A B-BBC reader observes of BBC Countryfile
21/08/2011;
“Last evening they did
a piece (John Craven) on food waste, and it’s costs. The one scandalous item of
waste that never got any mention at all was the EU Fisheries Policy, you know
the one where should you catch the “wrong” type of fish you have to
throw it back (dead of course) or risk draconian punishments. Funnily enough
the policy never seems to bother the Spanish fishermen for example, wonder why?”
I hope everyone enjoys this brief segment on Today with Evan Davis. He discusses the new report from the Social Market Foundation which is highly critical of the Department of Work and Pension’s Work Programme to get the long-term unemployed back to work.
Now, normally I’d say that any organization which has “Social” anything in its title is Left-leaning. I’d also generally say that any organization which states that they are not in favor of free markets but rather open markets under the guiding hand of government (a step away from fascist corporatism) is Left-leaning. But they have George Osborne and a couple of other non-Leftoids on their board and as associates, so they get away with the “independent” label and I can’t complain that Davis should have described the foundation as Left-leaning when he introduced its director.
(Yes, I know the clip I’ve linked starts just after Davis mentions the Foundation, but I’ve listened to the full programme and there was no qualifier of any kind.)
However….
I can complain that there was something else missing from Davis’ introduction of the group, something that calls into question his very presence at the mic on this topic: Evan Davis is one of the board members of the Social Market Foundation.
Davis has even co-written a pamphlet for the organization about the pros and cons of gay marriage. Yet no mention at all that of any association with the group, never mind that he’s now on the board.
So the Social Market Foundation criticizes a scheme by the Conservative-Led Coalition, and one of their board members uses his position at the BBC not only to bring it up but to actually question the Government Minister in charge. The director of the SMF gets his say first, but then isn’t involved in any debate with Grayling. Only Davis challenges the Government, without mentioning his conflict of interest. And no challenge at all to the SMF director’s statement. His challenging questions to Grayling come off as advocacy for the SMF position.
At the very least, the Today producers should have made Davis recuse himself and had Justin Webb take the SMF’s side against the Government.
Your license fee hard at work.
Enjoying the BBC’s world class coverage of Ghadaffi’s fall? Here’s a new Open Thread for you to start the week – let’s see how quickly we can get to the 100 comments mark!
Do you think the BBC thinks Labour is still in power? The reason I ask is this item it ran earlier today focusing on Tony Blair’s comments that “muddle headed analysis” (ie Conservative) of the riots could lead to wrong policy decisions. In a wonderful example of balance, the BBC invites Jack Straw and Tony McNultyon the programme to discuss. So two Labour politicians discussing the pearls of wisdom offered by another Labour politician, on the Labour accommodating BBC. Lovely stuff. I particularly enjoyed Straw and McNulty claiming that Labour’s golden years had seen crime cut in two, teenage pregnancies reduced and the alienation tackled that creates so much rioting and looting.
Another opportunity for the BBC to help bestow further sainthood on one of their favourites – Jew-bashing Ken Loach. This morning, Ken was afforded this bully pulpit on Today. It concerns a film he made back in 1969 (Nothing like up to date news for the BBC!) for Save The Children. Basically, they didn’t like what he did back then because it “exposed” how awfully racist they were, or so we are led to believe. Nowadays, under the enlightened leadership of Julian Forsyth, Save the Children has given the OK for the film to be shown, vindicating wise Ken. Of course one could also point out that in these intervening years, Save The Children has lurches into one more left of center political campaigning false charity undeserving of so much as one penny.
Ken Loach, Save the Children and the BBC – a match made in heaven, or hell.
The BBC trust’s propaganda campaign about climate change is taking shape. Alison Hastings, chair of the editorial standards committee, it will be recalled, has decreed – on the authority of IPCC diktats – that the views of dissenters will not be covered. Indoctrinated BBC acolyte Jennifer Carpenter is hot on the case. She reports this preposterous paper about species “fleeing faster than previously thought” to the poles and up mountains as if it were gospel truth; it’s part of the creed. This is a highlight from Ms Carpenter’s breathless diatribe:
Animals like the British comma butterfly, for example, has (sic) moved 220km northward from central England to southern Scotland in the last two decades.
She doesn’t report the rather key information that the author, Chris Thomas, a York University so-called “academic”, has been ploughing his alarmist furrow for a decade and that he’s got form as a fantasist. His technique of using Species-Area Relationship (SAR)to measure what is happening to individual animal types was comprehensively rubbished – nay, eviscerated – in this paper published by the Royal Society. Basically, the writer, Owen T.Lewis, points out that the methodology is so flawed and lacking in vital data that it’s got more holes than a colander. More on why Mr Thomas’s work isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on here from the excellent Donna Laframboise. But, of course, Ms Carpenter doesn’t care. She’s pursuing the corporation’s climate change agenda, so stuff the facts. It’s the message that counts. Expect more of the same when Richard Black returns from his holidays.
