Author Archives: Kerry B

. Again, an item from NormBlog about an amazing exchange between Peter Hain and John Humphreys on the Today programme (audio file). Humphreys seems more like Jorge Haider, less like a professional journalist.

Norm Geras doesn’t want you to miss the results of this poll commissioned by several news orgs including the Beeb and America’s ABC News. Let’s hope the Beeb editors can resist the urge to bury this one.

, Denis Boyles has another EuroPress Review with instances of BBC bias on parade. Don’t miss the Bush-DDT connection.

Shocking! Bush is running for Prez! Imagine the chagrin of the BBC (and many other big media outlets) to have President Bush actually talking about the defining event of his presidency, the Septemer 11 terror attacks. After this story was fed to some major TV and newspapers in the last couple of days here in the USA, the BBC dutifully tells the anti-Bush side of the story. There are plenty of 9/11 relatives to be found who agree with the “tastefully done” TV ad. Could the Beeb manage to locate them? Not a chance. Now that there has been such an outcry, the Bushies have decided to run the ad in even more media markets. What’s disturbing about this BBC Online article is its failure to mention that the good ole’ International Association of Firefighters president quoted in the article has publicly endorsed John Kerry for president. It shamelessly features easily identifiable ‘attack dog’ talking points fed to it like the most obedient of hounds.

Those who don’t happen to think it’s a good idea for 16-year-old unmarried girls to have babies and contract STDs may have to put up with a bit of mockery and sexual innuendo from BBC reporter Richard Alwyn. He tries to claim that the abstinence movement is treading dangerously close to unconstitutionality with funding from the Federal Government under the Bush Administration.

The tightrope that these groups must walk, however, is at the heart of the American constitution, which demands the separation of church and state. The Silver Ring Thing cannot spend Bush’s bucks on God.

But is this ultimately possible? The Silver Ring Thing’s ringmaster, Denny Pattyn, is an ordained minister. Abstinence, he says, is the brainchild of God. He has been preaching it for many years, only now he has a secular medical case to add to his Christian arsenal.

Apparently, Mr Alwyn, the US Constitutional Scholar, sees something sinister here. After all, ministers should be seen but not heard unless, of course, they utter some PC mantra. Then, and only then, will the BBC withold judgement. [Note to Mr Alwyn: In point of fact, the tax revenues spent by the US Government are subject to review regularly when voters let their Congressmen, Senators and President know what they think of their revenue spending every two, six and four years, respectively, when they go to the polls.]

Onstage, 16-year-old Nikki insists that being single is cool. She exalts (sic) her young audience not to cheat, as she would have it, on their future wives or husbands.

[Note to any awake BBC copy editor– I think “exalts” should read “exhorts”. Yes, it is confusing, covering these strange gatherings. Don’t get too flustered, ok?]

Mr Alwyn, it would seem, views the Christian minister heading up the abstinence organisation behind this event as a bit of a nutter. The man actually seems to believe the Bible to be true and encourages the young people in his charge to take its teachings seriously! Whoa!

….Denny [the minister] confides that he believes that the end of the world is nigh and that Christ will return within a generation. And so where does abstinence fit into that vision? Well, abstinence, he says, is a tool to reach young people for God, safeguarding them for the Second Coming.

Amazing–a minister who believes in Christ! What will they come up with next?

Denis Boyles does a best /worst of the year list. The Beeb makes the cut in both!

The BBC is the worst in this best of all possible media planets. The Beeb’s grotesque old-Labour bias and blatant anti-Americanism continues apace, despite the mismanagement of the Corporation by Greg Dyke and his sidekicks, all of whom rested the credibility of the BBC on the quality of Andrew Gilligan’s slipshod reporting, captured here by the Guardian.

Pretty sad when the only one bringing up the rear is France 3. All is not lost, though. Boyles is happy to catch the BBC producing an excellent car show.

Hello? Even the NY Times credits Bush with success. To admit that Bush has had success on any level (whether hunting down Saddam, a strengthening economy or scaring Col Gaddafi into cooperation) must be harder for the Beeb to swallow than cod liver oil. Hardliners in Beebland must shudder to read Bush-loathing Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank own up to Bush success.

It has been a week of sweet vindication for those who promulgated what they call the Bush Doctrine. Beginning with the capture of Saddam Hussein a week ago and ending Friday with an agreement by Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi to surrender his unconventional weapons, one after another international problem has eased.

So what does the BBC’s ‘expert’ , George Joffe, have to say about these developments? Gaddafi got what he wanted all along and Bush is just fending off his “many domestic critics”. Take your medicine, George.

Thanks to Power Line for NY Times and WaPo links.

When a mass-murdering thug is pulled from his hole, could the Beeb indulge in a little joy over the news? Not a chance. Here’s an item noticed by a reader of The Corner.

I’m am American expat living in London, and I was listening to BBC London (Radio 5) shortly after the announcement of Saddam’s capture. The host of a call-in show was going on about how the Americans unnecessarily subjected Saddam to humiliation by showing the video of him being given a medical exam and being unwashed and unshaven. She termed it “serial humiliation”, and asked “what’s next, beheading him and parading his head on a pole around Baghdad”? It’s absolutely amazing how so many here dredge up hatred for the U.S. no matter what.

Before Beeb reporters remark on American “triumphalism”, let them talk to those rejoicing Iraqis in the Bremer news conference, as Katherine Lopez observes.

By the way, if you are getting worn down by the spin, read Peggy Noonan’s unapologetic, unembarrassed, joy-filled reaction to the great news.

Jonathan Marcus wants us believe everything Human Rights Watch has to say about the “avoidable” deaths of civilians in Iraq. He seems happy to photocopy everything the HRW report has to say about American and Coalition tactics. Mr Marcus should read Steven den Beste’s devastating critique of HRW here before touting them as worthy of our trust. The trouble with the BBC approach is that HRW is a highly partisan, anti-war, anti-Bush organisation. Fairness and accuracy in reporting and analysis should dictate some mention of this by the BBC, but, alas, we hear only the voice of a parrot.

with the “British Bias Corporation” about their pathetic slant against President Bush’s linking of Iraq to the worldwide “war on terror”.

It was notable, too, that Mr Bush chose the “war on terror” as a major theme of his visit, linking Iraq to that worldwide war.

His advice to the Beeb: “read your own service” to discover that there really is a war out there, even in Britain.