Well, it’s been a mammoth week here on Biased BBC. We have done our best to flag up the outrageous bias shown by the State Broadcaster against NewsCorps this past week or so. This is not because I have any particular love for Murdoch and co (Admission – I DO like Fox News!) but I have a huge interest in ensuring choice and freedom when it comes to media access. The BBC hates competition unless like the Guardian, it is complementary. So, I open this thread up to you and thank you all for the fantastic participation recently, it is very very encouraging to see so many people visiting our site. I also want to thank those who send me emails with some great suggestions as to how we can move things on. Leave it with me.
OPEN THREAD
Bookmark the permalink.
Oh I love how this lady looks at the goon to her right and gives him the old “shut the f8ck up” look! 😀
Regards
Mailman
The old lady knows when someone is lying to her face. And Gillard lied right there on camera.
Who is this elderly lady ? Fantastic !
Gillard caught stone dead and her repulsive lickspittle couldn’t shut it down.
What made my flesh creep was the way the slimy Gillard kept touching the lady. Bet she went for a shower straight after.
Still it proves no country has a monopoly on sleazy politicians.
PS Gillard looks a little like a taller version of Hazel Blears.
i think she looks like one of those cartoon characters off the lloyds bank adverts with the weird music
It shows that speaking in a calm, but insistent manner carries infinitely more weight than ranting in their face about what a f***wit they are (even if true).
Abbott lines up to reverse this green madness.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/abbott-eyes-mandate-to-dump-tax-20110714-1hg57.html?from=smh_ft
what is the viewed take on this. i must admit i haven t given it enough attention
“As the world bows its collective head this week in shame to mark the 16th anniversary of not rescuing Muslim soldiers from the Serbs they were slaughtering,
The Netherlands’ largest internet news portal, NRC, was audacious enough to challenge the official version of the
sacred, unquestionable, meticulously constructed LIE known as the “Srebrenica Genocide,” heralding a significant change in attitude toward the nature of the incident”
Jihad Watch
then we have the BBC news
BBC News – Mladic extradition arouses Dutch memories of Srebrenica
I wonder if Richard Black and the BBC / Guardian cabal will be reporting on this link to the phone-tapping scandal?
news of the arrest of the managing director of a firm hired by the University of East Anglia’s CRU (Climatic Research Unit) to carry out “covert” operations – a man who goes by the name of Neil Wallis of Outside Organisation
Less apparent is its work in the corporate field, where its activities tend to be rather more covert. [my bold]
“We don’t advertise a lot of the things we do,” says Edwards, who was called in by the University of East Anglia when Climategate blew up. “That was really interesting. It’s very high level, and you’re very much in the background on that sort of thing.”
The university’s Climatic Research Unit wanted Outside to fire back some shots on the scientists’ behalf after leaked emails from the unit gave climate change skeptics ammunition and led to an avalanche of negative press about whether global warming was a real possibility.
They needed someone with heavyweight contacts who could come in and sort things out, and next week there was a front-page story in the Guardian and also covered by the BBC’s Richard black telling it from their side.
http://climateaudit.org/2011/07/14/covert-operations-by-east-anglias-cru/
According to the Outside Organisation website, Neil Wallis worked for the evil News of the World. And the sainted CRU hired him to do their PR and the BBC listened to him? Oh, dear.
Black made to look even more of a dork than he already is…
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/14/piekle-sr-on-climate-science-myopia/
You can also read about this on Watts Up, although I doubt the BBC or Guardian will be covering this breaking story, indeed I think I can hear the sound of emails being deleted at CRU / Guardian and the BBC’s Green propaganda guru.
Breaking news!! lol BBC put out Tw8tter/socail disea /? sorry ! media guide lines ,so any money on who will mess this one up first ?.
Click to access 14_07_11_news_social_media_guidance.pdf
joseph thanks for the heads up on the CRU story i missed that one !
Sorry ‘social’ ?? OK there was a Typhoon Fighter on a landing run past me house I got distracted ahem!
matthew,
Glad to hear we still have some fighter planes left !
http://order-order.com/2011/07/15/too-many-tweets-make-a-beeboid/
Soem comments are fun.
Especially a few that seem based on facts, which must be countered by the now time-honoured practice of a counter-‘view’, a sulk, and ad hom or an ‘ism accusation. Or, all at once.
If this isn’t a result of this blogs hammering the Beeboids stupid tweets, I don’t know what is. Surely this site drew some attention that contributed to this, as I don’t know of any mainstream media that constantly busted them on it.
Speaking of BBC tweets, did anyone catch this particular one from Andrew Neil a couple of days ago.
“I suspect Brown’s speech will be subjected to close textual scrutiny and his claims tested against recorded reality and others’ recollection”
“Recorded reality”. Ouch.
(Apologies if someone’s already posted it)
Not by the BBC, it won’t be. Today’s BBC News coverage has been one actual news development in the story for every several opinion segments featuring an assortment of people expressing their outrage. No news value whatsoever, and certainly no mention of Mr. Brown.
Unless Neil was being sarcastic.
I had just posted this on the previous Open Thread when I saw that there is a new one, so reposting here:
A very interesting revelation emerged unexpectedly during an interview on Woman’s Hour yesterday with opera singer Christine Rice.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b012fs69
She explained (at 5mins 10secs) that she had been doing a PhD in Physics but had taken a gap year during which she gone to the Royal Northern College of Music and ended up as a singer. What was of particular interest, though, was what she said when she was pressed about why she had given up Physics.
This part of the conversation starts at 5mins 44 secs, with Jenni asking her about having been working on global warming.
She said it was a buzz subject, mentioned the time span of climate change over tens of thousands of years compared with scientific research over twenty years and explained that while waiting for some satellite data, she had spent six months reading all the research to date. What she had to say about climate change and the scientific data is at 5 44 – 7 00.
