Sanctimonious, hypocritical, ridiculously unwilling to admit his own organisation’s failings, the holier than thou Humphrys launched an assault on the Catholic Church this morning on the Today programme.
He claimed the Church was the ‘moral arbiter of the World‘…I thought the BBC had long ago usurped that position and appointed itself the judge and executioner of world affairs.
Humphrys states that the Church’s Message cannot be delivered if the Church is not seen to have absolute moral authority…..and where is the BBC’s ‘moral authority’ to deliver its own message whilst it demonises UKIP, or the Tories or climate change sceptics or any other ‘non-believer’ in the BBC world view?
Humphrys suggested that ‘in a decent organisation the sinners would be exposed and thrown out’ by that organisation….The Church probably did so but Newsnight decided not to report it.
Humphrys said that God wasn’t to blame here..it was the Church hierarchy, the structure itself, they are ‘The Guilty Men’…..Isn’t it somewhat distasteful for Humphrys to hijack that deeply meaningful phrase when it was coined precisely to implicate the same type of people who now inhabit the BBC?
Humphrys said something fundamental must change in the Church…again the same can be said for the BBC….the promotion of its own political and social attitudes must be stopped…the only way to do that is a radical restructuring of the BBC.
If not then perhaps this might be the solution:
Humphrys made one very powerful suggestion….that any other organisation, if it were a lay organisation, would be shut down if it operated in such a cavalier fashion as to its responsibilities.
Not so far.
The BBC goes overboard on its ‘analysis’ of thing like scandals at the RC church, rockets fired into Gaza, the forthcoming eco-apocalypse and the dangers of privatisation.
It gives an easy ride to or completely ignores scandals ignoring other religions, rockets fired out of Gaza, data and events inconvenient to those of the eco-faith and those ‘systemic’ failures in our public services for which nobody is to blame.
So on average, the BBC gets it right and is, in its own opinion, well worth the TV licence whether you want to pay it or not.
Ah, Mr. Humphry’s oddly variable standards as noted on the Open Thread have been given a dedicated slot.
Good.
Still, getting the key howler out on Audioboo/YouTube as a snippet would be… nice.
Or at least timing from the iPlayer 2hrs when it appears.
‘Humphrys suggested that ‘in a decent organisation the sinners would be exposed and thrown out’’
Plus this.
Guessing BBC Semantics & Belief are now beavering away on how they are not decent, uniquely, so this does not apply as yet more hypocrisy and further ‘any one but the BBC’ holding to account?
As I listened to Giles Fraser on TFTD laying into the Catholic Church I wondered when he would turn to comparing the (to him) hypocrisy and homophobia of the Catholic establishment with the manifest homophilia evident in Islam. Curiously Islam wasn’t mentioned although Giles couldn’t resist a final kick at the CoE. Giles also forgot to point out that both the Catholic church and the CoE distinguish between homosexuals (there is no condemnation in general) and that of the homosexual act (which both churches condemn – or the CoE does in its priests).
That O’Brien has admitted “inappropriate” behaviour which, I suppose, means the committing of quasi- or actual homosexual acts has little relevance to his theological or social objection to gay marriage. After all, as Alan implies, Humphrys, while condemning the Catholic Church has, by allusion, also condemned both the BBC and the NHS for their hypocrisy and gross mismanagement. In other words, just because Humphrys is a mouthpiece of and, presumably, believer in every statist and bien pensant piety doesn’t mean he’s wrong in this case about his employer or the NHS.
Savile?…Pollard?
Ah, but they did things different back then in mid-Feb2013…the BBC caravan has moved on, lessons still being learned as they graze and mooch on their sunlit uplands.
Would a slanker like Ole John see any parallels or connections between Savile at the BBC, and O`Brien in Scotland(who, to be fair wasn`t shagging kids behind the cameras unlike savile at the BBC!).
Would he eckers`like…irony free-solutions to all things liberal since 1979…that`s our cabbage we call the BBC!
