Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7204455.stm
Many, many things wrong with this analysis. But the line:
“Whoever made that basic blunder proved, at a stroke, that the opposition leader is entirely unfamiliar with Britain’s rich cultural heritage.”
Is just revolting. It’s the sort of comment you’d expect to come straight from a Labour spin doctor, but more to the point, when has the BBC shown any admiration for the richness of British cultural heritage? Apart from why we should all love the Muslim bits, that is…
JR: “BBC wasn’t biased yesterday, and it wasn’t biased in 2006 or any time in between”.
But was it biased when the Balen report was written?
Perdita 12.47
I am not part of any group or influenced by anyone but myself. But if there is an organisation devoted to redressing the imbalance then good luck to them and I hope they have better luck in future than they’ve had so far.
MattLondon 1.18
I disagree with most of what you have written. “people who live in…” I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at, do you mean they are not “followers” but just happen to live there?– but people usually come up with the argument that Gazans voted “democratically” for Hamas, which is of course to ignore the fact that their choice was between a rock and a hard place so in some ways I agree with you but not in the way you intended. If you see what I mean.
The rest of your post demonstrates the BBC’s pernicious influence.
Sarah-Jane
Your comments are so sarky. I love it when people accuse me of having a political agenda, as you did, and John Reith’s work-experience apprentice, Joel did on an earlier thread.
You flatter me. All I am doing, something that you don’t like, is supporting Israel and pointing out BBC bias.
Also, I did say earlier that I thought things had started to improve, but that was yesterday and now I’m not so sure. But I can assure you that’s all I ask.
There was an excellent interview on BBC Scotland radio yesterday. They were interviewing an Israeli spokesman about the blockade of Gaza, and the interviewer kept using words like “collective punishment” and “plight”, but the Israeli spokesman responded excellently. I’m paraphrasing:
“The lifting of the blockade will be contingent on a number of factors including the number of continued rocket attacks, as well as the humanitarian situation in Gaza as we do not want a humanitarian crisis. If you want to give a properly balanced report of the situation, perhaps you should ask about the hardships of the people of Sdirot? A rocket landed on a nursery the other day and only the grace of God stopped 30 children from being killed. That doesn’t seem to be of any concern to you….”
Still, props to the BBC for allowing an accusation of Bias to actually be broadcast.
Andy | 23.01.08 – 9:31 am |
Gaza blockade: Your reaction:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/7201304.stm
The BBC is still implying the blockade is all to do with Israel and nothing to do with Hamas-inspired violence.
But great to read plenty of views from the other side of the coin as well. A breath of fresh air.
Looks like they don’t want any more comments. I wonder why? Too bad the bums at the BBC forgot to mention Egypt anywhere. Still, it does seem that in their attempt to get some vox populi that proved their assumptions (nasty Israel, most Brits are Pally supporters) correct, the BBC got another earful instead. Another misguided attempt to control thought gone bust.
Cassandra | 23.01.08 – 1:14 pm |
And of course it ignores those islands that are on the Ring of Fire and are actually sinking due to plate tectonics – the land, in those cases, is going down, the sea is not rising.
God, give me strength…
Three Little Pigs ‘too offensive’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7204635.stm
oink oink!
Norman Geras write about how liberal editorialists are treating Gaza – but it also applies to much BBC editorialising (sorry, that should be reporting).
http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2008/01/sderot-gaza-and.html
Radio 5 Live Simon Mayo. A piece on jokes.
“Oh we all enjoy making fun of George Bush”
Hahahahahahahah!!!!
Excuse me, I pay my licence fee and I don’t.
John Reith | 23.01.08 – 11:08 am |
There seems to be a bit of hypocrisy going on here. When Egypt
DID open the crossing for the pilgrims in December, people here at Biased-BBC were indignant that this was breaking existing agreements with Israel.
Well, technically, we can be angry if the Egyptians are letting people through their own border, and still be angry that the BBC doesn’t mention Egypt’s responsibility. Egypt is a sovereign nation, and is not in thrall to Israel. They have their own reasons to secure that border, and the BBC should recognize that the parties involved actually think Egypt bears responsibility for their border.
