Monthly Archives: January 2010

FRAMING THE NARRATIVE…

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Oh god – for the past two days now, Gordon Brown has been residing in the castle of a village near to where I live. He has landed here in Northern Ireland to “help” the local political parties “save” the “power=sharing” Assembly. Good old Gordon – such a nice man.

The BBC narrative on what is happening here is framed in almost childish terms.

They would have you believe that the good and brave Gordon Brown (along with his Irish counterpart in unpopularity, the charming Mr Brian “BIFFO” Cowan) have come here to see if they can give encouragement to the local Northern Ireland parties as they seek to do “the deal” that will “save” all the good things that have been achieved here. The nation waits for white smoke to emerge from Hillsborough Castle.
OK – now back on planet earth and away from the spin of the BBC.
Brown and Cowan have come here to pressurise the spineless and now openly corrupted DUP into agreeing a date for devolving Policing and Justice powers into an administration that is inherently dysfunctional and which contains murderers, bombers, gunmen and bankrobbers. This is presented as “the last piece” of the devolution justice – in fact it is the last chance to save democracy by preventing the very thing that Brown and co are here to urge on.
Now I appreciate that the view I have expressed is just one view – but it is one that the BBC seems oddly reluctant to air. Why?

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STARTING THE DAY THE SOCIALIST WAY…

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Start the day the socialist way! All morning BBC Today has been droning on about the alleged “fact” that “inequality” between the richest and the poorest has been getting greater in the UK. BBC keen to explain on several occasions how this gap INCREASED during the years of evil Conservative government but even under the more enlightened rule of Labour, it has still grown, Isn’t it just awful and how delightful for the BBC to be able to find only those commentators who take the whimsies of the National Equality Panel seriously. Just imagine had they gone to speak to someone who disputes the basis of this risible study and the ludicrous conclusions it draws? Still, that’s never going to happen. I am disappointed Today did not hail the achievements of the Dear leader on this issue since thanks to his staggering mismanagement of the economy we are all poorer. Equality of outcome??

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B-BBC STANDARDS

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Hi All. Can I ask for you to please ensure that your strong and passionate views of BBC bias are expressed in civil terms. There is too much inappropriate language and it only takes away from so many good points. Thank for your understanding and support.

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Harrabin’s Black and White World

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The indefatigable Richard North has a dismissive take on the BBC’s latest article about Pachauri and Glaciergate. His point that the Beeb’s bias comes as much from what it leaves out could also apply to the most recent of Roger Harrabin’s Notes.

For the second “note” running (see previous one here) Harrabin has expressed his anguished concern over recent developments in America. He says that Scott Brown’s election “certainly puts the nail in the coffin of Democrat hopes for a full climate bill this year” but once again fails to point out that some Democrat politicians oppose such legislation too. He states that the “fossil fuel industry is poised with banknotes at the ready” to take advantage of the recent Supreme Court ruling on political advertising, but neglects, as ever, to mention the huge sums of money swirling around the warmist lobby, much of it provided courtesy of Western taxpayers. And there’s certainly no mention of the money that flows into Pachauri-linked enterprises, some of it thanks directly to the false claims about Himalayan glaciers. Harrabin takes at face value the spin that the inclusion of this material in the IPCC report was just an unfortunate “inexplicable blunder”; heaven forbid that a BBC environment correspondent would dare to suggest that there could be a link between dodgy climate research and financial gain by leading warmists.

As with the BBC line that Obama’s woes are down to Fox News, Harrabin apportions similar blame for the problems facing the warmist cause:

Part of the answer lies with the media – particularly right-wing newspapers…

Mr Cameron has re-branded his party as “vote-blue-get-green”, but many of his back-benchers rank climate change as a very low priority. A couple of his Cabinet members are likely to be outright climate sceptics, and more may be driven that way if right wing newspapers continue chasing stories about the IPCC’s failings.

