This is a cross post from Autonomous Mind
“Regular readers may recall a couple of posts back in January where we told the story of an Autonomous Mind reader who complained to the BBC about an edition of Hardtalk.
This is the one in December 2010 where President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives was allowed to state, without challenge, that due to human induced climate change sea levels around the Maldives are rising. The lack of journalistic rigour and blind acceptance of such a controversial viewpoint as fact led to the complaint being made and the BBC’s two fingered resp0nse in January which included the immortal words:
We’re committed to honest, unbiased reporting and are determined to remain free from influence by outside parties.
Following the response, our reader then filed a Freedom of Information request to the BBC asking for details of:
- how many complaints/ accusations of bias the BBC received from the public about the BBC’s coverage of climate change
- how many of the complaints received about climate change were upheld by the BBC, i.e. were accepted
- brief details / a list of all the complaints upheld, i.e. the details of the upheld complaint and the BBC’s response (excluding details of the person complaining)
In publishing the story in a follow up post we shared the unsurprising news that the response from the BBC to our reader’s request was a refusal to provide the information sought. Once again the BBC was hiding behind its establishment-given provision to withhold any information the BBC considers to be held for the ‘purposes of journalism, art or literature’.
The BBC – all-knowing, all-seeing, all-hiding, all-spinning, all-lying – all-paid for by the public, who get a jolly good deal, because the BBC said so.
The fundamentally corrupt communication and broadcasting bunch of scam-meisters imaginable. How they get away with it defeats me, but they do, and oh, so publically and in our faces, too. Will anyone ever bring them to account?
The BBC’s continual refusal to provide open information is , in itself, an admission of guilt.
The problem is that the bbc employees and their masters believe, with some justification unfortunately, that they are invulnerable. Until that perception is changed they will continue as though nothing can touch them. Remember SHAC, those ‘animal rights’ personages. Well, they eventually got their just desserts but not before many people were scared **itless. I’m not advocating anything like that but until some of these extremist/ activist types put their energies to purposes that benefit our country – such as getting the bbc to change its ways – nothing is going to persuade them. I even have a good name for the activist group = PUBLIC : PUnish the Bbc for Loving Islam and hating Christians.
With Patten in charge there will be no change for the better, worse perhaps, or even likely. After all he has to protect his EU pension.
Works both ways Sue!
The BBC is more than happy to wrap itself around the establishment in spite of all its radical pretensions!
The MPs expenses was a case in point-as soon as it looked as though there could be real threats to their lobby influence and expenses, then suddenly we wheel in Rowan to dampen it all down…funny how the Anglican church allows itself to be the faux rebels Trojan horse in all matters but spiritual ones.
And so to today-the Twitter stuff threatens their good pals in the High Courts…and the BBC despises this fast moving new world that has no need for them or their hacks to mediate …so they smarm about “the rule of law” and hope that the judiciary will let them have a pretence of a monopoly on gossip in the meantime.
These Bollinger bolsheviks love the idea of free speech as long as its on their digital outlets only-and it doesn`t smoke out the Marrs or Rosses unnecessarily( their “talent” eh)…or reveal their salaries of course!
Just like Lenin at the school disco-slavering over Dick and Dom then clearing the school hall when their right to choose their DJs and Press Releases is threatened by a show of independence!
Funny how they love the Internet etc in the Arab Spring/ Ai WeiWei cases-Iran,Syria, Wikileaks-but when it comes to their not being brave enough to name Manchesters finest-they suddenly run to Judge Jolly and want him to silence the nasty new kids in the playground.
Time to send the BBC out to get some real news! Too much time watching “yoof” spoofs and wearing low trousers…which is why they don`t do politics in any real sense anymore!
cj,
“Bollinger bolshviks”. Indeed !
But, I can’t see how Rowan Atkinson fits in to all this ?
Thinking aloud, I wonder what would happen if someone names the footballer on this website. Would some stupid fascist judge try and close it down ?
The BBC Trust seem to have got its knickers in a twist over this complaint from a member of the space special interest group of Mensa. The BBC Trust prevaricating for months before removing evidence of its overt bias from the BBC Trust Editorial Standards Committee’s finding before publishing it.
Comment from Paul Cottingham
http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/how-the-establishment-closes-ranks-around-the-bbc/