NEWS PRIORITIES

BBC news priorities…a reader observes;

“The Camerons leaving their child at the pub for all of 15 minutes, which took place over 2 months ago, is considered the 5th most important headline on the BBC today. And never missing the chance to have a swipe;

”Communities Secretary Eric Pickles – who is promoting a scheme to give English councils a financial incentive to deal with so-called “troubled families” – was asked on BBC Radio 5 live if he drew parallels between troubled families and parents who inadvertently left their children in a pub.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18391663

So the Camerons, who were out for lunch, are no different to parents who go on 12 hour binges and load their kids up on Blackcurrant fruit shoot.”

The BBC relished this one.

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28 Responses to NEWS PRIORITIES

  1. Fred Bloggs says:

    Is Ross Hawkins on sabbatical from the Labour Party. His presentations from outside Leveson give that impression.

       8 likes

  2. alan says:

    Isn’t reporting of politicians children taboo? At least that’s the impression I got from the BBC’s reporting of Gordon Brown’s statement to Leveson on the Sun’s story about his son’s illness (let’s not talk about the truth of Brown’s version)

    Funny how the BBC have decided to ask if Cameron leaving his daughter behind for 15 minutes will have poltical ramifications.

    I didn’t hear Pickles but hope he gave the interviewer both barrels for boring us to death with inane, inconsequential, piffling little nothings.

    They’ll be demanding inquiries next for buses that arrive early and leave their passengers ‘stranded’.

    I note no concern from Prescott for the girl thrown off a bus for being 20p short on her fare and was subsequently savagely beaten and raped.

       28 likes

  3. alan says:

    A news organisation that has seriously lost its bearings.

       26 likes

    • johnnythefish says:

      But somehow knows where it’s going – marching in step with Labour towards the next election. It’s not even subtle anymore.

         6 likes

  4. Geoff Wisdom says:

    “Troubled families”. The latest piece of PC Newspeak.
    They are troublesome, the rest of us are troubled by their behaviour.

       24 likes

  5. The General says:

    BBC are pushing this like mad. At least four times during ‘Today’ at regular intervals to make sure it had full coverage.
    I am expecting them to get hold of the retired Portuguese police inspector who dealt with the McCann case, to give his view on this blatant the lack of parental responsibility.

       17 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Oddly, the McCanns seem mostly to get a pretty easy ride from the MSM. Unsure why given their leaving a bunch of kids alone to go off for a dinner party, which would see most, even without the tragic fallout, held up for greater scrutiny if not actual official action.

         7 likes

      • Pah says:

        I think the McCanns have had a bit of a pasting from the papers, including the usual falsified stories.

           4 likes

        • Guest Who says:

          Well, rather than simple thoughts, let me do some cut… & pasting…

          The question was asked once… not answered by Kate McCann… and she then went off on a ‘known fact’ ramble, that I don’t recall ever been clarified.
          Actually, the BBC’s finest sofa sympathisers went a fair old way. But hardly forensic.
          Hindsight is a wonderful thing, indeed.
          Meanwhile, how has the BBC handled the Cameron’s throwing their daughter out of a moving vehicle…
          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18391663
          It is only now I discover that there were separate cars, so it was hardly even ‘Home Alone’, and seems more down to the close protection detail cocking up.
          Yes how has the MSM treated this one…?
          There are false stories and there are stories that are carefully edited for the narrative. The two are often not too different.

             7 likes

          • Pah says:

            Sorry, don’t get your point? The BBC are easier on the McCanns than the Camerons? Well duh?

            I was responding to ‘Oddly, the McCanns seem mostly to get a pretty easy ride from the MSM‘ which I don’t believe for one minute. They have had some serious bad press from the rest of the press. IIRC The Express even went so far as to state that the McCanns had sold thir daughters body because they were hardup! If that’s the MSN going easy on them …

            Are the McCanns guilty of more than being careless parents, is that your point? I have no idea and neither I suspect do you as neither off us were there to know what really happened. We certainly won’t learn the ‘truth’ from the MSN.
            Just look at what the press did to Robert Murat as an example of how they fabricate stories off the flimsiest of ‘facts’.

               2 likes

  6. smell the glove says:

    Does anyone know if gallant Ed, has bothered to put his name on his children’s birth certificate ?

       16 likes

  7. velvel says:

    I didn’t put a stopwatch to it, but at 6am on “Today”, and again at 7am, the more and more tabloid beeboids gave heavier time to a British actor getting an award in New York
    than to any other lead item! Wait a minute — maybe it tied with the Cameron child abandonment saga.

