General BBC-related comment thread.Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged.
Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.
Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely
Despite the contortions they go through in order to get away with accusing other so-called racial groups of racism without looking a little tarred with the same abomination of a brush, that particular conjuring trick can never truly be pulled off. Even if they stand on their heads and don a burqa, they can’t avoid looking a tad hypocritical.
But, hey, what’s wrong with that? Don’t take that as a criticism. These days admitting to a bit of racism is almost the new honesty. Accepting antisemitism is already the new honesty, as in Dinner Party Antisemitism which I’m told is all the rage.
To be honest – as everyone seems to say so very frequently these days -Israel is, after all, the “Jewish” state; everyone hates Israel; why not just be honest and admit they hate Jews too?
Jews = Zionists and Zionists = racists. And, let’s all be honest, so are they!
Everyone knows that ‘To be honest’ is the new ‘Basically.’ Also popular, “If I’m being honest,” which is weaker as it begs the question, “Are you? Or not?”
Honesty is a virtue after all. Come on out, tell your granny, she’s probably one already.
Who cares what the EUMC has to say about antisemitism? Definition or no definition. Definition shmefinishon. Bring it on. Freedom! Throw off the shackles of P.C.! What a relief!
All together now. “We hate Jews. We’re out and we’re proud. Antisemites R us!”
That’s what the BBC + Jeremy Paxman would say if they were being honest.
But not Martin Jacques. He hasn’t quite come out yet. To him racism is still taboo!!!!
“No people like to admit to their own racism; the response is invariably one of denial. This makes the UN conferences on racism – and there have only been two this decade – important and worthwhile events. “
Time to get it off your chest Mr. Jacques, and come on out! You, the UN, and the BBC. The closet is overcrowded already.
And to pre-empt those waiting to pounce with allegations that this has a tenuous or spurious connection with BBC bias, I contend that it has very much to do with it. You reap what you sow. The BBC sows and we all reap.
Get Jewish Katya Adler in for some good old fashioned blatantly emotive, one-sided reporting entitled “Demolitions build Jerusalem tension”
That’ll do the trick.
She can present something panoramic by showing a teeny close-up. The drawback being that there’s no ‘draw back.’ The missing panoramic ‘reveal’ might reveal a bigger picture; but without it she can paint just the picture she chooses.
Warning:
Hatred of Israel may have subsided now that events in Gaza have been replaced by other news. There’s a danger that certain other matters could prompt some of the public to put two and two together, and, heaven forfend, it’s even possible that they could link Israel’s difficulties over Islamist fundamentalism ……..with our own.
Oh No!
So; hey ho, hey ho, it’s off to work l go.
Katya Adler sets off to inflame the anger of the reader before it’ s too late.
I’ve been away ‘avin a loverly time /wish you were ‘ere.
Now I’m home there’s this backlog. Millions of comments and posts have accumulated.
All I saw on telly last week was The Apprentice. The one who was fired was useless, but then so were the others. How on earth did they ever even get where they are today? But that’s not BBC bias.
Something that appalled me was Jeremy Paxman. Honest Reporting has:
“Newsnight of 20 April Jeremy Paxman interviewed the UK Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Peter Gooderham following the walkout during Ahmadinejad’s speech:
Paxman: What is the difference between Zionism and racism?
Gooderham: Well, we see the two as being quite distinct. We…
Paxman: Yeah what’s the difference?
Gooderham: Zionism is a political movement relating to the establishment …
Paxman: So are some forms of racism!
Gooderham: …some form of homeland, a Jewish homeland in what is now Israel.
Perhaps Paxman was playing Devil’s Advocate in his usual style. However, is it a sign of the broader mindset within the BBC that finds it acceptable to ask questions such as “What is the difference between Zionism and racism?” View the footage and decide for yourself.”
But the things that I thought were even more ridiculous were, 1, Paxo’s exaggerated facial expressions – comedy exasperation – and 2, the outrageously hypocritical question “Why didn’t you do him the courtesy of listening to him?”
COURTESY? from Paxo the discourteous? Courtesy to Listen to AhMADinajad’s discourteously racist speech?
Stuff you Paxo.
It is big news that the BBC has actually upheld some of the complaints against Jeremy Bowen. The way they’ve wriggled and jiggled out of the remainder is an indication of the wider battle we’re faced with.
Whether or not they sack him remains to be seen; it’s just the tip of the inherent bias iceberg really. The tenacity of the complainant Jonathan Turner is remarkable. Anyone else would have lost the will to live long ago.
An item on Today about the popularity of Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra gushed about the uplifting effect of such projects. I agree, but I couldn’t help thinking of the Palestinian string orchestra that was disbanded by the Palestinian Authority for performing to holocaust survivors. A mention would have been nice.
However, today’s Today was not its usual self. Chris Grayling was given a jolly good stab at both radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki’s hate-broadcast and the email smeargate.
I was wondering if the BBC have sensed a change in the air, and fearing the the end is nigh for Nulab, like rats, they’ve decided now’s time to desert the sinking ship?
Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.
“Trust is the foundation of the BBC. Audiences are at the heart of everything we do. We take pride in delivering quality. We respect each other. We are honest. We are impartial.”
The BBC Values, from the back of BBC Radio Devon presenter Graham Danton’s electronic entry card into the BBC building.
SUNDAY afternoon radio presenter Graham Danton has been abruptly sacked by the BBC after more than 20 years, leaving his loyal listeners confused at the lack of explanation.
In today’s Western Morning News there’s an article by Mr. Danton in which he reveals more. He begins by quoting Orwell’s “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
He feels his sacking was really because he “Highlighted uncomfortable topics”
“Every presenter has to obey the policy of BBC compliance. In effect, it means no presenter is fully trusted any more.”
Hosting a phone-in programme “two hours of never knowing what topic was coming next while having to play Devil’s Advocate, just me and a young lad who put the calls through to my desk”
“Now ( since Ross and Brand) it’s controlled by a producer… you go on air only if it’s approved by the producer…. some people say they’ll speak about the previous topic, be accepted, then speak their minds about something else……….. Little red warning triangles used to appear on my telephone screen……
“Since last autumn, a few minutes before my programme went on air a senior member of staff would question me as to what I was going to talk about…..by that time I was forbidden to talk about:
“Since I left school in 1948 I have had eight employers…..the only one I am ashamed to have worked for is the BBC.”
His electronic entry card was deleted within two hours of his dismissal.
Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.
