52 Responses to VIDEO KILLED THE BBC STARS…

  1. alan says:

    The question is who released this video?….presumably it was a BBC film …….if so why was the video released?…..and was it meant to embarrass the government in some way?….a bit of a misjudgement there from any reasoned perspective….only the BBC comes out badly.

    The Daily Mail reports the episode (but of course puts its own spin on it….Government embarrassed apparently….not sure why as Craig is spot on and has the BBC bang to rights)

    ‘Mr Oliver said he was ‘genuinely shocked’ by the report, telling Mr Smith: ‘I have rarely seen such partial reporting of an event and I think Jeremy Hunt will be, rightly, deeply upset by that.’
    ‘Genuinely shocked’: Craig Oliver, Downing Street’s director of communications, complained about an item on the BBC’s Six O’Clock News
    Accusing the BBC correspondent of broadcasting ‘opinion rather than impartial reporting of the facts’,
    He complained the report had not mentioned that, in a memo to Mr Cameron prior to being given quasi-judicial oversight of News Corp’s bid to take over BSkyB, the Culture Secretary had said that the decision should be kept ‘at arm’s length’ from Government.
    He pointed out that the most senior civil servant at the Culture Department had that day told the Leveson Inquiry Mr Hunt had given himself very little room for political manoeuvre by referring the bid to independent regulators.
    It was wrong to suggest that Mr Hunt was ‘lobbying’ on behalf of News Corp when he sent his memo to Mr Cameron, as the Prime Minister was taking no part in the decision on the BSkyB bid, said Mr Oliver.’

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151157/Caught-camera-No-10-spin-doctor-work-haranguing-BBC-reporter-tone-coverage-links-Murdoch-Cameron.html#ixzz1wBeVQqTf

    So BBC caught red handed fixing the game….

    …not having any context to the BBC reports (about PM and Jeremy Hunt), for misreporting what was actually happening and therefore giving a completely false impression to the viewer, for not reporting that the PM had no power to intervene in the BSkyB bid (he had removed himself from the decision making process) and so Hunt’s memo could not be ‘lobbying’, that Labour claims were being reported but there was no balancing answers or attempt to question those Labour claims.

    Oh dear! indeed.

       24 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      a lone whistleblower at the BBC leaked it to Guido?

         19 likes

    • Llew says:

      The defenders of the BBC are out in force in the comments section of that DM article. Normally on the Mail any anti-BBC story comes with comments that are massively anti-BBC but this story seems to have picked up a large following in support of the BBC. I smell some little game being played by the BBC and their supporters here.

      With the way over the top wall to wall coverage of Leverson by the BBC being noticed by more and more in the MSM is this being deliberately spun by the BBC to deflect any flak heading towards them as simply Tory sour grapes.

         11 likes

    • Hugh says:

      Mmmm. No mention of this on Norm’s twitter feed.

      https://twitter.com/#!/BBCNormanS

         2 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        May be some in reply or RT, but as this is doubtless his opinion only (Oo… maybe not: ‘BBC News Channel chief political correspondent, rubbish climber (only climbing, Norm? Further humour open for exploitation possible), minor ballet bore and owner of mad spaniel.) and not that of his employer, yet the only way to interact beyond the BBC broadcast-only system, it would be easy enough to block any counter-views.
        Job done.

           0 likes

  2. Hugh says:

    Norman Smith’s coughing and spluttering suggests he knew exactly what he was doing. Well done Craig Oliver for his calm and incisive challenge, and well done Guido for getting the video into the public domain after the BBC released and then deleted it. Let’s hope this acts a spur for ministers to take on the likes of Humphrys, Naughtie and Montague.

       24 likes

    • Pah says:

      Yes, he was making sure the film could not be used on air …

         11 likes

    • George R says:

      BBC-NUJ-Labour’s Norman SMITH was lost for words against Craig OLIVER, and apparently had to launch into a coughing bout to interrupt Oliver’s argument. But we still heard the case.

      If Oliver and 10 Downing Street had any political sense they would not see this as an isolated example, but as a routine daily example of systematic bias; and they need to monitor and expose the politically devious Beeboids all the time, with a view to including BBC-NUJ’s antics in an independent inquiry to parallel the Leveson inquiry.

         15 likes

      • George R says:

        And, MARDELL cheers when his Obamessiah does it against e.g, ‘FOX NEWS’.

