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 also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.
General BBC-related comment thread!
Bookmark the permalink.
Still no comment that I can see on the Al Dura case by the BBC, one would have thought that a news organisation that used this footage would at least have reported on this court case.
The BBC should note that we are still waiting for them to report on the loss of this libel case by France2
BBC 5 Lite news this a.m. – “Crewe and Nantwich by-election where the Conservatives have to overturn an 8,000 majority” next story.
They could have added that the Conservatives were 50-1 on with Betfair to overturn this 8,000 majority.
The BBC – News not how it is, but how we would like it to be.
Has anyone seen any mention on Al Beeb of the final nail in the coffin of the antisemitic Al Dura blood libel?
Oops. Odd. It showed “0 comments” when I posted mine.
Have France2 actually lost the case though? Karensky was still found to have defamed France2, or at least the ‘journalists’. What the French court found was, in Karensky’s own words; “The verdict means we have the right to say France 2 broadcast a fake news report, that al-Dura’s shooting was a staged hoax and that they duped everybody – without being sued. (Jerusalem Post, 21 May 2008 )
The French court did not find that Karensky was right, even though IMHO he most certainly is right, just that he had the right to make the allegation without being sued.
Nearly Oxfordian | 22.05.08 – 2:48 pm |
Haloscan has been wonky all day!
TCPD, the court was not asked to rule what actually happened in Gaza that day. It was asked whether Karsenty’s interpretation was defamatory, and its answer was NO. We don’t know the details, since the full ruling has not yet been released.
Here is why the BBC is obliged to report the ruling, at the latest when it is finally released in full:
http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?go=toolbar&uri=%2F&site=News+-+Middle+East&q=Muhammad+al-Durrah+&tab=all&scope=all
Still no report on the BBC website in the Europe section (International version) in respect of the Al Dura trial, so I can only assume that the BBC is not going to report on this important judgement in terms of freedom of expression and Media manipulation.
It only shows 0 comments for me.
The French Court is obviously walking a tight rope politically in terms of this case.
So far we now have the right to say that this report was faked without being sued. Now its a case of attacking France2 and all those so called impartial Media outlets like the BBC who reported it as the truth to say in their main news reports that this reported was faked.
I hope someone has the balls (more importantly the money) to do this.
Other events in France could mean not having a TV would not prevent paying for the state broadcaster.
France wants to raise money for its public broadcaster, France Televisions. Under consideration is a 1per cent tax on fixed and mobile internet operators, and internet providers plus a 1per cent tax on televison sales. That would raise just over €600 million (£485 million) over there, and probably about the same over here, enough to cut the licence fee by a sixth, or to plug any funding gap Channel 4 has. But will British politicians notice? The phone companies will be hoping not.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article3980571.ece
(As referenced in ‘Telegraph’ article here, BBC is involved in court case relating to this.)
The liberal/Left types are lining up to support writer Shiv Malik, over his contact with Hassan Butt, former Al-Muhajiroun:
“Writer in legal fight to protect terror notes”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2004051/Writer-in-legal-fight-to-protect-terror-notes.html
Will such liberal/Left types also give their support to writer MARK STEYN, who was brought up in England, and whose freedom is under severe threat in Canada?:
“Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets'”
(by Kathy Shaidle)
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/mark-steyn-vs-the-sock-puppets/
Also see this related extract from article below:
“Canada, with its ‘human rights’ commissions, joins the list of countries whose laws are being used to attack the free speech rights of anti-Islamist activists. What is particularly disturbing about the Canadian Human Rights Commissions is that under its section 13 ‘hate speech’ laws, the court costs of any one Plaintiff who files a section 13 complaint are entirely subsidized by the government, while the defendants are left to endure the financial burden of litigation alone. This is a rule that, on its face, obviously encourages frivolous litigation. Moreover the Canadian commissions have a one hundred percent conviction rate on section 13 charges!
“Those summoned to appear before the Canadian Human Rights commissions include Maclean’s magazine and award-winning author Mark Steyn whose trials are ongoing. The complaints against them were initiated by the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) based on the re-publication of excerpts from Steyn’s book entitled ‘America Alone’, which the CIC argues in its complaint is, quote ‘flagrantly Islamophobic’.”
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2008/05/22/legal-jihad-aka-islamic-lawfare/
Glad to see that others have noted the Fench Appeal Court decision. As the BBC is in my view unlilely to report it, it is up to us to circulate the news. I am writing to my MP about it.