I can see why the programme would want to put the subject of global warming on the question sheet for Jenni but the answer may not have gone down well in certain parts of Beeboidland. It is amusing that Jenni appeared to stumble over the words “global warming”. Had she not been schooled properly in her employer’s favourite cause or had she not peered over her glasses well enough to see?
Thanks for that link. Love the way the interviewer discreetly attempts to change the subject by muttering “singing’s more fun isn’t it?”
Here in a nutshell we have an example of the forces that shape the global warming “concensus”. Any honest scientists like Christine with the brains and morals to see it’s a corrupt scam would long since have left the profession or been forced out for their views.
I bet the Beeboid producer didn’t even bother to find out beforehand. They had the subject matter from either the pre-interview or from info fed by her management, and simply decided she must have been a Warmist because, well, who isn’t, eh? They didn’t bother to ask where she stood on the subject because they assumed she was a fellow believer as they can’t conceive of anyone sane not being a Warmist.
The one-sided aspect of BBC’s coverage of the NOTW is fast becoming unpalatable. WHY haven’t they exposed the considerable hacking that went on at Mirror Group too?It is an open secret that the Sunday People got most of their stories that way.
It’s hard not to conclude that their only motivation is Murdoch-bashing. This is the left-liberal wing of the BBC exacting their revenge on News International for being too successful.
Do not forget that BBC News uses private eyes. Snoops-for-scoops, listening devices, bugs, and covert filming have been used extensively for years. Any reaction towards their usage should depend on what they were used for.
The NoW went way too far, and they and others needed to be slapped down, though not shut down. A blanket privacy law would be nothing more than a hypocrites’ charter.
The degree of BBC over-reaction is nothing short of shocking. It still has not properly sunk in for me that we’ve lost a great Fleet Street institution – a paper that sold millions, did investigative journalism and that people enjoyed reading. Unlike the Independent On Sunday.
We should stand up to the tabloid-hating BBC before the phony hysteria they are whipping does any more damage to British newspapers
Seems The Russians are enjoying this one too
“Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver has been accused directly by Max Keiser of Russia Today of knowing about phone hacking”.
OK as yet unsubstantiated but that ain’t stopped the BBC and it’s minions of troth!!
But still pmsl!.
I expect Peston will be all over this like a rash…………………ok, maybe not.
The last 2 weeks or so have been the most absurd times I have ever lived through in the UK. I really see no hope.
But, full marks as usual to this website for keeping me sane and reminding me that I am not alone.
I wish some of the posters here were running the country.
Just caught a little of Radio 4 Feedback. Yes they went with ‘Has the BBC gone over the top on this story?’
And can you guess from which angle they approached it?….Turns out most listeners are concerned that African famine has been under reported.
Well we didn’t get any figures on this but those were the comments that were highlighted.
“Turns out most listeners are concerned that African famine has been under reported.”
Ah, so they got it “just about right” then?
‘Ah, so they got it “just about right” then?’
Tonight (and tomorrow’s dawn patrol) Newswatch writes itself.
A few tweets from Max Keiser of Russia today
@maxkeiser maxkeiser Just confirmed, BBC knew about Murdoch’s phone hacking in 2002 as did DC White of UK’s Met Police force. A Matthew Freud protection racket?
@maxkeiser maxkeiser Scotland Yard investigating U.S. citizen victim of Murdoch’s phone hacking; named in complaint; BBC, M.Freud, T. Weaver, R. Wade, P. Morgan
@maxkeiser maxkeiser How come the BBC never went after Murdoch and UK police after they learned of Murdoch/UK police’s phone hacking crimes in 2002?
Charlie Gilmour jailed for student fees demo violence
16 months for vandalism, theft, and assaulting the royal escort.
All together now: Awwwwwwwww
The recent hair cut and studious looking spectacles make him look about 14.
Prison life will be full of new experiences.
I noticed how his millionaire parents attempted to make him look as young as possible, I mean, at first I thought it was the Harry Potter premiere – they ACTUALLY think we are fucking stupid.
A victim of the fascist British police state. Maybe Daddy can write a song about it.
Being away from my computer this morning, I had Radio 5 on listening to the golf comentary, when it was interupted. Just to put up one TomWatson MP, the hypocrite, to join in the trouble stirring. Down with the BBC and our toy MPs.
Derek,
For most third rate politicians like Watson, this is their 15 minutes of fame. After it they will sink back into oblivion.
Well, the BBC News Channel has now shifted its mission from news to charity appeal. Poor Clive Myrie was just “reporting” on more starving children in Somalia, and ended his “report” by saying that the children “can still be saved if the world acts now”. And then there was an appeal for donations.
This is not news, it is a charity appeal. While I have plenty of sympathy for starving innocents, is this really what a news organization is supposed to be doing? Is this the best use of hefty journalist salaries while all those NUJ members in the World Service were let go because of budget cuts?
Yes – the Beeb have been missing out on the opportunity to blame the Somalian drought on climate change. Still, I guess the priority is to smash the free press first. Then they can return to their normal role of generating non-stop alarmist propaganda in support of global governance, green taxes and state control of all life on earth.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with maniacs driving round in Toyotas firing AKA-47s.
This will end supporting a future disaster too, if nobody does anything about the birth rates, & totally corrupt scumbags
who couldn t lie straight in bed, syphoning off the majority of financial support, so those in most need get nothing
yes…& now we ve gone from drought to deluge
which as you mentioned will mean many smug beebo
faces, of course immediately blurting climate change
……yeah! its called rain
by any chance, did those pirates steal any umberellas?
plastic buckets?
Latest: Somalian refugees are drowning in floods from torrential rains. Will I get a refund for all the money the BBC told me to give in drought relief?
