Monthly Archives: November 2009

TORIES TO CAUSE CHIEF CONSTABLES TO QUIT?

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Sir Hugh Orde is the most politicised senior Police Chief that I know of. His period as Chief Constable of the PSNI was distinguished, if that is the correct word, by his playing of the political game to accommodate the requirements of the “Peace Process”. For example, he hailed the admission of a convicted IRA bomber onto the controlling Policing Board as progress. Sir Hugh was doing the rounds of the BBC this morning, warning that his fellow Chief Constables might well resign if Conservative plans to bring about more accountable local policing come into being.

On a purely political point of view, I hope some of them carry out this threat since we would be well rid of several Chief Constables. But on the topic specifically of BBC bias, why was there no one invited to defend and explain the Conservative view? Why was Orde’s own heavily politicised history not examined? This item could be seen as the BBC allowing an attack on Conservative policy through the back door and one wonders if the uberCop-come-politician Orde is not simply paying back his Labour masters?

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Question Time 19th November

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The traditional Question Time live-chat is here tonight, so please feel encouraged to join our usual Biased-BBC hecklers and jesters in providing a running commentary on the pronouncements of Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, Sir Menzies Campbell, Clare Short and Nick Ferrari. See you at 10:30pm

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Sexy Danish Model Photos

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Hat tip to Deegee in the comments for drawing attention to the BBC slide show about an “Oxfam exhibition of photographs taken in Peru by model Helena Christensen to document climate change”.

Yesterday I noted that the BBC’s World Have Your Say blog was expressing despair over its failure to inspire interest in the topic of climate change. The WHYS team might consider that one reason so many people are turned off by the BBC’s approach to this subject is its readiness to promote the vacuous bullshit observations of hypocritical flyby celebrity eco-activists.

The Christensen photos highlighted by the BBC are mediocre at best (which is particularly disappointing given the huge potential of the subject matter) and furthermore, as Deegee points out, the captions seem to contradict the pictures. One reads, “These mountains were covered with snow years ago and they’re not anymore [sic]”, and yet we see snow-covered mountains in shot. Another says, “Obviously, the waterfalls are less frequent and the rivers are drying out because of the disappearing glaciers”, but there in front of us is an impressive looking river.

The caption for the final picture quotes Christensen as saying:

“The most important thing is to stop the huge emissions of carbon dioxide into the world.”

Well, that’s pretty rich to say the least. Last month she told the Times that she “divides her time between Copenhagen and New York, but has a soft spot for Essex” because her agent’s charming home is there:

The house is near Stansted airport, which is extremely convenient — you step off the flight and feel you can almost touch the house — but thankfully you can’t hear the planes because the landing strip goes the opposite way.

With those convenient carbon-spewing planes out of earshot it’s so much easier to keep the plight of those poor Peruvians out of mind.

(Follow the Times link for Helena’s amusing tale about a swimming rodent she once saw. The long winter evenings must just fly by.)

The message is clear – if your charity tin says “climate change” and has a picture of a celebrity on it, the BBC will help with your PR without a second thought.

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ON THE ATTACK…

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Did anyone else catch the Cameron interview on the Today show this morning? John Humphrys seem determined to suggest that there was some form of collusion between David Cameron and Sir Christopher Kelly when it came to highlighting the total failure of Brown to deal with certain aspects of the Kelly report. What did Dave know and when did he know it? – was the line being pursued by the BBC this morning. Nice way of deflecting the issue. John!

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UK DEATH PANELS…

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The BBC covers the decision by N.I.C.E. to deny those suffering with liver cancer the opportunity to be treated with a drug that will alleviate their pain and hopefully extend their lives by some months. Professor Littlejohn from N.I.C.E. was allowed to get away with blue murder in his attempt to shift the blame onto the Pharmaceutical company behind the drug. Socialised health care, as manifest in the NHS, does not work and the not so nice quangocrats in N.I.C.E. merit much more intense scrutiny from the BBC. I shan’t hold my breath awaiting this.

