Please use this thread for BBC-related comments and analysis. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not (and never has been) an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or use as a chat forum. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts.
Victoria’s reality check
Interesting interview with 5 Live presenter.
“One of the best-known female voices on British radio, Derbyshire returns to Five Live next week after nearly nine months away from the studio on maternity leave, and is in little doubt about which section of the population feels ostracised by the corporation. She is not talking about young people or ethnic minorities that the corporation has acknowledged it is struggling to reach. “White working-class people. It’s perhaps because they think the BBC doesn’t talk about issues which concern them. Perhaps because they have a perception that some parts of the BBC are, as they put it, liberal, chattering class types, based in London, who don’t know about the real world.”
Well said Victoria
link http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2791086.ece
jones… and interesting to hear R5 this a.m. [VD’s regular spot]. Many callers criticising BBC coverage as pure Gordon Brown propaganda. Their news reports all started with ‘The PM GB has said…’ etc. No analysis, no alternative view.
To be fair they read them out, but you could tell the presenter just didn’t understand.
Newsnight was wonderfully bad tonight.
They had some Labour minister on about the floods who was arrogent and dismissive and the flood victim they had on to counter him was hardly allowed to speak. Then you had two people who support the Global Warming theory on to ‘debate’ if the floods were due to it, and then Crick to give his opinion of David Cameron’s ‘defeats’ in two by elections in which only Labour’s vote went down.
Ok, can somebody help me here with this one.
Israelis kill militants in Gaza
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6910450.stm
‘Militants die’ in Pakistan clash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6912504.stm
Why is it, only the Jews kill terrorists?
The BBC,Libya and half a story.
Libya ‘wants EU ties for medics’
Libya wants renewed ties with the EU as part of any deal to free six medics convicted of infecting hundreds of children with HIV, diplomats say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6912233.stm
and here BBC is how a real Muslim news agency reports on the above;
Libya demands ‘EU ties for medics’
Libya is calling for a “complete normalisation of relations” with the EU in return for the release of the six Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting hundreds of children with HIV. It is also seeking a pledge that the EU will provide treatment for the children and fund a number infrastructure projects in the country, according to a diplomatic source in Tripoli.The schemes include a cross-border motorway from the eastern border with Tunisia to the western frontier with Egypt, a railway linking Libyan ports to African cities and renovation of archaeological sites.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2ACBBBA0-D42C-4FF4-9978-50A8124D225A.htm
The BBC,Libya and half a story.
In all the flooding chaos, when the BBC and its rivals are trying to get across facts and figures about levels of water and so on, it’s curious to hear that they revert to a system that all of us understand – inches, feet, yards……
I agree with Ralph, they had George Monbiot (Moonbat) on newsnight and although Phillip Eden was saying you could not link the present floods with global warming, he kept on insisting that there was a link. But then he writes books on man made global warming and articles on it in the Guardian so he would wouldn’t he!
The BBC keep insisting it’s unprecedented even though it’s happened before, but then it lets their political masters off the hook if they can get everyone to believe it.
The BBC, cartoon characters, its hatred of Israel and half a story
In pictures: The work of Naji al-Ali
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6911815.stm
The BBC commemorates the work of Arab satirical cartoonist Naji al-Ali who was murdered by a Palestinian on the streets of London in 1987 for upsetting the PLO. (He kind of took the piss out of the Arab leadership) Yet the BBC promotes the image he was almost purely anti-Israel.
The BBC, cartoon characters, its hatred of Israel and half a story
On 10:00 News last night David Shukman was introduced as presenting different theorIES as to the cause of the floods (well he touched on one theory anyway). He interviewed a guy from the Met Office who refused to commit himself – Shukman concluded that MMGW – sorry, the new one, MMCC – is to blame. Later on, in the ITV 10:30 News, the same guy from the Met Office was interviewed: the conclusion? Nobody really knows. However, most people agree that the shifting of the jet stream is probably the proximate cause of the wet summer and El Nino might have been the cause of that.
The BBC’s analysis constantly blurs the distinction between climate change and MMCC. The MMCC zealots (usually out in force on Newsnight) say that CC is undeniable: and so it is. This does not imply that MMCC is undeniable or (even if MMCC is a factor) that its effects on the totality of climate change are more than marginal. It would be nice if, once in a while, the BBC’s hand-chosen experts made this distinction: just for clarity you understand although it undermines much of their polemic.
