Leave Princess Nick Alone!

I see a couple of Radio Five Live presenters are getting their panties in a bunch because poor Nick Clegg has come under scrutiny by some newspapers this morning:

Bookmark the permalink.

25 Responses to Leave Princess Nick Alone!

  1. Jack Bauer says:

    “The next time the right-wing press (SIC) get on their high horse about BBC balance, let’s BLAH EFFING BLAH..

    Is this useless toady labour shill for real?

    He is really comparing the perfectly acceptable political bias of a newspaper (you know like THE GUARDIAN) to the legal requirement for the polled taxing BBC to be “unbiased.

       0 likes

  2. ap-w says:

    The comment about BBC balance is very revealing. They just don’t get that privately owned media outlets are free to take editorial lines in the way which state-funded ones aren’t. It’s not the BBC’s job to “balance out” what it sees as a right-wing paper press bias. And incidentally, I’ve spent the last 20 years or so trying to see where the right-wing bias in the paper press is; if you go by the amount of newspaper titles there is not a right-wing bias. And it’s not the fault of those papers which are “right-wing” if they sell more popularly than those which are left-of-centre.   

       0 likes

  3. Roland Deschain says:

    Gaaaa!  How many times?  No-one is forced to buy a right-wing paper.  Comparing right-wing press with supposedly balanced BBC is comparing apples with pears.

       0 likes

  4. Travis Bickle says:

    “Indentifying the notes in the bouqet of a vintage wine.” 

    Oooh get you dahling!  Mwaaaaah!

       0 likes

  5. Martin says:

    Radio 5 have been at it all morning biggin gup Clegg, funny that slap head Cable is no longer the sainted one.

       0 likes

    • John Anderson says:

      Cable really got chewed apart yesterday by Andrew Neil.  Well worth checking out on iPlayer.

      And it is good to see Ken Clarke throwing his weight about a bit.  Makes people like Darling and Cable look amateur.

         0 likes

  6. ryan says:

    Mr Addison was the same guy who thought that you had to pay to watch Sky News — it’s on FREEview (that’s a bit of a clue Chris) — so I’m not surprised he gets confused about the obligations of state media vs. the freedom of the commercial media.

       0 likes

  7. Martin says:

    Another BBC tosser at it as well.

    “…going on the Gabby Logan show on 5Live to talk about #nickcleggsfault…”

       0 likes

  8. Martin says:

    What a shock, ex drug addict Richard Bacon has yet ANOTHER left wing Liebour supporting guest on today (Duncan Bannatyne).

       0 likes

  9. hippiepooter says:

    The huge difference is that everyone knows where the Mail and Telegraph are coming from politically, they dont pretend they’re not biased.  These creeps do, that’s what makes them creeps and dangerous for British democracy.

       0 likes

  10. Disdain says:

    It is surely clear that just as Tony Blair was the BBC’s candidate (in the sense that TB had reconstructed himself to reflect the prejudices and preferences of the BBC), now the BBC’s candidate is Nick Clegg. 

    In short, the BBC is the selectorate – the rest of the country are merely there to follow the BBC’s direction. Please note, any Beeboids who are reading, I do not assert that the BBC necessarily does this on purpose. But it does do it. 

    ‘We had intended you to be
    The next Prime Minister but three.
    The stocks were sold, the Beeb was squared,
    The middle class was quite prepared. . . . ‘

    In short, the BBC’s near monopoly over public discourse actively subverts our democracy. And not in a good way (national bankruptcy etc).

       0 likes

  11. Guest Who says:

    @EvanHD – Yes, this is the bloke on the Radio 4 Today programme, Dragons’ Den and the Bottom Line. These are my views, not those of the BBC… [though it didn’t stop him dropping its name in case 7k+ ‘followers’ be in any doubt]

    Extraordinary. Twitter parodies undercut media attacks on Clegg (#nickcleggsfault). Telegraph ends up defending itself.http://bit.ly/dmd6eA

    First line in linked piece: The BBC set the ‘smear’ hare running last night by suggesting that the Telegraph’s revelations might be part of a deliberate plot to do in Nick Clegg.’

    Clever, as one could easily assume he feels the Telegraph’s factual reporting has been ill-served by the Twitter mob. But given the nature of the media spat brewing it seems more likely it’s just an inter-luvvie b*tch-slapping contest. 

    As noted above by others, one is often struggling to divorce what seems to be personal opinion from agenda masquerading as corporate objectivity in ‘news’.

    Especially from an entity that takes money from those who may not share the views of its senior management and employees, to serve up what they feel as that others need to think.

    Yes, they are entitled to their opinions. No, not on my dime. Cake, eating and subsequent lipo on the licence fee payer all in one.

    ‘These are my views, not those of the BBC‘ – good job he doesn’t moonlight as a blog mod or Richmond beat ‘reporter’, then.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      The Telegraph, Mail et al really do need to make a lot more of the BBC appointing one of its journalist standing as a Labour election candidate to deal with BBC election bias complaints.

         0 likes

  12. kitty shaw says:

    I totally agree with you andI totally do not.

    It is frankly both absurd and disingenuous to claim the newspapers have anything other than a general right wing bias and a Conservative bias (that is for most papers though certainly not all of them). The evidence is entirely clear that is the case and it is fantasist to claim otherwise.

    But so what? If I don’t agree with that I can choose not to buy or read that paper, I might even like the bias. Its my choice whichever . Simple.

    It is NOT the BBC’s job to redress that imbalance.

    It is the BBC’s duty to be unbiased.

