A ’30-day trial’? I’m sure we can hang him out to dry in less time than that……
It is a remarkable thing isn’t it just how much energy the Labour Party and its fellow travellers expend on defending the BBC….the BBC which they insist is in fact right wing and in the pocket of the Conservatives.
We had a look at some of this a while back and wrote that ‘What we have is a BBC reliant on a band of Marxist academic activists and ex-BBC employees to produce pro-BBC propaganda to cover up the corruption, professional, political and financial, that lies at the heart of the Corporation.’
To that band of comrades you can add Labour’s villainous spin doctor Tom Baldwin who has just penned, in the Guardian, where else, a defence of the BBC which by no stretch of the imagination could nary a word of it be described as true. But then again he was the man who placed Labour propaganda into the Times when he was a journalist there so professional ethics are possibly an inconvenience, or rather not an inconvenience, for him.
He claims that ‘The BBC was not in the pocket of Labour this election. Quite the opposite’ I note with interest that qualification ‘…this election’.…so in every other election?
He tells us that there is a ‘disturbing suggestion that a democratically elected government would seek to stamp on and silence dissent from an independent broadcaster, there is deep falsehood at the heart of this…..[that] the world’s most successful state-funded public service broadcaster is a giant leftwing conspiracy. ‘
This from the man who adds…‘ I write that with the certainty of someone who has spent this year making almost daily complaints to the BBC on behalf of the Labour party.’
So no attempt to stamp on the independence of the BBC by Baldwin in an effort to silence it or make it more pro-Labour than it already was?
He expands upon the reason for Labour’s complaints….‘Our biggest dispute with the BBC was over the prominence it gave to the idea of a deal between Labour and the SNP that was never on the cards……It was a scare story based on a false premise and some badly flawed polls. Britain was not heading for a minority Labour government but towards a Tory majority and we were all making the same mistake in believing the polls. ‘
Well yes….the BBC did give endless prominence to what the BBC presented as a ‘probable’ Labour victory and the prospect of having to deal with the SNP….. as the evidence shows such a deal was a very real prospect as Labour were never going to win a majority. In fact that was the basis for this site saying the BBC was biased in favour of Labour…forever giving the audience the idea that Labour would edge the election. Nice to see Labour actually confirm our view of the BBC’s stance on this. Also Baldwin might want to talk to his boss, ex-boss, who made such a big play of not doing any deals or joining in coalition with the SNP…bound to attract attention.
Baldwin then spins his biggest line…
‘I suspect, however, that something else is going on too. BBC executives and journalists have told me that there were regular, repeated threats from senior Tories during this election campaign about “what would happen afterwards” if they did not do as they were told and fall into line.’
Really? Name names. Or is this just an example of the black arts of the Labour Party spin machine….a lie in other words? Just put it out ‘there’ knowing that it will catch the headlines and eventually the legend will become ‘fact’ courtesy of the useful idiots like Owen Jones who as we speak is probably authoring his next exclamation of his outrage at Tory perfidy.
I too heard a similar tale from BBC executives and journalists who said that Baldwin threatened the BBC with severe repercussions should Labour win the election and its coverage not ‘fall into line’ and favour Labour. See how easy it is to churn out some unattributed pap?
How credible is Baldwin?…well not much…even Labour thought he was a loose cannon wrecking their chances with his wild and reckless press briefings.
Even the Guardian thinks he’s wrong……
‘Yet even senior Tories seemed a somewhat taken aback at the way the appointment of Whittingdale – the veteran chair of the culture, media and sport select committee – was received. “I think there’s a debate to be had about all sorts of things to do with the BBC [during charter renewal negotiations],” said one, “but fundamentally will there be a public service broadcaster largely funded by the public? Yes.”
That debate – set to include an overhaul of BBC governance and the corporation’s impact on a beleagured local newspaper industry – could be had “without kneecapping the BBC”, he added.
So what’s going on? There is definitely a wing of the Conservative party happy to see the BBC humbled for perceived leftwing bias……And yet, in the runup to the election, when BBC bullying was de rigueur for parties that wanted to be seen in the best light, not one senior government member said that the universal licence fee should be scrapped. Indeed, in his interview with the Radio Times, George Osborne categorically said there were “no plans” to replace the licence fee, even if a future government would “look at all the options”.
Even the BBC itself poo-poos the idea of Tory war against the BBC blaming it on the Right Wing Press….the BBC getting its own attack in on them…….
Has war been declared on the BBC?
Does the new culture secretary pose a threat to the BBC, or are Tuesday’s headlines settling private scores?
The appointment of John Whittingdale as Secretary of State for Culture has been met with some fairly bold headlines.
However, the language from the government is rather calmer.
The former Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the government was “going to war” with the corporation.
“No, not at all,” was his response.
“I think there has been some over-excitement in those headlines,” he added.’
It goes on….
‘The charter renewal process is not expected to begin in earnest until the autumn, but the loyal Conservative-supporting newspapers are making very clear what they would like as a “payback” – a smaller BBC.
Will it happen?
For those who want a radical reshaping of the BBC – perhaps even scrapping the licence fee altogether – there is a hope Mr Whittingdale might be their man.
But their hope might be tempered if they read the recent report from his committee on the future of the BBC. Its conclusion was that there was at the moment “no better alternative” to the licence fee to fund an institution that was a “central presence in the life of the country”.
The MPs, though, were open to the idea that the BBC ought to make “bigger, braver decisions” about its services and “do less in some areas”.
However, exactly what, where and how those cuts would be applied, it was leaving to the BBC.’