           2 likes

      • George R says:

        -Excerpt from ‘E Hardcastle’ on Jeremy PAXMAN:-

        “Am I alone in finding Jeremy Paxman’s gratuitious remarks to the Leveson Inquiry about broadcaster Piers Morgan rather sneaky? He said Morgan told him over lunch at the Daily Mirror how to ‘hack’ mobile phones. Would Paxman dish the dirt at an inquiry into BBC chicanery – which, some think, might make pressmen seem like choirboys by comparison? I don’t think so. He has never worked anywhere else. He hates popular newspapers – and, by extension, their readers, I suppose.”

        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2149660/A-family-portrait-Ed-Miliband-writes-British-Jewish-experience.html

           8 likes

  3. David Preiser (USA) says:

    An ex-Beeboid telling another Beeboid that his report was out of line ought to carry some weight, except it won’t phase them at all and will instead be considered absolute proof that the BBC has always had plenty of Conservatives on staff and so there’s no institutional bias.

       9 likes

  4. London Calling says:

    Challenging reporting the like of which we NEVER see on the bBC. All kudos to Guido. The bBC stinks, no matter how hard you pinch your nose. “Caught Red-handed” is such an apposite description.

       19 likes

  5. RCE says:

    And what will come of it?

    ‘………… ‘

       5 likes

    • London Calling says:

      Like with most tyrants, the vanity of the beeb is punctured by being called out. This is not North Korea, or at least not yet. You are pre-judging nothing will happen “……” I would not be so sure.

         6 likes

      • Hugh says:

        @ LC. I think you may be right. First James Delingpole talking Richard Bacon apart on air on climate change, then Boris making clear in his Telegraph column what he thought of BBC Radio London’s coverage of the London Mayoral Election, then 150,000 hits in a day here, and now this. Perhaps there’s a head of steam building?

           18 likes

      • Dave s says:

        In North Korea the regime is a real boot stamping on your face. Here it is more subtle. A continual drip drip drip of so English disapproval of your very thoughts until you give in and stop thinking them.

           9 likes

  6. Hugh says:

    (sic) talking – taking

       1 likes

  7. Demon says:

    Is this finally the first salvo in Cameron’s fight-back against the forces of evil, aka BBC? Or is it more likely a one-off.

       6 likes

    • Reed says:

      Hoping it’s the former, expecting it’s the latter.

         3 likes

    • Dave s says:

      A one off and given mimimum coverage soon to be forgotten. The Cinos in power both in the media and the coalition will see to that. A mere temporary setback in the inevitable triumph of the progressive forces of modern liberalism. They really do believe they are never wrong and that we, the unwashed plebians, must be told what to think.
      If you want evidence of just how they manipulate look at the concerted attempts to rubbish the Euro football. Apart from the implied insult to Poland in particular it reeks of an agenda. That millions might enjoy the tournament is irrelevant.

         8 likes

  8. George R says:

    No doubt the next BBC Director General, to be appointed undemocratically in a few weeks, will work hard on more ways to push his/her Labour-t.u-greenie-EU-Islam political propaganda.

    And Cameron will watch it happen.

       15 likes

  9. hippiepooter says:

    I am waiting with keen interest Craig’s comments.

    On his own blog Norman Smith regularly featured as quintessential BBC bias.

    It’s difficult to form a rounded opinion on this exchange without having seen Mr Smith’s report.

    Here’s a link that carries the transcript, as currently the report isn’t available on iplayer. I’m not sure this indicates something or not. I personally am not aware of BBC News reports being available on iplayer???

       5 likes

      • Craig says:

        The transcript on ‘Politics Home’ is spot-on, except for one striking difference.

        The transcript Paul Waugh obtained says, “And yet while the Prime Minister finds himself dragged deeper in facing fresh questions about his judgment in appointing Jeremy Hunt, Mr Hunt is facing fresh claims he misled Parliament.”

        What Norman Smith actually said on that report (which I recorded on my digi-box and transcribed myself) was:

        “And yet while the Prime Minister finds himself dragged ever deeper in facing fresh questions about his judgement in appointing Jeremy Hunt, Mr Hunt is facing fresh claims he misled Parliament.”

        I wonder who provided Paul Waugh with that transcript and why it inaccurately said “dragged deeper in” when Norm actually said the far-more loaded phrase “dragged ever deeper in” – a phrase which particularly suggests the bias Craig Oliver was complaining about.

        The spider’s web graphic was used twice in full – once at the start of the report and once at the end -, each time showing Cameron being caught between Hunt and Murdoch at the very centre of the web. It was also used in part on another occasion.

