When American David Bieber was convicted of killing police officer Ian Broadhurst in Leeds, BBC coverage left you in no doubt as to his nationality.
The report of his conviction opens with the words “A former US Marine“. He is portrayed as “the clean-cut, all-American boy“. We even have a report asking why UK immigration “failed to stop a killer“.
Another police officer was murdered in West Yorkshire recently, by Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, “of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, Birmingham“. You’ll search the article in vain for the word ‘Somali‘.
It’s not as if the BBC are suppressing his nationality – they described it back in May. It just doesn’t seem to be considered of interest or pertinent – unlike Mr Beiber’s.
The trouble with this sort of ‘unwitting and unconscious’ racial bias in BBC news coverage is that you start wondering which other stories have had the appropriate racial filter applied.
The BBC reported this morning on an investigation into the ‘grooming’ of under-age girls in Oldham. There was a similar investigation in another Pennine town a couple of years back, unreported on the BBC website but the subject of a Channel Four documentary, a BBC Five Live report and a police investigation, in which the victims were overwhelmingly from one community and the perpetrators from another. You have to assume from the BBC Oldham report that no such scenario exists there – or they would have reported it. I think.
UPDATE – anyone reading this after around 11 am this morning might not understood my reference to the grooming story, which has changed utterly since I read it at 7.50 and should really be a separate report. The title, “Inquiry into sex grooming cases” is now “Five charged over abuse inquiry” and refers to specific criminal charges against named individuals, dating back to August. Thanks to the excellent Revisionista, we can see that the BBC are currently on revision 6. I read revision 2 which was as follows :
Inquiry into sex grooming cases
Wed Dec 20 07:40:12 GMT 2006
A major investigation is under way into the sexual abuse of as many as 20 girls in Oldham, some as young as 12.
It is alleged they are befriended by older men, who buy them expensive gifts. The relationship later turns sexual and the girls are abused.
Police said while it was a big problem, they did not have evidence it was an organised paedophile ring.
They have arrested more than 20 men, five of whom have been charged with offences including abduction and rape.
In care
The men are said to pose as “boyfriends” but they are much older than the girls.
They are not previously known to the girls, whom they approach in public places.
The men provide gifts such as mobile phones, electronic gadgets, and perhaps drink or drugs.
After a time the relationship changes and, it is alleged, the girls – a small number of whom are in local authority care – end up being physically harmed or forced into sex.
The council and police believe as many as 20 girls – aged between 12 and 17 – could have been abused.
The joint inquiry was carried out by police, Oldham council, Oldham Primary Care Trust and the charity Barnardos.
UPDATE – the Telegraph reports on the same issue. Any differences between that and the coverage of the £3bn tax-funded BBC ?
“Suppressing uncomfortable information (unless it’s about America or Israel). It’s what we do.”
Brilliant observation Laban. The peer pressure from the Groupthink that pervades much of Britain’s newsrooms – all liberal lefties to a man, all eager to please their liberal-left bosses and so get on another rung of the ladder – is absolutely enormous. When I worked for Granada TV News, and the only non-leftie there (not that you’d know from my reports), I was under constant pressure to alter my script to favour a liberal perspective.
Laban
I wondered who’d be the first to spot the Oldham story. The Guardian covered a similar story in Oldham 2 years ago and said that both white and Asian men were involved.
With regard to the Somali nationality of Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, Radio 4 Today programme did mention it in connection with the stories that he managed to escape capture by disguising himself as a woman under the full Burqa and niqab.
They had a spokesman from the Lib Dems who condemned the Immigration Services’ policy of examining only a sample of women wearing a niqab as the EXIT the country, in no uncertain terms.
A first, possibly?
Where are details of the background of these ‘men’ to be found? I don’t want to have to visit the BNP’s website to get more accurate reporting than the BBC but I may have to unless someone else has links.
Names are there now
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6195523.stm
I wonder if the BBC will link the names with a particular religion?
Hold on a minute! Is this not one of the reasons why the BNP capo was arrested: he had said that these things were happening in several towns in the north of England so the police arrested HIM and left those recently charged to do their grooming and molesting whilst police man-hours (22 police officers for 4 – 6 weeks I had read somewhere) were used to try and put a case againmst Griffin.
This is the state of the BBC. What a bunch of criminals they are!
I’d bet money that all the victims were non-muslim, possibly all white. Racism in my book but not in the BBC’s.
If all perpatrators were of a certain group e.g. LibDems, Muslims, Friends of the Earth, not a mention would be made of this. Bias in my book but not the BBC’s.
If all perpetrators were of certain other groups e.g. Gas Guzzlers Owners Club, BNP, Jews the BBC would make this known. Double standards in my book but not the BBC’s.
