Prague Tory points out that the early BBC coverage manages to attack both the successful first round candidates from a left perspective.
French Elections
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well spotted.
note how a view from the right is never portrayed.
as in “Royal hated by the right, Sarkozy viewed with suspicion…”..
the premise of the BBC assumes that everyone in France is left wing – while ignoring the rather substantial vote for Jean Marie Le Pen.
On the BBC’s coverage so far, Sarkozy is always described as “right-wing” whereas Royale is described as “Socialist” (never “left wing”). I’m not sure if this is bias but it’s a bit strange nonetheless.
British Lion | 23.04.07 – 8:30 am
Socialist speaks for itself, don’t you think?
No need to patronize the public.
Sarko is trickier.
I’ve heard him called centre-right on the BBC as well as right-wing. I’ve also heard him called ‘conservative’ – a bit odd for someone who’s promised so radical a departure from the status quo – but we know what’s meant.
For journalists, left-wing and right -wing tend to be neutral descriptions, not insults. For many blog commentators, however, one or the other is always an insult.
Socialist speaks for itself, don’t you think?
No need to patronize the public.
John Reith | 23.04.07 – 9:16 am |
‘Socialist speaks for itself’ … What? Like National Socialist !!!
No need to patronize the public. ….Coming from a drooling supporter fan of the BBC that is hilarious.
jr you really must do better. Only 2 out of 10 today.
By the way do you recall Stoopid Kaplinsky’s remark of a few years ago today.
No, not the one where she pronounced nebula as neyBOOLAH. It was, ‘ Oh, and today is St.Georges Day’ a slight pause, followed by the sneer ‘For those of you that care’.
Care to comment on why the BBC licence tax payer is still compelled to fund this vacuous woman’s lavish salary?
Mr Reith – there was nothing ‘neutral’ about le BBCs portrayal of Nicolas Sarkozy. A clear indicator of how out of touch they were was shown by the failure to predict anything accurately. This was largely because the BBC simply adopted spin on Sarko straight from Royal’s camp. I don’t think I heard a report where the BBC reporter didn’t mention that Sarko had called the ‘kids’ from the banlieus ‘scum’ – even tho’ it was badly translated and misleading. This was usually backed up by demonising statements about his ‘divisive’ and ‘controversial’ character hinting that he was a racist in a way that actually bordered on racism itself. So it came as a complete shock that there was an 85% turnout and that 31% ( a huge win as even the Guardian admits) voted for this unstable, dangerous man. Actually what became clear (only today) is that Sarko was brave enough to talk in an honest way about the issues that actually matter to the French public – and the only response the French opposition could give was to demonise him. The fact that the BBC were not able to rise above their partisan sympathies to give the reporting this important election deserved is sadly symptomatic.
Just to show how bad it got – look at the French voters in pictures published on yesterday’s website. Out of 12 people interviewed 2 were voting for anti-globalizing Jose Bove, even tho’ he actually polled only 1% of the vote. Royal voters were portrayed as nice women and Sarko voters stereotyped as vicious men (take a look at the pic they use to caption the piece). Finally, four of those interviewed included anti Sarkozy statements. This one is typical:
Mr Sarkozy frightens me. He is too repressive, he lusts too much for power. I don’t trust him.
Bias? What bias?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6580363.stm
Happy St.Georges Day everyone.
The first time I heard the headlines from the BBC on television this morning I knew that Sarkozy had come first in the initial round. Not that the BBC said he had, so how did I know ?
Because if Royal had come first, they would have said.
You can tell the news by what the BBC doesn`t say.
“For journalists, left-wing and right -wing tend to be neutral descriptions, not insults.” Nice one! I especially like the classic reithian insertion of “tend to”… So how often are friendly Guardian/Independent “commentators” introduced by the BBC as “left-wing”? And, by way of comparison, how often do we get the handy tag “right wing” for groups like Civitas?
Oscar | 23.04.07 – 10:47 am
A clear indicator of how out of touch they were was shown by the failure to predict anything accurately.
Rubbish. I’ve watched and listened to hours of the BBC’s coverage of the French election and in nearly every broadcast Sarkozy has been described as the ‘front runner’ or similar for some weeks.
The idea that Sarko’s victory came as any surprise to the BBC is ridiculous. Most of the punditry was devoted to whether Sego would manage to get to the second round as for a while she looked vulnerable to being pipped to the post by Bayrou.
