Author Archives: David Vance

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

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Where to start?

For the third consecutive day, the BBC devotes a huge amount of resource to further excoriating the Murdoch Empire. Having gained the scalp of the News of the World, the BBC agenda moves on. First, in order to sustain its deluded image of solidarity with “the workers”, the BBC line is that  lowly journalists have been sacrificed to save those higher up. Right on, comrades. So the new line is that closing NOTW is a despicable act and that justice will only be done when Coulson is imprisoned, Wade sacked, the BSkyB deal scuppered, Cameron damaged and Miliband elevated to the high moral gound.

Perhaps the greatest example of BBC bias is this interview with Chris Bryant, the new high priest of ethical standards and William Shawcross. Just listen to the interruptions Shawcross endures and compare that to the sympathetic silence afforded Mr Underpants.

If you then listen to the prime time slot, at 8.10am, it consists solely of a BBC journalist interviewing two other BBC journalists. Robinson is cheer-leading for Miliband (“He has found his voice this week” Robinson gushes) whilst Peston has the BSkyB  acquisition in the cross-hairs.

I know I have focused on little but this story for the past few days but it’s because it is quite horrific to see a media bully in the shape of the BBC use the N OTW story to further it’s own objectives. Press freedom, consumer choice – this means NOTHING to the BBC. It simply aims to further deepen its own monopolistic position, along with the likes of The Guardian.

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CLOSURE?

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Police officer at News International offices
Well, it’s a dramatic if not ruthless decision by the Murdoch empire to close The News of the World. In a sense one less trash newspaper is to welcomed, although it reduces competition and choice whilst ensuring that the leftist point of view increases, something I am certain the BBC will be delighted about. I’m just hoping that the disgraceful practice of phone hacking was restricted to NOTW and did not extend to papers of quality such as the Daily Mirror, to name but one. At another level, this decision by Murdoch shuts the attack on NI down, the crowd have gotten the (deserved) scalp they wanted. I suspect the BBC will now move to focus the attack on Cameron.

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THOMPSON WEIGHS IN…..

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Coincidence? Curious timing of this interview with the DG of the BBC….couldn’t be part of the BBC’s ongoingcampaign to pressure the government to kick the BSkyB deal into the long grasscould it?  


“The director general of the BBC speaks to Joan Bakewell in an exclusiveinterview with the New Statesman.

‘We’re talking about a concentration of media power in the UK that’s unheard ofin British history and unheard of anywhere else in Europe. The combination ofthat kind of power with ownership of a significant part of the newspaperspeople read, as well as an internet service provider – this is extraordinarypower. 

Given the shape of what’s happening – the relative decline of other sources ofelectronic news, the funding security of ITN, the ability of commercial radioto fund news, the difficulty newspapers are having in funding newsgathering -it is going to be more, not less, important that the BBC has sufficientresources to be able universally to deliver high-quality, strictly impartialnews to the British public.’

Quite. Then again one could almost believe he is really saying hewants to hamstring Murdoch to give the BBC a free rein to be the major newsprovider….a free hand to shape the audience’s perceptions to the BBC worldview…

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HALF THE STORY, ALL THE TIME

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As always with the BBC, it is as much what they DON’T talk about as what they do select to cover. Just consider these wheeels within wheels, all ignored by the BBC;


“The BBC crows aboutMiliband criticising Cameron for employing Andy Coulson as his media advisorbut says nothing about Labour’s own Murdoch man, Tom Baldwin. In its report of his appointment as Milibands advisor the BBC limits its reporton Baldwin to this : ‘Mr Baldwin is known to be a close friend of AlastairCampbell, Tony Blair’s former head of communications.’ 


But of course there us more, much more.This is a man who used his position in the Times newspaper to placestories for the Labour party to damage the Tories…..’ “I see my job isto keep Labour in power as long as I can,” he once told me’…. Dan Hodges(contributing editor of Labour Uncut.)- 15 December 2010 in the New Statesman. Hodges also tells us that ‘Tom Baldwin is a mad, bad but inspired choice for EdMiliband’s press supremo. Ed has appointed a cross between Alastair Campbell,Hunter S Thompson and Rasputin.’ The Daily Mail has more detail here on this alleged champagne and coke snorting socialist.