Sure, you can say Egypt is only appeasing Israel in this instance because it wants the billions of dollars Uncle Sam sends them. The US is controlled by Israel (or vise versa, depending on your belief system), so of course the US is really forcing Egypt to do this behind the scenes. Maybe that is the groupthink in the halls of the BBC (not an official editorial policy, just great minds thinking alike). That would go a long way to explain their coverage. But the people actually involved don’t seem to bother with that. They hold Egypt accountable.
In any event, the US isn’t using the money to bribe Egypt into maintaining a seige forever. That doesn’t make sense. They just agree with Israel that it’s not good for things to go on as they were. You know, things like Egyptian soldiers helping to smuggle weapons. That’s what the $100 million dollar carrot is supposed to discourage. Not what’s going on now.
The BBC has managed to find a handful of people that have decided that British banks are to blame for the current financial turmoil:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7203810.stm
Quite an achievement when you consider that the rest of the blogosphere, including the BBC’s own HaveYourSay, has blamed Gordon Brown.
Cassandra: I saw the report on Tuvalu and was shocked. It was just one big lie from beginning to end. A more balanced report can actually be found on the BBC website itself!
“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says it expects global sea levels to rise by between 20 and 90 cm this century, and to rise further after that.
If it proves right, the consequences could be severe not only for island states like Tuvalu, but also for low-lying countries like Bangladesh, which is predicted to lose about 17% of its land to the sea.
The IPCC represents a broad scientific consensus on climate change. But some scientists say our understanding of climate processes is still far too rudimentary to be certain that a problem exists.
They argue that natural climate variability may explain what is happening, and that human activities may be making little or no difference.
A recent reassessment of historical tide-gauge data in the central Pacific found no acceleration in the rise in sea levels.
Pacific-wide sea levels were found to be rising at an average rate of about 0.8 millimetres per year. This trend has been measured using only those recording stations with hourly data stretching back more than 25 years.”
Source (2001):-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1581457.stm
Heresy !!!!!!
But Al Beeb would argue since 2001, the amount of C02 pumped about by man, has caused the acceleration of the most catastrophic effects of man induced global warming, to now threaten the little Atols.
😉
Ritter:
God, give me strength…
Three Little Pigs ‘too offensive’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/educa…ion/ 7204635.stm
oink oink!
Ritter | 23.01.08 – 3:56 pm | #
PC gone mad – and as there ere NO comments in the article saying why the judge’s decision is a good one, we might reasonably believe the writer thinks this too.
So – this must be an example of good bias?
Alan:
Alan – thank you for commenting on our ‘improvements’. License-fee payers country-wide will be overjoyed at the news of your approval.
Sarah-Jane | 23.01.08 – 2:16 pm |
People were complaining that there is never a good word. When I mention the improvement, your response is sarcasm.
How come?
Alan | 23.01.08 – 2:42 pm | #
I don’t come here looking for compliments 🙂 And heaven help any beeboid foolish enough to do so.
Your motivation eludes me though? You are not forced to pay for it, if you pay for it as part of a bundle, then you dont have to pay for it or be threatened with gaol, if you don’t pay for it – why not just turn it off?
I can see why license-fee payers who have issues with our output have a case that needs answering, although they seem to be getting fewer and fewer in numbers here today (perhaps they are all at bbc-biased.blogspot.com hur hur) but others’ motivation intrigues me.
Still, at least you keep the site stats up eh?
It is warm in China so it must be GW.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7178342.stm
It is also cold in China so it must be ….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7201696.stm
JR, Sarah-Jane, perdita
You seem to imply that all supporters of Israel are somehow part of some vast PR campaign.
I don’t have any “insidious messages” in my inbox, and I don’t need anyone to tell me how biased the BBC is, on many issues.
You are making another mistake by assuming that Islamists, like Hamas, Hezbullah or Iranian government are not capable of successful PR stunts, as can be seen from the latest Al-Jazeera footage, British sailors kidnapping by Iran, the “Jenin Massacre”, Al-Durah, etc.
In fact I would say that your presumption of the Muslim world being all grassroots angry and not having sophisticated PR and political agendas is a bit racist, and Britain has already payed for it in blood.