Sarko had called the ‘kids’ from the banlieus ‘scum’ – even tho’ it was badly translated and misleading.
Racaille can be translated as scum, rabble, riffraff or rubbish. In this context scum was by far the best translation. (The context was Sarko’s pledge to clean out the racaille with a power-hose. What you clean out with a power-hose is… scum.)
Nor is it true that the BBC’s coverage was partial. All the main candidates were well and fairly represented in the output, including Le Pen. The BBC gave this story a lot of time across all networks. The website provided helpful factual info like this :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/6523279.stm
Of course, some smartarse from this blog can always twist things by selecting one or another line in a report and take it out of context. For instance, someone trying to argue that the BBC’s coverage was biased in favour of Sarkozy could cite the fact that every network ran interviews with the French expats in London • nearly all of them confirming Sarko’s analysis that France is over-taxed, over-regulated and unfriendly to small business start-ups.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/europe/2007/france_decides_2007/default.stm
‘Socialist speaks for itself’ … What? Like National Socialist !!!
Don’t go coy on me jr.
Happy St George’s day:)
JR.
Also strangely silent on the Dutch General Election Results last year on the Six O’ Folly…..
I notice how the BBC ‘positively and fairly’ shows the Netherlands who are the UK’s next door neighbours (and the last sackers of London BTW):
“The bitter experience of invasion and occupation during World War II led the Netherlands to abandon neutrality in 1945 and become a leading supporter of international cooperation.”
So this defines who the Dutch are-a nation so ‘bitter’ that it’s now suddenly joined the ‘rest of the world’ and now wages war on Islam:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1043423.stm
How arrogant and pompous this opening statement sounds!
How would you feel if YOUR country was described like that in this compare and contrast the opening statements on each country:
“|The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has a long history as a major player in international affairs and fulfils an important role in the EU, UN and Nato.”
Eeer…That’s NATO not Nato
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm
“The US is the world’s foremost economic and military power. It is also a major source of entertainment: American TV, Hollywood films, jazz, blues, rock and rap music are primary ingredients in global popular culture.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1217752.stm
And and Al Beeb’s favourite stick, Iraq:
“Though free from the yoke of its former president Saddam Hussein, pressing problems loom large for Iraq and its new leaders. The paramount challenge is to restore security and civil order.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/791014.stm
Not a word about culture, traditions or geographic locations?!
John Reith:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/6523279.stm
“The website provided helpful factual info like this”:
Royal, Sarkozy and Bayrou: The policies
Err..and Le Pen?
You are being too helpful!
This is too easy to fisk but as Uncle Baggie would say:
MAKE IT SO!!
By the way do you recall Stoopid Kaplinsky’s remark of a few years ago today.
No, not the one where she pronounced nebula as neyBOOLAH. It was, ‘ Oh, and today is St.Georges Day’ a slight pause, followed by the sneer ‘For those of you that care’.
Don’t forget this classic by SoooStoopid Kaplinsky during the invasion of Iraq”
“We now join Caroline Wyatt at British military headquarters – who, like all correspondents, is not allowed to disclose her precise location or operational details. Caroline, where are you, and what plans have they got for today?“
Of course, some smartarse from this blog
You sound rattled Mr Reith – should I take that as a compliment?
On the subject of ‘racaille’ – I’m afraid the English word ‘scum’ is harsher than the French word – but my point was not only that ‘racaille’ was translated to maximise a kind of tabloid sense of disgust against Sarkozy, but that it was repeated (ad nauseum) by EVERY BBC reporter. It was a mixture of bias and laziness – with the laziness probably outweighing the bias. This is a classic tactic and did not aid an accurate understanding of the kind of politician Sarkozy is, which is much more complex and innovative than this. It was a kind of tabloid shorthand to create an ‘aroma’ just like the spin put out by Royal’s camp.
I’m afraid the BBC simply were not on the money with this election. They gave the impression that the French public were turned off by French politics. BBC coverage actually sounded rather bored and in no way intimated the engagement revealed by the huge turnout. And, YES you did report that Sarkozy appeared to be in the lead in the polls BUT that always came with the rider that with so many voters ‘undecided’ the field was wide open. Certainly no-one at the BBC matched Anat’s prediction on Harry’s Place (which put Sarkozy on 31% and Le Pen on 12%), which shows her superior antennae to your hacks.