A news Correspondent from BBC’s One Show has been Tweeting. This person. ‘one_uk’ describes him/herself thus: “Research Correspondent from the One Show trying to present a better image of the UK.
The frantic tweeting in question goes something like this:
”PLS RT Israel did to a 5-year-old Palestinian boy.He was killed a last night by Israeli air strikes.”
If this photograph is genuine, and similar pictures have been known to be ‘unreliable’ in the past, it’s very sad.
It’s an image of a young Palestinian victim, tragically killed by an Israeli air strike. Air strikes which the Palestinians themselves provoked by their own murderous attacks on Israeli civilians, including Israeli children aged four and six whose corpses probably won’t be appearing in any posed publicity pictures.
What the hell does a BBC employee think he’s doing letting him/herself blatantly perpetuate Palestinian propaganda without a care in the world while proudly advertising his BBC credentials for all tthe world o see. The BBC’s conduct in the latest outbreak of violence has already been heavily criticised.
War is a nasty business Mr. One Show Researcher, and the motto is, if you don’t like it, don’t start it.
P.S.
I really should have focused on the tweet to CiF Watch.
“You will realise how powerful the Muslims r growing through the use of media. Your Zionist tweets will show the world what u are”
If that isn’t explicit enough for your bosses at the BBC, Mr. One Show correspondent, I don’t know what is.
UPDATE:
I read in the comments that David Vance has been contacted by Heather from the BBC.
My sources have also been contacted by Heather Taylor and have informed me that she stated that the account “is not connected to us or an official account in any way.”
They still wished to know if there is someone who works for the BBC who may own that twitter account, and later received this assurance from Ms. Taylor:
“To the best of our ability, we are sure that this is not owned by a BBC employee. Twitter are also investigating this further.”
“Never ones to let an opportunity slip, at death o’clock this morning R4 gave us some thoughts from the BBC’s World Service (unavailable on listen again for some reason)…..Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza have made Hamas reconsider its two year cease fire and what its response will be to Israeli aggression.
Onwards to glory and Excess Baggage leads the charge with Sandi Toksvig venturing into Istanbul…where of course Western and Eastern culture live in perfect harmony and Turkey would make a valuable new member of the European club….just lock up your daughters, wear a stab vest and carry a gas mask.
Wasting no time we jump aboard a train in the Interrail Tales where we hear that the HST trains in Europe are marvellous, and did you know Europe is great and everyone is so alike…..why can’t we all just get on? If only we had HST trains in the UK perhaps we wouldn’t riot!
Then the intrepid Mark Mardell ‘From Our On Correspondent’ goes on Safari to wildest USA to investigate the ‘delights of the Republican infighting…the wacky races that are the Republican primaries….it all makes good copy!’ Indeed where would be without Mardell’s insights….he does give us a warning though…he admits to professional disdain towards the Republican primaries….never would have guessed…..and he goes on to insinuate and smear with snide remarks that Michelle Bachman would probably like to execute gay people and thinks slavery should continue for blacks who don’t convert to Christianity.
Finally of course there was an earlier discussion about the riots on the Today programme….Justin Webb trying to persuade us that the riots were of course a result of a class battle, a new long term war with the poor rising up ….and he seriously suggested the magistrates were on the other side merely defending the interests of the upper classes rather than dishing out righteous justice.
Laughable set up discussion on Sunday Morning Live with gorgeous pouting Suzanne Reid. The first topic was the Human Rights Act and Cameron’s idea we need a British Human Rights Act. We had a feminazi Human Rights advocate on, some guy who kept insisting he was not “right wing” and also “not a tabloid reader” and John Gaunt. Some lady with a serious illness phoned in to say that the Human Rights Act saved her life, in a strange way, as she was looking to see if she could kill herself Dignitas style. These debates are framed to ensure the BBC view always prevails – no one phones in to talk about the gross obscenities the ECHR seeks to provide – such as votes for convicts. The BBC supports all things that undermine our British democracy and the idea that it would ever facilitate a discussion which painted the ECHR in it’s true colours.
Never mind Celebrity Big Brother, with the BBC operating 24/7 across the globe, we have a much more dangerous broadcasting big brother to worry about. Please detail your observations here as I declare this thread…OPEN!