Only if you gave some.
R4 Today did manage to find time between NOTW…phone hacking,
R Murdoch..brimming with self importance..& of course now R Wade resigning
to feature for barely 3mins out of a 3hr show
Three explosions in India’s commercial capital Mumbai
mind you crammed into the non existent time frame, was
deft verbal contortion, i do believe an understated islami…. was mentioned once, followed by an immediate cough then extremist.
but hey every cloud 😉 ….least its not Al KAYDA bludgeoned home every 15 seconds…
i haven t seen such downplaying, since i dropped a marble down a drain… listen in it is unbe LIEV able.
oh well move on nothing to see.
BBC-NUJ want to stop a ‘Fox News’ taking off in Britain; it only want a BBC-NUJ-Guardian political filter on news.
How ‘right wing’ is Glenn Beck (ex-Fox News)? It could be argued that no BBC-NUJ programme ia as democratic as e.g. this final (10 min video) Glenn Beck TV show (‘Fox News’):
Anyway, the easy categories of ‘right-wing’ and ‘left-wing’ in politics are not very useful, as argued in this new book:
‘The left is seldom right’
(by N. Berdichevsky)
http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/33295
“Anyway, the easy categories of ‘right-wing’ and ‘left-wing’ in politics are not very useful, as argued in this new book…”
This is a joke surely?
To paraphrase the review:
The purpose of this book is threefold:
1. To demonstrate that the terms ‘Right‘ and ‘Left‘ are meaningless.
2. To show that the use of those terms is all the fault of the ‘LEFT‘.
3. That everything bad that’s ever happened since the 1950’s is all the fault of the ‘LEFT‘ – who are, by the way, under the thumb of ‘MILITANT ISLAM‘.
Just how long do you have to spend on Planet Beck before you start to believe this nonsense???
A view from Australia on Murdoch:
“Anti-Murdoch politicians can’t stand the heat”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/anti-murdoch-politicians-cant-stand-the-heat/story-e6frg6zo-1226095560219
“A view from Australia on Murdoch:
“Anti-Murdoch politicians can’t stand the heat”
http://www.theaustralian.com…”
Or in other words;
“Here’s a view on Murdoch from a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch”!
Too easy 😉
That’s right, Dez. All media outlets are slavishly devoted to their owner, full stop, no exceptions, even to the point of being blind sycophants. And your proof of reading minds is……..?
Ok, fair point. But all I’ve done is provide an extra bit of context. Whether you think it’s relevant or not is entirely up to you…
Oh dear – an extra half-hour of anti-Murdoch, News International, ‘Fox News’ propaganda goes missing .
Still, they’ll put it out on Monday’s programme instead, to suit themselves as always, courtesy of Mr. Mason, ‘Newsnight’s Father of the Chapel, NUJ:
“BBC’s Newsnight cancelled after a day of disruption as staff walk out over job losses ”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2014871/BBC-strike-Radio-4s-Today-programme-disrupted-staff-walk-job-cuts.html#ixzz1SCZD8j9J
A question for the strike-bound BBC-NUJ:
“I love the Proms – but why subsidise them? ”
(by Damian Thompson)
[Extract]:
“Put simply, if the BBC sells hundreds of thousands of tickets to a music festival, why does it need a subsidy of nearly £6 million from the licence fee? ”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100097166/i-love-the-proms-but-why-subsidise-them/
“[W]hy does it need a subsidy of nearly £6 million from the licence fee?”
I can’t answer that but The Proms, imho, are certainly worth more than half-a-dozen Jonathan Rosses; a diamond in the wasteland of turds that is BBC TV. I would happily watch the Proms on a pay-per-view basis.
The BBC does have a tendency to politicise everything it touches but, happily, we appear to have avoided
premieres of Global Warming Symphony No. 1 or Murdoch the Opera (though The Horrible Histories sounds, well, horrible). Disgracefully, there is waaaaay too much Britten and not a scrap of Vaughan Williams but that is just a personal gripe.
Tim Minchin should be fun and Zubin Mehta and the Israeli Philharmonic are unmissable. Havergal Brian’s The Gothic will be spectacular, too.
Wow. William Tell conducted by Pappano and then the Gothic done by Brabbins. Monster pieces, hope the forces involved can stand up to it.
Thompson should get his priorities straight. As The All Seeing Eye showed the other day, the BBC spends way, way more on CBeebies than on this stuff. And I’d bet that the evil commercial profits from DVDs and licensing of CBeebies properties are much more than the Proms ticket sales. None of the evil profits from CBeebies properties is returned to the investors/license fee slaves. At least those paying for Prom tickets get a great live experience in return.
“…The Proms, imho, are certainly worth more than half-a-dozen Jonathan Rosses; a diamond in the wasteland of turds that is BBC TV. I would happily watch the Proms on a pay-per-view basis”
I think this is exactly the sort of thing the BBC should be doing but I’m probably out of step here. It should also be getting its orchestras involved in children’s TV on a regular basis. It’s in a unique position in the UK in being able to do this. Pure elitism – and a good thing too. But then I’m just a reactionary who doesn’t see anything wrong with being judgemental. Mozart and Mahler – good; rap, Ross, Norton, Tracey Vermin etc – modish, worthless, talentless rubbish – IMO of course.
At least we were spared the baying, partial audience of the friday QT. Much more interesting bit on Winnie and his bricklaying hobby and prodigous intake of good food and drink. God we need him now. Cigar? Brandy? Fight them on the beaches, where did it all go wrong?
Newsnight cancelled!Where are those £1m p.a. presenters when you need them? I read or heard somewhere that the likes of Paxman and Wark are not scheduled to work today. Really? Could they not turn out even if not scheduled? What about “the show must go on? Where are those expensive Beeboid “Talents” tonight? Could even old Crick not step up to keep the show on the road for the sake of the paying public? Are even the Newsnighters not bothered about it any more?