Finally I note you didn’t take on the obvious bias demonstrated in coverage on the website – probably because you have no answer. But in case you do want to reply to this ‘smartarse’ I’ll repeat what I wrote:
look at the French voters in pictures published on yesterday’s website. Out of 12 people interviewed 2 were voting for anti-globalizing Jose Bove, even tho’ he actually polled only 1% of the vote. Royal voters were portrayed as nice women and Sarko voters stereotyped as vicious men (take a look at the pic they use to caption the piece). Finally, four of those interviewed included anti Sarkozy statements. This one is typical:
Mr Sarkozy frightens me. He is too repressive, he lusts too much for power. I don’t trust him.
Bias? What bias?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…ope/ 6580363.stm
John Reith
Even the Guardian think the translation of ‘scum’ for ‘racaille’ is inflammatory –
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2005/11/08/inflammatory_language.html
RE-French Election:
Sterotypes and Doublethink.
“Socialist regional premier of Poitou-Charentes, 53, has a 100-point plan she would implement if elected France’s first female head of state”
Emphases on France’s first female head of state-attractive ‘intelligent’ sophisticate but also note no real explanation of the “100-point plan”?
Needless to say Sarkozy “sharply divides opinion in France” and Bayou is some Fib Dem typecast.
And apart from the headline policies copied from some other news agency-what about policy regarding Afghanistan, Iraq, US and the UK in your ‘useful’ presentation. Could it be that France may well be more ‘pro-US’ as stereotyped by Al Beeb. Is it because Europe is now shifting towards the right and this sort of news might upset the leftists and ‘fellow travellers’ in ‘King Brown’s Kingdom?
And notice how it is set through the prism of Westminster doublethink these ‘profiles’ and the associations UK readers will be making.
Remember Thatcher or Blair?
The other thing is that the ‘extremist’ candidates on both the left and the right play an important role in French politics-something that ‘multicultural’ BBC seems to never understand regarding European politics.
I much rather have the ‘extremists’ from both sides in the ‘open’ like LPF or SP in the Netherlands because although somebody like Le Pen’s has views that I don’t share at least he nominally supports ‘democracy’ and is prepared to place himself before public scrutiny.
Le Pen gives people like me and many a chance to examine openly his arguments and to provide the counter-argument.
Unlike the UK where the ‘liberal left media’ see themselves as the moral guardians and ‘judge’ everything from the lofty viewpoint in the West End……
John Reith
This article by Caroline Wyatt I think just about sums up the approach taken by BBC reporters – ‘All bets are off as French poll looms’ which you will note features a heading “Trouble for Sarkozy” and opens with the words
The French approach this Sunday’s first round of voting for a new president in a mood of grumpiness and disillusionment after 12 years of stasis under Jacques Chirac.
Actually so far it looks like a triumph for Sarkozy and far from being grumpy and disillusioned the French electorate seem enviably perky.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6574759.stm
I saw the beginning of the BBC World News on BBC America this morning. The first report was on the French general election, and ended with the correspondent speaking with a worker from the Royal campaign, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.
I wasn’t paying attention: did they have a similar interview with a Sarkozy campaign worker? I didn’t notice one.
Hmmm…
5 point cushion and add in most of Le Pen’s and Bayou’s votes into the mix (and now suddenly that 11 percent becomes a handy voting block) then the socialist’s look like the rump that they really are.
Expect some defections in the left wing vote as well as people naturally start to back the winners.
I think a 4-6 point win for Sarkozy, not landslide territory but not far off.
The Dutch has done it; the Germans have done it and now the French.
The ‘right’ is winning the argument and coming back in Europe.
Is it time for the change in the UK.
The BBC story says;
“Ms Royal is … seen as too authoritarian and conservative by some Socialists.”
Err, since when have any socialists worried about being ‘too authoritarian’?
“We now join Caroline Wyatt at British military headquarters – who, like all correspondents, is not allowed to disclose her precise location or operational details. Caroline, where are you, and what plans have they got for today?”
Anonymous | 23.04.07 – 1:06 pm |
Thanks so much for that. I was unaware that she had plumbed that depth of stoopidity.
Oscar & IiD
Let’s take IiD’s points first.
Eeer…That’s NATO not Nato
True, but the idea of you • of all people – suddenly turning fastidious proof-reader’s going to have the BBC’s staff rolling on the floor laughing their arses off. Though uncharacteristically immaculate today, the greater number of your posts here feature apostrophes where no apostrophe is welcome (e.g. the Nazi’s and almost all other plurals) together with spelling and grammar of a pre-kindergarten standard. (Probably the result of one or three Amstels too many before posting, I’ll warrant.)