Maybe because I come from the Communist world, I have a better feeling of exactly how spontaneous those Danish cartoon protests really were, for example. People were probably bussed to the Danish embassies to “spontaneously” protest.
Not to mention, that they were explicitly told to do so by their Imams. Do you think there are refusniks in madrassas when something like that is happening in the streets.
That was just as spontaneous as those Hamas women marching on Egyptian border guards, with their men hiding armed from behind.
JR, has expressed in the past that he sympathizes with the cuddly, sophisticated “electronic intifada crowd”, as he calls them. His terminology in many cases, his quotes, his readily available list of Jews in power through the ages, etc. all suggest where a lot of his sources are coming from. Him accusing other posters of being disingenuous and belonging to some vast manipulation effort is ridiculous.
That’s fine, though, and I don’t think JR represents the BBC at all.
In fact I think he is much more honest and straight forward about where he stands.
Finally, on the Palestinian issue. I don’t think Israel is always right, far from it.
However, I see Palestinian misery much more of their own doing than Israel’s.
Given the amount of money pumped into it, Gaza could have been a prosperous seaside region by now, since Israel left. After Israel left the borders were wide open, many Israeli companies were opening businesses in cooperation with Gazans. Today the financial loss alone from the collapse of these is in hundreds of millions.
Gaza could have been a calming example that Israel can pull out from the West Bank without missiles being fired at Tel-Aviv. But it is not. Doesn’t matter, BBC says, Israelis are grown ups – they can stomach daily rocket attacks from Gaza and still bring the same people firing from there to 10km from Tel-Aviv when they pull out from the West Bank. Right?
There have been many BBC’s guilt-ridden rantings about how Israel and Britain contributed to today’s Palestinian misery, half a century ago.
But how about Khaled Mashal living in luxury in Damascus and instructing to fire rockets on Sderot. Or Iran training Hamas members supposedly on a Hajj.
This is happening now! A new set of sanctions was approved in Berlin against Iran yesterday. We will maybe never know whether there was a connection to the latest upsurge in violence and rocket attacks from Gaza. Right?
But, from that new documentary, we will know everything about how Britain and by extension Israel screwed the entire middle east and failed to create on pan-Arabic state as per Lawrence’s vision.
Sarah-Jane
Your comments are so sarky. I love it when people accuse me of having a political agenda….
…All I am doing, something that you don’t like, is supporting Israel Sue | 23.01.08 – 3:17 pm | #
My own thoughts on the Israel/Palestinian question would surprise you. So as usual with B-BBC groupthink you make assumptions about things you cannot possibly know. But then groupthink dictates that all Beeboids must be anti-Semites and tha does tend to make me just a little bit cross, so let’s not go there.
So, if supporting Israel is not ‘political’ what would be a political agenda then?
🙂
“You are making another mistake by assuming that Islamists, like Hamas, Hezbullah or Iranian government are not capable of successful PR stunts, ”
Gosh, I hadn’t thought of that either. Thanks for letting us know Anon. We will tip off our contacts at the FO and MI5/6 to make sure they understand too.
Sara-Jane 4.50
“My own thoughts on the Israel/Palestinian question would surprise you.”
Surprise me.
“So as usual with B-BBC groupthink you make assumptions about things you cannot possibly know.”
SarahJane yet again showing how she can not possibly know us as we know many things about Israel and Gaza that she cannot base don our personal experience and links and making assumptions about B-BBC groupthink – the very thing she accuses us of.
And all the time she is rather sarky with it.
Would that explain why people ignore you S-J?
Engage and debate – don’t make people switch off before you’ve started making your case!
John Reith
Yes I will give you your point that you did link to some items about Rafah and EU-BAM(pots). The articles last week did not however show the same spirit of openness regarding who controls Rafah. I am delighted that the BBC are at last pointing out things about Gaza albeit they forget to mention the hordes of men pushing the women into the arms of the Border Guards from Egypt…that was an important point which SHOULD have been made.
I am also pleased to see that more people have pointed out that when the BBC do it right ie with balance and giving all the facts from both sides then we are happy as bugs in a sandbag.