The BBC, its adoration for Islam and guilt.
HIV medics released to Bulgaria
Six Bulgarian medics who were serving life sentences in Libya have arrived in Bulgaria following their release, ending their eight-year incarceration. They were immediately pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.
The five nurses and a Palestinian-born doctor were convicted of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV – charges they have always denied.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6912965.stm
and how the guardian reports the very same story;
Bulgarian Medics Pardoned Upon Return
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) – Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon their arrival in Sofia on Tuesday after spending 8 years in prison in Libya. The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for allegedly contaminating children with the AIDS virus, arrived on board a plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU’s commissioner for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6801045,00.html
And then you have the BBC reporting this about doctors in Britain;
Car plot charge doctor remanded
A doctor charged with conspiring to cause explosions in the suspected failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow has been remanded in custody.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6907888.stm
It appears the BBC has a problem attributing guilt when the guilty party is caught red handed, but when the guilty party is an example of political gerrymandering by a Muslim country then they are as guilty as sin.
The BBC, its adoration for Islam and guilt.
One of the biggest half-truths peddled by the media regarding the link (or otherwise) between these floods and MMCC is that experts accurately predicted that despite warmer, drier weather, rains would be heavier and more destructive. Meteorologically, warm weather results in more pronounced thermal activity, which results in severe storms, notably thunderstorms – i.e. the more severe rains would be caused by the warmer weather.
Yet here we have a situation where the summer has been much cooler than average with very few hot days, and yet our intrepid reporters, aided and abetted by useful idiots such as Monbiot, joyfully announcing that this is exactly what people predicted two years back.
The storms have been caused by a rapid succession of active weather fronts without much relent, most likely caused by the southerly Jet Stream. There has been no warmer than average weather, and little (though some) thermal activity – it has been continual moderate rain, rather than squalls of torrential rain, that have caused these floods. The opposite, then, of what the MMCC fanatics predicted.
David Gregory and his ilk know this perfectly well, as of course did the meteorologist who was interviewed and ignored last night, yet Moonbat is still allowed to peddle his lies unchallenged. Does the BBC have an agenda here, as it appears to be deliberately directing us away from the truth?
The BBC has carried two Palestinian stories in recent days.
One showing some of the works of Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali who was shot 20 years ago – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6911815.stm
One describing how Israeli textbooks also put the Palestinian perpsective – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6910859.stm
Both of these stories reinforce the pro-Palestinian perspective.
Why not run a story on the cartoons of the current Palestinian media –
http://pmw.org.il/car/
Or compare Israeli textbooks with those used in the Palestinian Authority – http://www.pmw.org.il/BookReport_Eng.pdf
Well, we know why not, don’t we…
The BBC are now saying that average temperatures are higher than normal despite the rain, but are the temperature measurements being taken with the same lack of care as some in the USA.
Michael Watts who is a meteorologist in America is doing a survey at http://www.surfacestations.org/
and some of the finding beggar belief.
No wonder they keep saying the world is warming if the temperature sensor is next to an air conditioning outlet!
Average daytime temperatures are at or slightly below normal, average temperatures overall are 0.4 degrees higher. The high amount of cloud cover appears to be pushing the temperatures up at nighttime.
Chris, very good point. You can add to that the fact that most temperature readings are made from major towns and cities, where temperatures (again, especially nighttime temperatures), can be up to several degrees higher than in exposed rural areas.
Not even Al Gore could try and tell me that it’s been a warmer than average summer. In fact, especially not Al Gore!
The BBC keep insisting it’s unprecedented even though it’s happened before, but then it lets their political masters off the hook if they can get everyone to believe it.
The BBC are not without criticism. They frequently tell us that the military have not done the necessary sand bag filling – because they are away fighting Blair’s wars.
This expectation of squaddies filling sand bags is a little old hat, isn’t it? It comes from a time of National Swervice, mechanisation & before local councils built up staffs of thousands.
6 Month Analysis of the BBC:
HonestReporting.com | July 24, 2007
“The BBC is an organization under pressure. Over the past few weeks, the international broadcasting giant has seen its reputation reach its lowest ebb.
