network NBC became the latest news organisation to describe the fighting there in such terms.
For now, we’ve decided not to use the term civil war • not because the situation isn’t bad, nor life for those involved increasingly difficult. Others will continue to describe it as a “civil war” • we’ll continue to report their comments with attribution. But it’s precisely because things are critical, that we need to explain and provide the context • something, one simple phrase can never do.
….and of course it’s more difficult to blame Bush and America for everything if you readily admit that Iraqi’s are knocking six bells out of each other day in day out in a “civil war” otherwise known as a religious feud purpetrated by a sick, evil death cult called Islam.
“No ‘civil war’ here, all Boosh’s fault, move along now…”
Pete
As a cuban I am very happy that the doctors say that castro is still ill. I think he is dead but I have no proof.
Don’t be surprised if castro shows up in the Dec. 2 military parade in Havana. They built a replica of the Granma Yatch and I have a feeling they are going to place castro inside and move his hand with a stick, just like the Soviets did with Brezhnev, that they moved his hand to appear to be saluting the public when Brezhnev was already dead.
Besides castro’s foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque already said that castro wasn’t going to give a speech on Dec.2 and that he wasn’t going to return to power at that time either, so this is another hint. The fact that two major Swiss banks ceased all transactions with Cuba is another big sign.
http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-1783_2029272
Hopefully by next month we will have a free and democratic Cuba 🙂
OT
Nato hails shift on Afghan combat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6195102.stm
“Nato leaders at a summit have hailed the relaxation of curbs on deployment of some members’ troops in Afghanistan.
Nato commanders say they believe they can move an extra 2,500 troops around the country now some smaller members have relaxed their mission conditions.”
What? Have French tanks been fitted with a new gear system that has more settings than just ‘reverse’?
“But France and Germany will not move to the volatile south. They say they are only prepared to help in an emergency.”
So no then. Those cowards should be booted put of NATO.
Innovative ways to spend the BBC tv poll tax no. 6523:
BBC Voices
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/
Innovative ways to spend the BBC poll tax no. 6524
Johnnys Story (wtf has this got to do with anything?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/health_jhonny0s_story/html/1.stm
Diana
We used to have a satirical puppet show called ‘Spitting Image’. (No it wasn’t on the bbc)
The Soviet Politburo were always portrayed as decomposing corpses with someone pulling the strings. Puts me in mind of Castro.
ha ha ha TPO
If you saw the video the communist regime put out in October with castro attempting to seem “healthy” and “strong” you would crack up. It was just hilarious to see a mumbling old dictator moving his shoulders around to appear as if he was exercising.
Everyone in Miami had a blast 🙂 it was trully ridiculous and in a way it kind of showed that the regime is afraid of people thinking that castro is dead.
Fear among the regime’s elite of gangsters is always a good sign that their end is near.
You know I went to the library and got an old video of Monty Python and I laughed so much with them. It was hard at first to keep up since they talk so fast and they have an accent but I loved the “I’d like to buy an argument” part. ha ha ha trully black humor at its best.
TPO:
Sorry for my tardy response.
Re: The Andrew Roth slide-show:
http://img180.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img180/8175/1164792200073.smil
Yes, all interesting stuff isn’t it? I take on board your comments regarding the Wilson govt and the TSR2 bomber, but tempted as I am to speculate I must resist. The embittered smellysocks at the Beeb and Farringdon Road Spitehouses have labelled me a conspiracy-theorist simply because I stumbled across, and then actively sought out and assembled, unarguable evidence of a criminal conspiracy by The Guardian in the “Hamilton cash for questions” affair (in which, incidentally, Andrew Roth also had a fundamental role).
What the Andrew Roth case study demonstrates, is that no one, not we Brits, not the Americans, not anyone on this planet, ought to trust the British media. Not the Mail, not the Telegraph, not any of them.
I’ve learnt much over this last nine years, including a great deal about human behaviour. From what I’ve garnered it seems to me that Christine Keeler’s withdrawal from public life after her book was pooh-poohed by the media is entirely consistent with her story being 100% accurate and rather a manifestation of the undoubted suffering that she would have had to endure after having had a true and sensational story widely discounted.