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Question Time 19th November

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In what promises to be a spectacularly lefty panel this week, Question Time features the Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, expenses trougher and LibDem Sir Menzies Campbell, and Clare Short who is now sitting as an Independent. Broadcaster Nick Ferrari will add weight (literally) to the proceedings in the plus an extra panelist seat.

On the BBC website Short is described as being one of “Blair’s Babes” which if nothing else shows that someone at the BBC does sarcasm. David Vance will be leading the charge in the Biased-BBC livechat as usual, and TheEye will be humbly assisting with the moderation. See you here later this evening!

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THE SCIENCE OF NON-SCIENCE…

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With media, presentation is everything. So the BBC chooses to present the latest UN report in a way that suggests “poor women” bear climate change heaviest of all. The UN report is pushing the idea that all this dreadful climate change which impacts these “poor women” most savagely COULD be ameliorated if we ...cut population growth by using condoms more. I have covered this ludicrous UN story here but I think the BBC should be made to share the punch-line to this population control suggestion by the UN.

“The U.N. Population Fund acknowledged it had no proof of the effect that population control would have on climate change. “The linkages between population and climate change are in most cases complex and indirect,” the report said.

I couldn’t find that revelation in the BBC report for some odd reason. Wear a condom, save the planet – just some of the UN inspired drivel promoted by the State Broadcaster!

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Unreality T.V.

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Following the account of procedures attached to the production of The Big Questions, and exposure of the tactics used to ensure car-crash telly (so as not to bore the audience) here’s another example of the tampering that goes into making a programme aimed, above all else, at ratings.

I know the strictest parents series has an agenda. It’s set up to show that delinquents need boot-camp parenting. This theory has as many holes as a sieve, but that’s not my point. It is that most programmes start with a conclusion, whereupon much film is shot, most of it is discarded, and the rest is edited to fit.

I saw an episode that featured strict black Christian parents unconvincingly performing ‘wonders’ on two rebellious British teenagers. We’ve all seen black Americans going crazy in church before, so this lot didn’t seem particularly surprising, but neither ‘parents’ nor teenagers came out of it too well.

The series in question is shown on BBC3 so I don’t expect many people watch it, but the Orthodox Jewish episode was bound to ruffle a few sensitive feathers as it made the strict parents look as bonkers and unreasonable, if not more so, than the naughty teenagers.

A plague on both their houses, one might conclude. I certainly wouldn’t recommend participating in exploitative rubbish like that. But for another inside story see this JC article and the comment from neighbour Chani.

“Over 100 hours of film was shot that week, including many examples of the neighbors delivering dinner, partying around a lag b’omer bonfire, loaning the teens clothing from the “Clothing Gemach”, strolling with the teens around the neighborhood, and throwing them a good-by party where they showered the teens with personal blessings. None of these clips made it in. What did make it, unfortunately, was a line that Tzippy was “fed” by the director regarding “the community authorities.” Taken out of context, it leaves an incorrect and imbalanced representation of a community that smothers and rejects, but does not embrace and accept”

It’s not this stupid series that worries me. I fear that everything we see on the BBC is, to one degree or another, similarly manipulated. With their access to the media, programme makers and producers are in a uniquely powerful position, and in any other profession exploiting naïve people would be regarded as a form of abuse.

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Hard not to laugh again

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“Are you selfish – or are we bad journalists?” asks the BBC’s Mark Sandell on the World Have Your Say blog. “Whatever we do, whatever debate we come up with, we can’t seem to interest you in the issue of climate change.”

What a shame, eh?

(A related item – last week on the Conan O’Brien show Al Gore stated that “the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees” [via John Derbyshire] . Do you think we might have heard a bit more about such an innumerate pronouncement if it had been made by a certain Republican VP candidate?)

(Update. The WHYS blog has bumped the original post – new link here.)

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