Moving on to your substantive point……….
Err..and Le Pen?
Here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3658399.stm
and here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/europe_diary/default.stm
and here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6392149.stm
Oscar,
1. should I take that as a compliment?
No.
2. ‘racaille’ was translated to maximise a kind of tabloid sense of disgust against Sarkozy
against Sarkozy????
Most sensible people would probably agree with Sarkozy’s description of these vile thugs and arsonists.. The Guardian notwithstanding, as a Karcher Powerwasher user, I am in no doubt what it’s used for cleaning off the terrace tiles. And it’s not ‘rabble’.
3. that always came with the rider that with so many voters ‘undecided’ the field was wide open.
That was the truth. What do you want the BBC to do • lie?
4. no-one at the BBC matched Anat’s prediction on Harry’s Place
The BBC doesn’t do sweepstakes. (At least, not in public. As it happens, yours truly got both Sarko and Sego to the decimal point and is going out to spend his winnings tonight.)
5. the obvious bias demonstrated in coverage on the website
Exactly what I meant about the local smartarse tendency.
If your case about BBC bias depends not upon the dozens • nay scores • of hours of radio and TV journalism devoted to the French elections • but merely upon the factoid that a duty picture editor buried deep in the recesses of the BBC News website may have slipped in one too many mentions of M Bove • then you are indeed desperate.
Moreover, I think you’d find • if you really sat down and counted • that Sarko and Sego got at least 31 and 25 times, respectively, as much coverage • all platforms considered • as Bove.
… merely upon the factoid that a duty picture editor buried deep in the recesses of the BBC News website may have slipped in one too many mentions of M Bove • then you are indeed desperate.
Those duty picture editors, and journalists, need to get out more:
Subject: RE: Complaint Reply Required
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:17:24 +0100
From: “NewsOnline”
Dear Mr Biodegradable,
Thank you for pointing out the inappropriate picture that accompanied the caption referring to Professor Liviu Librescu. It was an error on the part of the journalist who compiled the gallery, which we have now corrected. We apologise for the mistake and would like to assure you there was no intention to conceal the fact that Professor Librescu was a Jew.
With kind regards, The BBC News website
—–Original Message—–
{Comments:} Photo number 6 shows what is obviously a Christian chapel. Clearly visible are crucifixes, statues of the Virgin Mary and Christian priests in white robes.
Why therefore does the caption refer to Professor Liviu Librescu who was a Jewish Israeli?
Your caption:
“Another of the victims was 76-year-old Holocaust survivor Professor Liviu Librescu, who put himself in the line of fire to protect his students.”
The image apparently has nothing whatsever to do with Professor Librescu.
Do the BBC wish to conceal the fact that this brave man, who sacrificed his own life to save his students, was in fact a Jew?
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
{Local Info:} {Website:} http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6564701.stm
‘… the BBC’s staff rolling on the floor laughing their arses off. Though uncharacteristically immaculate today, the greater number of your posts here feature apostrophes where no apostrophe is welcome (e.g. the Nazi’s and almost all other plurals) together with spelling and grammar of a pre-kindergarten standard. ‘
jr
Whenever you’re (is it in the right place) losing the argument you invariably fall back on cheap insults.
Now back to;
‘Socialist speaks for itself’ … What? Like National Socialist !!!
Go on give it your (no apostrophe) best shot. Insult and all if it pleases. (poor sentence construction)
.. but merely upon the factoid that a duty picture editor buried deep in the recesses of the BBC News website may have slipped in one too many mentions of M Bove • then you are indeed desperate.
John Reith
I’ll take that as an admission of BBC bias.
Biodegradable
Congratulations on getting a suitably grovelling apology from these racaille
Oscar
PS If you have access to PM switch on now for some truly gross anti Israeli propaganda – all about the Palestinian children suffering trauma from ‘Israeli occupation’. All the trauma is down to Israel of course. In fact they’re so traumatised that they can’t stop themselves throwing stones at Israeli jeeps (honestly this is a quote from the package).
Oscar,
is that PM on radio 4?
if so I think I’ve just missed it live – the “Listen to the latest programme” link on the Radio 4 homepage gets me “PM (30 min)
Broadcast on Radio 4 – Sat 21 Apr – 17:00”
TPO | 23.04.07 – 5:35 pm
as in National Socialist???