           14 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          ‘The transcript on ‘Politics Home’ is spot-on, except for one striking difference.”
          So… Mr, Waugh’s ‘reporting’ is on par with the BBC’s output for accuracy and integrity?
          So far, on his blog, no comments.
          Maybe some questions should be asked?:)
          I know how much like the denizens of the echo bubble like being asked them when caught under the spotlight they think on applies to others.
          Or do we think, maybe, that in homage to the principle of ‘watertight oversight’ there may be a stealth edit and/or early closing?
          I’d take a screen grab pronto.
          Oo… I have.

             1 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            Bless;
            “Thank you. Your comment has been submitted for moderation”
            I wonder if PoliticsHome.com uses the same guys as the BBC?
            From the tonality I say they share a fair amount.

               1 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              Still being pondered…
              Ironic, given…
              politicshomeuk ‏@politicshomeuk

              #Blair on bias: “I don’t really see how it interferes with essential freedoms to say the facts should be accurate.” http://polho.me/JHDHpm
              Maybe… some ‘facts’ are more ‘accurate’ than others these days?

                 3 likes

        • hippiepooter says:

          If you could put up the report on youtube so DV may link to it in the this blog, should he be so minded, it might be kind of a cool scoop for B-BBC.

             2 likes

  10. Timmy says:

    The Tories should definitely challenge the bbc like this more often – but instead of relying on the bbc technician or cameraman leaking the video they should employ there own cameramen to film the exchange. Then they can dish it out to sites like this, sites that understand the left wing bias at play in the media.
    I bet they would also pick up on some very very interesting comments made by some of these reporters when they think no one is watching.
    ..and why stop with the bbc!

       18 likes

  11. Harry says:

    Great stuff!

       6 likes

  12. George R says:

    “Craig Oliver is right: the BBC does have a problem ”

    (by Benedict Brogan)

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100161168/craig-oliver-is-right-the-bbc-does-have-a-problem/

       5 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Love the comments so far, especially the ones setting straight the clown still trying to field the ‘but you don’t have to pay the licence fee’ logic as some form of justification.

         2 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      “Even BBC figures admit it privately.”

      Oh, really now? Defenders of the indefensible are welcome to tell me Brogan is a liar.

         1 likes

  13. Beeboidal says:

    In his report, Norman Smith says

    “So, what did happen when the Murdochs tried to buy BSkyB? in June 2010, News Corp launched its £8bn bid. Jeremy Hunt appeared enthusiastic, writing ‘Rupert Murdoch has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person’.”

    This is entirely misleading, making it look like Hunt was replying to a direct question about the BSKYB bid. The question asked of Hunt, by Broadcast Magazine, was

    “But would it matter if Rupert Murdoch owned two TV news channels in Britain?

    Broadcast Magazine accept that Murdoch already controls BSKYB, and were speculating about what would happen if Murdoch gained another channel (it was once mooted he would bid for Channel 5). Here’s Hunt’s unedited response to the question asked. Note Hunt’s word in the first paragraph, which the BBC omitted entirely, of course.

    “The important thing is not whether a particular owner owns another TV channel but to make sure you have a variety of owners with a variety of TV channels so that no one owner has a dominant position both commercially and politically.

    “Rather than worry about Rupert Murdoch owning another TV channel, what we should recognise is that he has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person because of his huge investment in setting up Sky TV which, at one point, was losing several million pounds a day.

    “We would be the poorer and wouldn’t be saying that British TV is the envy of the world if it hadn’t been for him being prepared to take that commercial risk. We need to encourage that kind of investment.”

    The BBC should be ashamed of this, but of course we know they won’t be. And as for poor Jeremy, here’s another quote from that interview with Broadcast Magazine.

    “As a free marketer, the BBC is not a structure you would invent if you were starting with a clean sheet of paper. But the fact is that it works and works really well.

    How’s it working for you now, Jeremy?

       10 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘…which the BBC omitted entirely, of course.’
      Got to love that unique ‘reporting’ one gets once it has passed through the BBC mincing (quiet at the back) machine.
      If they got any more unique they would appear more as a broadcast entity from another planet.

         2 likes

    • Craig says:

      An excellent comment, Beeboidal.

      Even in terms of basic accuracy, Norman Smith gets it wrong:

      “Jeremy Hunt appeared enthusiastic, writing…”

      No, he wasn’t “writing” anything. He was speaking, being quoted by ‘Broadcast’ magazine during an interview.
      http://www.jeremyhunt.org/newsshow.aspx?ref=452

      Bias AND factual inaccuracy from Norman Smith.