       3 likes

  8. Umbongo says:

    Call me a BBC apologist but, in one respect, Webb got it almost “about right” with Pickles this morning, although he would have been far more effective if he’d been less combative. The point that came through is that our money is going to be thrown at dysfunctional families causing trouble for themselves and more important causing trouble for the rest of us and particularly those who suffer directly from these scrotes.
    Of course, had this been a Labour policy being hawked by a Labour drone in office, Justin would have been all smiles and congratulations on such enlightenment since it is fully in line with the perennial rewarding of bad behaviour (no matter what gloss was put on it by Pickles).
    FWIW my (personal) view is that the way to deal with these people is “tough love”: stop all their receipts in cash and kind from the taxpayer, apply the criminal law strictly and . . er . . let them get on with it. When is the political class going to learn that playing nice with scrotes is – for the most part – a complete waste of money (our money!) and time? Sure, there will be a tiny minority who will “turn their life round” but the vast majority will take the money, repeat a few meaningless bromides (read JuliaM for the endless stream of crap excuses this crowd use in mitigation in court when they’re at last brought to what passes for justice in the UK) and keep on living their worthless lives.
    Coming to the Cameron child neglect atrocity, the only outfit that really cares about ancient tittle-tattle concerning Cameron is the BBC. Why I wonder? Could it be that any information which might prove embarrassing to a non-Labour government is “news” in the BBC editorial suites?

       10 likes

    • Nicked emus says:

      “the only outfit that really cares about ancient tittle-tattle concerning Cameron is the BBC.”

      The Daily Mail
      A Sunday chillax too far: ‘Distraught’ Dave and Sam Cameron left daughter Nancy, 8, behind in pub for 15 minutes after driving back to Chequers from family lunch
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157441/David-Cameron-wife-left-daughter-Nancy-8-pub-15-minutes.html

      The Daily Telegraph
      David Cameron left daughter in pub
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/9323425/David-Cameron-left-daughter-in-pub.htm

      Sky News
      David Cameron Left His Daughter, 8, In Pub
      http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16245051

      The Daily Express
      PM ‘DISTRAUGHT’ AFTER LEAVING EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN PUB
      http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/325917/PM-distraught-after-leaving-eight-year-old-daughter-in-pub

      Metro
      Camerons leave daughter, 8, in pub two miles from Chequers
      http://www.metro.co.uk/news/901640-camerons-leave-daughter-8-in-pub-two-miles-from-chequers

      Evening Standard
      David Cameron’s latest U-turn: PM leaves daughter, eight, at pub after Sunday lunch
      http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/uk/david-camerons-latest-uturn-pm-leaves-daughter-eight-at-pub-after-sunday-lunch-7835569.html

      … and all 516 news articles » on Google news

      “the only outfit that really cares about ancient tittle-tattle concerning Cameron is the BBC.”
      Evidently not.

         0 likes

    • Nicked emus says:

      “the only outfit that really cares about ancient tittle-tattle concerning Cameron is the BBC.”

      The Daily Mail
      A Sunday chillax too far: ‘Distraught’ Dave and Sam Cameron left daughter Nancy, 8, behind in pub for 15 minutes after driving back to Chequers from family lunch
      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157441/David-Cameron-wife-left-daughter-Nancy-8-pub-15-minutes.html

      The Daily Telegraph
      David Cameron left daughter in pub

      Sky News
      David Cameron Left His Daughter, 8, In Pub

      The Daily Express
      PM ‘DISTRAUGHT’ AFTER LEAVING EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN PUB

      Metro
      Camerons leave daughter, 8, in pub two miles from Chequers

      Evening Standard
      David Cameron’s latest U-turn: PM leaves daughter, eight, at pub after Sunday lunch

      … and all 516 news articles » on Google news

      “the only outfit that really cares about ancient tittle-tattle concerning Cameron is the BBC.”

      Evidently not.

      (previous reply got caught in moderation because I put links in to all the stories)

         0 likes

      • Umbongo says:

        I’m afraid you’re right but, there again, the only paper I read today was the Telegraph which had a paragraph on this crapola on page 5 or 7. Obviously the rest of the MSM is as stupid as the BBC but, whatever the fuss over this non-event, I don’t think this info warranted space on the flagship Radio 4 news. There are other things going on in the world which, believe it or not, are more important than Cameron misplacing his daughter for 15 minutes: distressing for him and Sam; of absolutely no consequence to the rest of us.

           3 likes

        • Nicked emus says:

          I don’t think this info warranted space on the flagship Radio 4 news.
          On line the DT had 17 paragraphs and James Delingpole wrote a 400-word blog post on it. There were 1007 comments on the main story and 563 comments on Delingpole’s blog.
          Given that 500 news outlets, including every Fleet Street newspaper, also covered the story, and those that did cover it engaged their readers to that extent, the BBC’s decision to run it on their main news programmes was the right one.
          Obviously the rest of the MSM is as stupid as the BBC
          Or equally the media are right and you are wrong.
          To suggest that running this story was some sort of anti-Conservative, pro-Labour spin is not supported by the evidence.

