The BBC’s Labour supporting old dinosaur, James Naughtie, is a man desperately in need of a common-man dictionary with the word ‘impartial’ explained for him rather than the BBC official issue that obviously has a different interpretation of that word to the everyday one as understood by the ‘common man’.
The Telegraph tells us that Naughtie is destined to be the voice of the BBC, the vessel through which our understanding of the EU referendum is filtered…
Mr Naughtie, 64, is leaving the Today programme in January after 21 years. He will instead becoming Radio 4’s Special Correspondent, and “will have a responsibility for charting the course of the constitutional changes at the heart of the UK political debate – devolution and independence, parliamentary reform and the changes in the UK’s relations with Europe”.
He will act as a roving reporter in the UK and around the world, covering the Scottish, US and French elections and the EU referendum, in addition to presenting radio documentaries.
The importance of that job makes it remarkable that a man such as Naughtie, who can demonstrate an incredibly high degree of pig-ignorant arrogance, should get the job when you realise he is entirely unconcerned about the facts and has a sneeringly dismissive attitude to anyone who dares to raise the very serious problem of BBC bias…a bias ironically very ably demonstrated by Naughtie as he attempts to deny it and move the debate away from anything that might actually shed some light on matters…a sheer arrogance which the Spectator reports in full….
Jenkin: There is the other problem. Jim, you know the history of the BBC’s coverage of the European Union question. There was the report commissioned in 2005 under chairmanship of Lord Wilson of Dinton, the former cabinet secretary, that found that and I quote “we have found there is widespread perception that the BBC suffers from certain forms of cultural and unintentional bias”.
Naughtie: A widespread perception?
Jenkin: The BBC governance accepted that and we know that the Today programme basically got the presentation of the Euro wrong. We know that, that’s now been accepted.
Naughtie: Can we get back to the issue?
Jenkin: This is an important point Jim because every morning we have someone on the Today programme from business and they’re always asked the question “do you think we should stay in the EU?” but you tend to choose people from a certain sector of business who are going to say what they think the establishment wants to hear.
Naughtie: Sorry, we want to get back to the point but can I just tell you that is simply not true.
Jenkin: It’s an important issue and I hope you will address it in a future programme.
Naughtie: Finally, do you think that the fact the government was beaten last night on this indicates that particularly on European questions but on a whole host of things, the Prime Minister is skating on very thin ice?
Jenkin: Well, I think this question actually indicates part of the unintentional cultural bias of the BBC.
Naughtie: Oh for goodness sake.
Jenkin: No listen, let me just explain that.
Naughtie: This really is tedious.
Jenkin: This was a cross party dispassionate discussion about how to create a fair referendum. If there is to be a new politics, it’s this kind of politics where a select committee on cross-party basis makes recommendations and the opposition in a rather non-partisan way I have to say supports that case. That’s what happen last night and your question wants to see it through the lens of party politics, the party game at Westminster and who’s in and who’s out and whether the Prime Minister is weaker or stronger. That’s not what this was about, it was about a fairer referendum…
Naughtie: …a game you have never participated in…
Jenkin: …we’ve got a step closer to a fairer referendum, which is the kind of thing the British people want.
The BBC’s Chris Mason on 5Live today displayed a similarly arrogant and dismissive tone when he told us that ‘inevitably‘ Nigel Farage raised doubts about the EU opening the doors to migrants. ‘Inevitably’ suggests Mason thinks Farage’s views are also rather ‘tedious’ and without merit.
Inevitably we find the BBC tedious on this important issue which is a widespread conception that it is a game the BBC always participates in because we want to get to the point hopefully with the BBC addressing it at a future point .
For goodness sake BBC .
You are right. The only person who was “tedious” in that interview was Naughtie himself.
Naughtie used the word to try to choke off criticism of the high-and-mighty BBC.
Trouble is – the BBC is high-and-mighty. A law to itself, oblivious to public criticism.
And Naughtie personifies the arrogance.
I would take issue with Bernard Jenkins MP on one crucial point. There is nothing “unintentional” about BBC bias. That is a diplomatic lie that doesn’t help to end the bias. Naughtie is screamingly and obnoxiously bent.
But otherwise way to go for Jenkin for doing what few dare to do.
” a game that you have never participated in “. But Jenkin is an elected politician. The odious Naughtie is an unelected politician ! What a child , throwing his toys out of the pram !
Has there been discussion within the Tory Party about how to approach questioning by the BBC to the effect that they should be prepared to challenge the reporter, presenter or whatever?
I long for the question to be turned on the questioner such as “What do you / the BBC think we should do about the migration crisis – I’m always interested in opinion formers’ views”. With obvious follow ups of “How many”, “Where shall we house them – can you take some” etc.
http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/bernard-v-jim.html
Have to wonder at what point John Whittingdale or Jesse Norman’s colleagues may mention in a Westminster corridor that the BBC and its staff seem to be trashing its own guidelines and The Charter with impunity near daily.
Remember the BBC in common with cultural marxists everywhere does not see a problem of bias. It possesses the truth- that is the real truth and the rest of us are in error. So criticism is by definition malevolent and plain wrong. Hence Naughtie’s absurd attitude to Jenkin and the BBC’s inability to ever accept that it is wrong.
It cannot be wrong because it is part of the inevitable triumph of it’s world view.
Bunch of pricks and about as sensible as the Trojans when discussing the Wooden Horse .
Stop taking them seriously. They are history and they just have not got round to getting it yet.
Dave S
Agree, apart from your final sentence.
They are not history yet, and may not ever be history if you encourage others to believe they are a spent force.
They need to be made the historically irrelevant cause their evil deserves.
Every comment on BBBC should end with a statement comparing the ghastly Muslims with the ghastly Marxists, the two nastiest organisations in history.
Was Timur worse than Joseph Stalin? Compare and contrast in 2000 words.
The virtue of having Naughtie as special correspondant is that most intelligent people will switch off when they hear his drone. His paragraph long questions should ensure a good sleep for anyone who has the radio on, but care should be taken if driving !
Incidentally what has happened to Jo Coburn ? She seems to be suffering from Coburnus Interruptus whenever someone dares to contradict a BBC meme. Once upon a time she was able to conduct a sensible interview, but now she has become a BBC pitbull – is it her hormones?
Although Standley Towers is a TV and licence-free zone, I did take the liberty of tuning in to Radio 4 at 10 PM on election night.
Naughtie announced the results of the first exit polls as giving the Conservatives the largest number of seats. He sounded like a father telling his children that a much-loved family pet had been put down. Althought I’m a Kipper, It was a delightful moment for me (and doubtless many others).
I missed the BBC’s election night coverage for the 1st time in years, I was doing the vote count for the 3 rivers district (SE Herts), I wish i’d have recorded it just to hear the heartbreak in thier voices 🙂
No empty champagne bottles that night.