Also, no mention as far as I can tell on the BBC of today’s massive truck suicide bomb attack on the Erez crossing in Gaza.
According to Jerusalem Post “The situation at the Erez border crossing could have been much worse if not for the soldiers’ alertness, the IDF said on Thursday after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with four tons of explosives tried to ram the crossing early in the day. The truck exploded on the Gaza side of the border.Shortly after the explosion, an IAF helicopter fired a missile at a nearby jeep which the army said was accompanying the exploding truck. The army said that terrorists apparently planned to use the jeep to kidnap soldiers or to penetrate across the border after the explosion. The Erez crossing will be closed until the damage can be repaired, said IDF spokesman Peter Lerner.
Erez is the main crossing point for international aid workers and Palestinians travelling to Israel for medical treatment, he said, and thus “the main victims of this attack are the Palestinians themselves.” http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288141966&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
But then this doesn’t fit in with the BBC mantra about the so-called “siege” of Gaza being all Israel’s fault….
Anat (Israel) | 22.05.08 – 3:51 pm
Here is one very good reason why the BBC has a duty to report on the France2 verdict. This was a direct result of the legitimization of the blood-libel:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/969778.stm
In all the articles the BBC has run on the Al-Durrah case not once have I seen the word “alleged”, so loved by them when reporting on British court cases.
H Green | 22.05.08 – 6:13 pm
I’m glad you mentioned that!
I was sure I’d seen it covered earlier so I searched my browser’s history. The page’s title has now changed and priority given to a completely different story. In fact it’s being used to give the impression that the IDF shot somebody as retaliation for the truck bomb attack.
Bomb attack at Gaza-Israel border becomes Gazan shot dead at blockade demo
Scroll down here to find it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7414090.stm
Here’s the News Sniffer history:
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/125119/diff/2/3
I’ve often commented before about the BBC burying a story by using the same URL to “paper over it” with another, often unrelated story.
Here’s another story that the BBC hasn’t reported on, note how the different versions given by the Palestinian media sources vary. They are the same sources the BBC use unconditionally.
http://www.israellycool.com/2008/05/20/it-happened-at-the-checkpoint/
Whatever happens under no circumstances can Israel be presented truthfully.
The C4 News mid-programme headlines (7.15pm approx) reported that the man injured in the Exeter restaurant bomb is rumoured to be a convert to Islam.
Just watched the latest BBC News 24 report from Exeter (7.55pm) and there was no reference to this.
compare
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23486654-details/Man+injured+after+TWO+%E2%80%99nail+bombs%E2%80%99+are+found+in+busy+city+centre+restaurant/article.do
with
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/7415470.stm
No bias here. Hahahahahahahaha!!!
Copy and paste from the Evening Standard (note the time):
Muslim convert held after nail bomb blast in restaurant
Last updated at 19:56pm on 22.05.08
A Muslim convert was being held tonight after two bombs were found in a family restaurant toilet following an explosion at lunchtime.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23486654-details/Injured+man+arrested+in+'nail+bomb'+explosion+at+city+centre+restaurant/article.do
8.20pm – I’ve just seen a report about this on BBC News 24 and still no mention of the M word. How long can the BBC hold out before it reports this?
8.25pm – BBC News 24 finally catches up and mentions the religion.
I spoke to my Dad and he told me that Sky and ITV used the M word in their main news reports, while the BBC did not mention it in theirs. And their website does not mention it either just checked 21:04 22/05/08.
Now what could have caused him to attempt to blow up a restaurant? (Sarc)
Some “analysis” today on the BBC news website about the Iraqi army’s advance into Sadr City, from Caroline Wyatt, BBC News defence correspondent. She poses a key question: “So why are Moqtada Sadr’s men co-operating now?”
‘[Sadr’s] spokesman, Salah Al Ubaidi, says that they hoped to achieve many things from the ceasefire.
“We want the situation to calm down. On our side, we have worked hard towards that, taking many steps to make Iraq calmer. It was a good message to the Sunnis, who kicked out al-Qaeda from their side,” he told the BBC in an interview.
“It was a message to them to work against al-Qaeda and understand that we are brothers and citizens of the same country.
“At the same time, freezing Jaysh Al Mehdi (the Mehdi Army) was a message to the Iraqi government to work reasonably, and to help make the Iraqi people respect each other without using force.
“The step towards ending the fighting in Sadr City came as part of our strategy because our people were suffering too much.”
However, he re-iterated that Moqtada Sadr’s supporters had no intention of giving up their weapons until the multi-national US-backed forces left the country.’