Indeed, when my own book received the same cold-shoulder treatment from the MSM in October 1998, in spite of rave reviews on the fringes, that was exactly my own reaction too. However, unlike Christine Keeler, I don’t intend going to my grave being branded a fantasist thanks to Britain’s corrupt self-serving chummy media • hence my research into other areas and my presence on B-BBC (which, I hope, has acquired just a smidgen of support over the months).
Talking of which, TPO, please take a peek at another slide show. It concerns The Guardian’s bent for forgery and provides a revealing insight into The Guardian’s hierarchical rottenness. Let me know your thoughts (indeed, that goes for anyone):
http://img154.imageshack.us/slideshow/player.php?id=img154/52/1164178888q7c.smil
.
Oscar:
Sorry I missed your comments.
Thank you. It comes to something, doesn’t it, when the inheritors of the “Evil [Soviet] Empire”, which Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan defeated against all expectations, now see both in a positive light unlike our own famously “impartial” BBC.
“But France and Germany will not move to the volatile south. They say they are only prepared to help in an emergency.”
So no then. Those cowards should be booted put of NATO.
Exactly what is the purpose of NATO other than to allow the likes of France and Germany to hamstring the military capability of the US?
The UK should leave that obsolete organisation and form a series of alliances and mutual-assistance agreements with countries which share our heritage, customs and culture – apart from the obvious, this includes India and Israel.
Mark Steyn: ” Madrid and London –
along with other events such as the murder of Theo van Gogh – were the
opening shots in that European civil war.You can laugh if you wish, but the Islamists’ most oft-stated goal is not infidel withdrawal from Iraq but the re-establishment of a Muslim caliphate, living under sharia law, that extends to Europe. There’s a lot to be said for taking these chaps
at their word and then seeing whether their behaviour comports.”
(Mark Steyn, ‘America Alone: the End of the World as we know it,’
Regnery, 2006).
Joshua Rozenberg,takes up a report
on BBC Radio 4, ‘Law in Action’ under the title: ‘ Sharia law is spreading as authority wanes’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk (29 Nov.)
Parallel lives, transitional society before the violent, intolerant Islamist take-over.
JBH
thanks for the last – will try and look at it tomorrow. Times is not on my side again.
Speak soon.
TPO & JBH
There was no proof of KGB involvment in the sudden death of Hugh Gaitskell, but there was circumstancial evidence. Principally, he became unwell with the first symptoms of his fatal condition a few hours after drinking coffee at the Soviet Consulate in London (where he was made to wait for an appointment in response to a Soviet invitation). He himself mentioned this fact to his doctor, who eventually alerted the security services. Both MI5 and the CIA investigated the case; the CIA later identified a possible poison, but medicine and forensic science forty years ago were not what they have become today.
I think this possibility was first raised in public by Chapman Pincher in his book, “Too Secret Too Long”, pb in 1984.
The case has intriging similarities with the others: the suspicions of the victim before they were acknowledged by anyone else; the sudden onslaught of a terminal condition that is very rare in a male of his age; the publicly expressed desire of the Soviets to be rid of him…
Something ripe for a BBC docu-drama, one might have thought…
Not mentioned by the BBC, at least not yet:
Spanish school cancels Christmas
MADRID (Reuters) – A school in traditionally Catholic Spain has cancelled Christmas celebrations so as not to offend children who are not Christians, ABC newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Hilarion Gimeno school in Zaragoza said teachers had put forward various reasons for not celebrating Christmas, but ABC said the worry was that Muslim children might be upset.
[…]
Why would Muslim children be upset by Christmas?
From
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/default.stm
AM says sorry after rude gesture
A video showing a Welsh Assembly member making a rude gesture in the chamber is posted on a website.
It was obvious from reading the intro that it wasn’t a Tory because otherwise it would have said “Tory AM says sorry after gesture” or “Tory AM XYZ shown making a rude gesture in the Welsh Assembly”.
