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!
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Tom,
Funny how the BBC has no problem shouting from the rooftops about when Christians raise an eyebrow at certain things, but is silent when, well, I don’t even have to say it.
Even more ridiculous is the fact that they haven’t reported yet – as far as I can tell – about another, bigger story of gay anger: Their beloved President-elect Obamessiah’s choice of Rev. Warren to do the rituals at his inauguration. On this story, the pro-Obamessiah faction in the BBC News editors’ meeting outweighs the gay advocates faction.
David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 23.12.08 – 3:40 pm
Yes, it will be interesting to see how they square that circle on inauguration day.
I’m still smiling about my wife’s little slip when she asked me whether Rick Warren was the pastor of ‘Brokeback Church’.
“BBC staff air Sachsgate frustrations”
[Extract]:
“Around three times the usual number of BBC staff turned out for a routine editorial policy meeting this month, to vent their frustration about the Ross-Brand debacle.
According to an internal document seen by ‘Broadcast’, some 200 programme makers went to the December forum • compared to an average of 60 to 80 people.
“The discussion focused on how the BBC’s harm and offence guidelines can be used to prevent another Sachsgate, and in particular on generally accepted standards of taste and how soon after the watershed bad language can be justified.”
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/12/bbc_staff_air_sachsgate_frustrations.html
George R | 23.12.08 – 4:39 pm
…how soon after the watershed bad language can be justified
So, if I read this aright, the chief lessons the beeboids take away from Ross/Brand fiasco is that they should find ways to get their swearing in earlier?
What planet are they on?
Can we imagine the BBC running a story equivalent to the following describing how non-Muslims enjoy themselves during Ramadan?:
“How a multi-faith city marks Christmas”
[Extract]:
“While Christians in London will spend Christmas Day going to church to celebrate the birth of Christ, others will spend the day eating, drinking, watching TV and playing games with family and friends. ”
OR:
‘While Muslims in London will spend Ramadan going to mosque, others will spend the day eating, drinking, watching TV and playing games with family and friends.’
Oh no, the BBC’s ‘multi-faith’/ multiculturalism is one way.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7765456.stm
1.) BBC report of story:
“Love split model plunges to death”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7795827.stm
2.) ‘Mail’ report of story:
“First pictures of death plunge model ‘marrying’ her lover in Muslim ceremony”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1100022/First-pictures-death-plunge-model-marrying-lover-Muslim-ceremony.html
BBC report:
“Gay groups angry at Pope remarks”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7797269.stm
And on BBC TV news 24 channel this evening, the BBC dug out the images of two years ago of Muslim mobs in various Islamic countries burning effigies of Pope Benedict for a speech he made. In its use of this violent video clip, the BBC did not condemn the Muslim violent, threatening demonstrators; instead, the BBC merely gives the impression that because he was violently demonstrated against then by Muslims, and now non-violently criticised by gays, that somehow Pope Benedict must be wrong.
After all, is the BBC’s implicit argument, in the multi-faith, ‘multiculturalist’ world, which the BBC and the political liberal-left campaign for, virtually all cultures (including Islam), must be equally worthy, in the ultra-diverse, self-destructive future they impose on us.
Non-BBC update on death of model in Manchester (see 8:54 pm above)
‘Telegraph’:
“Model’s family say ‘she would never have committed suicide'”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3918428/Models-family-say-she-would-never-have-committed-suicide.html
“Report clears Obama team” says the News 24 tickertape as Jonathan Beale (and Democratic fellow travellers the AFP) tell us that Obama and friends are clean as a whistle in the Blagojevich affair. The news is that the Obama team has investigated and cleared . . . the Obama team. There’s a surprise. Now we’ll get wall to wall coverage of this definitive “clearance” for the next day or so and then . . . silence. The BBC will bury this one – after all there’s consensus, at the BBC anyway, that Obama is squeaky clean despite coming to political maturity in one of the most corrupt states in the Union.
BBC news at ten really pulled out all the stops in trying to portray the Pope as a bumbling reactionary. Linking his speech to his alleged attack on Islam was as irrelevant as it was crass and so very obvious.
The mindset of the libleft really is afraid of this Pope. They cannot silence him and know his words are heard throughout the world. I am not a Catholic but I understand that he speaks for one of the most enduring of human organisations and says nothing lightly. He may well prove to be a true defender of us all against the rampaging decadance of our times.
Would our Archbishop of Canterbury ever speak so clearly in defence of the human spirit?
