Ok folks, here is an early Open Thread! Our site is buzzing, traffic at an all time high level!

Worth a read from one of the last true Conservatives, Lord Tebbit;

“The resignation of George Entwistle should not be the end of the clean-up at the BBC. There has been more than one man involved in this affair.

It was bad enough for those of us who believe in the concept of public service broadcasting and who over the years have greatly admired much of the BBC’s output of music, drama, humour and factual scientific programmes to see how the Eurocentric Left-of-centre Guardianstas established and entrenched their monoply over its political and current affairs output.

Then, as Thatcher dominated the political scene and to the fury of those Guardianistas won not only the Falklands War to liberate the islanders from the fascist junta but three general elections, their lofty disdain for conservatives began to turn into something much nastier. It became a visceral loathing and determination to see off not only Thatcher and her friends, but to exact a revenge upon both them and her.”

Could the deck of cards be crumbling?

The BBC’s director of news, Helen Boaden, and her deputy have “stepped aside” pending the outcome of an internal review. The move by Ms Boaden and Steve Mitchell comes after director general George Entwistle quit on Saturday. The BBC said it was not commenting yet, but there will be an announcement within hours.

Time to axe the institutional bias and time for a REAL debate on it. It is curious how the BBC studiously ignores the MOST vocal critics at this time….

The BBC has been to the fore of the “Anti Bonus and Anti Pay off” Jihad.  But it is do as I say, not do as I do.

“The decision to pay a year’s salary to ex-BBC director general George Entwistle, who quit after eight weeks, has been criticised by senior MPs. John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the commons culture committee, said he wanted to know why the BBC Trust thinks the £450,000 payout is “appropriate”.”

I thought Entwistle voluntarily stepped down so the basis for this pay off seems dubious but I suppose when it is OUR money they are splashing on their sacrificial lamb that is OK?

Jon Donnison ‏@JonDonnison

Listening to BBC #Radio4 Pick of the Week including a #Gaza piece: a reminder of what fantastic material the BBC turns out week in, week out

Yes….This is what he reported (as near as I can remember….no link…R4) this morning after Palestinians attacked Israeli forces, injuring 4 troops…….

‘Israeli tanks have fired shells into Gaza and caused casualties….this came after an exchange of fire with Palestinian militants.….Israeli shells landed near a funeral tent and may have caused civilian casualties…..earlier militants had fired a missile at an Israeli jeep.’

Is it just me or would you get the impression that it was maybe the Israelis who started all this…..and that the missile attack was an entirely separate affair?  Like the nice touch about the funeral and ‘may have caused’ civilian casualties.

Here is the hard copy from a  different BBC reporter:

A Palestinian house destroyed by the savage Israeli response to Palestinian freedom fighter’s liberation activities.

‘Six Palestinians have been killed and more than 20 injured in a series of clashes close to the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Hamas officials said Israeli fire had killed five at a funeral in Shijaia, near Gaza City. An Islamic Jihad member died in a separate Israeli air strike.

Israel said it was responding to a missile attack on an army patrol that injured four Israeli soldiers.’

They eventually get to the Israelis being attacked.

Oh..but look…on Jon Donnison’s twitter feed someone has posted the truth:

Amir Mizroch ‏@Amirmizroch

Hamas not taking on Iron Dome. Firing shorter rockets, mortars also targeting almost all IDF activities along Gaza fence. Per @galey_zahal

To be fair Donnison tweeted the attack on the Israeli vehicle….but that didn’t seem to effect the drift of his report to radio…which most people would hear and not see his tweets………and nice to see we’re not the only ones thinking the BBC is biased….Palestinian supporters do as well…..

Jon Donnison ‏@JonDonnison IDF: 4 Israeli solider injured in Gaza violence. Hamas sources say at least 2 killed, 20 injured.

Jon Donnison ‏@JonDonnison #IDF sources: a number of Israeli soliders injured after Pal militants in #Gaza fire missile at army patrol.

SoSyrious ‏@S0Syrious @JonDonnison youre a liar.

