So this is it. We’ll soon know whether all the work; all the campaigning; all the speeches; all the infomercials have paid off: Have Webb, Frei and the rest of the Beeb done enough to get their man elected? It’s a big night for students of BBC bias, too. If Obama wins as expected will they be able to hide their glee? If there’s an upset and he loses, will there be tears? There’s 175 BBC staff over there, so too much to cover. Over to you, then…
The Beeb goes to the polls
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FWIW have forced myself to monitor the MSM output and found myself composing then deleting dozens of posts!
So much bias so overtly pushing one candidate, where to begin?
Shell shocked is the best description for my feelings right now!
I just cannot keep watching the disgusting MSM coverage so ill leave it to others, sorry.
They already cant hide their glee
I know what you mean cassandra.
1555 5 live. Just interviewed 2x uk based USA voters. First one voted Obama when asked why ‘I worked for the Kerry campaign in 04’!!!!!!!!! 2nd guy also cast vote for Obama . This is outrageous !
Cameron: Yep and they had something like 3 Democrats talking heads to one Republican as well. I guess that’s balance in the BBC.
Is anyone hoping for an Obama victory, and sickened by the bias? I am hoping for an Obama victory and think the BBC’s coverage has been the most balanced of all the UK broadcasters.
Martin – did you hear the uninterupted assasination of republican policy over the past 8 years?
There was no mention of the catastrophic effects of 911 on the world – and that everyone goes to the same colleges – financial institutions etc etc
bush was blamed for the housing and economic crisis for being lean on financing the government???
No mention of Clinton+fannie mae+ buying black votes with unpayable mortgages.
It really is a fucking bama love in and the beeb should be disgusted at there stance.
Disgusted!!!!
Go Obama. I think the coverage has been unbiased and representative of the viewsw in this country, and Europe.
mikewineliberal | 04.11.08 – 4:18 pm
I am hoping for an Obama victory
really? i’m amazed i never would have guessed.
ipreferred:
Go Obama. I think the coverage has been unbiased and representative of the viewsw in this country, and Europe.
ipreferred | 04.11.08 – 4:20 pm | #
Course it is.
Now I know why the BBC suspended Jonathan Woss without pay.
How else would they afford the money for vintage champagne to celebrate the Obama victory ?
peter allen is getting crucified by a black republican who says anyone who votes for colour is a racist.
His retort?
“Yeah but he’s inspiring isnt he”
Licking the hole again BBC.
The one at all costs!
BBC coverage at huge cost of the US election is not supposed to reflect opinion here or in Europe. It is supposed to bring us NEWS – ALL the significant news, and where it brings opinions and commentary, there should be resonable balance.
The BBC has failed miserably – or blatantly – on both counts. Its bias on US affairs has been even worse than its bias on UK affairs.
Mike 4:18
You are having a laugh, surely ?
Grant:
Mike 4:18
You are having a laugh, surely ?
Grant | 04.11.08 – 4:34 pm | #
He’s a troll
Just a few thoughts on Obama.
You’ve got US politicians on the right, the same guys who just nationalized the banking system, derisively calling Obama a socialist. Karl Marx would harumph in his grave.
Obama is an ardent liberal redistributionist, MUCH different from being a socialist.
Think about it.
The majority of people here probably subsidize people with an affluent lifestyle much more than they subsidize them.
I am in excellent health, so my insurance payments (when I can afford them) subsidize theirs. I willfully don’t get sick, so I don’t tap in. I don’t do detailed tax deductions.
My rent has gone from 25% of my net to 66% of it. The landlord comes by in increasingly extravagant cars. I drive an old shed when I can’t take public transportation, or walk. Clearly, I subsidize him.
I do not have kids, I don’t own property. I don’t use the highways often. I have never been involved in an incident that requires a police escort, though I live in Hollywood.
I can’t afford to fly, so no airport use. I haven’t lived in a fire zone. I have never filed a lawsuit, frivolous or otherwise. I subsidize people who make use of all those services.
I do not mind many of these subsidies for rich people, but I would like it acknowledged that I subsidize them much more than they subsidize me.
You just know that certain(all?) Beeboids covering the election or getting a nice jolly over to the USA coinciding with it, are pro-Obama: James ‘When We Win The Election’ Naughtie, Kirsty ‘Villagate’ Wark etc.
Can anyone think of a single BBC presenter/reporter covering the US election that might be a closet Republican supporter?
Go on Beeboid lurkers – name one.
I think they all are closet republicans. But they are so far in the closet that they support a Democrat.
I’m no troll. I call it as i see it. I think the BBC’s coverage has been deep, wide and good. Tonight could well be an epoch making moment. And i for one intend to stay up to see it. I will draw on the bbc, Andrew Sullivan and the Cornhole to give me a balanced view of the night’s transpirations. Perhaps this site too.
Beeb thinks its only america, we can be biased.
mikewine: as I understood you, you claimed earlier the media has been biased against Obama. I think it’s fair enough if people conclude you’re a troll.
