Ian writes*:
Hi,
I just noticed the BBC has nothing about the democratic congressman who was indicted on bribery charges. I saw their America section in their website and nothing about that is there. I am sure if it was a republican it would have been given prominent first page display. It is one of the top news of today along with the US military judge dismissing charges on a ‘canadian’ detainee (I am sure the detainee hates canada). But only one news is on the BBC website.
Ian
Yup. Let us know when the story finally appears.
I’m sure the BBC will tell us about it eventually, but given the hoo-hah about its up to the minute worldwide coverage, it’s a little embarrassing that the the dead tree – and dead lefty – Guardian managed a story well before the BBC.
UPDATE 11.32 am: A little discussion in the comments, some from defenders of the BBC, brings up the jailed Republican Randy Cunningham as a comparator. I also thought of another Republican, Conrad Burns.
Ah, but Jefferson’s tale is so much more fun than the drearily predictable scandals associated with these dull folk. Wads of cash wrapped up in foil in his freezer! There’s even a mention on The Spoof. Yet so far as I can tell* Jefferson has never had a story to himself on the BBC – think of the opportunities forgone for puns about “frozen assets” – and the accusations against him have only been mentioned three times on the BBC:
US probes Nigeria vice-president. This story appeared in the Africa pages and was told from the Nigerian angle. Nothing wrong with that, of course, since it is also a Nigerian story – but it is going to be read by many fewer readers.
Scandal key to Montana senate race The main story is about a scandal involving a republican senator, Conrad Burns, and mentions Jefferson as a balancing example of Democrat corruption.
Nigeria senate urges action on VP Again told from the Nigerian end, a half sentence in this story gives Jefferson’s name and status as a congressman but not his party.
*Searching for “William Jefferson” is a little awkward, given that spurious results relating to some other fellow clog up the works. I tried including Louisiana in the search terms.
ANOTHER UPDATE: We have a sighting! This story seems to have appeared at 12.40pm. Hat tip: Jonathan Boyd Hunt, who also has search terms wisdom.
*Anonanon independently made the same point in the comments.
Look no further than here…
William Jefferson – a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana – did no small amount of damage to the Democrats’ “culture of corruption” soundbite, when he was found, by the FBI, to have $90,000 stashed in his freezer.
The investigation is ongoing, but locally, at least, the nickname “Dollar Bill” Jefferson has already stuck.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6110622.stm
A round-up of corruption allegations before the 2006 elections. Republicans leading, 3 dodgy blokes to one.
Natalie
Your correspondent Ian writes:
I am sure if it was a republican it would have been given prominent first page display.
I am not so sure.
Fortunately, we can test this hypothesis.
Last year Randy Cunningham – a Republican – was convicted of similar charges.
The BBC certainly reported his conviction – but perhaps not so extensively as you’d imagine:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=+%22randy+cunningham%22+site:news.bbc.co.uk&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&filter=0
I won’t pretend I’ve done an exhaustive search but I can’t find any report of his original indictment on the BBC News Website.
You may be right that the BBC will cover this eventually.
But ‘Louisianna politician is corrupt’ sounds a bit of a dog-bites-man story to me.
Goodness gracious. One straight after the other.
Same sequence on the other thread.
Not the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine, surely not.
Are you hiding something from me jr?
The BBC must be shitting themselves about this site……it appears hey have several full time staff covering the forums….lol.
Lets hope they don’t get sacked in the upcoming round of let-gos….lol. š
Less Beeboids, more thinly spread….as fewer and fewer people tune in…
Bye Bye BBC….you are obsolete…..lol.
Block 318:
Lets hope they don’t get sacked in the upcoming round of let-gos….lol. + hilarious smiley face
They’d have a job sacking me. Never worked for them.
The facts, Jack. Just the facts.
Natalie
From your update :
A little discussion in the comments, some from defenders of the BBC, brings up the jailed Republican Randy Cunningham as a comparator. I also thought of another Republican, Conrad Burns.
Burns is a less good comparator.
Senators (the senate being so finely balanced) are more newsworthy than mere representatives.
And Burns was defending a critical marginal during an election – which was the focus of most of the BBC reports you cite.
Stick with Randy.
Ian:
To locate a BBC news bulletin on the Democrat in question without bringing up articles about Liar Bill do a Google Advanced News Search of the BBC’s site of “William Jefferson” minus the word “Clinton”.
Here’s the result of such a search.
You will see that the BBC posted one, er, 14 minutes ago. (Quick off the blocks, eh?)
JR – That last post was reasonable to the point of making sense, a bit like Dimbleby when he makes programmes about the bulding or paintings of Britain rather than the tired out of date useless ‘current affairs/news’ programmes which it was time were ended.
Keep it up.
ill*unt – time to go you pathetic excuse for a human being.
Childish dross doesn’t begin to cover it.
Er….to sum-up then:
The BBC has covered the story about the indictment of an allegedly corrupt Democrat.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6722375.stm
And they’ve put it on the Americas front page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/default.stm
However, the BBC did not report the indictment of a Republican congressman facing similar charges last year.
Conclusion:
Ian and Natalie’s fears that the BBC is biased against Republicans would seem to be misplaced.
