Remarkably biased coverage of the planned eviction of Gypsies from the illegal part of the Dale Farm on BBC Today this morning. There were two interviews conducted by Chris Patten favourite Sarah Montague at 8.10am, although just before that we had Irishman Fergal Keane on to set the scene as sympathetically as possible for the poor oppressed “Travellers”.Then the lovely Sarah interviewed one of the Travellers who casually informed her that they had followed the law but because the law had not listened they were forced to break the law. That’s called the Sinn Fein defence where I come from – in essence it is never your fault when you choose to break the law. The lady went on to say that they were looking for a public apology from Council leader Tony Ball. When Sarah pursued this line enquiring if that meant that should they get such an apology they would move off the illegal site, she was given the answer no. Sarah chose not to pursue the utter intransigence and belligerence of the Traveller interviewed.
Then, Council leader Tony Ball was then interviewed and as you would expect, the glacial tone reserved for Conservatives reappeared. Montague sought to establish that a/ No force would be applied against these kindly Travellers and b/The United Nations has spoken on the issue and found in favour of the Travellers so clearly the Council was in the wrong anyway. I though Mr Ball dealt with the latter point well but throughout the interview it was perfectly obvious where BBC sympathies lie.
I always try to be positive so perhaps in the spirit of UN approved comradeship, the BBC should offer those Gypsy lawbreakers the chance to move in to a nice BBC big carpark, I’m sure the kindred spirits would get along just fine.
Will BBC-NUJ join in?:
“D-day at fortress farm: As the bailiffs prepare to move in, anarchists organise ‘war meetings'”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038820/Dale-Farm-eviction-As-bailiffs-prepare-travellers-organise-war-meetings.html#ixzz1YNuFctac
Filthy stinking work-shy UAF scum, run them over with a JCB.
Am I the only one who is thinking the bailiffs will give it a week or two before coming round?? Hilarious to see the idiots concreted into that barrel by the gate after a few days freezing in the open and crapping in a bucket having to cut themselves out!!
My favourite bit was the claim that the Non-Travelling Travellers simply couldn’t be expected to live in houses…. well, since they’re being evicted from their illegally-built houses, it’s a win-win all round then, hey, Sarah?
Meanwhile, in the interest of balance, I’m absolutely sure the BBC will also have a journalist embedded with the ‘settled’ (i.e. tax-paying) community, ready to report sympatheitcally on their problems, right?
They’re “settled travellers”, apparently!
Is this BBC-NUJ’s next political cause – ‘free the six’?:
“Six men arrested in Birmingham in major terror raids”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8773065/Six-men-arrested-in-Birmingham-in-major-terror-raids.html
off topic but…
oh come on george, you know who the real problem community is in europe
those pesky jews,(with all their violent nobel peace prizes)
Four million kroner (620,000 USD) for security of Jewish minority
travellers who don’t want to travel
does anyone in the MSM understand irony?Or do they just think the drones are the only ones who watch their crappy propagandising efforts on the “news”?
presumably if these leeches on the face of society are allowed to get away with it,anyone will be able to build anything they want, where they want without having to go through the hoops of actually obeying the law?
if they try to stop you,you just cry “discrimination” and “raceism”(sic) against the settled community
job done!
Exactly!!! Which is why these lawbreaking trespassers who are unlawfully living on Dale Farm, must NEVER succeed with their protest.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the BBC’s rabid environmentalists would be up-in-arms about people building property on land designated as green belt, and then getting away with it? After all, IF these non-travelling “travellers” succeed, what is to stop Tesco from doing the same and ploughing up the habitats of protected species? I am sure that if it was Tesco who were building on this designated greenbelt land, that the BBC would not be so sympathetic to law-breaking.
An individuals tolerance of Pikies is inversely proportionate to their distance from them!
Please God may the pikies settle in Hampstead.
Well said, My Site. Always disregard those not prepared to live next door to their own beliefs.
Nice one, Reed. A very concise rule for dealing with hypocrites. And, of course, applicable to all those in beeboidia who preach one thing, and live another.
An individuals tolerance of Pikies is inversely proportionate to their distance from them!
——————————————-
directly proportional surely 😉
Even the travellers admit that they are outnumbered by their “supporters” – whose support it seems is not wanted.
What really got my goat, possibly in a different strand of Today, was the ever PC Ms. Montague referring to people who mostly spoke “British” – apparently English is such a pejorative term in her eyes she can only bring herself to use it if the connotation is negative.
Well….the el beeb “gush-athon” with all things pikey continues on radio 5 contrive.
minute by minute “tank u sirs” from fergal this & fergus that.
..AND a solemn promise to get right back for any change in events.?
bigging up the farcical UN rights “quango”s (now laughably disbanded)connection???