Clearly one obvious contributing factor escapes Caroline Wyatt’s notice – the heavy casualties suffered by Mehdi Army fighters recently and the knowledge that they are losing power as Iraqi and Coalition forces strengthen their presence. Such serious analysis is clearly less attractive than repeating quotes from Sadr’s mouthpiece.
Main bbc.co.uk news page doesn’t mention the terrorist attack on Exeter unless you look down the page for English news (and as usual its a nondescript headline).
Quite disgraceful editorial bias from the BBC which is promoting an activist story on sharks as a major story!
Exeter: suspected Islamic Jihad bombing.
2 reports:
1.) BBC:
“Blast suspect is Muslim convert”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7415831.stm
2.)’Jihadwatch:
“Convert to Islam sets off nail bomb in UK restaurant”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021137.php
Exeter story now promoted to no.2 by bbc online.
Still behind the curve, Sky’s website is talking about a connected police raid in Plymouth.
Sounds to me like the problem was more that he was mentally ill and roaming the streets than that he was a Muslim. Fail to see what the relevance of his religion is unless every mentally ill patient who commits a crime is going to be described by his religious beliefs.
Whatever, it’s a pretty pathetic ‘terrorist’ attempt (if that is what it was).
Bottom line – the hand-wringing PC wusses at the BBC didn’t have the balls to break the news. I can imagine their horror as the reports came over the wire – “A Muslim! Oh shit, what are we gonna do?”
God, Hazel Blears is on question Time.
Why do they send her out every time McLiebour is in for a kicking? She’s a female version of fatso Prescott.
I expect every word she says to be roundly applauded. And as I type she just was for saying Gordon is a great leader.
Strewth!!!!
Regarding the latest nutter from the great religion of peace.
I suspect the BBC will play up the “mental instability” bit and not the religion issue.
Funny that the BBC played DOWN the Muslims using down syndrome women as suicide bombers. Is that in the Koran?
Question Time update. Just in case you were bothered out there. An audience member (scouser in a suit probably just come straight from court) did the old Cameron is a PR man and the Tories have no policies nonsense. Massive round of applause from the audience.
Phew! I thought the BBC might have had a fair and balanced audience for once.
Astonishing! Absolutely astonishing!
Gavin Esler on Newsnight interviews the grey-faced clown of an energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, about the recent massive rise in UK fuel prices and not once raises the issue of the government’s underhand profiteering via the automatic revenue increases, each time a gallon of petrol rises in price.
At least two national newspapers (the Telegraph and the Express) have current campaigns about this issue, but Esler chooses instead to waffle on about ‘Green’ issues (how very Newsnight!) thus letting Wicks off the hook. He even tries to tempt Wicks to agree that high petrol prices should be welcomed and, though he does raise the proposed Autumnal 2p per litre tax increase, not once suggests (the sensible course of action) that energy taxes should be cut to take account of the extra revenue the Chancellor is receiving.
A worthless interview with a worthless minister, by a worthless interviewer, broadcast by a worthless corporation
The BBC finally, reluctantly, gets on the case:
French TV loses Gaza footage case
The picture caption says, “Pictures of father and son being shot at went around the world”, not “Pictures of father and son allegedly being shot at went around the world”
Some real coverage here:
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Al-Dura_Trial_Karsenty_Wins_in_Paris.asp
[…]
Karsenty said in a statement released after his victory:
The al-Dura lie is an assault on our ability to think, to criticize, to evaluate, and finally to reject information – especially the right to reject information on which we base our most cherished assumptions. One of Europe’s most cherished assumptions is that Israel is a vicious Nazi-like entity that deliberately murders Palestinian Arab children. Moreover, polls conducted in Europe have identified Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, greater than Iran and North Korea, Pakistan and Syria. The al-Dura hoax is one of the pillars on which these assumptions rely. …
Now it is time for France 2 to acknowledge that it created and is continuing to perpetuate the worst anti-Semitic libel of our era.
[…]
Are you listening BBC?
That vile fat pig Diane Abbot on “This Week” attacking Tory “Toffs”.
Hmm. Now what sort of school did you send your kid to Abbott? Care to remind us? What was that a private school for toffs?
What a two faced pig she is. I remember her sitting there on “This Week” with her fat belly and rolls of fat overhanging her trousers talking about how “we need to make people take more exercise”
Yep, perhaps you should lead by example.
GCooper: When the limp wristed shit from the Lib Dems on QT said fuel shouldn’t be cut (unless you live in the Country) and that we should all be using the bus, he got a massive round of applause!