No other international media outlet elicits as many complaints of bias from our readers as the BBC. If the organization is capable of showing such little respect for the British monarch and the British public (which pays a compulsory license fee for the privilege of funding the BBC), is it any surprise that it consistently treats Israel with utter disdain”?
BBC Reporting During the First Six Months of 2007 – Summary of Findings:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=29264
.
This one isn’t going to plan for al-BBC:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=O3ROG1R34YWJXQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/earth/2007/07/24/scigwarming124.xml
Chris Rapley, some sort of cheese at the Science Museum, is totally bought into MMGW, but he thinks the answer is to reduce the population by a billion because all the other stuff – windmills on the roof, cleaner burning cars – is just piffle.
Gamely al-BBC has blogged about it (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/worldhaveyoursay/2007/07/stopping_global_warming_by_cut.html), but oh dear! the comments are all well off-message!
“I doubt it’s very likely that the environment will be saved by reducing the birth rate, especially given that the 1.5 billion muslims alive tent to not use birth control…”
“Human population is the elephant in the corner that no one will talk about…”
“It appears the BBC has a problem attributing guilt when the guilty party is caught red handed, but when the guilty party is an example of political gerrymandering by a Muslim country then they are as guilty as sin.”
Agghhh, but Pounce… They were ‘convicted’ in a free and fair trial. Oh, hang on…
Many media types are pushing this but the BBC is doing so in particular and BBC weather department even more so.
What?
That they assure us that the current flooding problems are caused by manmade global warming and we can expect much more of the same in future years.
Strange because they were equally ‘authoritatively’ telling us last year that the hot drought conditions were due to manmade global warming and we could expect the same and much more so for future years.
Come clean BBC, were you lying or mistaken last year or are you lying or mistaken this year, or perhaps its both years.
MPS ACCUSE BBC BOSSES OVER SCANDAL
“BBC bosses were hauled over the coals by MPs as they gave evidence about the TV phone-in scandal.
Deputy director-general Mark Byford and chief operating officer Caroline Thomson were asked to explain how viewers came to be deceived in a string of shows including Children In Need and Comic Relief.
They were accused of “fighting a rearguard action” and of being “dangerously out of touch” with the way BBC programmes are made. MPs also questioned why licence fee money should be spent putting BBC staff through a training programme telling them “not to lie”.
The BBC is to make 16,500 staff undertake a training programme entitled Safeguarding Trust. MP Phil Davies asked: “Is funding a training programme to tell your staff not to lie and cheat viewers a good use of licence fee payers’ money? Perhaps you need to look at your recruitment process if you have to train them on such fundamentals as not lying or cheating?”
http://www.express.co.uk/news/view/14573/MPs-accuse-BBC-bosses-over-scandal
Five Live are doing a “Monarchy” week, which includes:
Monday
Breakfast investigates whether we should have an absolute monarchy. (A nice straw man to set up the week, meaning that later anti-royal arguments are only “balance”).
Tuesday
Simon Mayo (that well known economist) does the sums on Windsor plc to discover if the Royals are value for money (the usual 50p per person will be trotted out and it will miss out the constitutional role that the Monarchy plays in Government).
Thursday
Anita Anand looks at how we should appoint a new monarch, considering the idea of It’s A Knockout and a Royal X Factor (ha-ha, more straw men that will leave the impression that elections are the best way forward • oops that means a republic).
Richard Bacon investigates what the Queen thinks about every day issues (doubt she thinks very highly of cocaine use Richard).
Saturday
Weekend Breakfast asks if we should replace the national anthem, and what with? (Why? Just an another excuse for republicans to have an airing • will probably include a long piece by Billy Bragg).
Weekend News looks into the idea of Royal palaces being handed over to the people. (While we are at it, why don’t we give the “People” all the big houses that the hereditary peers no longer sitting in the House of Lords own?)
The BBC should note that support for the monarchy has remained very steady for decades at over three-quarters of the population. Denigration of it will serve the BBC poorly.
BBC magazine – guys in an ice cream van enter Mongol rally:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6908117.stm
My comment – let’s see if it gets published:
As you’re passing through such despotic lands as Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, would you consider giving the border guards a handout on freedom and human rights with their ice-cream cone?