Five live.Mayo’s ‘Show’
A debate on the police protest in London.Invited guests included three MPs.A Libdem,a Conservative and Labour.Oh good!I thought.An interesting debate coming up.
Mayo “What do you all feel about the police action?
Libdem..I support them
Conservative..I support them
Labour..I support them.
And that was it.No hard hitting questions.No heated debate.Nothing!
Next..
A discussion on what makes us laugh.Invited guests?A Scotsman,an Englishman,an Irishman?No.We had a German,a Bush hating American,a Yorkshireman and,wait for it,a female Iranian standup comedian.Their favourite joke turned out to be one about George Bush because.”We all like making fun of George Bush” and “we’ll all be sad when he goes as we will have nobody to take the mickey out of”.
Next..
Jack Nicholson’s comments on the death of Heath Ledger.The highlight being a joke about how everyone had written Hilary Clinton off and were now eating their words.Nothing to do with Ledger’s death!
Nonstop subversive drivel!!!
“all Beeboids must be anti-Semites and tha does tend to make me just a little bit cross, so let’s not go there”
Yes, but “supporters of Israel” are not supposed to become “just a little cross” when BBC claims that most Israelis are racists.
The poll was unscientific by a very biased organization led by Sami Michael (self declared communist), yet it was made a top news item by the BBC for an entire day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7136068.stm
Also, don’t you think that JR has the same effect on the other members on this board, pushing them ad-hitlerum (as per Godwin’s Law)?
So, if supporting Israel is not ‘political’ what would be a political agenda then?
Is supporting Britain political?
If it is about Britain’s right to exist in peace than no – it is not political?
Just like it is not political to support Palestinian rights to freedom and dignity, correct?
It depends what does “support for Israel” mean, I guess.
But according to a *part* of the BBC’s output, Israel is an illegitimate construct that should not exist. This has been demonstrated on this board. No, that is not political. That is incitement.
Reith or Gregory.Please let me hear your explanations for a disgusting comment made by the female outside presenter covering the police protest on ‘Drive’ at 4.15 this afternoon.Describing several policemen on a ‘Duckbus’,she stated “They look stupid”.How dare this little ******* upstart ridicule our police.Would she have said the same if it were a Muslim march?
Gosh, I hadn’t thought of that either. Thanks for letting us know Anon. We will tip off our contacts at the FO and MI5/6 to make sure they understand too.
Sarah-Jane | 23.01.08 – 4:53 pm |
MI5/6 do understand it perfectly well, hence their warnings to the public.
BBC on the other hand is in denial.
Sue:
Sara-Jane 4.50
“My own thoughts on the Israel/Palestinian question would surprise you.”
Surprise me.
Sue | 23.01.08 – 5:00 pm | #
That I even mention it should make that obvious, but it’s not something I report on, so don’t worry about bias creeping in.
davet – I am not talking about people’s knowledge of facts pertaining to issues – I am talking about how nearly everyone here *knows* how we at the beeb vote, how we are anti-Zionist/anti-Semitic, how we all read the Guardian, how we all spend our evening’s at dinner parties in Islington, how we are all dhimmis etc.
This is the groupthink of which I speak.
You were in the army? Presumably people have a load of wrong ideas about how British Army bods MUST think that get on your wick?
I dont mind it when it comes from people who are part of the unique way the BBC is funded, they have something to get worked up about it. But when the groupthink accusations come from people here to push an overt political agenda from overseas, then sarcasm may not achieve much as a response, but makes one feel rather better.
cheers
Samuel Coates on the inadequacy of the BBC’s response to serious concerns about its pro-Palestinian bias (from conservative home)
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2008/01/the-beebs-bias.html
apologies if old..
Sarah Jane:
Why claim in such a smug, self-satisfied way that your thoughts on Israel/Palestine are so different, and yet you haven’t the courage to explain what they are.
Perhaps all you Beeboids don’t do dinner parties in Islington, but one thing you all do is universally refuse to contradict the BBC agenda just in case you get shoved off the gravy train.
Best not to reveal a personal opinion on anything eh Sarah Jane, just in case your employees are reading.