A comment from Nick Robinson…..

The prime minister has not sought to impose a government enquiry on the BBC undermining the independence of the BBC Trust.

So the BBC doesn’t want an inquiry into how it runs its services…..unlike the private, commercial companies such as News International……is the BBC questioning the need for Press regulation imposed by a government inquiry then?

For months we  endured the BBC reporting Leveson day in day out in gleeful schadenfreude as it saw its arch commercial and ideological rival , News International, being torn apart.   And now it fights shy of any similar inquiry into its own shortcomings….of which it clearly has a few judging by the requirements of its Charter and Agreement…legally binding…..

Protocols on openness and transparency(1)Protocols must (as an aspect of how the Trust will discharge its general duty under article23(f) to ensure that the BBC observes high standards of openness and transparency.

44. Accuracy and impartiality
(1) The BBC must do all it can to ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due accuracy and impartiality in all relevant output.
(2) In applying paragraph (1), a series of programmes may be considered as a whole.
(3) The UK Public Services must not contain any output which expresses the opinion of the BBC or of its Trust or Executive Board on current affairs or matters of public policy other than broadcasting or the provision of online services.

And what of the famous BBC Trust’s independence?  Maybe of government,  but not of the BBC….it appointed Entwistle, and Patten is even now demanding  a  ‘ “thorough, radical, structural overhaul” of the BBC [which]is necessary in the wake of the resignation of the director general.’

And:

Steve Hewlett, who presents The Media Show on BBC Radio 4, has said that BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten has “taken it upon himself” to “get a grip” in the wake of the resignation of the director general.

The BBC Trust has a huge influence over the direction and running of the BBC:

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC, and we make sure the BBC delivers that mission.

The Trust is responsible for approving the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. These Guidelines are the key foundation for the maintenance of high editorial standards in everything broadcast or produced by the BBC.

The Trust sets the overall strategic direction for the BBC, approves its strategy and budget and assesses its performance.

The Executive is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the commercial strategy set by the Trust.

The BBC Trust is by no means independent of the BBC.

And yet it also is responsible for handling complaints about the BBC….a BBC that it essentially runs, not day to day but overall…..a successful criticism of the BBC is in effect a criticism of the Trust as well…hardly inspires confidence in their impartiality.

Hands up all those who think Patten is going to do anything but shuffle the deckchairs on the BBC Titanic which is listing, as always, to the left and sinking ever more quickly into irrelevance and obscurity because of its failure to actually report the real news….how many people watch Sky News rather than BBC?  Quite a lot I believe.

George Patton I would trust.  Chris Patten…not so much.

After all, as Norman Tebbit says, Patten has got a bit of historic BBC baggage to chuck overboard:

‘The Eurocentric Left-of-centre Guardianstas established and entrenched their monoply over its political and current affairs output.

Then, as Thatcher dominated the political scene and to the fury of those Guardianistas won not only the Falklands War to liberate the islanders from the fascist junta but three general elections, their lofty disdain for conservatives began to turn int something much nastier. It became a visceral loathing and determination to see off not only Thatcher and her friends, but to exact a revenge upon both them and her.’

John Redwood MP has his thoughts on the matter:

Do we trust the BBC Trust?

If the BBC is to continue to recruit mainly pro EU global warming hawks to its main news programmes, doesn’t the Trust have a duty to represent all the licence payers who do not agree with these viewpoints? Shouldn’t it be the voice for balance?

Isn’t it time for the Trust to demand proper journalist standards? It could ask why the BBC has spent a lot of money blocking FOI requests seeking to find out how balanced the BBC is in its approach to energy policy and global warming. [ed…And I might add, the Balen Report]

Shouldn’t the BBC news and current affairs side seek to represent the spectrum of views on big topics that characterise our democratic debate, without fear or favour?

Astounding statement by Paxman…..complete lack of perspective and awareness……and again this shows how the BBC great and the good are completely unprepared to accept that they are in the wrong.…the ever present shadow of Hutton that they refuse to acknowledge as a truthful indictment of their journalism is something that they continue to try to rewrite in the history books or blame for present bad practise.