             2 likes

          • Wayne X says:

            In your fervent defence of the BBC you have missed the point. Surely the question is not why did others in the frivolous media, who have to do it to sell their wares, report at length on this but should the BBC have spent so much time on what is a non-matter. The child was after all not on her own for 15 minutes, she was with the good folks in the restaurant being very well cared for, and in no danger. She certainly was not left on her own in an unlocked apartment in a foreign country while they went out for a meal and yes those comparisons have been drawn and ON THE BBC.

            The point that is being made is; should the BBC, the national broadcaster, which we pay for via an enforceable licence tax, blow it up out of all proportions in such a mocking way? For instance, this morning on the Breakfast program they brought on a so called expert and a parent with a tiny baby to discuss the matter at length and yesterday it featured on the show off Vine show.

            Come on now it was over the top and you know why.

               4 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              🙂
              Oo… look another cherry… waaaaaaay over there. Time for a flit, I think.

                 1 likes

          • Umbongo says:

            If you read what I wrote you will see that I admitted that you were correct and that the MSM carried this non-story. However, just because there are a lot of comments on the Telegraph website doesn’t mean that this is deserving of serious news coverage on the BBC flagship news. BTW Delingpole’s column is on the Telegraph website, not in the paper. Also, BTW, this item wasn’t on the front page of the Telegraph. It was, however, on the metaphorical front page of the BBC news.
            Coming to the BBC’s motives here: why would the BBC feature this non-story as being up there with the Spanish bail-out? Was there no other news that day? The Cameron story is gossip; trivial and of no consequence. Sure there is a “human interest” angle but your friends at the BBC are supposed to be above that kind of thing when it comes to “serious” news.
            I think we’re entitled to draw conclusions from this coverage since the BBC, by editorial decision, promoted this crapola to national headline status (and sacrificed other information of less mind-numbing triviality to be dealt with elsewhere – or not at all).
            I drew the reasonable conclusion that this was, per the BBC’s usual conduct, a cheap hit at the head of the coalition which the BBC manifestly dislikes and seeks to undermine at every opportunity: this was an opportunity which the BBC duly took.
            Perhaps you know better. Perhaps you have more insight into how and why editorial decisions are made at the BBC. If so, please enlighten us.

               4 likes

            • Guest Who says:

              + a lot. Sadly, not living in Tower Hamlets or via a BBC intranet, mine only counts once here.

                 1 likes

  9. Chris B says:

    If the BBC are so worried about the welfare of politician’s children, how come they kept so quiet about a certain D Notice a few years back.

    Indeed, during his recent appearance at Leveson, Blair was only too keen to attack the media for the way it treated the wonderful Cherie… still no reference to what happened to what happened to his daughter and the unusual step taken to silence the media.

       3 likes

    • Pah says:

      still no reference to what happened to what happened to his daughter and the unusual step taken to silence the media.

      Can you please expand on this?

         0 likes

  10. MD says:

    Well it’s good to see the BBC get a good pasting in the comments section. Perhaps they could add the comments to the audience log for future reference.

       1 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘good to see the BBC get a good pasting in the comments section.’
      Which, it seems, with near miraculous inevitability, closed out pretty darn quick when they realised they had roused the wrong kind of rabble, and this one was more reacting to their naked agenda than dancing to their tune.
      Of course most of the rest in the MSM was wallowing in this gutter too, so nice to see the ‘but others were almost as bad’, ‘two wrongs make a most trusted broadcaster’ whinge making its tried, sorry outing again from some quarters.
      Thing is, if there is a single rating to be had, the MSM would ‘report’ its own granny slipping after too many sherries at a wedding. But the BBC will always be looking for tribal gains as well. Hardly in keeping with an impartial remit.

         3 likes

  11. Barry says:

    Initially I was delighted when I heard that Cameron had managed to lose his kid. I thought it was about Clegg.

    Damn!

       7 likes

  12. chrisH says:

    Saw Breakfast TV bang on about these vulnerable families.
    Cue the usual social work excuses-poverty, deprivation-and (in the case of females in need of a joker) “domestic abuse”.
    No mention though of broken families, crap schools, Labours cringing buying off of criminals who might vote for them…and-above all-the fact that scheming worthless scum that leech off the rest of us know that they won`t ever get caught, be punished for what they did ; nor will they ever judged or shamed-just coddled and excused by the useless vermin of human rights, Guardian and BBC/New Labour that hog the conversation stones.
    Not that the crims bother their arses with Radio 4…but their teachers, probation officers, social workers sure as hell do…and the culture is clear.
    Witness the reverential tones that the Beeb used to tell us about the Gas gang this morning on Today-there is only one Gas Gang that threatens the nation and it`s the windy Millers of the media, not the inarticulate gangstas scratching their crabs and thinking they`re Ali Gs boxers.
    And all this happened under Labour-well near enough…and yet the Tories stay schtum…victims of emotional violence themselves aren` they?

       1 likes