[Note to Harrabin – check BBC style re “right-wing newspapers” or “right wing newspapers”]

That last line seems to imply a lack of interest on Harrabin’s part in “chasing stories about the IPCC’s failings” – ie they’re the realm of the right-wing press. It’s worth remembering that some of the Conservative-supporting newspapers have often been slow to run stories critical of the AGW orthodoxy.

For Harrabin it’s all about good versus evil, with the scientists (incorruptible truth-seekers, noble of intent), the Democrats, and the NGOs on one side and the evil fossil fuel lobby, the Republicans, and the right-wing media on the other. It’s biased, simplistic and wrong, but it’s the sort of world-view that helps people like Harrabin get through the day.

Update. Andrew Neil goes where Harrabin fears to tread.

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FOUR LIONS

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Fancy watching a comedy about suicide bombers? The BBC covered Chris Morris’ long awaited film “Four Lions” which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this morning. The BBC were flogging the line that we have to stop demonising suicide bombers because they are part of our culture and that we needed to be more understanding towards the self-detonators. I can appreciate that Morris is a satirist, not sure if the BBC get the satire. There was no one available to suggest suicide bombers are the scum of the earth…

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Newsnight @30

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David Hughes in the Telegraph:

Few organisations do self-congratulation better than the BBC and this week the Corporation is pulling out the stops for its current affairs flagship Newsnight…

…the programme today has a drawback for political junkies and that is its general view of the world. If you took all the trendy liberalism that makes up the BBC and bubbled it over the Bunsen burner until you were left with the purest residue, the irreducible core of metropolitan Left-wingery — well, that’s Newsnight.

It regards Right-wing politicians as some alien species, necessary (just) to the political process but viewed with either curiosity or contempt, depending on their demeanour. I’m sure this is not deliberate, that people aren’t consciously trying to present politics from a Left-wing standpoint.It happens because that’s the programme’s mindset.

I’m not so sure that the bias is always subconscious, but I do like the phrase “irreducible core of metropolitan Left-wingery”.

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BBC CLOUD CUCKOO LAND

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Today, it seems that the false ‘consensus’ around global warming is melting at a faster rate than ever before. Richard North has shown that the head of the IPCC solicited EU grants to research Himalayan glacier melt even though the claims of that melt were totally bogus; David Rose on the Mail on Sunday has evidence that the IPCC deliberately inflated melting ice theories to make the world pay attention; and the Sunday Times has further evidence that other parts of the 2007 IPCC report also deliberately falsified the records about alleged increases in the damage caused by hurricanes. It adds up to an avalanche of fraud that is building up momentum daily – for the first time the MSM is following what blogs have been saying for years.

So where is the BBC on all this? Not very far, to put it mildly. There’s virtually nothing on the BBC website that reflects the turmoil. Harrabin posted on Friday a pessimistic blog containing the old warmist lie that the lobbying firepower from oil corporations was the reason why ‘climate change’ legislation has not been passed; and Richard Black, though admitting that the ‘climate change’ suicide rush to enact globally-binding targets has faltered, still refuses to to discuss or even properly mention the catalogue of lies and distortions that are now being exposed. It’s BBC cloud cuckoo land, as usual.

Update: the blogsphere has been buzzing all day with new revelations about Pachauri and his henchmen. Even warmist journalists such as Charles Clover and Geoffrey Lean are calling for Pachauri’s resignation. On the BBC, with its £700m-a-year news budget – zip.

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John Lloyd on BBC Obama Bias

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In an article published this week, John Lloyd – not exactly a voice of the right – argues that Obama supporters can’t place the blame for The One’s unpopularity simply on right-wing media outlets. It’s worth reading in full, but I can’t resist sharing this section:

…the swooning of much of the American and nearly all of the foreign media over Obama as he emerged as the most powerful candidate was bound to stimulate a reaction. Then, and even now – see the tributes to Obama in the past two weeks, including an extraordinary hagiography on his route to power on BBC2 on Saturday 16 January – the conflation between joy expressed at the first black US president and a sober analysis of his governance still goes on. It was a point I made at a self-congratulatory breakfast organised by the BBC on their Obama coverage a year ago – to widespread disapproval.