None of the talent knows how to turn the lights on. The show ponies are worthless without the rest of the staff.
I heard a BBC report on the walkouts mention that:
‘Many guest commentators on BBC news pragrammes refused to cross picket lines’.
Yeah, you could knock me over with a feather….
“I am left with the conclusion that the entire political class, police and all, are rotten to the core.
They deserve each other, but I’m damned if I know what we have done to deserve any of them.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2014981/Hacking-They-hell-handcart.html#ixzz1SCkwoYLW
Amen to that.
If Littlejohn has had enough, step up some soul to take them on. I think he was too soft on Toynbee that QT night, he should have ripped her cold, black heart out. Come on LJ, or are you a pussycat, no mercy to these leftist jackanapes.
LJ has his head way above the parapet and says things very few dare to say. He deserves all the kudos we can give.
Blimey.
When I see little to argue with in a LittleJohn piece, the politico-media-judicial in-a-state estate has some serious problems.
This whole NotW/NI thing may well have been worth it, so long as it brings down the entire rotten edifice… no exceptions. Swapping one corrupt monopoly for another is no solution.
If Nick Davies stands in the Fleet Street marketplace and pulls the cord on his vest, fine… if the blast takes out his precious Graun, the Mirror and the broadcast hypocrites directing the campaign too.
Plus LJ’s Mail too.
I could care less. I use the internet, for free. Bar the BBC I ‘support’ none financially and via eyeballs a vast spread equally. Doesn’t mean I get the ‘real’ picture, but it’s as good as it’s going to get across the spread.
JHT,
I think I posted something similar here recently.
The whole “system” is buggered.
“Phone hacking: Judge-led inquiry could be expanded to cover BBC and Twitter”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8640351/Phone-hacking-Judge-led-inquiry-could-be-expanded-to-cover-BBC-and-Twitter.html
Over the BBC’s dead body; well we can hope!
Sense we may be back to this one!
The kids an idiot and deserved some punishment alright-but sixteen months seems a lot in a world where knife crime gets far less.
I think the BBCs take was that he was a toff and deserved it-as the judge said he “should have known better” and so the punishment was more severe than that he`d have given to a compprehensive kid from Snaresbrook-for these poor lambs can`t help being criminal!
Very dangerous when the law convicts and amends sentences based on class and privilege…I know that`s how its going, but if I were Gilmour, any decent lawyer should get him out on this partial class warrior in his wig!
I had the same thought. 16 months is a stiff sentence for his actions. Sometimes the law likes to make an example of someone for whatever reason. I think this is one of those occasions.
Son of a Pink Floyd member?
“We don’t need no educaishun
We don’t need no thought control”
It shows.
I think he is actually his stepson? For demeaning the Cenotaph and trying to set fire to a public building, i would have been much harsher. Five years in solitary listening to the best of Polly Toynbee tapes.
If 16 months seems like too much compared to what criminals get for knife crime, I’d suggest that the punishment for stabbing someone is currently far too low.
DP – exactly.
Here is the current global warming hype process as it exists today:
1. Identify a 2 or 3 sigma weather event. Since there are 365 days in the year and hundreds of different regions in the world, the laws of probability say that some event in the tail of the normal distribution (local high, local low, local flood, local drought, local snow, local tornado, local hurricane, etc) should be regularly occurring somewhere.
2 Play weather event all over press, closely linked as often as possible with supposition that this is due to manmade CO2. If the connection to global warming is too outlandish to make with a straight face (e.g. cold weather) use term “climate change” or “climate disruption” instead of global warming.
3 Skeptics will point to actual data that this event is not part of a long term trend, e.g. there is no rise in tornado activity correlated with 20th century rise in temperatures so blaming one year of high tornadoes on global warming makes no sense. Ignore this.
4 Peer reviewed literature will emerge 6-12 months later demonstrating that the event was not likely due to man-made global warming. Ignore this as well. Never, ever go back and revisit failed catastrophic predictions.
5 Repeat
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/07/global-warming-hype-process.html
Another report for BBC-Patten-E.U. to censor:
-from ‘Daily Express’ frontpage:
“VIDEO: BRITAIN TOLD ‘YOU CAN QUIT EU’ ”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/258939/Video-Britain-told-you-can-quit-EU–
Yet another indication that the BBC-Patten-EU censorship on this issue is politically based is how it censors this related story:
“Eric Pickles: the imposition of the EU flag ‘betrays a lack of confidence and a deep sense of political insecurity’ ”
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2011/07/eric-pickles-imposition-of-eu-flag.html
Come on you ‘youtubers’, post images of thousands of you burning the EU flag, what can they do?
The reason why BBC-NUJ-Labour censors discussion of a possible return to a ‘gold strandard’ is not simply because it will remind us of its anti-Murdoch hero, Brown, virtually giving away a big chunk of Britain’s gold reserves, is it?
1.) ‘Telegraph’:
“Return of the Gold Standard as world order unravels”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8638644/Return-of-the-Gold-Standard-as-world-order-unravels.html
2.) Brown and his sell-off of Britain’s gold:
“Gold hits all-time high of $1,500* an ounce (which means the amount Gordon flogged for £2bn would today fetch £13BILLION)”
*{now $1,594 an ounce, 15 July}
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378784/Price-gold-hits-record-1-500-What-Gordon-Brown-sold-2bn-fetch-13bn.html#ixzz1SD03LnZj
The long running saga of the Kurdish on/off insurgency in Beeboid poster-child Turkey has flared up again. The Erdogan government, naturally, describes the PKK as terrorist when it attacks the Turkish army (seen as an occupation force by many Kurds in SE Turkey).There is also an on-going problem with elected Kurdish politicians.