BBC overkill on what the British MUST do ( in accordance with the European Union’s new rules on renewable energy ), on ‘Radio 5 Live’ this afternoon, with 2 ‘anchors’ and one extra, i.e. the EU’s uncritical messenger, Mr. R. Harribin.
There was no dissenting note at all:
1.) no questioning of the claims of climate change, man-made or otherwise;
2.) no reminder that the UK has the highest petrol and diesel taxes in Europe;
3.) no criticism of the cost or limitation in efficiency of building thousands more wind-farms;
4.) no mention of nuclear power;
5.) no suggestion that the E.U. is over-riding UK national sovereignty.
6.) no reasoning that putting up UK costs will make industry less economically competitive against less self-flagellating economies in the world.
http://renewenergy.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/brussels-to-unveil-eu-green-strategy-amid-strong-criticism/
But when the groupthink accusations come from people here to push an overt political agenda from overseas, then sarcasm may not achieve much as a response, but makes one feel rather better.
cheers
Sarah-Jane | 23.01.08 – 5:32 pm |
“overseas” has little impact in the age of the Internet, as any Jihadi learning how to make a bomb can testify. BBC reach is far beyond the shores of Britain.
If this board, called “Biased BBC”, is only about the license fee, I won’t post here ever again.
Anyone – is it about the license fee alone? Is it about bringing examples of bias, and explaining it? Can non-license fee paying people attend? I am asking seriously?
As I think I mentioned before, I was able to cancel my subscription to the BBC World…
Sarah-Jane if you claim that you are nothing like the stereotype being portrayed on this board. I am with you. I have met BBC techies (some high ranking as well) at the NAB last year. They were all very cool, and I mentioned it on this board. I cannot testify about the others, but BBC’s output is not cool at all, IMHO!
But, know this also Sarah-Jane, I have met many Israelis, and they are nothing like the stereotype BBC is
portraying them to be, either.
While you might lose your job, they will lose their lives or country due to this stereotyping.
BBC’s portrayal of Israel as Goliath is only because BBC is isolating the Palestinians and Israelis from the entire world, and even at that it is not truthful. Israelis do not feel as safe for their future when tomorrow Hezbollah or Hamas can put nerve gas in one of those missiles. Their most sophisticated hi-tech weapons are of little use if they are not willing to carpet bomb Gaza to stop the rockets.
They cannot even make themselves cut the other 70% of the power they provide to Gaza, even though it is used to manufacture missiles used to kill them. Quite a predicament right?
Nasrallah’s recent merchandising in body parts is from another era. The fact that he has a knife would be scary if you had him on your Northern borders, let alone 250km range missiles he possesses.
Constant mobbing of Israel in the UN is not making Israelis feel warm and fuzzy either. Guardian and the rest often quote the number of resolutions against Israel, but not who exactly pushed or voted for them. Ever wondered why? The sole permanent item on the UN Human Rights agenda is Israel.
BBC to replace local newspapers with ultra local minisites…
Shudder at this from Press Gazette
A prototype of a new ultralocal BBC website has been unveilled by BBC Controller of English Regions Andy Griffee during a lecture at Coventry University.
The BBC’s plans for ultralocal news have long been seen as controversial. Regional newspaper publishers have feared that licence-fee funded local news online could threaten the development of an online commercial model for regional newspapers.
Plans for ultra local television were scrapped in October as part of the corporation’s restructuring.
At the time, it was suggested that the Corporation would instead focus on localised, a personalised online service known as MyNewsNow, which had been announced in July..
Griffee refused to reveal the name of the proposed website, but gave his audience a glimpse of what can be expected if given the go-ahead by the BBC Trust.
Under the plans outlined by Griffee, 60 websites will be launched covering the BBC’s regions in Britain and Northern Ireland, including 40 in England.
Griffee demonstrated how text, audio and video news could be navigated using a map of a specified region.
The prototype covers news, sport, travel and weather with symbols providing user’s the main means of navigating between sections of the site.
“E-democracy” will also enable people to research politicians and political parties via more interactive and informative means.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3238615.ece
Funny how THIS Egyptian wall which is in parts much bigger than the Israeli FENCE never gets a mention…..
