Monthly Archives: October 2009

Unfair Exchange

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One video in exchange for the release of several Palestinian prisoners? The knowledge that Shalit is alive, unlike the two kidnapped soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser whose corpses were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners not so very long ago. How good a deal is that? How proportionate?
A resounding silence from the usual bunch who screech ‘disproportionate’ every time the numbers don’t tally. A bit quiet now though aren’t they.

It’s good news to see that Gilad Shalit looks okay on the video.

Even the female anchor on BBC news 24 managed to appear fairly glad. She was quick to point out however, that it wasn’t poor Gilad’s fault he was in the beastly Israeli army. He, and all young Israelis are forced to join. So it was okay to suspend our dislike of Israeli soldiers in this one case. Momentarily.

His relative was even given air time to explain that Israel is surrounded by enemies, and that people in the UK who have had a taste of terrorism courtesy of the IRA shouldn’t forget what it’s like as they sit comfortably at home casting dispersions on Israel, and furthermore Hamas is a terrorist organisation.

That told ‘em.

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US Chat Show Host Shocked By Revelations About his Sex Life

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Big on the BBC website headlines today was this about 62 year old US talk show host David Letterman

A man has been charged over an alleged plot to blackmail chat show host David Letterman over sexual relationships he had with female staff members.
CBS employee Robert “Joe” Halderman, was arrested after an undercover sting operation, New York authorities said.
Letterman confessed during a recording of his show, broadcast by CBS, that he had had sex with female colleagues.
He said a man had threatened to expose the relationships unless a payment of $2m (£1.2m) was made.

The American people breathed a collective sigh of relief – a clean, decent and always polite media hero is saved from the clutches of a blackmailer. Letterman himself said “This whole thing has been quite scary”

I wish someone had asked him if he had tried to “knock these women up” but no doubt his representative would have said that such crude remarks about a prominent media celebrity were cruel, demeaning and quite uncalled for. However, of course, slutty flight attendants from Alaska and their 14 yr old daughters, would be quite legitimate targets….

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"Horrible for Chicago!"

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Tweets from BBC Sports News Correspondent James Pearce today. (H/T David Preiser in the comments).

First…
“Both Obamas were brilliant. In some ways Michelle upstaged her husband. She spoke with real passion”

Then…
“My analysis of Chicago presentation: Michelle Obama absolutely fantastic. President Obama very good. Rest average”

And then…
“Just been speaking to Lord Coe. He reckons IOC members loved Michelle Obama”

Finally, heartache:
“Wow. Vow. Vow. Vow! We always knew first round would be close. But this is horrible for Chicago.” (I think those are all meant to be “Wows”, not “Vows”.)

This guy wasn’t as impressed as Mr Pearce:
“Pass the sick bucket – just listened to the Obamas’ begging for the Olympics and having their usual luv-in. Enough schmaltz already.”

Neither, apparently, were the Radio Five Live listeners:
“Michelle Obama: Listeners phoning 5live saying “Pass me the sick bucket” – :D”

Updated. The CNN anchor was as nonplussed as James Pearce. Very funny.

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Obama Death Poll

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The most viewed story on the BBC Americas site on Tuesday was “US probes Obama ‘death’ web poll” about a sick Facebook page asking if Obama should be killed. The story was given prominence on the main pages of the BBC’s News, World and Americas sections. Sky News also covered the story online, albeit with added alarmist undertones about racist protesters which the BBC, to its credit, avoided. However, unlike the BBC, Sky has done a follow up:

US Secret Service agents have revealed a teenager was behind a Facebook survey asking whether President Barack Obama should be assassinated.
The agency says it has spoken to the juvenile and his parents and determined there is no intent to harm the president.

This turn of events can’t be unknown to the BBC, and given the evident interest in the story it seems a strange editorial decision not to provide an update explaining that it was just a stupid kid doing a very stupid thing. Why would the BBC not be keen to allay the fears of its readers? Was the bland denouement such a disappointment to BBC journos that not one of them can be bothered reporting on it?

If the BBC does decide to update the story, the following information from Michael Deacon might be worth including:

But try typing “George Bush” and “die” into Facebook’s search engine.
You’ll be hit by a Niagara of groups with titles such as “George W Bush should die”, “I vote that George Bush can die”, “If this group reaches 1,000 [members] then George Bush will die”, “I want George Bush to die”, “Die Bush die”, “George Walker Bush should be killed”, “Will someone please kill George W Bush”…
These groups were there while George W Bush was in office. Eight months after he left, they’re still there.