Excellent. Oh, to have been at that BBC back-slapping Obama love-in when Lloyd killed the morning buzz.

(Kirsty Wark should read Lloyd’s article. She was pushing the “blame Fox News” meme on her utterly dreadful new Review Show last night. Five self-important members of the chatterati talking over each other for an hour in a taxi waiting room. And only one token non-leftie – David Brent look-alike Ross Douthat, a middle-ground anti-Tea Party liberal conservative. There’s BBC balance for you.

Samizdata’s Brian Micklethwait wasn’t impressed either.)

Update. A couple more critical assessments of The Review Show from bloggers JC Thomson and Mantex. The reviewer for The Arts Desk at least wished the programme well but even she admitted it had been “a slightly shaky start” and noted that the panel “was perhaps a little too skewed towards liberals”. When arts luvvies are complaining about liberal bias you know there’s a problem.

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Gaza Groaning With Goodies. Israel Still Guilty

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You know when there’s a well-established mantra that’s invariably used to batter one’s adversary over the head with?
A notion that’s repeated over and over till thoroughly incorporated into the narrative, to be produced reflexively each time a certain something sets it off?

Well, when that thing is suddenly exposed as a bit of a myth, but the adversary doesn’t wish to concede or make friends, so they continue beating you with a new stick as though nothing has changed?

I’m talking, of course, about the accusation that follows the slightest mention of Israel; namely that Israel’s blockade has driven residents of Gaza to a state of malnutrition and starvation.

Ed Stourton seamlessly shifts the emphasis thus in his recent reports from Gaza on R4 Today and From our Own Correspondent. Which brings me to Alan Johnston. Reminiscing nostalgically, he says in his introduction :
“In the years when I was a correspondent in the Gaza Strip there was always one steady bleak trend; life there always got harder and harder, and for most Gazans that continues to be true.” (But not for all, as Ed will attest.)
“A major reason for this is Israel’s economic blockade. The Israelis say it’s aimed at weakening the Hamas movement, which controls the strip.”(They’re just saying that)
“ For years Hamas has launched rockets from Gaza targeting homes, schools and offices in nearby Israeli towns, and Hamas doesn’t only oppose Israel’s continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories, it also talks of ultimately seeking the destruction of Israel itself.”
( Hurry that past the listeners and they might think Israel still occupies Gaza and won’t notice the other bit) “So the blockade goes on, and Ed Stourton has been looking at the everyday impact it has on the streets of Gaza.”

Ed Stourton:
“The shops in Gaza City centre are so well stocked that the abundance is almost indecent!” […] “All of this in a place that is supposed to be on the brink of a humanitarian crisis because of Israel’s economic blockade.”
You said it bud. But although the ‘tunnel economy’ has allowed crooks and thieves to prosper, and cars and camels to be brought in, somehow Israel is to blame for the fact that Hamas won’t let poor people acquire the materials to mend their houses. (Because Israel says they might be used for military purposes.) Well, if the need for washing machines and fridges is greater than the need to repair their houses, whose fault is it that they haven’t bothered to smuggle in a few bags of cement too?
Whose do you think?
So the starvation/malnutrition mantra no longer holds water, and the charge against Israel is cunningly transferred from the original one to the updated crime of forcing them into corruption and profiteering. The prosperity of crooks and thieves, the abundance of which could also be described as indecent, seems somehow to be the fault of Israel.
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The blood libel that has been doing the rounds recently might have some foundation after all. Clare Short shouldn’t have antagonized those dastardly Israelis. Parts of her have been harvested and reallocated. Jane Corbin got the face, and Alan Johnston the voice.

How neat, alluding to the blood libel as “organ harvesting,” with its connotation of avarice and greed. Why not use the term as a euphemism for acquisitions of any type, not just stolen body parts. Anything one might gather in, so to speak, such as the groaning shelves of Gaza which are a veritable harvest festival.

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