Yesterday the Guardian splashed with the story that David Willetts was considering proposals to allow the wealthy to pay their way onto oversubscribed university courses. The BBC, brimming with righteous anger, made the story its lead item in the morning.
Today the Telegraph led with a letter from 42 family doctors, the heads of GP consortia representing seven million patients, in which they declare their support for Andrew Lansley’s health reforms. The BBC ignored the story.
The Telegraph’s chief leader writer David Hughes has commented:
There was not a word on this story in the news bulletins of our public service broadcaster. Just imagine what would have happened if the 42 had written a letter saying the reforms were all a terrible mistake and simply would not work. The BBC would have trumpeted it from the rooftops; talking heads would have been wheeled into the Today studio; we would have been in full Coalition in Crisis mode. Instead, we’ve had a complete and rather shameful silence. There is something unsettling about the national broadcaster choosing to ignore a major political story because it does not suit its own agenda.
Quite so.
Teenage Ed attacking Teenage Cameron on the NHS just now on PMQs.
So childish, I just switched off.
“The BBC, brimming with righteous anger, made the story its lead item in the morning.”
If only they had listened to what Willetts actually said and not the labour triablists and their “class war”.
The even funnier thing is John Denham actually states Guardian and the Today programme as the source.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110510/debtext/110510-0001.htm#11051066000005
Mr Denham: In The Guardian and on the “Today” programme, the Minister set out plans…
Mr Willetts: The shadow Secretary of State clearly has not been listening to what I have been saying. He has invented a policy and then denounced it. He has no excuse for that, because in every public statement I have made, I have made it absolutely clear that we are looking at employers and charities. Those are the actual words that I used in The Guardian this morning when I referred to the current rules which, for example, limit the ability of charities or social enterprises to sponsor students.
Talking about giving special consideration to wealthy families, regardless of whether they are worthy or not – what about the INBBC-Guardian special treatment for bin Laden family propaganda today (which I won’t repeat here)?
In contrast, here is a more measured treatment of whether the death of the wealthy Islamic jihad mass murderer, Osama bin Laden, should be celebrated.
From Glenn Beck team, (while Glenn was in Israel, supporting Israel):-
(3 min video)
http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/05/09/best-ringtone-ever
“The billionaire builder’s son who used his wealth to climb to the top of the terror tree ”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382651/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Billionaires-son-used-wealth-climb-terrorism-tree.html#ixzz1M2o8pw3s
I’m waiting (in vain I’m sure) for the BBC – or just Today – to apologise to Willetts and put the record straight.
BTW I think I heard on Today this morning – in the review of the MSM – about the 42 doctors. However, this info did not feature in the agitprop sections of the programme.
The BBc have lied, blatantly. Listen to the excerpt at the beginning of this Daily Poliitcs programme and then to Jon Sopel pushing Willetts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13361707
What we have is the Guardian, Tonybee and the BBC LYING, then pushing that lie then calling the denial a pull back and change of plan. It is sinister LYING and amking shit up. I find it incredibel and I doubt that the BBC will not apologise for this disgraceful bias.
Charlie Falconeradds to the live on air lying and isn’t even pulled up, Willetts is too polite, should ahve hit Faulkner and told soel to eff off. Christ just listening amkes me livid!! The day before Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi should have done and said the same thing to Polly and Anita yesterday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13346860
Basiclaly: make up shit, shout it out, then shout about a U-turn.
Span,
Yes, sorry, just caught up with your post. That idiot Cameron has given the BBC the green light to do what they want, so they are totally out of control now.
I still say, as I have said for years, the Tories should boycot the BBC totally. But they don’t have the guts to do it. Pathetic.
Grant…not filleted but needs a lesson in defence. The perfect reply was “Jon, no, that is a lie, the story was made up so why need to deny it before 7 in the morning?”
“Charles, no, don’t lie or make shit up. You sound stupid”
End of.
Umbongo,
Willets was filleted on the Daily Politics today, see my comment on new Open Thread.
I think what you may have heard was JH, when doing the paper review before 7 a.m., trying to hold back as laugh as he sounded completely incredulous that the DT headline was praising the governments health reform!
Gerald,
Is this the same John Humphrys who doesn’t understand the AV system ?
The BBC-soft on Labour,soft on the causes of Labour!
This discrepancy does deserve further investigation and broadcast, though one has to rather accept the BBC is unlikely to be the investigative professional news outfit to do it.
Editorial by omission, so consistently, and in the face of clear favour of niche publications such as the Graun and its pet projects, is not editorial… it is propaganda, and should be funded as such.
BBC and Labour nicely in sync. Forget the digital switch-over – this is the anniversary of their switch from Pravda to the mouthpiece of the opposition.
I was thinking yesterday when I heard about this Willetts idea that the Beeboid Corporation would be making a great hoo ha about it.
We never hear a peep from them about rich people from overseas being able to buy places at university in this country. Why is that, Beeboids? Is it cos they iz foreign richies so you wouldn’t dream of saying Boo! to them cos that would be raaaaaaacist? And you can’t call them evil Tories either.