Hamas have spent MONTHS cutting the supporting posts with welders before blowing 12km of it down in a night. IS that not an act of WAR? What if anything will people say about this or are they too busy complaining about the Iraeli fence/security wall.
Funny how THIS Egyptian wall which is in parts much bigger than the Israeli FENCE never gets a mention…..
dave t | 23.01.08 – 6:22 pm | #
Not only is it bigger, but much of it was built in 48′, when Egypt controlled Gaza. Wonder why? But, Egypt, being an Arab country is beyond reproach by modern relativists.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ tol…icle3238615.ece
dave t | 23.01.08 – 6:22 pm | #
Yup – Egypt is allowed to defend itself from Gaza by a huge wall, but Israel is not.
The whole Times story and Al-Jazeera footage from earlier today, also clearly shows that this whole stunt has been in preparation for months.
Nice. Gaza should belong to Egypt, I heard, that Gazans speak Arabic in an Egyptian dialect as opposed to Palestinians in the West Bank. They have little to do with their West Bank “brothers”.
While people fret about their mortgage payments, worry about the diminishing size of their pensions, and how they are going to pay for next weeks shopping, it’s good to know that the Beeb has come up with an answer to all of our financial woes:
Sharia Banking.
Yes indeed, according to the Jeremy Vine radio programme, (BBC Radio 2) if only we placed our money into the sharia banking system, said their guest, it would end the “volatility” of the money markets.
What’s next in their running order…. “How to end UK crime wave…introduce Sharia law!”
You really really really could not make this stuff up. It goes way beyond parody.
Sarah-Jane
“My own thoughts on the Israel/Palestinian question would surprise you.”
“That I even mention it should make that obvious, but it’s not something I report on, so don’t worry about bias creeping in.”
Still haven’t a clue what you are about. I’ve never been good at mind-reading.
So what are your thoughts on this topic then? Feel free to prove how wrong we all are in our groupthink.
Grimly
Don’t mock.
HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic banking division of the HSBC Group, and was established in 1998 with the aim of making HSBC the leading provider of Islamic banking worldwide.
http://www.hsbcamanah.com/1/2/hsbc-amanah/about-us
Sue:
MattLondon 1.18
I disagree with most of what you have written. “people who live in…” I’m not quite sure what you’re getting at, do you mean they are not “followers” but just happen to live there?– but people usually come up with the argument that Gazans voted “democratically” for Hamas, which is of course to ignore the fact that their choice was between a rock and a hard place so in some ways I agree with you but not in the way you intended. If you see what I mean.
The basic point was the dishonest/ distinction in the words you used. If you really don’t understand it try reading Robert H Thouless’s “Straight and Crooked Thinking”. You will find it a valuable experience.
The rest of your post demonstrates the BBC’s pernicious influence.
The bulk of my postings over the last two years since I started contributing to BBBC are firmly critical of the BBC. Objectivity, however, requires me to be critical of critics who are objecting not so much to the BBC being biassed but to it’s not being biassed the way they want it to be. On the Middle East “issue”, while I certainly accept that there is clear anti-Israel bias (and like others I’d love to see the Balen report) I think that many of the critics seem to be wanting the Beeb to be following an agenda suits them rather than no agenda at all.
And my views being evidence of my being influenced by the BBC’s pernicious influence? No – wishful thinking on your part. My professional career over some decades required me to operate with objectivity in a politcal environment and bosses of different political persuasions seemed to be satisfied with my ability to do it. I know my own views and cetainly don’t give the media much weght – let alone the BBC which in genral I do regard as biassed and pursuing what in the UK we’d call a left/liberal agenda. Mmy views on the middle east are based on a pretty broad scan of the international media – but also on the views of a number of trusted friends with first hand experince of Israel and the palestine territories over many years.
Hmm, well, let’s just say that Israel’s aggressive defence of its ‘borders’ won’t have me reaching for my human rights handbook.
Back at home I am more in favour of lower taxation than state intervention, with the exception of the NHS. Crikey!
As for the gravy train, signed myself off it a long time ago, but still do the odd freelance bit and have the pass and logon so am ‘Beeboid’ as far as you lot are concerned.
