OK, it’s Friday evening here in the People’s Socialist Republic of Gordonstan and it’s time to unwind a little. So, which BBC personality winds YOU up most and why? I know it’s a target-rich environment but I have two nominations. 1. Nicky Campbell – the personification of smug and leftist. 2. Jeremy Bowen – I think I’ve covered this one on my posts! So, the space is yours – ready, take aim……
LEAST LIKED AND WHY?
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The television tax is a hypothicated tax, it does not go into the general tax pot.
A tax can be wrong because it is too high or even if it is too low, when it does not raise enough to cover the cost of collecting it, or a tax can be morally wrong waht ever level it is set at. The television tax is in this catogary chanching the amount people pay will ever make it acceptable.
A good thread spoiled by inter-contributor tittle tattle – get on with the list –
how could nobody have mentioned Will Hutton – Guardian and Observer writer – wheeled out on Newsnight as an authority and ‘neutral'(so that in effect the left get more voices than the right) on every topic – and he seems to justify this by being head of various bogus organisations he has set up to give himself credibility – from economics to green issues.
A couple of years ago i went to BBC TWO’s 40th birthday party – lots of famous and worthy faces from the past – but BBC Head of Vision, Jana Bennett seemed to ignore them all – but what a welcome she gave Hutton!
— it really is a closed shop.
It did convince me that opinion may be steered from the top.
Claire Bolderson and Judy Swallow are high up on the list.
I mentioned here
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/2380382409588875145/#397901
that the World Service programme Over to you had probably been canned but I see now that it is still on the air.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/over_to_you.shtml
Some time ago Claire Bolderson was on Over to You trying to prove that Israeli schoolchilren are being wickedly indoctrinated by being taught with maps that exclude ‘Palestine’. Bolderson had apparently got hold of a map that didn’t show the green line and the Palestinian areas and no doubt if it was TV rather than radio we would have seen her triumphantly waving it around. This extraordinary bit of propaganda completely ignored two important facts:
*There are many different types of maps and not all maps show political boundaries.
*The Palestinians are the ones who teach their children that Israel doesn’t exist by deleting the name of the country on maps and not vice versa.
Rajan Datar, the host, allowed this crap from Bolderson to pass unchallenged and even brought in a listener who thanked Over to you profusely for educating him on the subject of maps and Israeli children.
This excellent 2001 article by Camera exposes Bolderson and Swallow for the biased hacks that they are:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=4&x_outlet=12&x_article=335
Liquid Lunch | 13.05.08 – 10:53 am
I believe that BBC bias is partly directed from the top and partly allowed due to lack of ethical leadership at the top. There appears to be an “anything goes” culture at the BBC. So employees can do pretty much what they want as long as they stay within the confines of the lefty PC programme.
Will Hutton – oops – I left out a key word — my posting read -‘bogus’ – when it should have read – ‘bogus sounding’ – of course the organisations do good work – although probably like a lot of such things – mostly for the people they employ.
Anyway, apologies for giving the wrong impression.
What about Robert Wright?
Never heard of him? Then see below>
I understand that you feel BBC News and Current Affairs production staff are frequently biased in the news items they report.
However, I must firmly disagree with you.
All BBC journalists, editors and news presenters are well aware of the Corporation?s commitment to informed, impartial and objective reporting.
They put their own views to one side when carrying out their work for the BBC, and seek only to provide the information which will enable viewers and listeners to make up their own minds, to show the political reality and to provide the forum for debate, giving full opportunity for all viewpoints to be heard.
BBC’s World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, was quoted, saying:
‘Well, having worked for the BBC for 40 years, I’m immensely proud of its rock-solid culture of honest, balanced truth-telling. No one has ever, during that time, suggested that I should slant my reporting for political or any other reasons; if they did I should walk out. It would have ceased to be the BBC I have known.’
I would add, however, that it is not always possible or practical to reflect all the different opinions on a subject within individual programmes. Editors are charged to ensure that, over a reasonable period, they reflect the range of significant views, opinions and trends in their subject area.
The BBC certainly does not seek to denigrate any view, nor to promote any view. It seeks rather to identify all significant views, and to test them rigorously and fairly on behalf of the audience. Among other evidence, audience research indicates widespread confidence in the impartiality of the BBC’s reporting, and senior editorial staff, the Board of Management and the Board of Governors keep a close watch on programmes to ensure that standards of impartiality are maintained.
I understand that you felt John Humphrys interview with David Cameron was aggressive and did not allow Mr Cameron the opportunity to put his point across unlike Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
An interview with a party leader is always an important occasion and much careful and detailed thought is given to these encounters in advance. It’s often necessary and right for an interviewer to press a guest on an essential point, and as time is inevitably limited, the interviewer may have to interrupt a rather general answer. However on this occasion, we feel that Mr Cameron was also given the opportunity to get his main messages across.
I appreciate that you feel differently over this matter and I have registered your concerns on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that’s circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.
We are committed to developing better links with you, our audience, to further enhance our understanding of your viewing and listening needs and the audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.
Thank you once again for taking the time to contact the BBC.
Regards
Robert Wright
BBC Information
I was not alone in my condemnation of bias and on this weeks feedback this disparity of styles was the first item to come up.
What a wanker.
Chris Evans flaunts his massive pay from the BBC and his other activities reliant upon his BBC persona by buying a 5 MILLION plus pounds car.
That puts him right near the top.
Along with the hypocritical champagne socialists who big up equality, but its all talk, they really want to rob the very poorest who are below the tax threshold but still pay the licence fee in full, and then pay it to the undeserving BBC few and BBC organisational coffers, shocking.