A lot of people, including the (generally more junior) BBC journalists who sometimes visit this blog and take part in discussion, admire what one could call the “big beasts” of BBC journalism- people like Marr, Humphries, Simpson, and Mark Mardell. Urbane and intelligent, they are seen as figures of substance. That’s troublous to an outsider to this circle of admiration as they’re biased too.
Well, take a look at Mardell’s reaction to the Italian election [correction- have a look here. Thanks Max]. His first comments “With Italy’s elections complete, does the domination of the media by the political elite distort the debate, and will the internet change things?”
Coming from a “big beast” from within the unquestionable behemoth of British media, the hubris is comic.
But also clearly unfair when one thinks about it, however one may object to Silvio Berlusconi and his media empire. The first point is that this “empire” didn’t prevent Berlusconi losing power to Prodi two years ago. The second is that Berlusconi turned his narrow defeat into a victory by a 9% margin- quite a feat. The third is that Italians apparently made an historic sea change in their politics this election- they gave their communist party (a long-time political player) precisely no seat in either chamber. Wow. Oh, and the greens went too- analysis here.
So of course Mardell is at the front of the queue undermining the legitimacy of the Italian public’s choices by implying their thought processes were skewed. After more than ten years of Labour government, one might start to consider whether the status quo in the UK might have anything to do with the Labour-dominated BBC.
I sussed it, here is the apparent
reason the BBC has a bias view of Berlusconi
“one of Italy’s richest men and a fervent U.S. ally,
I don’t have a BBC Degree but I make BERLUSCONI THIRD richest man.
No. 68 Michele Ferrero & family Italy 11.0 billion us dollars
No. 77 Leonardo Del Vecchio Italy 72 billion Us Dollars
No. 90 Silvio Berlusconi & family Italy 71 Billion US Dollars
Source FORBES
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank_4.html
Google BBC Berlusconi and you get this as of todays date-
BBC Learning English11 Mar 2005 … The richest Italian is the
prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/2005/03/050311_richest.shtml –
BBC TurkishHaberlerle Ýngilizce, BBC haberlerindeki … The richest
Italian is the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi,…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkish/learningenglish/story/2005/03/050311_le_forbes.shtml –
BBC NEWS | Europe | Mr Berlusconi is Italy’s richest man,
commanding a vast business and media empire. …
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3107785.stm –
Berlusconi — no longer Italy’s richest man Berlusconi isn’t even
the second-richest Italian. …
uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKL0685922920080306
– 61k – Cached – Similar pages
Ritorni di Cavaliere? – Silvio’s return seems inevitable « Music
…Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian Prime Minister and richest
Italian …. Political Editor, BBC in Australia · Nick Robinson,
Political Editor, BBC …
mwurz1975.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/ritorni-di-cavaliere-silvios-return-seems-inevitable/ –
Italian poll nears end, Berlusconi waits in wings – Yahoo!
NewsBerlusconi, one of Italy’s richest men and a fervent U.S. ally,
led Veltroni in opinion polls … IMF chief voices food fears BBC –
2 hours, 11 minutes ago …
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080414/wl_nm/italy_election_dc_14 – 41k – Cached –
“At last Silvio will be able to build Italy up again and bloody good luck to him!”
Cassandra | 16.04.08 – 5:50 pm | #
I find it staggering that people could ever see the move to Berlusconi as some kind of ‘positive’ result. If he builds up Italy it will be after he’s lined his own pockets and ensured there will be no way to hold him to account. Somehow I don’t think the former is high on his list of priorities.
Talk about blindingly reactionary (though reflexive is probably a better description).
Ben,
Cassandra’s right and you are wrong.
“If he builds up Italy it will be after he’s lined his own pockets and ensured there will be no way to hold him to account.”
Sour grapes.
The politics of envy was helping reduce Italy to an economic basket case. The wealth creators and entrepreneurs were becoming few and far between. The policy of squeezing the rich until their balls squeak has no sound economic rationale.
The BBC, who often seem to laud genuine wrongdoers, is a textbook example of sheer hatred towards successful people with money.
Gog,
You are right. The politic of envy of lefties like Ben has caused incredible econonic damage to my country.
What’s amusing is tha Prodi and his cronies have managed to upset also his natural supporters.
Ben, Berlusconi does not need to line his pockets. He is a multi billionaire.
Ben,
The socialist politics of envy and jelousy are, or should be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Silvio has all the money he could ever need, so why would he want more?
The socialists in Italy were world class corrupt thieves right up there with those masters of the art the USSR!
If there were an olylimpic sport for graft and corruption, the Socialists/leftists would get a gold medal every time!
Glauca, please can you explain why you state I’m a lefty? Purely on the basis that I don’t like Berlusconi?
So what if he’s a billionaire, has that stopped people in the past trying to further enrich themselves? Look at his track record.
Does no one else here see that it is possible to be critical of people on the right and not be a supporter of the left? I think the silence here when such accuations are made is pretty illuminating. Is this really the consensus of B-BBC? I think I’ll stop pointing out what is obvious to most sane people and leave Coulter fans to it.
“… please can you explain why you state I’m a lefty? Purely on the basis that I don’t like Berlusconi?”
It’s very easy to discern your political leanings by the bitterness, animosity, envy and resentment you have towards wealthy and successful people, in common with many socialists.
“It’s very easy to discern your political leanings by the bitterness, animosity, envy and resentment you have towards wealthy and successful people, in common with many socialists.”
Spyder | 17.04.08 – 1:58 pm | #
The idea that I am in any way left wing and have any of the characteristics stated above is laughable.
It’s comments like these that make me realise how far off the mark many B-BBC contributors must be (and quite frankly, out of touch with reality) on other topics if they come to such false conclusions on basic things as this.
I don’t expect people so blinded to believe me, but that’s not really any concern of mine, I at least know your judgements can hardly be taken seriously.
“It’s comments like these that make me realise how far off the mark many B-BBC contributors must be (snip) on other topics” – and if you think that is a logical conclusion from your premise, you need to do Logic 101 one more time.