BBC guilty of racism, bias and double standards.
Hang on, this story broke in October/November. Why’s Al-Beeb only just caught up with it?
“Fail to tell payers of our poll tax the truth. That’s what we do.”
Maybe a certain court case stopped this news breaking when it should?
http://newssniffer.newworldodour.co.uk/articles/18030/diff/0/1
Here’s another case where the beeb were quick to point out the criminal’s nationality.
That being American, of course, and an ex-soldier to boot.
Hi there
I heard on BBC News about 10 minutes ago “breaking news” something about shots being fired at police and cars on fire in Wales. But they have shut up about that and went on waffling about the football bungs enquiry instead. Turned over to Sky and they had decided to have a longer than usual ad break, came back and then came up with breaking news that the head of US forces in Iraq plans to retire early in 2007. Wow what stop the press breaking news that was eh?
Sky News who break non-news stories like the above every 5 minutes, finally get some breaking news and they don’t break it. It must be the religion of peace, that’ll be why they’ve shut up. Oh for a biased Sky website, I know we don’t have to have Sky etc etc but well we have it and we want to moan about Sky News
O/T but continuing the above
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6197179.stm
“There is a church, pub and shop within the village.”
Incredible journalism or are the BBC about to set up as estate agents?
Jim Bob:
“There is a church, pub and shop within the village”
Maybe that particular journalist visited our local Chinese chippy recently and adopted its uncomplicated style of communication. Next to a factory-produced plastic price list of hundreds of dishes, there resides a plain A4 piece of paper, bearing the legend:
CHIPS………………….£1
PIES, EACH…………..£1
PIE AND CHIPS………£2
No confusion there, then.
A BBC journalist/employee in a chip shop! It would never happen.
And if it did they’d think the mushy peas were guacamole. Like Mandelson in Hartlepool.
I don’t disagree with your thrust about biased sky but then I do voluntarily pay for my subscription not have the poor tax imposed on me as we have for the BBC.
Anyway I’m afraid that truth be told in general sky news is better than the BBC news, so are other news channels come to that. Can’t say I’ve seen the new French equivalent yet though…
Better than the BBC isn’t hard these days, by all appearances. But, even when better, most of them are still pretty dire…
The BBC and the sound of silence.
While not exactly a discourse on the investigational qualities of the BBC I’m a little surprised at how silent they are on this cheeky little number. I wonder if that stance is because the BBC see the Libs as the rightful rulers of this country.
MP intervened in Cheeky Girl case
Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik intervened over threats to deport his pop star girlfriend Gabriela Irimia to Romania, the party has confirmed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6196675.stm
A Lib Dem spokesman said: “Lembit acted with total propriety with regard to this matter. “He did what any MP would do, and referred the matter to the appropriate Member of Parliament. “At no stage did he lobby anybody on this matter. He simply referred the issue through the relevant and proper channels.”
Right then BBC, you are more than happy to accept the word of a liberal democrat as the word of a scholar and a gentleman.
Strange how when a member of the cabinet got caught with his pants down over another Visa incident the BBC were more than happy to quote this objection from the Liberal party HQ;
“Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten also said there was “a strong case for a judge-led judicial review”. “Next time it happens it may not be about a nanny and their visa. It may be about something even more important than that. “So we do need to understand what took place and who was involved.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4117057.stm
and yes I know Mark Oaten later resigned for tripping up and falling on a naked man. But at least he resigned unlike the idiot who seems to think that the reason a 21 year old asylum seeker has nothing to do with her wanting to stay in the country.
And the BBC doesn’t even mention it.
I mean even David Blunkett can see that one.(or then maybe not)
The BBC and the sound of silence.
Great post, Laban. Absolutely spot on.
Different towns • same pattern nothing on the BBC. What a scandle!
Girls groomed for sex
DOZENS of underage girls are being groomed into prostitution and drug taking by predatory males operating in East Lancashire.
Officers said the predators, who initially approach the girls on the street, are predominantly Asian and community leaders have joined the fight to tackle the issue.
Here we go again. WTF does the BBC mean by’Asians’? No sooner is there an incident involving adherents of the RoP than than the BBC goes into ‘safe’ mode and defaults to ‘Asians’. Doesn’t the BBC realise that the facts are already in the public domain and their damage-limitation exercise is in vain – WE KNOW WHO THEY ARE!
I’ll bet Hindus and Sikhs are even more p*ssed-off about it than I am.
Sorry I never gave link
http://www.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.uk/news/newsheadlines/display.var.819890.0.girls_groomed_for_sex.php
This story actually broke about 4 years ago. I was visiting a friend in Manchester and it was on the local news. A female politician had raised the issue and called for action to prevent it happening. Quite predictably, the media were leaving the viewer in little doubt that she was a racist.