For Erdogan the attack was by terrorists and this Turkish government use of the term is quoted in the report.
Reading through the text, an interesting deviation from the norm appeared.
The word ‘militant’ so often employed by the BBC as in ‘Palestian militant’ was missing. In its place the word ‘rebel’ was to be found.
The Chinese Xinhua report though does use the word.
“13 soldiers of the Turkish security forces were killed, seven others were wounded on Thursday in a clash with the PKK members in Silvan town of southeastern province of Diyarbakir, while seven PKK militants were also killed in the clash.”
“Militant” in:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/16/c_13988294.htm
“Rebel” in:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14170418
Given the BBC sensitivity when it comes to semantics surely this reveals the nature of the euphemistic avoidance of ‘militant’ applied to groups which one is reluctant to ‘demonise’ and ‘rebel’ as a descriptor of militancy which doesn’t fit the narrative?
RGH,
Yes the BBC have a problem with the PKK. On the one hand the BBC supports the Fascist Erdogan Government . On the other hand the BBC supports terrorists. So which side to take ? To make it more difficult for the BBC , both sides are mainly muslim.
But, if the PKK is not a terrorist organisation, I don’t know what is !
In its global ‘Get Murdoch’ campaign, BBC-NUJ is inclined to neglect the insidious role of the Met police:
“The smell worsens around the Metropolitan Police”
(by Melanie Phillips)
http://www.melaniephillips.com/the-smell-worsens-around-the-metropolitan-police
Time for another round of Spot The Missing Word.
Dead or alive? US indecision over killing Bin Laden
The piece is about the various discussions going on behind the scenes in intelligence amd military circles about how, exactly, Bin Laden should be “brought to justice” were we ever to find him.
The end judgment of BBC security correspondent Gordon Correa is:
However, it then emerged that Bin Laden was not armed and did not fire back. That has led to the widespread belief that the operation was “kill or capture” only in the most technical, legalistic sense.
The Beeboid helpfully quotes the US defense on that score:
“Had he indicated very clearly that he wanted to surrender, they were prepared to take him in that way,” Holder argues.
Correa doesn’t buy it.
But in the dead of night and in the chaos of the compound, a clear signal seems implausible. There can have been little doubt how it would end.
Fortunately, Correa found a proxy to quote the BBC’s opinion:
For some, like former FBI man Jack Cloonan, the satisfaction at seeing Bin Laden gone is tempered by a regret that there was never the chance to bring him to justice before a court.
“We had dreamt,” he says, “of Bin Laden in an orange jump suit that said ‘Metropolitan Correction Centre’ on the back of it standing in the southern district of New York.”
“For some”. Yes, it’s a shame that the person who was supposed to end George Bush’s illegal tactics ended up kicking it up a few notches instead and ordered the killing in cold blood of a foreign national without due process of law, all while invading a sovereign country.
In case you haven’t guessed by now, today’s Missing Word is the name of the US President who gave that order. Can’t sully Him with such unpleasant associations. It’s clearly not His fault at all but that of the cowboys in the previous Administration. Blame shifted, job done.
Love Glenn Beck or hate him – this is hilarious:
Love or hate ‘Media Matters’ and George Soros – this debunks them:
“Op/Ed: George Soros by Richard Poe”
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/47966/
Beeboids support George Soros and ‘Media Matters’ against Glenn Beck and ‘Fox News’, but don’t investigate the Soros empire.
Glenn Beck (video clip) Oct 2010:
‘Love Glenn Beck or hate him – this is hilarious’
Tx for that.
Lucky the site authors do not adopt a policy of pre-moderation, especially using the all-purpose ‘off topic’ House Rule.
In matters of free speech, how do you feel about the BBC’s policy on ‘interactive’ social media in this context?
ps: Currently near all ‘The Editors’ threads even going close to ‘discussing’ such issues are now closed.
Bar this one:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/07/bbc_social_media_guidance.html
Beyond the modded referrals, doesn’t seem to be going well. I predict a closing.
Welcome to the future of media. BBC style.
Oh, and…er.. ‘Dez’… ‘This user has opted to keep his comment history private’ as a frequent ‘like’ buddy, any views on Dr. G’s thoughts on the use of nicknames and concealing histories?
You have a long body of work here. Worth sharing, though there may be the odd disconnect, admittedly.
“as a frequent ‘like’ buddy…”
I don’t recall ever using the ‘like’ option here. Try again.
“any views on Dr. G’s thoughts on the use of nicknames and concealing histories?”
David G. didn’t say anything about ‘concealing histories’. Why are you making stuff up?
But ok I suppose I have to be responsible for anything I’ve said in the past no matter how cringe worthy it might be…
As I have said, I am currently thinking over whether to cancel my TV licence, in reaction to my perception of the BBC’s almost psychotically vindictive, blatantly politically motivated, spiteful vendetta against Murdoch. This really has been the final straw for me.
So, an hour or so ago, I googled the phrase “tv licence”, in order to get some info re what you have to do to remain in compliance with the law, if you want to stop paying the licence. (as I have every intention of complying with the law, if I do decide to stop paying the TVL).
About ninth down the list of search results, I came across this website:
http://www.bbctvlicence.com
It’s basically just a website written by some chap who has decided not to renew his TV licence. Fair enough, I’ve read most of this stuff before. But there are two pages on his website which I did find quite interesting, ie, the headings “TVL – A question of identity”, and “BBC reaction to this site”. (accessed via the link menu at the top right of the main page). I just thought I would bring it to the attention of this website, to see if anyone has any thoughts….
