Category Archives: BBC bias

A few days ago I asked ‘Who was right? Who is the real ‘enemy of the State’?’  Was it Tommy Robinson or Lord Hall and his pro-Islam propaganda machine in light of the attack in Manchester and the BBC’s belated ‘exposure’ of the rapes and abuse in Rochdale?  The BBC film about Rochdale was a shameless attempt to rewrite history and to pretend that the BBC had been at the forefront of exposing such abuse when the truth is that it was one of the guilty organisations that knew what was going on and refused to bring it into the open because of the race and religion of the abusers.  How many girls became victims because BBC journalists stood silent and turned their eyes away?  And now they seek credit and applause for their ‘brave’ examination of the issues.

David Sedgwick [H/T DaveS in the comments] gives the lie to that BBC narrative showing that it contemptuously dismissed Tommy Robinson’s claims about Muslim grooming gangs….

Shooting the Messenger: The BBC’s ‘Asian’ Grooming Gangs

It wasn’t that long ago – five years – when in his role as anchor for BBC2’s Newsnight programme, Jeremy Paxman became very sniffy with a certain studio guest named Tommy Robinson. “You are seriously suggesting that young white girls are being sexually exploited by what you say are gangs of Muslim men? Is that what you are suggesting? Seriously?”

“Yes,” replied his guest, to which Paxman looked aghast. How could this racist, xenophobe suggest such rot? Sexual grooming of under-age white girls? How utterly absurd. The BBC weren’t having any of that. Had Robinson cared to cast his hostile gaze on the streets of Notting Hill he would have seen a thriving ‘multi-cultural’ paradise, where every creed and colour came together to produce a ‘vibrant’ Liberal fantasy land. Grooming? What grooming?

And here it is, the real BBC way of dealing with the issue of Muslim grooming gangs…shoot the messenger….and note this interview was in 2011 and Paxman opens with stating that ‘Tommy Robinson’ is a pseudonym and his actual name is Stephen Lennon…so why did Andrew Neil make such a fuss claiming that Tommy Robinson was hiding his real name for nefarious reasons in 2013 as Neil quizzed Robinson with questions provided by the Islamist Mehdi Hasan?

Neil, in a breath taking example of investigative journalism goes on to ‘reveal’ Robinson’s real name…or that of his long lost father, telling him…

‘We did find your birth certificate….you changed your name because it concealed for some time your BNP past….you were hiding your BNP membership.’

 

As David Sedgwick says:

If Tommy Robinson or any of the several thousand young girls who have been (and continue to be) victims of this abuse are waiting for an apology from the national broadcaster, they’d be advised not to hold their breaths. 

A new open thread for the weekend…..the weather’s looking stormy and the BBC is on full-on Mission Implausible mode…get Corbyn elected (holding their noses)….so stay in the warm and hit the keyboard with the bias…only a few days left to the election and the BBC is going all out flooding the airwaves with bias such as Boris ‘says no tax rises’ and then showing a clip of him actually saying ‘no planned tax rises’…that’s a big big difference…I am guessing the BBC will go for broke and become more blatant thinking that Corbyn will square it with Ofcom, packed to the gills as it is with people who look like they may well be on-side for the BBC anyway…and if the Tories win?   Well never mind, they’re too afraid to tackle the BBC….it’s a win win for the Beeboids….they have nothing to lose and everything to win…list the bias here….

Ms. Hirsi Ali contends that the West has made a colossal mistake by its obsession with “terror” in the years since 9/11. “In focusing only on acts of violence,” she says, “we’ve ignored the Islamist ideology underlying those acts. By not fighting a war of ideas against political Islam—or ‘Islamism’—and against those who spread that ideology in our midst, we’ve committed a blunder.”  Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Islam’s Most Eloquent Apostate

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi… it is only to Middle East audiences that the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, the Sheikh of the Mujahideen, unveils his prophetic dream. Europe, as he sees it, is Islam’s next frontier. John Ware on Panorama in 2006

The BBC is up to its old tricks as it allows Hindus to be called Nazi terrorists and Muslims the terrified victims….if you’re a poor Hindu you can at least get some satisfaction in life by beating one of the ‘untouchable’ Dalits or a Muslim to death….apparently that is the Hindu government’s message to the people of India.

The BBC has vigorously and relentlessly maintained the fiction that Islam is the religion of peace when all the evidence, including what is written in black and white in the Koran, shows without doubt that it is a ‘religion’ that propagates violence,  a ‘religion’ that is in fact more about conquest and colonisation than the spiritual.

The BBC is less concerned to take account of the sensibilities, or the truth, of the practitioners when considering Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or Judaism.

We are told that for Christians ‘The womb is a weapon’, all the little children being Christian warriors in the making prepared to fight to make the world Christian.

We are told that Buddhists have no problem with violence... ‘If you have a strong sense of the overriding moral superiority of your worldview, then the need to protect and advance it can seem the most important duty of all….So, historically, Buddhism has been no more a religion of peace than Christianity.’