Was it ‘cowardice and incompetence and cuts’?   No, it was stupidity and anti-Tory sentiment that brought them down as well as massive management incompetence.

Paxman claims it is cowardice?  How so?  They broadcast to the world a claim, completely unsubstantiated, that a Tory politician was a paedophile….that was either very brave or very, very stupid.

What did Paxman say in 2007:

“In this press of events there often isn’t time to get out and find things out: you rely upon second-hand information-quotes from powerful vested interests, assessments from organisations which do the work we don’t have time for, even, god help us, press releases from public relations agencies.  The consequence is that what follows isn’t analysis.  It’s simply comment, because analysis takes time, and comment is free.”

TIME IS SHORT, NOT MONEY, TIME AND COMMON SENSE.

How soon we forget.

This was out and out bad journalism, bad practise, bad management…nothing to do with the BBC being cowed by the spectre of another Hutton like inquiry, nothing to do with cuts in budgets……everything to do with incompetence at all levels of the BBC.

If Paxman is upset now perhaps he should wait awhile.…because surely the bloodbath is not over yet.  Entwistle was at fault because he knew nothing  and did nothing…he did not make those decisions to broadcast the accusation.

So who did…who was it that decided the BBC news narrative was that ‘a leading Thatcher era Conservative politician’ should be the phrase used throughout the BBC?
Who was it that decided that they would name the accused politician…only at the last moment deciding not to because of threats of legal action?

If they are still in a job at the end of the week I would be surprised.

Here is Paxman’s statement via the News Statesman:

The statement was tweeted by Paxman’s agent, Capel & Land:
‘Statement from Jeremy Paxman – “GeorgeEntwistle’s departure is a great shame. He has been brought low by cowards and incompetents.  “The real problem here is the BBC’s decision, in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, to play safe by appointing biddable people.  “They then compounded the problem by enforcing a series of cuts on programme budgets, while bloating the management.  “That is how you arrive at the current mess on Newsnight. I very much doubt the problem is unique to that programme. I had hoped that George might stay to sort this out.It is a great pity that a talented man has been sacrificed while time-servers prosper. I shall not be issuing any further statements or doing any interviews.” ‘

Well, BBC D-G George Entwistle has resigned. But the question is rather larger – should the BBC now be AXED as a parasite bleeding off the public purse? One sacrificial lamb is not sufficient.

“The BBC’s director general, George Entwistle, has resigned in the wake of the Newsnight child abuse broadcast. In a statement given outside New Broadcasting House, Mr Entwistle said: “I have decided that the honourable thing to do is to step down.” Earlier, Mr Entwistle said the Newsnight report, which wrongly implicated ex-senior Tory Lord McAlpine should never have been broadcast.The broadcast covered cases of child abuse at north Wales care homes. Mr Entwistle took up the post of director general on 17 September.”

Pity Chris Patten did not also resign.

Think we need this one…

The BBC are obviously very busy just now and haven’t picked up on this story yet.

Just imagine if the head of Vodaphone had said this:

‘To do well in business you should remember you are a moral being and that morality matters….ethics are crucial in business….and there are two reasons  [for that]….firstly it’s just right, and secondly if you act morally you will treat people the right way’.

The BBC would be quoting that back with glee and demanding to know why if he is such a moral being his company is paying such a low amount of tax.

Who said that?……Ralph Oppenheimer, chairman of the steel trading company Stemcor and Margaret Hodge’s brother…..so that’s Labour millionairess Margaret Hodge’s family business.  Which pays hardly any tax in the UK.

No doubt Nicky Campbell will be running the phone in on Monday morning as they normally do with Big Business tax avoidance schemes like Vodafone’s or Google’s…..or do we have to wait for Occupy to get in touch with Paul Mason and ‘guide’ his decision over what to broadcast on Newsnight?  If Newsnight has a future.