Anyway, I’m still thinking it over, whether to cancel my licence. On the one hand, I do think the BBC is really good when it comes to drama and entertainment, and I would probably miss it on that front. But on the other hand, its news and current affairs reporting has become so awfully baised in recent years, to put it mildly, that whenever I watch the BBC News, it feels as though I am almost receiving enemy propaganda broadcasts from a different country! I end up shouting at the TV set “No, this is not the ‘News’, these are merely your Views, and I don’t share them at all!”
I am at a similar watershed.
Murdoch, etc are as bad as the rest, so while a possibly valuable tipping point I fly no flag there, so NI can reap what it has sown, just as Cameron, etc has politically. And Miliband, Prescott, Campbell once further dots get connected.
However, the ‘reporting’ by the BBC, and who it has got into bed with, and what it has chosen NOT to go near, has outed it as a truly dangerous propagandist canker in this country’s society.
I love watching TV (almost none on the BBC, have to say, bar the odd comedy panel show – I accept the anti-government slants as inevitable in satire, though a few shows and comedian/iennes seem very singletrack) and am an internet addict. So eschewing broadcast-enabled devices is not an option. And for any BBC-phile to claim that is is patronising tosh in a 2011 global village. Which is when the good Dr. G finally lost all my respect.
But to deliberately flout a legal requirement… that is heavy. No matter that it seems to be ‘unique’ in the world, abused and flawed, with vast unrest already at its anachronistic existence still.
Hence my seeking guidance from a person I get to decide on tax, wars and my kids’ education with every few years by secret ballot. For all the good that will do.
It seems a journey more and more are on (possibly greater in number than those the BBC thinks it ‘represents’ in a Newsnight panel or MiliE thinks he ‘speaks for’ outside the voting booth. Possibly when enough do so together, and in a united way, the tide will turn.
If a few tweets from a small cabal can bring down one media empire using the abuses of a small rogue segment within it, that does not mean the same cannot apply with another based on equally if not more concerning actions and collusion within ‘the establishment’.
Especially when it dins into the public that one is, also, talking money here too… no matter what. People power with cost benefit too.
EastEnders for £10pa. Go for it, if that is your bag. But let the ‘Ne… views’ segment see how long it lasts if folk are asked to stump up for their version of events… that really don’t need ‘interpreting’.
IMHO.
I stopped paying mine a few weeks ago and it feels great. I live in a flat and I can just ignore the letters and knocks at the door.
I have just enjoyed this excellent documentary about the Italian Mafia though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012n740/This_World_Italys_Bloodiest_Mafia/
If the BBC made more programmes like that I would happily start paying it again.
Hi Gav, I would say dont martyr yourself in a futile gesture.
I floated the idea a few months ago of searching for ‘big names’ to support a petition calling for the Prime Minister to commission a public inquiry into BBC bias, with the fall back that if a critical mass of 100,000 supporters was obtained and it didn’t acheive the desired result, if just half of this number were prepared to engage in civil disobedience of non-payment of the license fee to protest at the political bias, that would be extremely powerful.
A tall order to get together, and it aint happening. Not something that I have the stature or nous to acheive.
in case any missed it… ‘while attention is elsewhere’…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012hw3s/Newswatch_16_07_2011/
Nowt like tucking away one’s own dirty laundry in the basement whilst waving those of competitors around like a OCD Tourettes schizo-hypochrite
£3.5B is not ‘peanuts’, especially when deployed in one direction.
The only big bonusses I see are those such as Mark Byford got. Denying staff the odd global jolly is a straw man.
The BBC is not joined up, can’t be and won’t be.
So, can I please ‘not join’ by way of free choice? Or does that only apply to every other serious aspect of my family’s life?
If the BBC Trust Chairman doesn’t know what publicly paid employees earn, then there is something darn strange going on.
Noted the end question. Asked… not answered, with a giggle. Moving on. Sound familiar?
Unique.
i wonder if jonny dymond, is going to rush in , & do a fact finding mission on this for a R4 doc.ever wondered where all the erm “poverty” aid money, is being paid to by the Palestinian AuthorityJonathan Halevi’s Middle East insight – 2011-07-13 hey…& i thought “Dog” was the last of the bounty hunters 🙂
but! but! they really want peace…… oh well ignore that last post forget it lets get back to this
Poisoned atmosphere in talks Palestinian views Gazans count cost
ZZZZZZZZZ
Just wondering, with all this investigating and rooting around and all, where this leaves the status of the BBC with its FOI rejection defences.
Seems to me, an awful lot of the time, even those who pay for their activities are denied the opportunity to find out what they are on this basis.
And as one concerned by wrong doing in my name (if compelled to fund) I find that a worrying imposition of accountability with no provision of responsibility.
Just a quick question to the people on this blog, who would you say is the BBCs most unpopular presenter/celebrity?
Sian Williams is my pet hate. She just sits giggling on the sofa every morning. When she’s on with Bill Turnbull they are like adolescents sharing a private joke in a school class.
She’s a fawning interviewer, and she has refused to move to Salford, which hopefully means we’ll see the back of her soon.
I really have to thank David Gregory for this. I came to it via a dig at the Daily Mail on his Twitter page (but please understand, his views are in no way a reflection upon the BBC!). It brought me to
this story on the Mailonline about Labour whip Lyn Brown unleashing a four letter tirade against a blind man with a guide dog for getting in her way.
So far nothing on BBC Online. B-BBCers may remember a Tory MP with Cystic Fibrosis who suffered mockery in the Commons from several Labour MPs and the BBC studiously sought to give the false impression that they were from all sides of the House. B-BBCers may also remember when this was covered that we brought up how Michael Crick had a whole piece on Newsnight because a Tory Cllr had referred to a disabled Labour Council leader as ‘the cripple’ and had received rebuke from his Leader.
Will hit and run merchant David Gregory care to comment? No, didn’t think so.