“BBC controversy over Easter message likening treatment of gay people to crucifixion.
“The BBC is facing controversy over an Easter message which likens the treatment of gay people in Britain to the crucifixion of Christ.”
By John Bingham.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9906067/BBC-controversy-over-Easter-message-likening-treatment-of-gay-people-to-crucifixion.html
Above link has already been posted by ‘Joshaw’ on ‘Open Thread’
earlier today.
Seems like the Church and the BBC have had similar organizational difficulties. People in glass broadcasting houses ought to hesitate a bit more before casting moral stones. Or words to that effect.
LOL the BBC accuse the Catholic Church for years of covering up child abuse, and then are found out doing exactly the same thing. They accuse the Catholic Church of being secretive and then censor their Newsnight report.
Talk about having a beam in your eye.
I look forward to Humphrys criticizing Mosques/Imams worldwide for their providing climates conducive to Islamic extremism.
And here is the longest item I have ever seen on the BBCNews mobile site. Methinks they do protest too much.
BBC denies reports it ‘gagged’ staff
The Respect at Work review asked staff to comment on respect, behaviour and culture at the BBC
The BBC has denied reports it “gagged” staff from complaining about harassment at the corporation by buying their silence with licence-fee payers’ money.
Last year the BBC set up an internal review in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal called Respect at Work, to explore internal handling of past sexual harassment claims by staff.
The BBC said on Monday: “No staff past or present have been prevented from contributing to the review”.
The review is led by Dinah Rose QC.
It is expected to report in several weeks, having invited staff to give their “thoughts on respect, behaviour and culture at the BBC today, including issues such as harassment (including sexual harassment) and bullying”.
It was launched in October 2012 and the corporation said at the time: “Working alongside the BBC’s own HR department, Rose will assist the BBC in reviewing its policies and processes relating to sexual harassment and ensuring existing structures and resources are properly deployed to guarantee support to any complainant.
“She will then make any recommendations for improvements that may be required.”
The BBC added on Monday it was “currently exploring what it is like to work at the corporation with regards to respect and appropriate behaviour”.
It added that “no staff past or present have been prevented from contributing to the review including those who have signed compromise agreements that may have included confidentiality clauses”.
A compromise agreement is reached after an employer and employee disagree about a workplace dispute, resulting in the employee leaving with a payment combined with a confidentiality clause. This means both the employer and employee will not speak publicly about their disagreement.
“Like many other employers, the BBC sometimes uses such agreements to settle disputes,” the BBC said.
“The BBC ensures that every employee has independent legal advice before entering into a compromise agreement – there is no question of their being forced into signing one without understanding its implications,” said a spokesman.
However press reports have suggested that up to 20 former staff, who claimed they were bullied or sexually harassed while working at the BBC, were “banned from giving evidence to the internal review”.
The Sunday Times said: “The 20 people forced to sign the gags, called compromise agreements, are barred even from revealing they have signed such a deal.”
‘Distressing and shocking’
The BBC’s media correspondent Torin Douglas said the National Union of Journalists submitted a lengthy report to the Respect at Work review, based on the experience of many BBC staff members and freelancers.
“Its general secretary Michelle Stanistreet says she dealt personally with all those who made contact, and some of the conversations she had were truly distressing and shocking,” he added.
Since Savile’s death in 2011 aged 84, allegations have emerged that lead police to believe the late Radio 1 DJ and Jim’ll Fix It presenter sexually abused hundreds of children and young people over five decades.
The BBC set up several internal reviews after it was discovered that a Newsnight programme investigating Savile was dropped and the corporation then went ahead with several tribute shows after his death.
One report, the Pollard Review, found there was “chaos and confusion” at the corporation over the Newsnight report which was dropped in December 2011 – but concluded senior managers had not instigated a cover-up.
The review dismissed claims the six-week Newsnight investigation was shelved to protect tribute programmes to the TV presenter and DJ.