I assume this Tory initiative is all about curbing the BBC in ‘Tom Baldwin World’…
New laws to target radicalisation
If the BBC is threatened , as it may be now, we can expect all sorts of folks on the left to ride to its support. Without the BBC propaganda the left knows it will lose a lot of votes at the next election. So they are going to fight hard and dirty to keep the BBC in its monopolistic position.
The Tories won the election when constituency boundaries gave Labour an advantage of 20 plus seats, and the BBC gave them God knows how many extra votes. Also UKIP was just getting into its stride in northern Labour heartlands and we can expect plenty of seats lost by Labour to UKIP next time. Scotland replaced Labour with a bunch of National Socialists.
Overall things are looking bleak for Labour no matter which clown the unions choose as leader. So keeping the BBC is essential if Labour are to win even as many seats next time as they did this , let alone having enough to form an unholy alliance with the SNP.
As they used to say on Blankety Blank, the clue is in the question.
Lest we forget, when the alleged comedian Lenny Henry made the, no doubt entirely disinterested, suggestion that there should be more black people on TV – I have no idea who he had in mind – he was quickly ushered into a meeting with the DG and a whole load more blather about diversity resulted.
Meanwhile, millions of people on the right have said the BBC is biased against the right, but it appears we’re all deluded. Nutso. Crazy, agenda driven, whackos.
They just know we’re wrong just because, no evidence required.
‘Also Baldwin might want to talk to his boss, ex-boss, who made such a big play of not doing any deals or joining in coalition with the SNP…bound to attract attention.’
Said boss also being the cove who told the BBC a few months ago that if they had his back he had theirs. And they responded. That attracted attention too.
‘Really? Name names. Or is this just an example of the black arts of the Labour Party spin machine….a lie in other words? ‘
Patience. Albaman is on the case demanding evidence of all caught up in Tom/Graun’s allegation on behalf of their BFFs.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/miliband-spin-doctor-claims-tories-made-regular-repeated-threats-future-bbc-over-election-coverage
‘Labour’s new shadow culture secretary, Chris Bryant, claimed that the Government had been “briefing” that the appointment signalled “war”.’
With so many extreme claims, all at odds, it is hard to know who to believe.
Maybe best to see what happens in comparison to what is said.
I know a few entities, personal and corporate, I’ll be watching for reality not matching spin.
the labour party leadership,the bbc and the rest of the rancid anti ukip media are scuttling around like rats trying to figure out how they lost the election,this myth that the core ukip voters who defected to ukip was disgruntled torys is 100 % wrong,it was labour voters,here is what harriett harman,red ed and the rest of the labour party dont seem to understand,labour voters who switched to ukip have never forgive and forgot the treachery of the labour party when they opened the doors to mass immigration in 1997 when up to 10 million people from all over the world had a free pass to setlle in england in return for voting for the labour party.mass immigration and open borders has changed this country and brought problems like islamic terrorism,child grooming etc. and that is why the labour party lost the election and they still dont get it do they.
Labour kicked themselves in the teeth when they opened the doors to mass immigration, not realising that it would be their own voters who would be socially displaced, and not the noses of those wealthy toffs which Labour intended to rub in diversity.
Baldwin : “It was a scare story based on a false premise and some badly flawed polls.”
Of course the one thing that the polls got right was Labour’s demolition in Scotland. Baldwin is a nutter.
Of course there has to be a war with the BBC…they`ve got to go!
Since the election, the stories have all been of one kind-and all strewing broken glass, gall, bile and false consciousness trails in the path of this nation.
It`s all they can do-democratic deadbeats, now openly craving rebellion-witness their silence over Occupy-type evils on Saturday night, their fermenting of EU rows before Osborne has even met the others in Brussels, Labour SNP puffups and the need to keep the ECHR, and stop upsetting Islamic traitors who want war with us.
And all this whilst the real people of Britain who voted for none of this shit are back at work, foolishly paying their 3000 pieces of silver per week.
Get rid of them John-and get power for ten more years mimimum!
can you trust the kent police to properly investigate this allegation ? dont think so.
So both the left and the right (or in the case of the Conservatives, the not-so-left) accuse the Beeb of helping the other side in the election?
That proves one thing: both left & right agree that the BBC is big enough to influence the election result one way or the other.
Both sides then make an excellent argument right there for breaking up it s near-monopoly and ending this unhealthy power it has over our political life.
Then we wouldn’t have to worry over whether the bias is right or left would we?
Irrespective of whether Labour would have done a deal with the SNP, the SNP are a major force in Westminster even though the Conservatives got their well deserved majority. Before election day, it wasn’t so much about the SNP evicting Labour from Scotland – it was about how Labour could form a majority government at any cost!. It’s no wonder the BBC were happy to talk about the possibility because the alternative would have seen Miliband refuse to do a deal with Jimmy Krankie and hand power back to the Tories.
So here’s the rub – The opinion polls were way off the mark, but everyone believed them (including me). Labour put too much faith in those polls and interpreted the results as a sign that what they were saying about zero-hours contracts, food banks, the ‘bedroom tax’, etc. was working in their favour. That’s why they relentlessly repeated – ad nauseam – their misleading negative stance on these issues, because they naively assumed that these sound bites were winning them votes!
And this is where the BBC are guilty of hiding the truth – allowing air time to people who pass judgement on social issues that do not affect them personally (Polly Toynbee springs to mind), whilst failing to research and find people who are affected by those popular talking points of ‘social concern’. It was only a few days before the election that a survey revealed that the majority of workers on zero-hours contracts are happy to be on those contracts!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. In my despair, I criticised Cameron for being defensive in the run up to the election. I thought he should have been more attacking given the opinion polls. But I was wrong.
Only Cameron got it right! No wonder he exceeded all expectation.