OH! come on then el beeb….show them real support, let them all go
and set up on broadcasting house car park……with the dunny right under
N. Cambells & V. Oh Dear-byshires window.
….eh comrades!
Listening to R5L since I stumbled into work at 07:40 and haven’t personally found anything to object to in the coverage. Indeed, one R5L reporter made a pointed comment that the stay given by the Court means there are a lot of bailiffs and their equipment now hanging around that is costing money.
Well, that’s a blessing if Aunty is reigning back.
However SKY Irish buffoon ‘interviewing’ Basildon council buffoon and seems to see mileage in a) still playing up this odd fiction of a noble travelling community and b) the vast amount of money it’s all costing as somehow down to anyone but the perpetrators, activists and media.
Pathetic.
I’d love to see the legal precedent of ‘don’t bother, it may cost money’ applied to any potential legal case surrounding this overpiad tub of populist lard’s personal lifestyle.
It is fine for media to portray other points of view, but a default rabble rousing (or defending stance) by major media purely to keep pots bubbling is farcical.
Their is no such language as British! I have checked the list of official languages by institution globally and British does not appear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_official_languages_by_institution
English is a recognised language, used by many countries world wide as a first language and by the vast majority as a second language, for it is the international language of trade, air-travel, global transportation, finance etc.
Perhaps Ms Montague should be educated in reality, instead of her anti English, politically correct left-think!
If Sarah Palin had said that she spoke ‘American’ you can bet the BBC would be sneering in that leftie way.
Perhaps she should just be given the boot along with her crypto-Marxist colleagues and start broadcasting on Radio Commie.
Well, I’ve never heard of people speaking “British” before and there is of course no such language. I could scarcely believe that anyone could come out with something so ignorant and ridiculous. So I had a look at the transcript and lo and behold, I found it shortly after an item about the travellers.
It is in fact about the forest boy found in Germany. The item begins at 1.22.38.
Montague says at 1.22.57 “…He speaks good English and a little German.”
So far so good.
But then at 1.25.20 she says this:
“…this forest boy would appear to be one of ours: his first language seems to be British, so the answer is likely to be here.”
Ye gods!
Link to the iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/b006qj9z/console
But surely there must be a language called British. With all those “British” people wandering about in Pakistan/Afghanistan, I can only assume that British = Urdu.
From the crack of dawn the BBC was running Dale Farm as its top headline.
Is it really that important against all the other news – or is it just the BBC on another campaign ? Silly question, I suppose.
The reports so far by the BBC have been very biased – on a previous thread Craig detailed yesterday’s session on Ed Stourton’s Sunday programme on Radio 4, bias sticking out a gypsy mile.
BBC “reporters” and presenters are obviously trying to whip up sympathy for the immobile “travellers”. I would imagine the proportion of the licence-paying public who agree with this line is 5% or less. Throw in the aggressive “protestors” and that percentage drops.
But the BBC yammers on, utterly biased – and biased in the total opposite direction to its audience.
But no worries – we have the fierce Ray Snoddy and the excellent BBC complaints procedure, they’ll sort it out.
Amazingly, the twittoshere is allve, at least in Graun/BBC axis territory, with such as this..
KrupaPadhy Krupa Padhy by BBC_WHYSAre you at #dalefarm today? Do u live nearby? Are you able to speak to @bbc_whys on BBC World Service radio? please get in touch – thanks
Now, i wonder if your ‘reply’ does not tick various other boxes, your input will not make it?
I wonder how many of these people have TV and a Licence?
You can bet the BBC won’t be asking.
For a long time in another life I had many dealings with Irish travellers.
Good times generally but you had to get up the day before if you had any hope of coming out even on the deal.
Apparently many of them come from County Limerick. Not at all surprised by that .
These useful idiots from the UN etc and the Redgraves of this world are way out of their depth and I have no doubt are the subject of much ribaldry from the travellers.
I am sure many of the travellers are not short of a bob or two and will not welcome the media spotlight. I would not be at all surprised if the illegal sites are quietly abandoned . That is if the BBC liberal Vanessas let them.
I live in a semi-rural part of the southern counties and I have met a lot of Travellers over the years. They have set up shop in a field across the road from me and, an another couple of occasions, in a field just around the corner. I know it would racist to such any connection, but their arrival heralded a spate of break-ins and petty thefts (lead, washing, bikes, for instance) in the area.
Another group descended on a field close to my local cricket club – completely and utterly coincidentally, we had two break-ins at the bar. The robbers did not attempt to take money but stuck to bottles of wine and spirits.
In all we receive about two visits per year and the Travellers I encountered certainly didn’t speak with Irish accents.
Just sayin’.
Even Michael White of the Guardian has called into question the BBC’s impartiality
http://twitter.com/#!/MichaelWhite/status/115678581157412864
When Michael White queries BBC impartiality, you know that’s the end of days!
Leaving ‘counter views’ to the Mail?