The BBC, its hatred of Britain and defending ‘Bob’
Mugabe vows to save sick economy
President Robert Mugabe has said at the opening of parliament that strict price controls will continue as Zimbabwe tries to turn around an ailing economy. The country, once the bread-basket of the region, is suffering crippling food shortages and rampant inflation. Mr Mugabe blamed droughts and sanctions for their economic woes and said they faced continued hostility from the UK and her Western allies.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6913148.stm
Wow according to the BBC its all our fault. Nowhere in that article is there a counter balance to Mugabes claim, instead the BBC blames the UK for the misfortune which has befallen ‘Zimbabwe.
The BBC, its hatred of Britain and defending ‘Bob’
Afghan hostage deadline expires
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6911228.stm
Regarding the Korean Christians, there’s an interesting tidbit that the BBC missed on this story:
Hundreds of South Koreans affiliated with church groups were expelled last summer after being accused of trying to convert Afghans to Christianity. The Afghan ambassador who granted the visas was fired. It is highly unusual that this group was allowed into the country.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12178356
The major news from the BBC (Radio 4 News at 8:00 am) devotes, what, 10-15% of its time slot to the graduation of 8 US students from medical school in Cuba. Is this vital news? Of course it is. It has everything the BBC loves: a bash at Bush (special permission had to be obtained from the US authorities), minority students (who couldn’t get funding in the US), Cuba’s wonderful health system (just like the NHS and so much better than the US system). No mention, of course, of the Potemkin hospitals – the Potemkin system – in Cuba. But this is the BBC: as pounce says, “half a story”.
“The BBC, its hatred of Britain and defending ‘Bob’”
Yep, they defend him so passionately that they’re banned from the country. Reporting what someone has said does not equate to endorsing it.
Pounce: “http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world…ica/ 6913148.stm
Wow according to the BBC its all our fault. Nowhere in that article is there a counter balance to Mugabes claim, instead the BBC blames the UK for the misfortune which has befallen ‘Zimbabwe.”
I disagree and so does Mugabe’s government which has long banned the BBC from reporting in Zimbabwe. The story is pretty straight reporting. The BBC doesn’t blame anyone in it.
There’s lots of bias on the BBC (and sloppiness and ignorance and dishonesty – all of which I resent being forced to subsidise) but as I’ve opined before on this blog, attacking straight reporting of what someone like Mugabe says because you don’t like what they say isn’t a valid criticism*. I don’t need to have some additional comment to balance Mugabe’s statement, I can make up my own mind.
Matt
*This also applies to those posters in this blog who have complained about straight reporting of evidence given in court cases, eg by terrorist suspects, is in some way the BBC supporting terrorism
The BBC news at 10 last night was for at least half of it a party political broadcast for the Labour party.
Since when did getting cameras into the cabinet constitute being newsworthy.
The single worst moment was when the camera lingered on a painting of Palmerston (I think) and then straight to Brown.
Sub-text : Brown is a strong PM looking up for Britain’s interests.
Nick Robinson gave Brown a very soft interview about how he was facing the challenges of his first four weeks (terrorism and now floods).
Sub-text : Successfully overcoming them.
Nick asked the only negative question about why spending of flood defences had been cut. Brown, of course, expected this one but gave a highly deceitful answer about how spending on flood defences had in fact doubled. He was barely challenged on his answer…
(As reported August last year:
“The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was in financial crisis last night after being told to cut its budget by nearly £200m over the next six months. The Guardian has learned that the 7% savings are expected to bite deeply into flood defence work…”
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,,1835280,00.html
Matt writes;
“I disagree and so does Mugabe’s government which has long banned the BBC from reporting in Zimbabwe. The story is pretty straight reporting. The BBC doesn’t blame anyone in it.”
Please feel free to disagree, however the point of my post was about how the BBC has a habit of giving both sides of the story say if its an NATO airstrike in Afghanistan. Where juxtaposed against NATOs claims of Taliban dead the BBC will include a snippet about how many civilians have died according to a phone call direct to them from the villages or even a story about 5 Bulgarian nurses who according to the BBC are guilty of the crimes the Libyans say they are. Now contrast that with any plumber in the dock in America, Britain or even Israel. Then they are accused of alleged crimes. Tell me Matt why is the BBC able to present only both sides of the story when the victims are those who rally against our democratic way of life. Yet when those so called victims are the aggressors then one side is shown.
Yes the BBC is banned from Zimbabwe, not because of its reporting but rather because Bob hates all things British. But has the BBC made it quite plain just why the people of Zimbabwe are such dire straights?