In one of the adverts (sorry, trails) on BBC4 we are given to understand that Einstein, Newton, Leibnitz, Galileo etc were just simpletons who owe it all to those wonderful moslems. Yes “Science and Islam” (coming soon) is going to tell us the truth about the con of Eurocentric science. I can’t wait.
Non-BBC update on death of model in Manchester (see 10:27 pm above):
‘Mail’ –
“Death plunge Muslim model ‘tormented by womanising husband who had wed THREE times before'”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1100022/Death-plunge-Muslim-model-tormented-womanising-husband-wed-THREE-times-before.html
I haven’t had a chance to fisk the last two/three days of Aleem Maqbool’s ramble (perhaps tonight). In the meantime:
Honest Reporting BBC’s Christmas Odyssey”
A seasonal road trip reveals a subtle bias – i.e. could be worse.
Umbongo:
Yes; the BBC’s unending propaganda on behalf of ISLAM continues with that BBC sponsored (i.e. licencepayer sponsored) 3-part TV series soon on ‘Science and Islam’.
Of course, European science will be denigrated, and science in the parts of the world subjected to Islamic rule will be puffed up.
As ‘Fjordman’ concludes here:
“Simply put, Islam itself has been the greatest impediment to progress in the region during the past thousand years, and it is difficult to see how science can grow in Islamic countries until they cease being Islamic.”
http://www.globalpolitician.com/23768-islamism
This is how Britain’s clueless dhimmis of Channel 4 see Christmas, and how the BBC joins in with the publicity on its website: (I refuse to give the ‘link’.)
Ahmadinejad gets free propaganda against Queen’s speech; and BBC provides a smiling photo and a plug on the ‘entertainment’ page of its website- all dhimmis together. Is ‘British’ broadcasting – Channel 4 and BBC largely given over to Islamic administration during the ‘Festivities’?
Note to dhimmis at Channel 4 and BBC:
Ahmadinejad is an Islamic jihad enemy of the British people. Remember this?:
“Iran seizes British sailors in Iraq waters”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015766.php
BBC Teharan Office to be closed down?
shurely shome mishtake??
Mehr news agency, a regime-run broadcasting outlet reported today that the Minister of Islamic Culture and Enlightenment, Mohammad Saffar-Harandi announced the closing of the Tehran branch of the BBC news network. Saffar-Harandi specified: “The BBC, like many other foreign news networks has had a branch office in Tehran which is now being shut down due to “transgressions” on the part of the BBC. Of course the fact that BBC does provide us with the coverage and broadcasts globally is to our advantage however, all that said, a certain measure of ongoing offenses is something that we take into consideration.”
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/12/iran-throws-out.html
more like a gentle warning methinks…not enough arse licking by the BBC
The BBC’s big concern for 2009: how much swearing can we get away with?:-
“Frank Skinner to present BBC ‘Panorama’ special on television’s bad language”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1101130/Frank-Skinner-present-BBC-Panorama-special-televisions-bad-language.html
Incredible news folks, Poll Watch is back and its review of the year includes this “They (the polls) show that between May and October, double-digit Conservative leads became the norm, rising to a 28% lead in MORI’s September poll.”
Not that we would know it as Poll Watch mysteriously disappeared for these months.
Now that Israel is opening the border with Gaza in spite of all the rocket attacks, the BBC wastes no time in rewriting history in order to make Israel look like the villain:
Israelis reopen Gaza’s crossing
Since this story might be considered too pro-Israel, balance must be provided. So, the BBC decides to hide the fact that the Palestinian who was injured by his own people was treated at an Israeli hospital. Then the BBC lies about Hamas rockets fired at Israel from Gaza:
More than 50 rockets have been launched from Gaza in recent days, after the killing of three Hamas members by Israel. Friday’s total of rockets and mortars was 13, Israel’s military said.
A six-month ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas ended last week.
No, BBC, that’s false. Hamas was firing rockets before that because they were angry about the usual things. They ended the ceasefire on their own, before the Israeli attack on one of their “militants”, and the total is now up to around 160.
But according to the BBC, the Palestinians are perpetual victims only, Israelis only villains, blamed for hitting back and not rolling over and dying quietly.
Come on David, Israelis = evil, Palestinians = good; Jews = nasty, Muslims = lovely; etc. etc.
Some news the BBC seem less than keen on reporting
Yahoo news report that:
“A rocket apparently fired by Palestinians on Friday struck a house in the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinian sisters aged five and 13, Palestinian medics said.