And funnily enough do my best to put the view’s to one side and do my job as impartially as possible, just like my colleagues do with theirs. Whatever they may be.
Best not to reveal a personal opinion on anything eh Sarah Jane, just in case your employees are reading.
You must have missed my many posts where I express the view that the license fee is an anachronism and has no real place in the 21st Century.
But I guess it would require an open mind to think that people on the gravy train might think that eh?
Above post is reply to:
Best not to reveal a personal opinion on anything eh Sarah Jane, just in case your employees are reading.
The People’s Front of Judea | 23.01.08 – 6:11 pm | #
Assume you meant employers btw – employees couldnt have given a toss what I thought – all loofty pooftahs!
Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 and ‘Islamic Banking’:
I suggest a closer study of Timur Kuran’s book, “Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism”
(publisher: Princeton University Press).
For more details and extracts:-
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7731.html
In relation to the BBC radio article about Sharia banking as I’ve mentioned several times here, the BBC has a rather liberal “rosy” view of Islamic customs.
To Sharia banking, add the recent BBC programme on the merits of Sharia law and how great it is for women along with the brilliant (not) “Arrange me marriage” or should that be “Force me into a marriage”
In both bases the BBC painted these values as good.
What next? A BBC programme on the best Islamic suicide bomb?
martin writes: “In relation to the BBC radio article about Sharia banking as I’ve mentioned several times here, the BBC has a rather liberal “rosy” view of Islamic customs.”
They read out an e-mail on the Vine programme from a woman who sounded like – from what she wrote – a typical hand-wringing white middle class guardian reader.
She wrote something along the lines of “I am really interested in sharia banking, but as I am a woman, can I just walk into a sharia bank and pick up a leaflet, or will I offend them because I am female?”
Even Jeremy Vine could hardly contain his sniggers at that one.
Sarah-Jane 5.32
“So, if supporting Israel is not ‘political’ what would be a political agenda then?”
Is calling for unbiased reporting about Israel a political agenda? No.
Is biased reporting about Israel a political agenda? Probably.
The way you label my support for Israel as ‘your political agenda’ in that disparaging manner implies that supporting Israel is bad per se.
Once again: It does not mean: ‘Everything Israel does is right’ and it does not mean: ‘ I have no sympathy with the plight of the Pals.’
Re your comments about motivation 4.24.
As Bryan said on an earlier thread in response to an earlier comment from you asking ‘why are you bothered when you don’t pay the license fee?’
“Yes, I pay for it all right and I’ve been paying for a long time. I pay for it by seeing prejudiced BBC hacks turn people against me and mine by means of their pernicious propaganda and their twisting of the truth through omission and distortion of facts.”
Precisely.
Sue | 23.01.08 – 8:25 pm
You’re not married to Bryan by any chance?
John Reith:
Sue | 23.01.08 – 8:25 pm
“You’re not married to Bryan by any chance?”
Ha Ha
And You to Sarah-Jane??
MattLondon
Speaking for myself I do not want or have never called for a pro Israeli bias. All I want is acknowledgment by the BBC that their reports have an anti-Israel bias which they could rectify by properly understanding what is at the heart of the conflict.
My wishful thinking would be that the BBC would in future make sure their reporting could no longer influence the man in the street, or in your case the London omnibus, to regard Israel with an unbridled hatred that often extends to Jews as well. When describing Palestinian hardship they could think a bit harder about who bears responsibility.
At the same time I wish that they would not whitewash the threat Islam poses to us all.
There. That’s my wicked political agenda.
Sarah-Jane | 23.01.08 – 7:49 pm | #
Sarah-Jane,
As opposed to JR, you are an insider whose opinion does not seem to coincide with most of BBC’s output.
Would you mind shedding some light on whose opinion is it that skews BBC’s output that much?
Especially, I see a lot of “anonymous” articles on bbcnews site (i.e. not signed by an author).
These sometimes tend to be ridiculous. Sometimes tying sentences into knots in order to push an agenda.
Who is behind these “anonymous” articles at the BBC?
Young journalists in training?
What kind of editorial supervision do they have. Silent edits of these articles seem to be common.