Beyond the fact that this is not political ideology but something much more factual ands fundamental, I am a little intrigued that the deputy ediotr of the Graun accpets and is disturbed that the national broadcaster is preety much biased in favour of one particular view.
I’d like to hear him ask Helen ‘Hugs’ Boaden on the genetic impartiality that really suggests.
My Site, I think any of us here could give the answer she’d give. What I’m far more interested in hearing about is what Parliament has to say about such wanton bias that even a senior Guardian journalist criticises it. One wonders if Mr White has enjoyed the ‘diversity’ of having Gypsies camped on his doorstep?
That’s a double wow for sure, for sure, for sure .. Worthy of a stand alone post??
Decent article by Michael White in today’s Guardian, pointing out that there are two sides to every story. White even comments on the deployment of Fergal Keane to the Dale Farm war-zone.
The very selection of Keane hints at an agenda: he is a reporter who wears his heart on his sleeve and is not averse to editorialising – not to mention taking a more elevated position in the moral landscape.
The BBC’s reporting has been spectacularly skewed in favour of the Travellers and plenty of examples have been documented here. The theme of the ‘oppressed underdogs taking on bureaucrats’ resonates with millions of people, though I am sceptical as to how much sympathy Travellers evoke in those who live outside London.
I guess the world-view of metropolitan BBC news editors dictates that these Travellers tick enough boxes for them to qualify for ‘oppressed underdog’ status. I don’t suppose they get many travelling folk in Notting Hill.
Yes, that really is a good article by Michael White. You can feel the scorn for tear-jerker Fergal Keane – I class him along with Orla and La Hawley, really obnoxious twisters of reporting.
Just as well Michael White’s article is not open to comments – he’d be torn to shreds by Graudinge readers.
Did notice the lack of comment being free.
Also….
‘I worry when the version of events at Dale Farm I hear on the BBC or read in the Guardian is so much at odds with the account I read in the Daily Mail and elsewhere ‘
And I worry when only two of those offer the opportunity to withdraw support via funding, when one is clearly admitted as allied with another, and both a fair distance from the oft claimed impartial median.
I am compelled to pay for this…why>
Very telling that Michael White clubs the BBC together with the Guardian on this. Is this a Guardianista getting a conscience in his old age? Maybe he should have a chat with Mel P ..
On Radio 5 they are doing their usual ‘trick’ even though the vast majority of texts and emails support the council the BBC insists on being ‘even handed’ in balancing the texts to try to give the impression that the public is split.
I look forward to the BBC giving the EDL the same support when they break the law for say marching when thePolice have banned them.
5 live …shhesh!
Well….the el beeb “gush-athon” with all things pikey continues on radio 5 contrive.
minute by minute “tank u sirs” from fergal this & fergus that.
..AND a solemn promise to get right back for any change in events.?
bigging up the farcical UN rights “quango”s (now laughably disbanded)connection???
OH! come on then el beeb….show them real support, let them all go
and set up on broadcasting house car park……with the dunny right under
N. Cambells & V. Oh Dear-byshires window.
….eh comrades!
‘try to give the impression that the public is split’
OK, pigs will fly first on ‘grounds of BBC jounalistic integrity’, but I’d love a FOI request to expose what goes into and comes out of the farcical fix that is the ‘BBC representing public views’.
Martin, I didn’t hear this, but I’m assuming you know that the vast majority of texts and emails were against the gypsies because 5Live told you?
When there’s two sides to an argument it’s only fair that they are given parity so people can have an informed view. It’s also only fair if 5Live lets us know if there’s a huge disparity in which side their texts and emails are favouring.
I can’t see what the problem is here?
I’m afraid that I disgree with the concept,
‘When there’s two sides to an argument it’s only fair that they are given parity’
This is just the way that the BBC moves debate ever leftward.
So, for example, there occurs an act of terrorism. The BBC discusses the event and gives an equal footing to the majority view and to the minority apologists.
And then as a an aside mentions that ‘most listeners’ texts have been against the terrorists’.
And that is ‘only fair’?
“Remarkably biased coverage of the planned eviction of Gypsies from the illegal part of the Dale Farm”
Gypsies? They are no more Gypsy than Barak Obama or Bruce Lee!
They are white caucasian law breakers of mostly Irish descent. They are NOT being discrimanated against by way of race, creed, colour, ethnicity, gender or any other self-excluding groupage. They are being evicted because they chose, of their own free will, to break the law.
Just like the family who could not get planning permission to build a luxury home in a field designated for agricultural use. So they built a home inside a giant haystack hoping for retrospective permission to be granted. They were not gypsies, or travellers and yet they had their beautiful, luxury home demolished for the same reason that these “travelers” are having to be evicted from this site. THEY BROKE THE LAW!!!
Of course lawlessness matters not to the anarchist’s friends at the BBC.