Hamas police said they were investigating the cause of the blast in Beit Lahiya village in northern Gaza, which medics said seemed to be due to a rocket aimed at Israel that had misfired.
Gaza militants frequently fire rockets at Israel from the same area.”
Oddly the BBC seem not to have reported this story, presumably as it doesn’t fit with their evil Israelis killing defenceless Palestinians narrative.
Can you imagine the BBC coverage if the Israelis had killed two Palestinian children with a rocket that fell awry. Front page news, I would say; but of this story not a word.
Anyone might think the BBC were biased against Israel, however the BBC would no doubt deny this. If the Balen report agreed with the BBC’s claims of them having no bias against Israel then the BBC would publish it, as they refuse to publish it I think we can draw our own conclusions.
Re: Pinter – Oh dear…another (D)HYS not going to plan…
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=2&forumID=5849&edition=1&ttl=20081226230201&#paginator
I’ve always hated Pinter’s politics, but rather liked his plays.
Many of the recommended comments are pretty critical – and some go too far, IMHO, by slagging off his creative output.
Weirdly, there’s a complaint about BBC bias about 7 or 8 down on the Reader Recommendeds. It says:
It’s funny how the BBC use words such a “left-wing” and “controversial” when referring to people who oppose warfare, yet never apply the terms “right-wing” and “controversial” to those who advocate it.
Not often that you see a complaint of BBC bias from a left wing perspective.
But as many here know, the BBC tends to reject HYS comments which are critical of the BBC.
Or does it accept them only when they come from the Left?
As Pounce might say: ‘the BBC and half a story’.
The BBC ‘half’:
“Love-split model plunges to death”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7795827.stm
For other aspects of the story, omitted by BBC:
‘Mail’
“Beauty queen’s grieving family ask: How was our Sahar’s life cut so tragically short?”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1102007/Beauty-queens-grieving-family-ask-How-Sahars-life-cut-tragically-short.html
AND:
‘The Times’-
“How Sahar Daftary’s death fall exposed polygamy in Britain: Muslim marriage rules ‘leave women at risk'”
[Opening extract]:
“The death of a model who learnt that her husband was already married has shone a light into the murky world of Muslim polygamy in Britain. ”
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5400567.ece
Not even militants.
Scores die in Israeli air strikes
Israeli missile strikes kill at least 140 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with more many injured, Hamas and doctors say.
Medical staff and Hamas officials said at least 140 people were killed when missiles hit security compounds and militant bases across Gaza.
“Hamas will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood,” spokesman Fawzi Barhoum was reported as saying. Too bad Fawzi wasn’t reported as saying Hamas will stop whining about it.
As an alternative to the BBC’s pro-Hamas propagandist reporting on the present Gaza crisis, the following two sources provide alternative, anti-Islamic jihad information:
1.)’Jihadwatch’:
“Moral myopia and hypocrisy alert: World condemns Israeli action in Gaza”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/024090.php
2.)’Jersusalem Post’:
[Extract] –
“The Israeli air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza on Saturday, hugely dramatic in their scope, nonetheless mark only the beginning of an ongoing, potentially lengthy operation aimed at restoring calm to the South, rather than a one-off response to the escalated Kassam rocket fire. The policy of restraint, officials say, is over.
“For months, Israel has been refining its intelligence information on the key physical locations that are crucial to the rule of Hamas in the terror state that the Gaza Strip has become since the Islamist group seized power there in June 2007.
“And rather than seeking to target the fast-moving offshoots of that terrorist rule – the Kassam crews that set themselves up in residential Gaza neighborhoods, fire into Israeli residential areas and then quickly melt away – Israel has elected to fire into the heart of the terror beast. ”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111718275&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Gaza:
“Never such pinpoint bombing in the
history of warfare, as the BBC inadvertently makes clear”
(Hugh Fitzgerald)
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog.cfm/frm/1952
George R already mentioned the BBC’s failure to report the truth about Sahar Daftary’s death. So I’ll just add this quote to the Times from a British Muslim community leader, for whom the BBC normally finds plenty of time (including the recent “forced marriage” story):
Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, the head of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, told The Times: “This story is very common, unfortunately. We have tried to plug some of the holes in the whole system, but unfortunately our clerics do not live on this planet.
“They don’t understand. For them, controlling the sexuality of the woman is far more important than justice, so we have this problem.”
So where are the usual suspects screaming about wymins’ rights? The BBC usually has time for them, too, and is a staunch advocate for their cause.