Never claimed that. Maybe as a joke. I’ve posted here for ages, never trolling.
mikewineliberal:
I’m no troll. I call it as i see it. I think the BBC’s coverage has been deep, wide and good. Tonight could well be an epoch making moment. And i for one intend to stay up to see it. I will draw on the bbc, Andrew Sullivan and the Cornhole to give me a balanced view of the night’s transpirations. Perhaps this site too.
mikewineliberal | 04.11.08 – 4:52 pm | #
Nice to see you have the time, I have to be up early in the morning so will not be here to share your elation.
Whitewine: “Is anyone hoping for an Obama victory, and sickened by the bias?”
What did that mean then?
I think mikewine was wondering if Obama supporters thought the BBC was biased towards him.
I wouldn’t call him a troll just because he doesn’t take the same point of view as most people here. We need to be challenged to avoid the groupthink we accuse the BBC of.
However if Obama supporters generally think the coverage has been fair, rather than biased towards McCain, while McCain supporters think it has been biased towards Obama, that in itself is revealing.
“Andrew Sullivan and the Cornhole to give me a balanced view of the night’s transpirations”
Andrew Sullivan? You obviously don’t know anything about American politics then.Andrew Sullivan has “I love Obama” tattooed on his arse.The man detests Republicans since Bush ruled out gay marriage.He has be be wearing his fraying nuptial garments like Miss Havisham and writing bile in green ink ever since.
mikewineliberal | 04.11.08 – 4:52 pm |
Tonight could well be an epoch making moment.
This statement gives the game away. Unfortunately, this is also the BBC’s iron-clad defense against charges of bias. All they need to do is say how wonderful it is that the most racist country in the history of man has finally elected a black man. That’s all they ever meant, that’s all they’re really concerned about, they will say. It’s the story they’ve all been waiting for.
The BBC can be as partisan as they like, and all they have to do is say that this is an historic moment, etc., what’s your problem?
Mikewineliberal, you have no credibility here if you continue to claim that the BBC’s coverage of the US election has been anything like “deep, wide and good.” We have posted countless examples here of lies, misrepresentations, and many facts about The Obamessiah which the BBC has denied, hidden, or failed to report entirely. You’ve dodged all of them, conveniently gliding over things you don’t want to hear.
You can’t get away with such a statement. Your defense of the indefensible is, well, indefensible.
Every post he makes is trolling. He contributes nothing to documenting bbc bias.
I think I want Obama to win, but would like Mcain to win just to piss off all the lefties. While we are on the subject – how come the British broadcasting Corporation is allowed to spend so much time and money broadcating directly into American homes . Through BBC America ( over 50% of U.S. homes can receive it) also BBC world service is relayed on many local radio stations (after they abandoned shortwave). They have meddled in our politics, now the are doing it in the U.S. How would we feel if Chinese TV/Russion or other country had the same penetration here? Apart from world domination , what is the BBC up to?
Obama to the journalists on his plane:
“You guys have been gracious and understanding. It’s been a good long ride with all of you. Whatever happens tomorrow it’s going to be extraordinary and you guys have shared this process with us.”
Cozy? You betcha. As if we needed proof of the brown nosing that has gone on in the MSM. When they do for a new favorite, Obama won’t know what hit him!
But…but remember Tony Blair? Another vibrant young leftist leader, beloved by a compliant media (most of all by the Beeb) who eventually turned against him?
Actually, I agree that if Obama is elected it’ll be an ‘epoch-making moment’, but not because ‘Oh, he’s black. There, like, hasn’t been, like, a black president before. Maybe we should, like, totally elect him and stuff’, but rather because he, his background and his shady associates, represents a clear and present danger to the United States.
the cult of the personality serves the media well , but the rest of us end up paying for it.Obama has several huge problems to sort out once he is in + it will be v interesting to see how he copes under real pressure having to answer real questions with real answers. No rhetoric, bullshit or use of the word CHANGE.
It’s getting dark now so I’m looking out of the window trying to spot the Star in the West.
Damn – too cloudy. It’s there though; I just know it is.
I just cannot believe that Mikewineliberal is being serious , if he thinks the BBC is unbiased in its reporting of the US elections. I mean, what planet is he on ? Even the BBC are doing little to try and conceal their bias. They just don’t seem to care anymore.
David – you’ve posted lots of conspiracy stuff, said “why doesn’t the bbc report this”, and concluded bias by the fact that it hasn’t. I have used various bits of countervailing evidence, where i’ve come across it. The BBC called all the debates for McCain if memory serves (certainly two of the three) despite the subsequent polls suggesting this wasn’t the case. Bias looks like Fox or MSNBC, not the BBC’s coverage, which across the piece, and despite that fact that most in the UK want Barry O, seems fairly balanced to me. I’m sorry i have found what’s posted up here less than compelling (mostly). The effect has been lessened by the kind of yahooery we saw the other night on here with BettyA and Archduke discussing how dangerous BO would be. Really stupid stuff. Made Melanie Phillips look sane. And detracts from the case.
And Roland – sort of what i meant. I wondered whether anyone who favoured BO thought coverage had been biased in his favour. It’s possible. I saw a news piece on ITN the other night, and it did look a little like a Barry infomercial.