Socialist means one thing.
National Socialist means something else.
Liberals are one thing.
{Jorg Haider’s} National Liberals are something else.
Sometimes political labels are ambiguous. Sometimes they are perfectly clear.
Do we really need to be told that the French Socialists are on the Left, not the Right?
I don’t think so.
is that PM on radio 4?
Bio
Yes – and it was a report by Tim Franks (sounding like he couldn’t wait to join the NUJ boycott ). The basic message was – if the Palestinians behave badly in any way – including abusive to their own families – it’s all the fault of the jooooos.
And to show how bad things are getting when I rang up to complain I got through to a Scots chap, who stopped me in mid sentence to explain that items like this were not supposed to be ‘balanced’. In fact (he said) it was not the BBCs intention to be balanced, but to portray the Palestinian story (or words to that effect). When I asked him when, in that case, did the BBC ‘tell the Israeli story’ he assured me they did it all the time, but was unable to give any details. In short he actually would not take the complaint. It’s now been agreed that another beeboid will ring me up in ‘the next 10 days’. I’ll keep you posted.
Oscar | 23.04.07 – 7:22 pm
I’ll try to “listen again” later or tomorrow.
You can complain online here, make sure you tick the box requesting a reply.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/make_complaint_step1n.shtml
It is now available via the link here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/pm/
or http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio4/pm.rpm
starts 48 minutes in.
Quite disgusting really. The guy talking about kids drawing images of death and funerals doesn’t mention how much of that is due to what’s taught in schools.
Maybe next time Tim Franks will report on stress and Israeli kids:
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~trauma/issues/2004-2/shacham.htm
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israelgazachildrenludmanpyschology220509.html
Even wikipedia has a more balanced version:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_and_minors_in_the_Israeli-Palestinian_conflict
The first acts of Palestinian violence specifically targeting Israeli children were committed in the 1970s. See Ma’alot massacre, Avivim school bus massacre, Kiryat Shmona massacre. About 70% of the Israeli children were killed by Palestinian suicide bombings and others were killed in shootings, other bomb attacks on cars, or public buses. Some examples of that include,
*A suicide bomb attack in front of a crowded discotheque late Friday on 1 June 2001 killed 21 people. Twelve of the 21 people who were killed were under-18. The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility.
*A suicide bombing attack on 2 March 2002, detonated next to a group of women waiting with their children and husbands to leave a nearby synagogue, killed 12 people, including two sisters aged 6 and 2, and their four cousins, aged between 18 months and seventeen years.
All killings of Israeli children by Palestinian armed groups have been committed in deliberate attacks against civilians, which have been widespread and perpetrated as part of a publicly announced policy to target civilians.
Thanks for the links Bio.
“Socialist is one thing NAtional Socialist another”
An interesting thoery but it doesn’t work out.
Compare Nazi Genrmany with any “socialist” states (U.S.S.R, China, N Korea,Burma etc) and you will soon see the similarities (you may want to substitue “fatherland” for “People” to make it easier)
The first time I heard the headlines from the BBC on television this morning I knew that Sarkozy had come first in the initial round. Not that the BBC said he had, so how did I know ?
Because if Royal had come first, they would have said.
You can tell the news by what the BBC doesn`t say.
Robin | 23.04.07 – 11:50 am
This is a point John Reith really needs to look at. I hadn’t heard any news about the election until I listened to the World Service on and off this afternoon and evening and I also realised before long that Sarkozy had done better than Royal by the muted BBC presentation and what seemed almost like a deliberate avoidance of any info on the result in Sarkozy’s favour.
I thought this lack of info, in fairness, was partly due to the fact that by the time I tuned in it was already stale news. Now I see from Robin’s post that the BBC was mute about Sarkozy’s good showing even when the news was still fresh.
Not content with trying to drag Britain to the left and under, the BBC has to try to do the same to France.
We ain’t fooled, JR. You work for a disgusting bunch of agenda-driven social engineers.
I don’t think so.
John Reith | 23.04.07 – 6:54 pm |
We’re going to have to differ on this one.
My first chance since yesterday to look at these posts and I see that Geoff Sturdy | 23.04.07 – 10:01 pm | has carried my point further.
My premise is Le Pen. He is branded by the BBC and fellow travellers as ‘Far-Right’, but just how many of his supposed policies sit compfortably with the far-left. I’d veture quite a few.