Hundus are nationalists not unlike Hitler [never mind the Muslims were going to fight for Hitler if we didn’t give them independence…ie Pakistan…the BBC always portrays them as heroically sacrificing themselves for Britain…not true…it was political and religious self-interest] and as terrorists.

Israel is a woeful mistake of history misread, Christianity a fraud….in the BBC’s ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’ we are lead to believe that the Jewish Bible is a fraud, a politically motivated invention….Israel is based upon a lie…

Did King David’s Empire Exist?

The Hebrew Bible is built on shifting sands….it describes how David united the tribes of Israel and made Jerusalem his capital….modern archaeology is challenging the accuracy of the Bible …and this has huge implications for the region…and the world….David’s legacy is ammunition in an ideological war.

‘Ammunition in an ideological war’.  Go figure.  Think the BBC will ever say that about the Koran?

The BBC is famously not shy about trying to destroy Christianity declaring this programme to be…’a radical revision which rocks the foundation of monotheism to its core and challenges what its past means to its faith today.’

Adam and Eve?….their story has devastated the world…’their story has had a devastating effect on history,….human nature being cast as fundamentally bad.…The real story about Eden is too important to ignore.   What’s at stake is the authority of scripture…if Adam and Eve were not real it would undermine faith.‘

Such is the BBC way with religions other than Islam.

Today we had another example as Mishal Husain presided over a chat with Indian novelist Arundhati Roy.

Talking of Kashmir with the impression given that she was only referring to the Indian presence there [Pakistan is as guilty or more so of state sponsored terrorism there and inside India] we heard that there is terror abroad, people killed, tortured and incarcerated [hence you understand this is government violence] and that the ‘air is seeded with terror as people live under the boot  [of Indian government] for 20 years.‘

We are told now is the time of ‘Hindu pride’, the idea of a Hindu Nation, Hinduism is akin to Nazism and that even if you are poor, but Hindu, you can get some satisfaction in life by beating one of the ‘untouchable’ Dalits or a Muslim to death.

Interestingly the BBC has provided us with a separate clip of the interview...with those somewhat controversial bits missing…funny that…Mishal Husain, a Muslim, raised absolutely no objection during the interview to the terms used and sensationalist narrative being peddled…but someone has seen fit to edit them out…wonder why.

Speak like that about a confirmed Muslim terrorist and you’d guarantee the BBC presenter would jump in to make some emolient remark trying to downplay things and explain about the mass murderer’s tough life and mental health issues.

The Daily Mail has slammed the BBC with a long list of biased, pro-Labour broadcasting…it could add a lot more this morning.

For a start there is absolutely no mention that Corbyn, extremely uncomforatble under questioning about his non-policy on nuclear weapons, refused to make any reply to an audience member’s statement….can’t imagine the BBC letting May get away with that…a stubborn refusal to comment on a serious issue in what is a showcase for their policies and for them to explain themselves.  The Today show had a long piece on Corbyn’s nuclear quizzing and yet failed to mention his clamming up?!!!  Not mentioned elsewhere either.  A small but telling summing up of QT last night by the BBC….May was robustly questioned by the audience…Corbyn was heckled.   So Corbyn wasn’t properly and robustly taken to task on his nuclear policies and insistently questioned as he tried to evade the answer then?  No, he was ‘heckled’ by an angry mob of irrational and abusive Right-wingers [I open out and realise for you the BBC’s  intended narrative of grizzled old glumbucket Corbyn under unwarranted attack].

And check this BBC selective reporting as they decide what is important and what isn’t [no guesses needed]…..Michael Fallon has said there is no plan to raise taxes…the BBC has taken this as him saying there will be no tax rises and that this is a change to the manifesto…despite reporting: ‘Income tax: Conservatives have ‘no plans’ to raise tax’

Senior Conservatives have said there are “no plans” to raise income tax if the party wins the general election, in an apparent change of policy.

In what way is that a change of policy?  It just means right now there is no plan to raise taxes…that may change.  You may have ‘no plan’ to change job or move house but…that may change.

The BBC is trying to keep up the narrative of a ‘weak and wobbly’ May…indeed John Humphrys agreeing with Ed Miliband as he trotted out the phrase this morning.  Isn’t May in fact showing strength as she changed her care policy and refused to take part, whilst being pilloried by the BBC, again Humphrys this morning, in a staged ‘debate’ for the benefit, it might be said, mostly of the broadcasters who want a circus and a stream of out of context soundbites to mock the politicians with.

Curious that the BBC is so keen to ascribe a change in policy when there clearly is none and yet when the Labour Party propose a land tax, a ‘garden tax’, in its manifesto the BBC completely ignores it…and indeed if the subject is raised, dismisses it out of hand…Humphrys this morning dismissed IDS’s comment about a garden tax by saying Labour had proposed no such thing…and yet they have.