Furthermore Baldwin has afriendship with the Left-wing journalist Alice Miles, one of Ed Miliband’sbiggest cheerleaders, who also comes from a wealthy background and is themother of a young daughter. Enter the BBC’s very own raving lefty, Andrew Marr, who fathered a child to Miles but ensured it was hushed it for years.


Such a small world…..BBC journalist in romantic trysts with Labour supportingMurdoch journalist who is a good friend of Labour’s new spin master. Strange that the BBC are not too concerned about the damage to ‘democracy’ andjournalistic integrity when it comes to a journalist who used his position in aMurdoch paper to further his favoured party’s political ends and binged ondrink and drugs.” Impartiality, it is in their DNA.

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A LITTLE BACKGROUND

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I see that Hugh Grant will be offering us his wisdom on Question Time this evening. I forecast pious cant on a grand scale. Here’s a little perspective on lovable Hugh; He was on with Victoria Derbyshire yesterday and his appearance generated this feedback from a B-BBC reader;

“This is a man who’bought’ a women for sex…..prostitution, pimps, sex slaves, humantrafficking, all words that come to mind….and yet he calls buying the News ofthe World ‘evil’. The legal definition of having sex with a women forced into the sex trade isnow ‘rape’. Hugh Grant, a man who works in the film industry, an industry that spendsprodigious amounts of money on drugs ultimately obtained from murderousgangsters and drug barons who kill and terrorise without a qualm. But it isnews papers who are evil rather than the self indulgent film actors whocontinue to finance these violent criminals. So a man that we can look to for moral guidance. Grant didn’t even know Milly Dowler’s name…he called her Molly.”

Still he was awfully good in Four Weddings and the funeral the BBC want to see is that of Rupert Murdochs ambitions.

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THE BIGGEST STORY IN THE WORLD

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Well, the sun rises on a  new day and the BBC continues to attack on The Sun’s proprietor, Mr Murdoch. Yesterday Millie Driver provided the emotional attack line, today it is the families of our Armed Forces personnel killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. BBC is in overdrive on this one and the aim seems to be to stop the acquisition of BskyB by Newscorp. The morally virtuous Labour MP Chris Bryant (above) along with the integrity-proofed Mr Miliband are given the opportunity to preen meanwhile The Guardian was eulogised. In essence, the BBC is lobbying like mad to scupper the BSkyB deal, to damage Cameron and to take the heads of Wade, Coulson and as many other NOTW journos as possible.  Is this the appropriate role for the State Broadcaster? Is it manufacturing the intensity of this story? Is it cynically manipulating the news agenda in order to take a pot shot at those broadcasting rivals with which it disagrees? Is NOTW the ONLY newspaper to have hacked  into mobile phones? Has the BBC ever used illegal and inappropriate methods?

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NEWSNIGHT – FAIR AND BALANCED

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Ah, the delight of that little watched late evening programme “Newsnight”. It’s a full on attack on the evil Murdoch Empire with intellectual heavyweights such as John Prescott weighing in. Also gushing praise for the rather odd Ed Miliband and smug smiles all round as the BBC congratulates itself for having such high ethical standards. The mask has dropped this past 24 hours and the BBC hatred on Murdoch shines through. Let me be clear – I have no time for the gutter press but then again I see the BBC as part of that!

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GET MURDOCH!

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The BBC agenda is clear. Rebekah Wade must be sacked, Andy Coulson should be imprisoned, NOTW should be shut down and NewsCorp must NOT be allowed to take 100% shareholding in BSkyB. Oh, and David Cameron is unfit to be Prime Minister since he has people judgement is appalling. The hysterical tone adoped by the BBC in the past 24 hours on the phone-hacking issue seems to have reached a new shrill tone this morning. The Today programme has been running attack interview after attack interview with smug BBC hacks delighting in this opportunity to unveil their ill-disguised hatred of Murdoch under the farcical pretence of seeking to secure journalistic integrity. Your thoughts on the Murdock jihad?

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