Having been brought up on the premise that this Country was subject to the Common Law and that the “rights of property” were a large part of our prosperity, I was surprised to find a little while ago that these “right” of ours guaranteed by the Constitution no longer exist. If someone decides to squat in your house the police are not interested, and getting an eviction order is very expensive and time consuming. That we have arrived at this is a monumental disgrace and our politicians should hang their heads in shame…..or better, resign en masse!
Fair comment, Derek.
Indeed, Derek. I too find the term ‘squatters’ rights’ deeply offensive – there should be no such principle, it’s the legally sanctioned occupation of private property. I think the rights of the homeowner trump those of the interloper, but it seems to be a far from straight forward process to get rid of parasitic occupiers.
I wonder if these anarchists will end up squatting in the legal gypsy homes? Somehow I can’t see it. I think it has a lot more to do with the way that the gypsies would deal with it than anything else.
Maybe a compromise could be reached here? Dale Farm’s not far from London. Maybe the gypsies could stay in their illegally built homes if they agree to illegally evict squatters from London homes in that way that only they know how?
A ‘win, win’ all round.
But do not the travellers actually *own* the site. My understanding was not that they are squatting, but ignoring the planning regulations for Green Belt – with which I am not entirely unsympathetic. If they don’t own the land, I share everyone’s outrage, but if they *do*, I have serious problems.
It is irrelevant if they own the site or not.
Agricultural land might be £3 or £4,000 an acre. Land with planing permission can change hands for £3 million an acre.
Are you really suggesting that farmer should be able to develop on their land or flog it off to developers?
Or to put it another way, why should travelers be able to buy building plots for £4000 an acre when none of the rest of us can?
Robert, from what I understand, they do own the land, it’s only the planning permission that is the issue. My reference to squatters was a response to Derek’s more general point regarding property rights.
I wonder how the BBC feels about the human rights / plight of people in ‘llegal settlements’ in Israel / [you know, ‘scare quotes’ really work!] Surely they have the right to settle where they want and build housing estates on ‘thousand year old olive groves’ using the Dale Farm (UN approved) precedent?
Jahannam will freeze over! (I learned something new from this site this AM – Thanks – Dr Who always first with the Multi-cultural agenda!)
Whatever the BBC’s double standards at least they are consistent – consistent in “left-think” (Brilliant coinage Geyza). I remember that in the westerns of the 1930’s and 40’s that the cowboy with the big black hat was the baddie, and the one in the white hat was the goodie. In BBC land the moral sign posting is more even more blatant, more consistent and more ideological (gosh, we couldn’t associate hat colours with a persons moral position, oh dear me no!) but nevertheless you always know who is “right” (wrong) and “left” (right) and who is good worthy,decent and ‘correct’, and who is the material emerging from Martins’ dogs’ bum.
Have to revisit this and add a comment in approval.
How, BBC (and other sh*t-strirring so-called media) is what is happening in Isreal ‘bad’ by your wierd measures, but so unjustified at Dale Farm?
Answers on a double-sided postcard….
Again, even if they have bought the land, they are in a weaker position than “illegal settlements”. Though our objection is to ignoring the planning process, not (as “Palestinians” hold) that they are of the “wrong” race.
How sad that this peaceful, law-abiding race has been persecuted ever since the thieving scum were thrown out of India in the fifteenth century. Not persecuted enough, more like.
Maybe, oncve the dust settles (literally), funds could be allocated to construct a holding facility for those rioters being processed after the riots?
One is sure the ‘legal’ inhabitants nexst door would be very open to such a halfway house being open to those they will consider brothers and sisters, especially given the ethnicity suggested by BBC coverage.
Paddy O’ Humorist (£25k pa) was standing in for Jeremy Vine (£1.25m pa) yesterday and was completely, utterly, and totally slaughtered by a good honest plain-speaking Yorkshireman.
We’d like to see them get soom jobs… not driving round intimidating people… taking scrap selling it for cash… which of them actually works… they don’t pay taxes… the governor od the school says the kids turn up when the parents can be bothered tekking them.
Hapless O’ Humorist tried in vain with… walk a mile in their shoes, what can you say good about them?
‘Ah’ve nothing to say good about them.’
At which point as the producer was doing a throat-cutting motion with his hand HO’H had to move on to the next caller.
http://tinyurl.com/3cq8eaz
28 minutes in – best three minutes of radio this year.
Thanks for that link, BB. The caller wasn’t prepared to take any crap from the presenter – good for him.
Radio ‘2 rules’, more like.
One for those who pay, and one for those who are paid for, and the BBC and its merry band of interest groups have got away with the latter too long.
the fact is these ‘travellers’ at Dale Farm and elsewhere just take the piss
The Social Security/Jobcentre investigators should be down there, getting details of all the layabouts who play anarchism at public expense.