Not at all. The last article from the BBC that delved in depth about the worsening state of Zimbabwe was this one;
Zimbabwe crisis ‘threatens lives’
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo Pius Ncube says the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe has reached “life-threatening proportions”. He accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of not taking responsibility for the deepening crisis.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6288038.stm
The BBC states that Mugabe is accused for the present state of Zimbabwe.
Yet how does the BBC end that article;
“Mr Mugabe blames the worsening economic crisis on a Western plot to remove him from power.”
So according to the BBC, Mugabe is only accused, but he can blame. Tell me MATT of you were a 13 year old child reading that news article what impression would you glean from that report? That maybe Mugabe is a victim of western imperialism. Yes you as an adult can make up your own mind. However for the thousands of people who can’t , what about them? The BBC has a remit to report the news with facts. Crying out that they are banned from Zimbabwe doesn’t give them a get out of jail card when they are caught out reporting half the story.
pounce | 25.07.07 – 12:58 pm
I think you need to reconsider your ‘half the story’ approach.
Not every story can contain its own context and background while staying at a reasonable length.
The very fact that you cite the Pius Ncube story proves the BBC is presenting a range of perspectives.
Here’s the operative section of the BBC’s impartiality guidelines:
Impartiality is described in the Agreement as “due impartiality”. It requires us to be fair and open minded when examining the evidence and weighing all the material facts, as well as being objective and even handed in our approach to a subject. It does not require the representation of every argument or facet of every argument on every occasion or an equal division of time for each view.
Mr Reith
The book i am currently reading is;
The Art of Maneuver by Robert leonhard
One of the chapters deals with the Psychology of war in which;
Page 30
“Defeat is essentially a psychological phenomenon, rather than a quantifiable “body count” The BBC with its anti western POV contributes more to the downfall of our way of life than 10 Taliban armies could ever achieve.
The BBC isn’t impartial no matter how many times they try to tell me they are. But then you do work for them.
I’m currently reading “Future Jihad” by Walid Phares.
Phares description of how jihadists are attacking us from within by infiltrating our universities and media, fit the BBC to a T.
There should be a health warning upon entering the BBC website: “Articles within may cause severe whiplash.”
In the second paragraph of this story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6915976.stm
the BBC writes:
The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers’ visit is the first on behalf of the 22-state Arab League, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel.
17 paragraphs later, the BBC finally admits that the Arab League has utterly disowned the visit:
But Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa stressed the ministers were not representing the organisation. “They are not acting under the banner of the Arab League. They are not going on behalf of the Arab League nor have they been sent as delegates by the Arab League.”
AnyonebutBrown | 25.07.07 – 10:58 am |
I had on BBC Parliament TV and listened to the National Security Statement this afternoon, I was listening, not watching. Gordon Brown in full flow and not talking about the economy is quite new, he is a powerful orator, but I was astonished at the number of errors he made within only a few minutes of talking:
“…their vigilism(sic) errhm vigilence”
Responding to John Reid,
“the former Foreig….errhm Home Secretary”
And a reference to “Terraments…errhm Terrorists”
It struck me if the BBC is paying attention to these, let us politely call them “Brownisms”, and if BBC journalists and comedy mafia will soon be given us funny examples, as they loved doing and so enjoyed for George Bush? Somehow I don’t think the BBC will be doing this; as you correctly state the BBC message is “workmanlike” , “doing a good job” etc. Any attempt at ridicule is somehow out of place.
Oh and can anybody tell me then what GB means by:
“The great issue of our generation” is?
Does it have anything to do with Terraments and the unmentionable “War on Terror”?
PM this afternoon (Wed) report on cameron and his “troubles” – segment of PMQs reported – cameron asking why Brown was refusing our promised referrendum.
This question was “Swatted”, to quote the BBC, by Brown (who didn’t answer the question) and we were then treated to the latest Labour “meme” – Asking the people is an “old tory” policy. Personally I thought that was the policy that the govt stood on as part of their most recent manifesto. You wouldn’t believe that from the coverage.
This was not direct bias, but bias by omission and by the deliberate reenforcement of the latest spin to issue from the government.
BBC – in love with the EU and all its little wizzards.
