This is quite an interesting discussion on the issue of the closure of the Mad Mullahs Press TV. I think Evan Davies conducts himself quite well, and in particular in the exchanges with the bizarre Yvonne Ridley. However when he declares that the BBC “is not a mouthpiece for the government” one wonders WHICH Government he refers to? When Labour were in power and following a left wing agenda, the BBC seemed to be quite accepting of what was being done. To this day, the situation prevails and the BBC is a mouthpiece for left wing values.
PRESS TV
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It has been a pathetic scandal that Ahmadinejad’s Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime should have been allowed to broadcast its political propaganda 24/7 from its ‘PRESS TV’ on the Sky satellite, based at Ealing, London studios. The enemy within.
The West is increasingly having to apply sanctions against the Iran regime as part of necessary opposition to Iran’s actions to develop nuclear weapons.
The tone of voice adopted by INBBC’s Webb and Douglas was quite friendly in tone towards the Iran regime and Press TV, compared with normal Beeboid attitudes to Murdoch and News International.
The was no reference to Iran regime’s jihad-supporting activities in the Middle East, and no argument put that ‘Press TV’ should be banned from broadcasting from inside Britain because it is the enemy within.
There was no reference to Iran regime’s ban on INBBC from broadcasting from inside Iran.
And Muslim convert, Iran regime supporter, and ‘Press TV’ propagandist, Yvonne RIDLEY, in interview, was given a friendlier treatment by INBBC than Iran regime opponent, Geert WILDERS, is ever allowed on INBBC.
A reminder for INBBC on the nature of the IRAN regime, of which ‘Press TV’ is the propaganda arm::
“Iran’s global terrorist reach” (2010)
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2010/07/irans_global_terrorist_reach.php
The notion of Evan Davis conducting himself well was so intriguing, if not downright incredible, that I opened the link to listen and it turns out it’s that other fellow, Justin Webb doing the interview!
What was funny on that clip was hearing Press TV describing Ofcom as “the media arm of the Royal Family”. Also it’s quite amusing to hear a Beeboid questioning the independence of Press TV and Yvonne Ridley telling him it was State funded but not State controlled.
Snap, sort of.
Shame they introduced Yvonne Ridley as a Journalist and former war correspondent though.
Justin (not Evan) did conduct himself quite well … “It’s not really journalism, is it? You are the mouthpiece of the (Iranian) government” which was a relatively brave observation by BBC standards, but then, when discussing an example of Press TV’s conduct, (parading channel 4 filmmaker Maziar Bahari on Iranian TV “confessing” to ‘helping the western media foment the uprising’) Ridley counter-claimed that a so-called “confession” had also been broadcast on Today, to which Webb retorted:
“We made it clear that he was under duress, they didn’t”
So as far as making things clear is concerned, surely the BBC should have made it abundantly clear in their introduction that Ridley was a fanatical anti-Western activist with a severe case of Stockholm syndrome.
Stockholm Syndrome indeed – her wiki page claims that she described The Qur’an as a “magna carta for women”.
She and Lauren Booth are truly the grottiest pair of ‘sisters’ one can imagine. Apologists for oppression, especially that of women. Of course, I’m sure they would argue that said oppression is a result of Islam improperly interpretted and applied, just as the atrocities of communism don’t represent the ‘real’ communist ideals. The true believers of the left always have their excuses as to why they have failed to create their much sought after Utopia. It’s usually the result of not having tried hard enough, never that their ideologies are destructive and authoritarian, and therefore counter to human nature and the freedom of the individual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Ridley
Women the world over spend a great deal of time and attention on their clothes and their appearance, but apparently what they really really want is to dress up head to foot in a black sack. The burqua is not for the benefit of women, it is for the benefit of arab men who cannot otherwise get their minds off sex.
Lauren Booth, Yvonne Ridley, just another set of disturbed blondes following the latest fashion in evil. Diana and Unity Mitford have a lot to answer for.
“Not a mouthpiece for the Government” eh?…only as long as its not a Tory one!
I used to listen to “Any Answers”-Dimbleby Minors useless Any Questions has long been filed under BedBlocking LibLab psy-ops.
It used to have real people on, who could often put the skids under the BBCs cosy consensus.
Not any more-for todays featured a long phone in with Margaret Beckett to explain the spat with the unions..and top to tail NHS professionals and “service users” to explain why the NHS is great and must never be reformed, unless Andy Burnham is doing it many years hence.
Absolute disgrace of a show…so that`s another outlet for what passes for an independent mind down the pan.
Does Press TV have such biased phone-ins on offer?
Look up the definition of Stockholm Syndrome in the dictionary and there is picture of Yvonne Ridley.
Eccentric I know but I’ve got no problems with PressTV broadcasting any load of crap that it wishes, even if it is headquartered in West London as long as I don’t have to pay for it. PressTV is like Radio Moscow when the USSR was in being: at worst, dire; at best, a complete joke; and always adhering to the line and “facts” – no matter how ridiculous – laid down in Moscow (or, with PressTV, Tehran). Of course, anybody working for – or appearing voluntarily on – such an outfit proves him/herself not fit to be taken seriously under any and all circumstances.
BTW I don’t believe it’s fair to imply that BBC was a mouthpiece for the last government. Rather, the underlying mindsets of Labour and the BBC were and are so close as to be more or less identical. Accordingly, the BBC’s output rarely – if at all – runs contrary to what Labour (in government or opposition) would wish to see broadcast if it could actually control proceedings directly. Indeed, so obvious is the manifestation of this identity of mindset in the BBC output, that Labour – as a diversionary tactic – made a spurious “complaint” alleging a BBC bias towards the coalition. Call me cynical, but I would be surprised if Labour were not put up to this by the BBC itself, thus enabling the BBC to assert that, by virtue of claims of bias from both sides (although not directly from the coalition), the BBC “is getting it about right”.
I agree. The Communications Act needs revising to take into account that we live in an age of the internet and 1,000 TV channels. The OFCOM impartiality rule should be revoked. Then we might get some channels that challenge the BBCs hegemony.
Which is exactly why it won’t happen.
We used to lay a game with radio Moscow. Every ‘issue’ that was brought up was inevitably echoed by some lefty MP or BBC type within days of been broadcast. The aim of the game was to spot the issue that would get the most replays.
for example RM might draw attention to say, Coke Cola in South America, and how Trade Unionists were being shot for objecting to levels of pay etc. Guaranteed within the week the Guardian would run a article on it and/or Tony Benn would be blathering on about how awful Coke Cola was.
The independence of the BBC from the Labour Party manifested itself as criticism from the Left. The independence of the BBC from the Conservative Party manifests itself as criticism from the Left. The independence of the BBC from the Liberal Democrats manifests itself as criticism from the Left.
Can you spot the theme here?
Yvonne Ridley is beyond a joke but the BBC don’t see that. This post of mine from October tells you all that you need to know about Yvonne Ridley.
Nice link Mr. Sheep.
And Nicky Campbell conducting the interview!
Interesting how M/s Ridely boasted she goes alone into areas in Afghanistan that no other western journalists go into. Another way of saying, surely, ‘I have free access to Taliban areas because I support them’.
NaS, I’m sure if you were definitely ‘not a sheep’, you would say ‘baaa, humbug’ of M/s Ridley. 🙂