         3 likes

      • Guest Who says:

        ‘Bias AND factual inaccuracy’
        Maybe they figure that’s the best way to stumble across ‘balance’ these days?
        This may be worth a complaint, the results of which are already known but worth a share. They do not like having things like facts served up as it makes their brains explode when they say they got them right even though, in black and white, it shows they go them wrong.
        I’d do it myself, but by doing that a wee bit too often they are sulking.

           2 likes

        • Craig says:

          Just done so.
          I ended it with a ‘Best wishes’ – meant in exactly the same (two-fingered) spirit that the BBC Complaints Department meant it when they last replied to me!!

             2 likes

          • Guest Who says:

            Do share the response (if any). You will get an auto ‘we’ve looked and are comfy’ blow off twice, and may need to hint you need to escalate to ECU. They will then blow you off no matter what, so you need to drag out a Trust. They will also blow you out, so nothing will get logged anywhere.
            Be warned, get a few of those against you and they will claim that as they are never wrong you are wasting their time and try to ban you claiming all manner of things, including dodgy associations (such as posting here – they do cross-index complainers with blog posters, the tinkers, which is in no way an abuse of time or resources, or even just a bit creepy).
            Do not allow this to deter you.
            They are powerful. But they can still be held to account. And they don’t like it.
            Especially when having to write ‘we are comfy in our belief that this was got about right’ when they know they are defending either plain inaccuracy and/or flat out institutional lying through various levels of teeth (like sharks).
            Enough of us do it, using their system to the buffers, and we then coordinate when doing it their way is abused by them, clearly and in writing, once we get enough they have a big problem rolling down the line.
            United we prevail.

               0 likes

  14. As I See It says:

    I particularly enjoyed Norman Smith’s last line of defence (after his feigned coughing fit) ‘..but…but Labour says…..’

       6 likes

    • Reed says:

      They’re probably the source of pretty much ALL his info – so quoting them in his defense is about all he can do.

         3 likes

  15. Reed says:

    Here’s the ‘spider’s web’ report that started the whole argument…

       2 likes

    • Demon says:

      Shocking corruption of the story. Exactly what I expect of the BBC.

         3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      The former boss of the 6 o’clock news scolding a reporter for doing a biased report on the 6 o’clock news. No wonder Smith rolled his eyes.

         2 likes

  16. Louis Robinson says:

    I’m looking forward to a report on “The spider’s web of ties and (informal) contact between the BBC and the opposition”

       3 likes

  17. #88 says:

    The argument central to this is that Smith is trying to make the link in peoples minds with Cameron (he used the word ‘entangled’) to phone hacking.

    Smith uses the words ‘most people view…’ an interesting turn of phrase and one that you hear almost every day from Harman, Reeves, Balls and above all Miliband. In fact Smith sounds very much ‘on message’ using a phrase from Labour’s toolkit.

    And, Smith, if people have formed those opinions, where have they got them from?

    And today an unaccountable Richard Bacon rubbished Gove’s evidence to Leveson describing Gove’s positive comment’s as a ‘love letter to Murdoch’. Outrageous.

    This simply cannot go on. Something has to change and quickly.

       6 likes

    • Reed says:

      You’re right with that one !

      ‘most people view’…as in…the narrative we’ve been putting out with such persistence and regularity that we’ve managed to plant it firmly in many people’s minds…

      …and now they feed their own bias back to us as proof that they ‘got it about right’. Bastards.

         3 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Too bad the BBC doesn’t respect what “most people view” about certain other issues. That’s a very dangerous game Smith is playing there. If the BBC is going to use what “most people view” as a defense for reporting from a given perspective, then they’re going to get in real trouble.

         4 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘Smith uses the words ‘most people view…’ an interesting turn of phrase’
      Certainly, as discussed, when its accuracy and/or inspirations are open to further question(s being asked). How was this estimate arrived at? Was it another famous BBC poll? If so, who was the base? The world famously trusted BBC viewers who view the BBC, and hence absorb the BBC’s ‘views’, daily claimed as sought but more often pumped out to emulate?
      Dangerous games indeed.
      But ‘most people view’ is certainly a worthy addition to ‘Crtics are saying’… ‘A row (we created from a Labour SPaD memo) has developed’ … to ‘We are comfortable in our belief that we have got this about right’.
      I am getting more than tired of being spoken at whilst being told I am spoken for, when I have never been asked. Especially when it is in the name of shaping a political agenda in concert with a party whose current spokespersons very existence on air offends me given what they have done, are seeking to do and will get done if ushered back into power to serve the narrow views of the BBC machine.

         4 likes

      • Reed says:

        “I am getting more than tired of being spoken at whilst being told I am spoken for”

        A nice way of summing things up. Exactly!

           0 likes