I live in Birmingham where I work as BBC Science & Environment Correspondent. These are my personal views and not those of the BBC.http://www.bbc.co.uk/davidgregory
Personal vs. professional?
Maybe another guideline manual needed?
Just joking 😉
I had the same thought: why mention who you work for if you want to tweet your personal views? Surely the personal views pertain to you as individual person and not you as employee of named broadcaster.
I clicked on the twitter link and my goodness, it’s another world. A world of trivia and baby language where people post things like Arf and
v/o “Dan is a local radio dj and he’s cerrrrazeeee!”
I don’t suppose anyone here can translate.
It strikes me as both a dubious and a dangerous pastime for a broadcaster or a professional in any field. If you put out for public scrutiny any old thing, however inconsequential and inarticulate, that passes through your mind, it is going to affect people’s perception of you and not in a good way.
Scott tweeted an invite to David Gregory and Dez for coffee and commiserations.
Social networking, that is. 😀
Erm, David jokingly tweeted that in my direction, sue.
Glad to see your unerring ability to betray a casual disregard for factual accuracy isn’t stinted by a 140-character limit 😉
Factual inaccuracy? How very dare you!
Did you have a nice time? 🙂
Baby language? If so, revealing still.
Now appreciating in certain media quarters it’s open season without censure on other media quarters, but one might have felt some management guidance still did not filter through the latest ‘guidelines’.
Because if, no matter what the ‘disclaimers’ that litter pages that nonetheless cite the affiliation loud and clear, as a regional hub of a media monopoly still keen to attract visits from world class actors, I might wish some may be a smidge more circumspect on lines being read by those that may step through the office doors, purely in the cause of putting another boot into a competitor.
Never having had the opportunity to meet these thespians, while they may on a personal basis come across as smug in this particular role, it seems an extra step to get to loathe them all. There may even be a new ‘ism in the offing, as they can be very popular when deployed by those keen on such things.
DavidACGregory David Gregory I loathe all the actors in the Blackberry promos on @sky_atlanticThey all look so smug!
‘It strikes me as both a dubious and a dangerous pastime for a broadcaster or a professional in any field. If you put out for public scrutiny any old thing, however inconsequential and inarticulate, that passes through your mind, it is going to affect people’s perception of you and not in a good way.’
Wonder how Wrighty in the afteroon, Jezza, Mr. Norton ,etc, might feel on this new trend?
They use their BBC tag for credence. Without it no one would give two figs for their childlike views. This is the BBC “talant” and this is why it is so deplorable.
The BBC “talant” remind me of that so called comedy Friends, adults acting like 5 year olds.
Not a BBC-Democrat report:
“Looks like the White House went after Fox News in 2009 after all”
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/looks-white-house-went-fox-news-2009-124710609.html;_ylt=AiTJh5K_.pmG.JlytSSD9lyXCMZ_;_ylu=X3oDMTB0ampraGFjBHBvcwM0NwRzZWMDQmxvZyBJbmRleCBieSBCbG9n;_ylg=X3oDMTFpMm9iMzh1BGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANibG9nBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3
A quite startling Hard Talk interview by Stephen Sackur with new Amnesty supremo Salil Shetty. Sackur actually asked him questions that we’d like asked, albeit when he brought up the comment by their bureau chief for Finland that ‘Israel is a scum state’ (19:27 mins), one could argue that Shetty’s pathetic answer did call for a more prosecutorial tone from Mr Sackur in keepig with ‘Hard Tlalk’, but unfortunately we didn’t get it. Certainly Mr Shetty’s claim that Israel has blockaded Gaza needed robust challenge and didn’t get any. Still, more than a few crumbs of comfort here.
No shortage of prosecutorial approach when Tim Franks interviewed Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat though.
Both interviews can be found here, with 5 and 7 days to run respectively.
HP, i have to agree with you whole heartedly, on that “Israel scum state”, point Hard Talk turned into softball didn t it……
they re usually so vociferous…hmmm. Then (un) surprisingly “normal service” was resumed though by Tim Franks, pressing the mayor for over 6 MINS, on one point,…
all i can say is those “few crumbs” were a very very small consolation.
Oops! nearly forgot though, this IS the BBC
Now I know the BBC are excited about News International’s troubles.
But today at 16.24, to have running on the “Ticker” at the bottom of the screen on BBC News 24 under the heading “Breaking News” :
Rebekah Brooks resigned yesterday
Is simply taking the piss if they think that is some sort of ground breaking up to the minute development of the story.
COMEDY.
As with Britain and BBC-NUJ, so too in U.S.A. with VIACOM:
(5 min video)
“VIDEO: Conservative Comedian Crowder Challenges Stewart: Come Out of the Ideological Closet”
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/id.8033/blog_detail.asp
I see the bBC is on a huge crusade, sorry jihad in which to shout out to the world how people are dying in the horn of Africa. Yet while the bBC mentions the worst drought in 60 years, they leave out a similar problem 26 years ago, where millions died yet for some strange reason the population instead of shrinking has actually doubled to over 80 million in Ethiopia alone. Why the bBC interviews a woman who has buried 4 of her children (one 20 days old) and who worries about her remaining 3. But hang on this drought has been 3 years in the making. Why are people who have nothing still pushing children out at a time of serve geographical extremes , just what is happening that encourages them to have children? Could it be the Aid?
Now here’s another angle, with all this British aid allowing these people to breed like rats safe in the knowledge that we will feed them, is anybody suprised when they all turn up in Dover looking for a house.
I’m not cold hearted by anymeans, but I’d like to see the aid budget cut to nothing, yes nothing, which will teach these people that they and they alone are responsible for the millions of children they push out on a yearly basis. Funny thing that desire to procreate is most noticeable in countries which live entirely off Aid. (Pakistan’s budget is configured on the basis that they will receive over 1/3 of it in Aid) Care to guess the dominant faith in each and every one?