I’d really like to see the BBC follow up some of the audience and ask them to handover their cars.
Bet they wouldn’t.
What bollocks.
A complete non-story, but hey, it makes Israel look like an aggressor.
Blair jet faced Israeli warplanes
korova:
Sounds to me like the problem was more that he was mentally ill and roaming the streets than that he was a Muslim. Fail to see what the relevance of his religion is unless every mentally ill patient who commits a crime is going to be described by his religious beliefs.
Blast suspect was ‘radicalised’
Devon and Cornwall Police Deputy Chief Constable Tony Melville said: “Our investigation so far indicates Reilly, who had a history of mental illness, had adopted the Islamic faith.
“We believe, despite his weak and vulnerable illness, he was preyed upon, radicalised and taken advantage of.”
It’s the Islam stupid!
Now to see if the investigation leads to those who did the radicalizing.
Women, retarded children, Down’s Syndrome sufferers, all are prey to The Religion Of Peace™.
“Whatever, it’s a pretty pathetic ‘terrorist’ attempt (if that is what it was).”
“We only have to be lucky once,you have to be lucky all the time” IRA.
And of course, Martin, that vile pig is a vile racist too.
Russel Joffe, the owner and founder of the Giraffe chain of restaurants, where the nail bombing took place, is Jewish. His brother is an anti-Jihad activist.
Coincidence?
I see that our neighbourhood ‘anarchist’ troll is back.
How come, no matter how many self inflicted cock-ups New Labour have managed to inflict upon themselves in the previous seven days, the BBC are always able to find a ridiculously one sided audience to take part in the odious question time?
Why don’t they push the boat out, and use the theme tune of the “Red Flag”, to initiate the programmes commencement?
“The wishy washy Liberals”! – “The evil BNP”! – “The Tory toffs”!
“What do the upper classes know about running the Country”! – “A leadership should come from all walks of life, not just Eton”!
In the mindset of the BBC, All walks of life, and Social backgrounds, as long as they subscribe to a Marxist doctrine, that is.
Are the BBC actually aware that New Labour are destroying this Country from within?
Obviously not!
Stop it, Bio. You’ll be telling us next that Muslims hate Jews, and that Al Beeb is OK with that.
“Whatever, it’s a pretty pathetic ‘terrorist’ attempt (if that is what it was).”
korova has doubts that an attempt to place more than one nail bomb in a restaurant which is specifically designed to attract families with children was really ‘terrorism’…
Korova needs professional help. I mean that most sincerely.
Russel Joffe, the owner and founder of the Giraffe chain of restaurants, where the nail bombing took place, is Jewish. His brother is an anti-Jihad activist.
Correction, it’s his brother-in-law who is an anti-Jihad activist:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021137.php#c543827
Reversepsychology raises an important question: just what is going on with the BBC’s audience selection?
When ZaNuLabour was in the ascendant, audiences stuffed with Bliarites could be passed-off as ‘representative’ (they weren’t but that’s by the by).
Now that ZaNu is in deep trouble, the BBC’s audience recruitment process is revealed as transparently naked in its bias.
Perhaps one of our resident trolls, Alex, Hillhunt or Joel, might like to explain what is going on? How BBC programmes are consistently using audiences absolutely out of step with the way real people are voting?
I shan’t hold my breath…
50% to the Conservatives, how gutted will Labour be?, listen to the BBC and hear the excuses!!!!.
Come on you CONSERVATIVES!!.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7415831.stm
A man arrested after an explosion at an Exeter restaurant has “a history of mental illness” and was a recent convert to Islam, police have said.
Well converting to Islam is surely a demonstration of mental illness.
Reversepsychology | 23.05.08 – 12:43 am |
indeed. just saw a survey which puts Conservatives at 41%, Labour at 27, Lib Dems at 22, others at 9
which surely means that in a representative audience Labour should be booed or at least meet with some degree of antipathy 78% of the time!
BBC in wonderland
Never felt more like singing the blues when Conservatives win and Labour lose……
Labour has shot themselves in the foot, and as always where the hell is Gordon Brown???.
BBC website on whiny Tamsin:
“But her campaign has been controversial because of its alleged “class war” focus on Conservative candidate Edward Timpson’s “Tory toff” background”
Can someone explain to this benighted allegedly educated poster, yours truly, what’s ‘alleged’ about going all out to smear your opponent by referring to him as a Tory toff, which she is documented as having used as the lynchpin of her despicable ‘campaign’ – and she’s even proud of it?