Personally I love the idea of “Brownisms” or perhaps “Brownies”, but there will never be a (BBC) comedy show built on this premise!
Of course, we all remember the bazillion trails for all the ‘right on’ BBC programmes. (Do they still call it ‘right on’? Or is that a throwback to the 80s and every student union being called ‘Mandela Hall’?)
Not that I watch that often, but when I have had it on recently, it was all save the planet blahblah.
Then we have the Top Gear special. The programme that gets the highest ratings (I think, without checking) on BBC2. How many trails did I see for it? One.
Now, admittedly I don’t watch much TV, but the bits I did seems to try and gloss over this excellent show, that the B-BBC always have loathed.
I love it. My children love it. The Beeb hate it. So decided not to advertise it.
Or so it seems. Do they deliberately ignore their best shows, trying to make sure no one watches them?
Oh, and the polar special was ace.
monitoring the surge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6906499.stm
They should have updated their graphs they haven’t yet. Have they waited so that they can include the causalties of today?
Can anybody explain why this is the top story on the BBC Scotland page
MoD confirms £3.8bn carrier order
But it doesn’t figure anywhere on England news? (at 25 July 2007, 21:37 GMT 22:37 UK)
Why does the BBC think that this is only important news for Scotland when clearly it is important for Portsmouth too? I wonder? Why should news be distributed through the UK in this way?
Why do I have to go to BBC Scotland to read about what Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the leader of Portsmouth City Council, has said?
BBC bias or incompetence?
Yes, Top Gear was good last night (Wed) – but watch it again when it gets repeated, and this time keep at the back of your mind recent ‘fraudulent’ behaviour at the BBC. Were they really ‘running on fumes’ just before finishing? How often were they ‘alone’? How much had Toyota paid for such gushing coverage? Exactly how much of the programme (great entertainment, it’s true) was really what it was claimed to be? Very little, I think. No real harm done in this case, but it all seems awfully familiar.
When is an apology not really an apology? When it comes from BBC News.
The BBC has apologised to the Treasury over a recent Newsnight report on Gordon Brown.
BBC director of news, Helen Boaden, said today that the corporation has written to the Treasury to make an apology about a film which shadowed Mr Brown last month while he was still chancellor.
“We’ve not apologised to the prime minister because the complaint didn’t come from him. It came from the Treasury and we’ve apologised to the Treasury,” Ms Boaden told the Lords communications committee in London…
After the Lords committee hearing, a BBC news spokeswoman said the apology Ms Boaden had been talking about was “not a formal apology”.
“It’s an apology but not a formal apology. Helen was referring to the letter sent to the Treasury, in response to their complaint, which said Newsnight was sorry if Belshan Izzet felt she had been treated unfairly,” said the spokeswoman.
According to the BBC, the letter from Newsnight editor Peter Barron to the Treasury stated: “I’m sorry you felt the film was unfair to her [Ms Izzet] but we don’t agree viewers perceive the film in the way you suggest.”
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2134538,00.html
So, the BBC puts out a misleading film, refuses to accept it’s misleading, offers a weasel non-apology, the head of news tells Parliament an apology has been made, and then the BBC later clarifies that it wasn’t really an apology at all. That’s one hell of a strategy to win back the public’s trust.
Is it Viva La Revolución month at the BBC?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6286890.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6903228.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6914265.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/americas_cuban_stories/html/1.stm
Compare Michael Voss’s flattering description of the Cuban electoral process with the Human Rights Watch analysis.
Luis M Garcia at Child of the Revolution: “There is growing discontent about low wages, high prices, shocking public transport and huge inequalities among the general populace. But not, it seems, among those supposedly ordinary Cubans who get interviewed for publication by foreign correspondents.”
Its clear that the BBC only cares about having the trust of people that have the power to destroy it. In a normal business that would be its customers.
In the business of authoratarian socialist state propagander, the government is indirectly and very often DIRECTLY the only customer that counts.
HOWEVER
Lets not fool ourselves the BBC is very bad indeed, but Sky and others are not much better. Sometimes even worse, if that was possible? Sadly it is possible to be almost infinitely worse.
A government controlled corporate state liecenced funded TV service is only slightly more ‘crap’ then a government controlled corporate commercially funded TV service.
The answer is in the immidiate and complete deregulation of the broadcast media in the UK and hopefully the rest of Europe.