Left wing groups and organisations such as the BBC have great difficulty in acknowledging that Le Pen’s party and our own BNP espouse political philosophies, which are more akin to pure socialism. A complete anathema to any self-respecting Trot in the BBC.
So lets hear it for which brand of socialism that is being peddled.
JR-
Typically showing your true colours again regarding the treatment of your ‘stakeholders’-Never heard of customer services Johno?
But hey, thanks for your “correction” on my ‘childish scrawls’ because I’ve had “one too many Amstels”…… but I see implying I’m an ‘alcoholic’ or have some sort of ‘drink problem’ is all fair game to the like of Al Beeb employees.
.
But I’m not being paid to write up such weighty reports as you and buddy’s claim to be doing.
Nor am I obliged to follow a Charter or have a Trust overlooking my work:
Click to access royalchartersealed_sept06.pdf
I would also like to point out that I don’t charge 131.50 UKP for reading my comments and nor am I being investigated in an ‘impartiality report’ or do commission blogs on ‘critics’ as compiled by the likes of Martin Belam.
Click to access rev_impartiality_termsofreference2.pdf
http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2007/03/my_biased_view_of_the_biased_b_4.php
I’ve not lost the FA Cup contract nor being ‘empty chaired’ JR.
And if someone of my quite obvious limited intelligence like me can spot flaws in your work then heaven help you when the ‘clever people’ cotton on to you.
But a word of advice JR.
If you have come here to ‘win hearts and minds’ by not answering the substantive charges as laid out daily on sites like this, and instead engaging in meaning less small talk regarding the character of those who contribute to B-BBC then go ahead-but I would like to refer you to fact that YOUR ‘useful link’ (your words) only had three candidates……
“Nor is it true that the BBC’s coverage was partial. All the main candidates were well and fairly represented in the output, including Le Pen. The BBC gave this story a lot of time across all networks. The website provided helpful factual info like this :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_de…629/ 6523279.stm
Of course it might not of occurred to you that IBC ‘analysis’ is no more ‘informative’ than any other ‘stories’ you peddle.
Mind how you go with the crayons John…
Of course it would never have occurred to the like of John that I might be a ‘disgruntled’ Al Beeb journo or a ‘researcher’ working for the BBC Trust on impartiality…
Or that Andrew, Natalie; TPO; archduke; baggie; Bryan; anonanon; rightofcentre; GCooper or other commentators might be from OFTCOM or any one of your other rivals?
Keep up the name calling JR;)
John knows that B-BBC is getting closer-and like King Canute he can’t stop the tide.
Feel the walls closing in JR?
I posted this yesterday but for some reason it disapparued …
Racaille can be translated as scum, rabble, riffraff or rubbish. In this context scum was by far the best translation. (The context was Sarko’s pledge to clean out the racaille with a power-hose. What you clean out with a power-hose is… scum.)
John Reith | 23.04.07 – 12:20 pm
Almost right. ‘Racaille’ is translated as ‘rabble or riffraff’ according to Harrap’s Shorter. The French have no direct translation for scum as in nasty rabble but they do for the floaty kind – ‘ecume’.
Idiomatically ‘scum’ becomes ‘excrement de la Terre’ or ‘le rebut de la societe’. So, no the idea of him washing away the ‘scum’ is incorrect. Washing away the rabble is much closer and more understandable in French as water cannon are commonly used to disperse crowds.
The Fat Contractor | 24.04.07 – 2:39 pm
Washing away the rabble is much closer and more understandable in French as water cannon are commonly used to disperse crowds.
Fair point.
IiD:
Of course it would never have occurred to the like of John that I might be a ‘disgruntled’ Al Beeb journo or a ‘researcher’ working for the BBC Trust on impartiality…
We could be “mystery shoppers”.
A clear indicator of how out of touch they were was shown by the failure to predict anything accurately.
❓ How can anyone be criticised for incorrect predictions in fairly conducted national elections? I have managed to predict elections wrongly in countries where I have lived for years. :o(
Predictions come from:
a) Polls – may be biased, misleading or deliberate lies,
b) Experts – the same talking heads who failed to anticipate the fall of the Soviet Union, China’s move to capitalism. the ease of Saddam’s military defeat twice,
c) Talking to the man in the street – depends which street, doesn’t it?
I find the BBC’s ‘half-a-stories’ after the fact far more offensive than their failure as prophets.