I kid you not. Did the Beeb really say this? Freudian slip peut etre!
“Speaking during a televised cabinet meeting, President Chavez announced that Vice-President Elias Jaua would oversee the expropriation of businesses and a number of budget-related duties while he was receiving treatment in Cuba.”
See
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14175027
There are so many reasons to be dubious about this story.
McFalafel dropped from the menu at McDonald’s in Israel
Firstly, the story is a non-story. Fast food chain drops non profitable menu item. Big Deal!
Secondly, the whole piece is essentially PR for a commercial enterprise (MacDonalds for Christ’s sake).
Thirdly, lest anyone forget that any Israeli story must have an Arab dimension it ends on nonsense. The snack is popular across much of the Middle East, where the balls of ground chickpeas are typically deep-fried and served with salads and pickles in a flat bread.
However, like houmous – a chickpea dip – the food does cause controversy. Both Israel and the Palestinians claim it as a national dish.
I have never heard the Palestinians claim either Felafel or Humus as their national dish. I always thought that ‘honour’went to Maqluba. This a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over felafel. While israel didn’t invent it, it is probably Egyptian in origin, Israel was the first to mass produce it and export it to Europe and America. The idea of serving it with salad and pickles probably is the Israeli twist. In Lebanon, at least my understanding is that felafel is served on a plate.
MacDonalds in Lebanon apparently never introduced it. Another BBC scoop!
Yep! groundbreaking…
i bet theres a beebo hotline to the Whitehouse, (Obama can give a speech outlining the importance of the “hand of friendship” on the Maccy D angle).
Beebo in such a quandry what to go with
“ever wondered where all the erm “poverty” aid money, is being paid to by the Palestinian Authority Jonathan Halevi’s Middle East insight – 2011-07-13 ”
or Maccy Ds ….hmmmmm
Why is this even a news story worthy of BBC effort? I say it’s an excuse for them to print the last line about how falafel allegedly causes “controversy” between David and Goliath….sorry….hobbits and Sauron….damn…sorry again….Harry Potter and Voldemort….oops….I mean, the Palestinians and Israel.
The BBC sees everything throught that prism. It’s so bad that they don’t even realize they’re doing it, and end up with drivel like this news brief.
“Chipping Norton Set’s final hurrah: How Elisabeth Murdoch threw decadent priory party with Mandelson, Cameron’s cronies and BBC’s Robert Peston hours before Dowler scandal broke ”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015563/Mandelson-giddy-Steve-Hilton-course-Robert-Peston–How-Elizabeth-Murdoch-Matthew-Freud-hosted-decadent-hurrah-Chipping-Norton-set.html#ixzz1SLgGAG9n
So Peston knew all about it, and casually let the details trickle out over several days, as if he was merely reporting info as he discovered it. No wonder he was always so doubtful that things would get worse. He had to play innocent and cover up just how close his connection is.
Next time he says “I have learned” about anything, I’ll know what he actually means. Any current “friend” of Peston ought to think twice about opening their mouths to him from now on. Except Gordon Brown, of course.
The bBC. Somali terrorists aid bans and half the story.
Somalia drought: UN delivers aid to Islamist areas
The UN has made its first aid delivery to drought victims in areas of Somalia controlled by al-Qaeda-linked militants since they lifted an aid ban… But the UK’s overseas aid minister told the BBC the UK would not deal with al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia… Al-Shabab, which rules over large swathes of south and central Somalia, had imposed a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories two years ago, accusing them of being anti-Muslim. It lifted the ban 10 days ago as long as groups had “no hidden agenda”.
So from the mouth of the bBC they give the news that their Islamic heroes in Somalia are thinking about the people, that the ban they had in place was justified and unlike those terrorists the British won’t think of the people. Here are a few things from this story the bBC isn’t telling you.The ban on Aid agencies (but primarily WTF) was put in place by al-Shabab in Aug 2010 after the UN, yes the UN found widespread corruption amongst the 3 (yes 3) Somali contractors who ran the entire WTF food distribution for the UN in Somalia and cut them out of the loop. They found that over the past 12 years 50% of the Aid handed over to: Abukar Omer Adaani, Abdulqaadir Mohamed Nuur “Enow” and Mohamed Deylaaf had not reached the people it was destined for. In 2009 alone these 3 men received £41 Million from the UN. The UN monitoring group which acted on a Ch4 news report which exposed these crooks explained their action:
“A handful of Somali contractors for aid agencies have formed a cartel and become important powerbrokers – some of whom channel their profits – or the aid itself – directly to armed opposition groups.”
So the aid ban by al-Shabab was in response to the UN cutting off their main source of funding. Yet the bBC plays the unIslamic as the reason why. But then I suppose if the public found out the real reason why millions of people are starving in Somalia, they wouldn’t respond to the bBCs wall to wall coverage of their plight.
The top story on the BBC’s US News page right now is titled “Obama ignores China on Dalai Lama”.
The actual headline on the page itself is less aggrandizing:
Obama holds talks with Dalai Lama despite China protest
The news brief itself isn’t objectionable – it just goes through the checklist of important things to say about the situation regarding the BBC’s favorite exiled feudal lord. The Chinese don’t like him because he’s a “splittist” (not “splitter”?), the heroic Obamessiah supports Tibetan rights (phrased as vaguely as possible, if you please), China warns, blah, blah, blah.
The BBC news brief does mention that the President did not meet the Dalai Lama in the Oval Office because that’s only for heads of state, which, to the eternal dismay of the BBC, he isn’t.
I only hope that the President treated the old monk with more respect than last time. Oh, wait, nobody in Britain knows about that because the BBC censored it: the Dalai Lama was shown out the tradesmen’s entrance where they toss the garbage. Some defiance, eh?