It was, in fact, a Liberal Democrat.
So, we have a bunch of rioting illegal immigrants:
ASYLUM PROTESTORS ‘NOW CONTAINED’ (‘Protestors’?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6157111.stm
A mutiny inside the UK’s largest immigration centre has been contained, the Home Office has said.
A ‘mutiny’? Where is this camp, floating in the Channel? What next, references to Poll Tax Mutineers?
Abandon Ship!:
…victims of our hideously white negative energy….
I heard that too that Kids Company bosswoman Camila Batmanghelidjh, I think? & an early morning social worker teabreak on the Today programme, chaired by Mastermind John Humphry’s.
It sounded like they want to rewrite
that West Side Story tune so as to explain away murder by Black ‘disadvantaged’ killers
“Gee Officer Krupke- I’m thermostatically disturbed!”
Surely we all witnessed pseuds corner this morning? I noticed Humphry’s said nothing
Jesus Christ BBC, Next you’ll be getting a permanent “Gordon Brown correspondent” so you can report to the nation what Gordon Brown has for breakfast. Yes of course his kid’s illness is sad, but it is really not news! Stop this fawning!
The same thing happened when Gordon Brown visited Iraq a couple of weeks ago — all the news was pushed aside to report on Gordon Brown’s visit to Iraq, which was basically an utter non event.
And as for Yvette Cooper repeatedly telling us that Gordon is being brave and ‘the NHS are being fantastic’… oh purrlease!
I thought Nick Robinson would be above such manipulation. Oh the doleful tones.
apologies if this has been mentioned already (not read through today’s threads yet), but did anyone catch the 810 slot on “today” this morning?
From the todaay site it was described as
“is street culture really a key motivating factor for muggings? And should this change our approach to the crime?”
have a listen here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today4_muggings_20061129.ram
it was bascially a follow on from that recent court case where 2 youths went down for life for the knife attack and murder of solicitor on his way home.
guess what *aspect* of the crime was completely omitted and never mentioned?
as a hint – even Trevor Philips of the CRE has mentioned it many times.
penny not dropping?
ok,so. what thy didnt mention was the crime problem amongst young BLACK men.
bling bling. hip hop. gangsta lifestyle… that sort of thing.
to be fair to Jeremy Vine, on his show it *was* explictly mentioned – and even the black community worker he interviewed agreed – in fact the chap stated that he was sick and tired of “politically correct” solutions.
and yet – Today never mentioned it. at all. instead we get a bland “youth” problem.
Pete_London: Prison mutiny is an offence and if convicted mutineers can be convicted for up to 10 years. Maybe that is what the failed “asylum seekers” want – to spend another 10 years in a comfortable British nick.
@Oscar,
Also, Jewish Beth Din, deal strictly in civil matters, of of those civil matter that vast vast majority would be related to religious laws, where people present questions to the court.
Judiasim has always insisted in obeying the local law since talmudic times.
“”Rabbi Hanina, the Deputy High Priest, said: Pray for the welfare of the ruling power, since but for the fear of it, men would swallow each other alive.””
(Pirkei Avot) 3:2
The Rashb”am 1085-1174 (in his commentary to Baba Batra 54:2)
“All taxes, local taxation, and royal laws that are customarily formulated in their kingdoms • the [[jewish]] law is that all those in the kingdom shall willingly accept the laws of the king and his statutes, and the [[halachic ruling]] is that this is an absolute law…”
Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, wrote in Igros Moshe that “It is incumbent upon each Jewish citizen to participate in the democratic system which affords us the freedom we enjoy.”
Compare to
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/011843.php
===
Now you can understant why the muslims have such a hard time integrating.
view_from_england:
Thanks. Truly fascinating stuff.
TPO was having problems above with reposting my north/south korea sat image link.
here it is:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/images/dprk-dmsp-dark.jpg
north korea: no freedom
south korea: freedom
Rumsfeld keeps a picture of this on his desk.