I noticed that the Beeb news seem reluctant to mention the letter by the 42 G.P.s.
Very different when The Royal College of General Practioners sent a letter, which was a denunciation of the health reforms, to Downing Street . Beeb led with that all morning and afternoon, allowing its leader, Dr. Clare Gerada, to make uninterrupted scaremongering claims should the proposals take effect.
I thought it bore all the hallmarks of a Labour Party political operation, judging by the speed of the Beeb’s broadcast of Ed Miliband’s response to Gerada’s actions.
What they didn’t mention was that Gerada is far from an impartial commentator. In a previous Guardian article she described herself as a “socialist doctor” with a “proud socialist family background”. She spent most of her working life practicing medicine in Lambeth. It seems left wing politics consumes her life and was awarded an M.B.E. by the last Labour Government for “services to drug addiction care”.
The R.C.G.P. is effectively a trades union created in 1955 to advise and assist G.P.s overburdened by the bureaucracy of the recently formed N.H.S. of which her G.P. father was a fervent supporter.
One thing I’ve learned from watching these so called impartial experts interviewed by BBC news is ALWAYS check their background and affiliations.
The GP letter was mentioned on the BBC News web site (buried on the Politics page, not on the Home Page) but, naturally, they had to add that the lead signatory is “a former Conservative councillor and mayor”. You know, the kind of information they don’t impart when the person in question is a Labour activist.
Only those who live on Planet Guardian could be so certain that their prejudices and postures are indeed those of the British people.
The Eurocommunists of the eighties did not scoot off after the fall of the wall-they just seeped into the EU and student politics…and their spawn are well incubated now at the BBC! Their names are legion-not legend as they like to imagine!
In fact,the more we vote against them and their pet projects like Regional Assemblies/and AV…the more they shrink from any further pretence of democracy or the need to be “balanced”(Denis McShane on Start the Week only one recent example!)
One day they will get an electorate finally worthy of their virtuous and benign vogues and shape throwing!
Until then, we can expect this partial and spittle flecked comment as being “news output”. No further need now to march through the institutions-tomorrow belongs to them!
Luckily their beloved NHS can`t do backbone transplants and they`ll wilt in the face of any confrontation…which is where we come in!
The silence from defenders of the indefensible is deafening. Better maek a typo….
There is nothing unsettling that the national broadcaster chooses to ignore a major political story because it doesn’t suit its agenda. It is profoundly troubling that it has an agenda.
There is nothing unsettling that the national broadcaster chooses to ignore a major political story because it doesn’t suit its agenda. It is profoundly troubling that it has an agenda.
It doesn’t just apply to this item.
The two o’clock news on News 24 headlined with Bad news about the economy and even worse news about inflation.
They then flashed over to the Institute of Directors conference for an opinion from Sir Terry Leahy, former boss of Tescos.
This is when it all went pear shaped for the interviewing beeboid, who was clearly anticipating a tongue lashing from Sir Terry to the Coalition.
The question framed was something along the lines of ‘This is terrible news – the crumbling Tory led coalition has cocked it up, hasn’t it’.
The reply from Sir Terry was along the lines of when you inherit a bankrupt country, you have got to make harsh cuts, which will temporarily slow the economy down; Because if you don’t, you’ll end up like Greece.
Clearly rattled, the beeboid pressed him to be negative, but Sir Terry stood his ground. Then, trying another tactic, he put the leading question that the inflation outlook was dismal, what did he think?
No joy there.
Eventualy, tail between his legs, the beeboid mournfully went back to the studio. Anchorman then set off on a Tory bashing account of the disabled march against cuts, and then bought in Burnham (I think) to have five good minutes of coalition bashing. They rounded off by running the boy in a skirt story, with the message being, it’s good to be feminine if you are a boy.
Having had enough as I could put up with, I switched to Sky News.
They had headlined with the abolition of the speed camera stealth tax and chasing dangerous and careless drivers, then Libya and other relevant news.
Is Planet Sky on the same one as Planet BBC?, because if they are; One of them is lying……….
I wonder which one?…….
‘One of them is lying……….
I wonder which one?…….’
I actually find SKY’s output pretty dire, but by being not hampered by the restrictions of ‘the narrative’ (Aunty is in danger of becoming Broadcasting Bloody Cuts, which may suit the Labour PR guys, but these are the geniuses which have brought you crowdpleasers such as YestoAV and Mr. Miliband’s weakly foot-in-mouth triumphs) their ‘reporting’ efforts are usually broader ranging if ratings-driven, which means more folk will switch if only to stand a chance of finding out what else is going on as opposed to what a small section of society obsess over and think folk need to hear.
Regards David Willetts’ proposals, the BBC opened yesterday with the headline: ‘Extra England university places for wealthy considered’ on their website. This was unfounded propaganda as the BBC had no idea if, perhaps, MORE poor students would benefit from the proposal, directly opposite to the propaganda. They soon corrected the headline but the damage was done with the original biased headline being propagated around the web. Luckily I saved a very rough screen dump of the original from Google preview.