And anon – I know all about Sullivan. Have read him for five years. Mad as a hatter. But an interesting thinker. I like people like him, The Hitch, and Oliver Kamm: they don’t buy their politics in a box. Non-aligned Freethinkers if you like.
“It’s getting dark now so I’m looking out of the window trying to spot the Star in the West.”
Is this the start of a “three wise men” joke?
The BBC amazes me. The US election is really of marginal interest to most of the British people. Yet it is spending vast amounts of our money giving freebies to their staff who just have to be in the US to be able to report on it. I shall not watch any of it as the thought of all that money wasted really annoys me.
Yet another good argument for reducing the TV tax.
As long as the BBC goes on wasting money and looting the taxpayer then any case made for continuing the TV tax is self defeating.
Ross and now the revelation of the huge salaries to the DG and others shows just what a gravy train the BBC has become.
However there is perhaps another reason for the BBC’s hysteria over Obama.
To their group mind he represents a “final” triumph of the liberal left world view. They dream that Texas, Montana, Georgia and the other states will become Islingtons and Hampsteads. The Good Old boys will give up their guns, country music and pick ups and all start reading the Guardian on line. The US will scrap it’s battle fleets and never do anything nasty again.
I suspect that whoever wins we are in for a shock and that the US will do whatever it deems necessary to preserve it’s power and security. Abandoning the moaning whining and hectoring Europeans to their fate would be a good start.
We need the US but the US does not need us. Obama might just know this and may be the man to act on it.
just a point for Joe the Plumber
A few years ago I was a director in a small kitchen firm that turned over a million a year –I paid over £12K in personal tax and £35k in corporation tax –we employed 6 people who all paid tax and employed local plumbers electricians etc on part time contracts –we built this company from very little.
how is he subsidising me?
“Is anyone hoping for an Obama victory, and sickened by the bias?”
YES!!!
I’m British and I have no intention whatsoever of ever relocating to the US. So whilst as a socially liberal(ish) unreligious metropolitan I’d fall firmly on the unConservative side of the “culture wars” that’s wholly irrelevent. Presumably McCain largely would as well.
If you look at how their policies would affect the UK, I think foreign policy wise Obama’s more friendly approach sounds good but McCain’s (unideological and pragmatic) hardline approach is a better bet in the long run.
Economically I have extremely serious concerns about Obama’s protectionist promises and spending but from the global economic perspective I’m unconvinced that McCain can hold down spending whereas he’s defo gonna cut taxes so I’m nervous of a Bush style credit driven approach which will be no good for anyone long term (except China).
The swinging factor is the massive burst of delight that an Obama victory would result in everywhere else on the planet. If he’s not a halfwit he could harness this to achieve some breakthroughs in foreign policy and trade which would be very good news.
But this comes from ludicrously biased media coverage and the general bullshit surrounding the whole campaign has been ridiculous. Even if you’re liberal(ish) anyone who isn’t a complete moron and has access to a range of media can see that they’re two reasonable candidates, not God and Satan. But if you only watched the Beeb you’d think the latter.
So I’m sickened by the bias but hope Obama wins (just).
Richard Bacon was so excited at seeing Barack Obama in the flesh outside the school where he cast his vote that even Simon Mayo commented “You sound like a teenage girl at a rock concert”.
If the one wins will he have an autocue for his acceptance speech? It will be embarassing if he doesn’t have one 🙂
I bet there are pictures of the one on the back of the toilet doors in the mens toilets at the BBC.
Eeeewww.. the very thought.
Richard Bacon is the most biased of all.
The way he behaved last night was stunning by beeb standards
I see that the US division of Tesco Online has run out of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Sullivan is still ranting on about Palin’s baby son Trig. The guy is simply sick.
Virtually every “US commentator” the BBC looks to has been supporing Obama. Political commentators, economists, historians – the whole damn caboodle. They have been endlessly rehashing the Dem talking points, HuffPo, washington Post stuff for months on end. Even Kos stuff. And we are forced to pay millions for this “news ” ?
Plus using the racism tag at every turn – just like Axelrod and TeamObama.
Has there been anything on Biden to match all the vituperation about Palin ? Would the average viewer or listener know fully how totally inexperienced Obama is, how utterly NOT bi-partisan? How many mentions of Ayers, of Khalidi, Of Farrakhan, of the whole unpleasant Chicago crowd ? Not a single mention this week of Obama and Biden’s anti-coal policies, for example.
The sun shines out of Obama’s backside as far as the generality of BBC coverage goes.
And it is all documented, in detail, on this site.
Shit hack called Kevin on Rd4 PM has called it “Obama’s family life will never be the same again”.
It’s called the Parousia for those who know their Hebrew – not that I do just a lifetime of Catholiscm has taught me to be bloody constrained when dealing with the audacity of hope – especially when skint.
On the R5L website there’s a video of Richard Bacon saying his feeling of excitement ahead of the Chicago rally tonight is the same feeling he used to have as a kid the day before the funfair at Whitby Regatta.
He’s not the Messiah he’s a very naughty boy.
Was obama a carpenter by chance?
“I bet there are pictures of the one on the back of the toilet doors in the mens toilets at the BBC.”
” Deep,wide and good”.