Why report one and not the other?
Natalie is probably correct to observe:
Jefferson’s tale is so much more fun …. Wads of cash wrapped up in foil in his freezer!
No BBC bias then.
Just another dud thread to add to the list.
Are you hiding something from me jr?
TPO | 05.06.07 – 11:41 am |
jr – a deathly hush from you. I can’t believe you’re in some way connected to the first poster on this thread. Are you?
TPO
No I am not hiding anything from you. Nor am I in any way connected to hh.
I can’t see what the mystery is about.
Hillhunt has made clear he has no connection to the BBC.
And it seems pretty obvious that he’s the blog that runs this blog:
http://nothingtodowithhunting.blogspot.com/
…oops
the bloke who runs ……etc
jr
It is a sad fact of life that people are often economical with the truth, however I have no reason to disbelieve what you say.
As to running this blog, well lets say anyone who not in gainful employment could just sit there and bombard any site with ill thought out nonsense.
Unlike other here I will not be an interlocutor with this particular individual
John Reith | 05.06.07 – 11:10 am
“You may be right that the BBC will cover this eventually.”
That’s the point. As I mentioned earlier on the open thread I can’t imagine such a tardy response to a story of equivalent juiciness involving a Republican politician.
Cunningham fell under the umbrella of the Abramoff scandal – which the BBC was happy to report without prodding.
Anonanon | 05.06.07 – 5:04 pm
I can’t imagine such a tardy response
Aha! I hear the goalposts moving. Tardiness is it now, not bias?
Well the BBC got it’s story up 2 hours before this Fox NEWS story.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278080,00.html
What’s so tardy anyway?
The indictment was passed down yesterday. It’s in this morning’s papers in the US.
It was up on the BBC site’s Americas page at what is aearly-breakfast time in the Americas.
JR,
Given today was the day Scooter Libby was jailed as part of the Plame investigation, does the BBC have any plans to investigate how it has become apparent that the prosecutor knew who ‘leaked’ the identity of Plame before his investiation even got off the ground, but persisted in leading a political witchhunt? Surely it would make good copy.
John Reith | 05.06.07 – 5:20 pm
Aha! I hear the goalposts moving.
Not by me you don’t. My original comment from the open thread:
The BBC seems unusually tardy in reporting that a US congressman has been indicted on charges of racketeering. I bet this would have [been] a major story, with headline coverage on the Today programme, if the congressman in question had been a white Republican.
Anonanon | 05.06.07 – 9:18 am
(Correct link, hopefully – http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/2959682555847920330/#358507 )
As I said – unusually tardy. Why? Because certain stories appeal to BBC prejudices and others don’t. In fact, I’m not convinced that the BBC would’ve covered this story at all today had it not been for this blog. I suppose I could put in an FOI request to discover if any emails have circulated but of course that would be pointless as it’s “editorial”.
Well the BBC got it’s story up 2 hours before this Fox NEWS story.
Not before this Fox News story dated Monday (that’s yesterday, btw, and yesterday in America is even more yesterday):
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jun04/0,4670,JeffersonProfile,00.html
What’s so tardy anyway?
The indictment was passed down yesterday. It’s in this morning’s papers in the US.
It was up on the BBC site’s Americas page at what is aearly-breakfast time in the Americas.
The US time difference doesn’t usually worry the BBC. For example, last Wednesday the very first report on the Today programme concerned the trial of a reputed former KKK member charged with a 43-year old murder in Mississippi. See what I mean about the kind of stories preferred by the BBC?
From The Daily Gut:
Hasn’t it ever occurred to you wingnuts that Jefferson only put that money in the freezer to keep it from getting wet when Bush caused Hurricane Katrina? I might have the timeline and some of the facts mixed up there, but I’m confident that the underlying truth is, um, underlying. Also, it’s pretty racist to accuse the guy of taking bribes just because he’s black (and took bribes (allegedly)). Also also, Republicans are corrupt too!
http://www.dailygut.com/?i=2861
Andrew Paterson | 05.06.07 – 7:09 pm
how it has become apparent that the prosecutor knew who ‘leaked’ the identity of Plame before his investigation even got off the ground, but persisted in leading a political witchhunt? Surely it would make good copy.
I agree.
I’d expect the Washington Post or a Chicago paper (following the same prosecutor’s case against Conrad Black) to get there first though.
I’d expect the Washington Post or a Chicago paper (following the same prosecutor’s case against Conrad Black) to get there first though…
…if a Republican-bashing angle emerges set the alarm early for the Jim Naughtie/Justin Webb two-way.
Unlike other here I will not be an interlocutor with this particular individual
TPO
That’s been my stance since I twigged to what the troll was about. I don’t read his comments and have also stopped reading others’ responses to his juvenile provocations.
Handled thus, reading and commenting on this site is at it should be (again).
John Reith…”Senators (the senate being so finely balanced) are more newsworthy than mere representatives.”
Actually, they aren’t. The House of Representatives are the ones who are in control of the nation’s purse strings. When there’s a monetary problem with one of them, the situation is FAR more dangerous and suspect than it would be with a Senator.
These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.