Also possibly worthy of mention could be this plea for the assassination of George Bush, written in 2004:

The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. — where are you now that we need you?

That was Charlie Brooker, Guardian columnist and now, er, BBC TV presenter.

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HARI UP JOHANN!

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It’s Friday, time to start chilling down, and what better way to start than to read this article by Johann Hari in the soon to be extinct Independent. Johann is very concerned that the much loved BBC is going to be broken up by the evil Tories. Now read on….

Let’s start with the good news. The BBC works. For just £2.60 a week, the British get a package of the best television and radio in the world. We get the best comedies, the best drama and the best news. There’s a reason why we have won seven of the past 10 international Emmies, and the BBC News website is the most popular on earth. As soon as he took power, Nicolas Sarkozy asked how he could make French broadcasting more like ours. It is a model for the world of how to create journalism that isn’t contaminated by either corporate advertisers and proprietors on one side, or state ownership on the other. Three independent polls have found that a large majority of Brits would happily pay more for it.

What say you, dear reader? I can but wish that Johann’s worst nightmare comes true.

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BBC: Overpaid execs, too much opinion

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Peter Sissons has had another excellent pop at the BBC.

Peter Sissons, the retired BBC news presenter, last night attacked the corporation for paying huge executive salaries while allowing BBC newsrooms to become “factories” run by “poor kids”. The presenter, who left the BBC during the summer, also said that there was far too much opinion on BBC news programmes, and not enough straight reporting of facts.

Sissons, 67, who is writing an autobiography covering his career first at ITN, where he was happiest, then from 1989 at the BBC, told a Media Society dinner last night that the huge gulf between the salaries paid to the top tier at the BBC and everyone else was a real problem, especially in the 24-hour newsroom at BBC Television Centre…

“And then there are these panjandrums on huge numbers. If you tried to devise a way of undermining morale, you couldn’t find a better way. They [top executives] are working in the public service, and all this is taking place after we’ve found MPs with their snouts in the trough. Public service is taking second place to their pecuniary interests.”

Sissons also criticised the growing tendency of BBC journalists to offer analysis and opinion on news stories. “I say go back to basics. Report on the news,” he said. “The term reporter is the noblest word in the language, not this term ‘correspondent’. Increasingly, reporters are being invited by presenters to give their opinion. Far too much opinion is creeping into news reporting, with pay-off lines, to steer the viewer into what to think. Let them make up their own minds on the facts.”

See also: The BBC became too PC for me, says veteran Sissons

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OUR TORY MASTERS

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Bias is a curious beast. I don’t watch Eastenders but I believe that London Mayor Boris Johnson made a cameo appearance in “The Vic”. Big deal, eh? Well, it bothers the BBC who ran an item on it this morning pointing out that a/ Their hero Red Ken never got on despite seeking appearances, b/ That Boris was “a national joke” and c/ Is this how we are going to treat “our coming Tory masters”? d/ It was all simply too awful.

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"SIMPLIFYING THE EU"

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Bias can take many forms. One the most basic is the use of language; consistently misrepresenting a subject can render coverage totally one-sided. In the case of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, which is taking place today, the BBC decided some time ago that the treaty itself was about “simplifying the EU”. Liz McKean on Newsnight last night deployed the phrase at the beginning of her report; and it’s also here, on the BBC website. I’ve heard it used in almost every report about the topic, to the point of it being a mantra. Somebody, somewhere in the ranks of two thousand BBC journalists decided it was the correct description.

But I despise the EU, hate the whole exercise and want out. And to me – and those like me on sites like the excellent EU Referendum – the treaty is anything but “simplification”. That’s what Brussels itself calls it, the propaganda it has rammed it through by using. The reality is that every aspect of Lisbon is a stupifyingly complex, labyrinthine, anything-but-simple, slow motion coup d’etat through which the unelected and undemocratic ruling elite at the Barlaymont is creating further integration in the moves towards a Stalinist superstate. If you doubt me, you can read the document here.

The BBC loves the concept of “simple” because it wants with every sinew to allow the EU to ram through more measures on climate change, and because it will make the sainted Tony Blair the first EU president. What can be more “simplifying” than that?

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