Grimer – isn’t that Ann Cryer and Keighley, or was the alleged abuse in Lancashire ?
I’m sorry guys but all this stuff about Asians grooming white girls for prostitution just isn’t happening. Why, only today I read how the Guardian infiltrated the BNP and found them saying all this – so that proves it’s not true.
Mr Reith, can we have your expert opinion on this?
What reasons could there be for a story breaking at the back end of December when the perpetrators were charged between August and mid-November?
The report doesn’t say they’ve been charged again or that there have been further developments. So do you think something else has happened that you’re not telling us or that the BBC are inept?
I was encouraged to see here that at least the Telegraph had covered the salient facts of this huge multiple child abuse story – that is until my paper copy arrived this morning.
Bizzarely – not a mention.
Nothing in the Mail, Mirror. Sun, Guardian or Indie paper editions either apparently although most covered it to some degree on their websites.
When I first saw the BBC covert footage of some BNP guy making these kind of allegations I thought it was sick racist drivel.
Now it turns out to have been true and well documented in several locations for at least three or four years – and pretty well unreported by any mainstream media.
What the f**ck is going on here?
The BBC and its continuing anti-American bias.
Paedophile is jailed for bigamy
A “conman and paedophile” has been jailed for marrying two women and deceiving two more. American William Jordan, 41, who has at least 10 children, wove a web of lies to con his victims, a court heard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6200677.stm
The BBC has no problem informing the public just which country this reprobate came from.
Now contrast the above story with this one;
Teens guilty of christening death
Four youths have been found guilty of killing a woman as she cradled her baby niece at a christening. Zainab Kalokoh, 33, was shot in the head when robbers raided the party in Peckham, south London, in August 2005. A 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering Mrs Kalokoh. South Londoners Diamond Babamuboni, 17, his brother Timy, 15, and Jude Odigie, 16, were convicted of manslaughter. The four will be sentenced in February.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6192507.stm
South Londoners BBC?
Two of the Nigerian-born killers were in Britain illegally. Brothers Timy and Diamond, aged just 14 and 16 at the time of the killing, were prolific young criminals.
Their mother Dorothy brought them to Britain from Nigeria, but was refused refugee status. She unsuccessfully lobbied her local MP, Harriet Harman, to help her family remain in the UK. But they stayed on illegally and at a very young age the boys began carrying out robberies at knifepoint.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=424131&in_page_id=1770
It’s laughable the way the BBC carries on with it’s sneaky methods of reporting as if nobody notices.This exhibits the typical arrogance of those who think they inhabit the moral high ground,even to the point that they have the right to mislead by ommission.
pounce | 21.12.06 – 5:57 pm | #
reith, please explain the bbc’s selective naming of national origins
so that i am not mislead by other commenters here
Further to the comments above.
The grooming in Keighley was in fact highlighted by Ann Cryer
Keighley police divisional commander Supt Mark Whyman spoke out as the town’s MP claimed the alleged “sex-ring” of Asian men grooming under-age white girls for sex and prositution is much bigger than has been reported.
Ann Cryer’s office revealed that it has more than 60 names of men, who are alleged to have lured girls — some as young as 11 and 12 — to have sex with them.
The information was released after controversial claims were made by Mrs Cryer that the traditional Asian culture and arranged marriages are responsible for sexual assaults on girls in the town.
According to her office, it has a list of more than 60 men involved and one worried mother said that her 13-year-old daughter had had sex with 56 of the men on the list.
Yes, this is partly why Griffin ended up in court…for talking about something which had been widely reported (localy).
Disclaimer: I have neither links to, nor any interest in the BNP.
http://archive.cravenherald.co.uk/2003/8/29/108653.html
Are the “groomers” in Keighley, the same as those in Oldham?
If so, why have these people been allowed to practice their paedophilia for the last 4 years?
If not, then what links the “groomers” in Oldham and those in Keighley (I wonder)? And could this be a much bigger problem than the press would have us believe?
Come on BBC, how about some investigative journalism for a change.
The BBC costs 12.5% Britain’s Defence Budget but never seems short of manpower or ammunition
From Mick’s link:
“Mr Hussain added: “I think Ann Cryer’s comments imply that the Mirpuri community are all to blame. I believe that research would show this isn’t a race issue. There are instances of Asian on Asian or white on white attacks. It is not unique to Asian culture.”
Asian on Asian? Is that not more accurately reported as muslim on Hindu’ or muslim on Sikh? Nicely disguised, eh? And which particular Asian culture?