Murdoch has to dance to the politicians tune to be able to broadcast at all. Believe me if Gordon Brown wanted Sky to make a later day “Triamph Of The Will” for our current wonderfully perfect Leader, they would without delay.
The BBC these days does not wait to be asked to make obvious state power worshipping propagander, when THEIR party are in power. Whenever The BBCs employees think they can get away with it, is enough of a reason for “Goebells spiritual grandchildren” to say or do just about anything they choose to.
What we think, or write on here or anywhere other then a polling booth makes no difference to the BBC WHATSOEVER.
PLEASE REMEMBER
NONE WHATSOEVER AT ALL
I would even go as far as to say that if the BBC read this site in any seriousness at all. It is only to give them clues as to know how to really wind us up.
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2007/07/jeremy-hunt-questions-future-of-bbc.html#links
Jeremy Hunt Questions Future of BBC Licence Fee
Jeremy Hunt: I think if they don’t sort this out very very quickly then yes, we will in the next few years be going back into the debate about whether the licence fee can be justified. There are voices that say in a multi-platform, multi-channel age the BBC should be a subscription service that you should be able to opt-in to, not be forced to pay the licence fee for and the justification of the licence fee is that the BBC does things that the market alone won’t provide.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6916654.stm
I complained to the BBC about the title of the story above, and within hours (minutes even) I had had a response, and they had altered the headline from “Students who overstepped the mark” to “students who descended into extremism”.
I was shocked at the speed of the response and lack of prevarication.
Perhaps a rocket has been applied to certain BBC posteriors?
Here’s hoping
Jonathan
In a report today about 60 Taleban killed in Afghanistan, the BBC report:
“”The statement claims no civilians were killed during the battle, but local people told a BBC reporter that most of the dead were women and children. ”
But according to Reuters:
“”The Taliban, who are leading an insurgency against the government and foreign troops, could not be reached for comment and because of the remoteness of the region there was no independent verification of the report.
Two residents phoned a Reuters reporter in the south to say that 17 people, 16 of them civilians, were killed in the bombing.”
Now it could be the BBC got the same phone call but they imply their reporter was there.
This raises the questions, did the BBC get a call, if the area is too remote to get to how do these people have phones, why are they phoning several media outlets and does “local resident” mean Taleban?
Typical BBC jihadist water carrying.
http://ussneverdock.blogspot.com/2007/07/taleban-fighters-dead-in-clashes.html
“It is, to say the least, unusual in Britain to interview a convicted felon about his crime before he has even been sentenced. Nobody explained why the authorities had permitted an exception in this case, but the Today program gave its prime breakfast time slot at 8:10 a.m. to one of the students, in order that he might explain why the jury had been wrong to convict him. The student was handled very gently by the interviewer, a Muslim woman, who seemed to assume that he was just a kid who had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd. The interviewer did not challenge the student’s claim that he had not actually seen or read the violent material, including terrorism manuals, found on his computer. Unfortunately for the BBC, the young man did not quite follow its script: he insisted that he still believed he had a duty to fight those who “invaded Muslim lands.”
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/contentions/index.php/johnson/712
Newsnight’s ‘main’ story is a hit peice on David Cameron. Obviously nothing else to report then.
Interesting article in today’s Times.
You can almost feel Al Beeb squirming on reading it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2148187.ece
The BBC, its hatred of Israel and padding out a story.
Israeli military suspends company
The Israeli military has suspended from duty an entire army company following the shooting of an unarmed Palestinian man in the West Bank on Thursday. The army said the soldiers, on a foot patrol near Hebron, had commandeered a Palestinian taxi and had shot a man who had come near them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6918936.stm
So how big is a company (Squadron in a Corps)
Well Wiki says between 60-200
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_(military_unit)
Personal experience points to above 120 men.
So how many men have the Israeli army actually suspended?
Israeli army suspends 6 soldiers
http://www.adn.com/24hour/world/story/3667509p-13042818c.html
The Israeli army suspended an officer and five soldiers involved in wounding a Palestinian man in the southern West Bank and put all of their unit’s operational duties on hold, the military said Friday.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/27/africa/ME-GEN-Israel-Palestinians-Soldiers-Suspended.php
6 men as opposed to around the 100 the BBC promotes of wrong doing.
The BBC, its hatred of Israel and padding out a story.