    I have to pay for the BBC, by legal threat of draconian punishment if I do not, just for the right to pay for and to watch or listen to other media.

    I have no choice not to buy.

    It is clear now that the BBC has finally started to move to jettison Brown as a loser and Labour’s BBC coverage is becoming more hostile. Great, for unbiased coverage? You must be joking they have simply hitched their wagon to Clegg and the Libdems, many would argue its their more natural home anyway.

    Replacing one bias with another or giving two biases is not impartiality, it is simply more bias, and redressing imbalances is not impartiality either, time the BBC were given a long long rest. 

       0 likes

    • ap-w says:

      It is frankly both absurd and disingenuous to claim the newspapers have anything other than a general right wing bias and a Conservative bias (that is for most papers though certainly not all of them). The evidence is entirely clear that is the case and it is fantasist to claim otherwise.

      I don’t agree with that at all. In 2001 The Daily Telegraph supported the Tories while the Times, Finanacial Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Sun, Daily Mirror, and Guardian supported Labour. Not sure about the Independent but they certainly didn’t support the Tories. By the 2005 election the Daily Mail and Daily Express came over to the Tories but The Times, Financial Times, Sun, Daily Mirror and Guardian all supported Labour. Not to mention the Economist also, which looks like it is heading towards endorsing the Lid Dems this time around.

      And the “right-wing” Daily Mail is a very fair weather friend to the Conservative Party. It has hardly been supportive of David Cameron over the last few years.

      What is absurd or disngenuous about any of that?

         0 likes

      • John Anderson says:

        ap-w

        That looks to be a very fair analysis of where the various newspapers stood in those elections.

        Puts the lie to the Beeboid/leftie cry about the “Tory press”

           0 likes

  13. NRG says:

    Beeboids are getting really desperate. They have been running a “Tory smears” line all day on radio and ignoring the substance of the allegations. The contrast with the enthusiasm with which they they chase down any flimsy Labour allegation against Conservatives and worry at it for days and weeks is astonshing.

    Clegg is fanatially europhile, has questions to answer regarding donations and lives a life of privledge from his familiy’s banking wealth while grandstanding with hypocritical complaints about greedy bankers. These are legitiamte stories.

    I used to be anoyed with BBC – now I am angry and disgusted.

       0 likes

  14. D B says:

    Did anyone else hear the interview Bacon did with Graham Smart, The Sun’s showbiz editor, on his show today? The Sun guy was supposedly on to plug his one-hour stand-in slot on 6 Music, but it was clear that the pair of them had planned a little exchange re politics. Bacon made a number of negative comments about The Sun’s pro-Cameron stance, and Smart repsonded by saying he wasn’t involved in the political side of things but wondered how Gary Barlow could support the Conservatives given that he had started his career by “taking money” from miners in working men’s clubs. It almost sounded scripted. I’ve never heard Bacon challenge any of his regular guests from Mirror Group about their newspapers’ devotion to Gordon Brown. I’m convinced that the Five Live host – with his cocky student politics attitude – is trying to push the BBC’s election broadcast restrictions to their limits. Keep an eye on him, because the R5L controller isn’t.

       0 likes

    • hippiepooter says:

      Push the restrictions to their limits?  Bent beeb broadcasters pass those day in day out.

         0 likes

      • D B says:

        Yeah, fair point. I just get the impression that Bacon is trying actively to sneak political opinion into his programme through his choice of guests.

           0 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Choice of guests (Hey, they have just introduced a guy from the Guardian on Breakfast News! And the right wing press can’t cope with Cleggmania) and structure of questions are just the start of what can happen to help ‘shape’ the narrative before anything is seen or heard, even if it’s live. Of course, ‘live’ can then be influenced by the lighting, the audience… to the crank of an interviewer’s eyebrow.

          And once it’s all in the can, what gets left in, or taken out in the edit suite can turn black into white. By editors such as Brett Spencer.

          Then if you choose to comment, there may be the odd mod such as Mr. Summers to intercept.

          All to be objectively commented upon by high-profile BBC employees from Evan Davies to Marcus Brigstock, who flaunt their corporate affiliations whilst claiming no relation with their personal views.

          Unique.

             0 likes

  15. George R says:

    More pro-Islam propaganda from Clegg, which will suit pro-Islam BBC, and speed up the Islamisation of Britain:

    “Nick Clegg says ‘let Islam prayer call ring'”

    [Extract]:

    “The Lib Dem leader is in favour of mosques being able to broadcast calls to prayer from loudspeakers in towns and cities across Britain.”

    http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/170893/General-Election-2010-Nick-Clegg-says-Let-Islam-prayer-call-ring

       0 likes

  16. deegee says:

    What is the definition of the right-wing press? My knowledge of Murdock is that he is a complete political opportunist backing the candidates who at that point in time may benefit him.

       0 likes

    • Asuka Langley Soryu says:

      To a Beeboid, anything right of Marx is right-wing. That’s how they can dismiss Murdoch’s two most popular UK media outlets, The Sun and Sky News, having a veritable love affair with Blair and Labour, and not have their simple-minded opinions swayed.

         0 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘What is the definition of the right-wing press’

      Seems to be the single-handed justification for any counter excess by the Gruan, Indy, Mirror, etc, which are also fair enough to serve readers who part with money for papers whose views they share.

      However, it also seems to include to some minds – with screeching blinkered hypocrisy – the necessary ‘balance’ of the national broadcaster, with its countrywide reach and audience.

      That… is not what required, enforced, public money is meant for.

         0 likes