Labour’s suggestion of a land tax is a huge issue, it is supposed to replace the council tax…which of course was a replacement for the hated Poll Tax which had fatal consequences for Mrs Thatcher.  Replacing council tax is a massive issue which will be highly controversial and raise all sorts of problems and resentments…and yet the BBC is totally ignoring what is a bit of a bombshell tucked away in the back of the Labour manifesto….however, mention you have ‘no plans’ to raise tax and it is frontpage news and the BBC invents a wholely fake narrative around it.  This was similar to the BBC invention of a ‘split’ in the Tory party over Brexit and immigration…May said she was ‘aiming’ to reach a certain figure, David Davis on QT said it was a target to get to a certain figure...’we’d like to get it down in this next parliament’.…apparently this is a controversial and damaging split in the Party on a major policy issue….you heard it on the BBC first.

That  narrative is a complete nonsense from the BBC…it even admits there is no time frame in the manifesto and yet bases their whole narrative of a ‘controversy’ on there being one…fake news…where is the confusion?…..

The Conservatives have denied there is any confusion in their immigration policy after Theresa May signalled she wanted to cut numbers to less than 100,000 a year by 2022.

The target, which is in the party’s manifesto but without a timeframe, has not been met since it was set in 2009.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said the Tories would “aim” to hit the target in five years – but could not promise.

As for the glories of ‘debate’…you just had to listen to IDS and Ed Miliband on the Today show…Humphrys started by making a ‘clever’ comment about May’s failure to make the necessary obeisance to her media masters, but following this Today ‘debate’ between IDS and Miliband there were all sort of groans and comments about how bad it was and how pointless as you had pre-planned soundbites, disruptive interruptions, shouty grandstanding and a distinct unwillingness to listen and actually debate.  We learned nothing other than ‘debates’ are useless unless rigorously policed and directed…in which case why have one as you may as well have a face to face, one to one, as per C4 along with audience questions?

Humphrys was definitely more onside for Miliband…and why does the BBC keep picking IDS to talk for the Tories…because he’s not a good brawler…even up against nerdy Miliband he struggled.  Miliband kept talking over IDS and lobbing in one of those ‘clever’ soundbites…in this case that ‘people are fed up with austerity’ [and thus want a free spender like Corbyn]…the easy answer to that is that people are grown ups with the ability to think for themselves and can spot a fraud and a ruinous economic policy a mile off..hence Miliband didn’t get elected at the last election.  The too nice IDS couldn’t silence Miliband though and Humphrys was more inclined to silence IDS.  Any wonder the BBC’s first choice is probably IDS?

May faced a question from a young woman who said she had mental health issues and was treated badly by the NHS…Andrew Neil tweeted that May should have asked to speak to her later…..he got this response from a Corbyn fan…

Coming from someone who sung about " the hanging of Nelson Mandela" when you were a student, that is priceless. I salute your compassion. https://t.co/jPjPR8FNlI

— neil flek waugh (@sammythedog1989) June 2, 2017

Who got this response from Neil…

You are a liar. Withdraw immediately. https://t.co/2AG6anpk9U

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) June 2, 2017

Then this…

Not letting this go. Withdraw or send address for writ. https://t.co/Qqg78SqaPM

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) June 2, 2017

Enough info on your profile to track you down. https://t.co/2AG6anpk9U

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) June 2, 2017

I await with interest.

Interesting that the ‘debate’ today had an audience that was markedly, to my ear, less loud in its appreciation of Corbyn. You would probably be suspicious that they were picked using a different criteria to the last one…a tweaked model of selection…which might indicate there was a problem[ I see the Tories made a complaint to the BBC….did it have an effect….if so how and why?  Will the BBC admit to a problem?  LOL].  Comres assured us the last one was merely a noisy mob of Corbyn supporters outshouting the silent Tories rather than an unbalanced audience….but as they admitted that the format meant, whatever the scientific balance intended, that it was dominated by people opposed to the government this meant it was not in fact representative or fair in the studio.

Tonight May gave the usual stolid performance only really facing a hard question on nurses’ pay…Dimbleby helpfully suggesting nurses were getting poorer and being made to go to food banks and asking if May could sleep at night….he also directed May as to what she could talk about in her answers and told her how long she could have to answer.

Corbyn on the other hand came across as highly untrustworthy and evasive…as normal. He is a clown who makes cheap jokes and smartarse remarks,..such as he appeared in a debate and May didn’t….but that debate was not a debate, it was not informative, it was not time well spent…it was merely showboating….as Corbyn’s remark illustrates…it was all about turning up rather than actually saying anything useful.  Tonight though was an act that he couldn’t pull off, he didn’t come across naturally as he shouted his way through the questions presumably thinking this was strong and authoritative rather than a sign of a massive bluff.  He still tries to avoid saying anything useful other than soundgood soundbites as he dodged the nuclear weapons question and in the end was left standing struck silent refusing to answer.  Dimbleby did press him on this question but he was allowed to slip away as with anti-semitism and the IRA.

More egregiously he was allowed to escape proper scrutiny on his economic policies and on the Single Market.  Dimbleby asked him what he meant by ‘Brexit’ but he was able to shrug that off by repeating his mantra that he would be looking for tariff free trade….we all know by that he means to stay in the Single Market and thus will have to keep  freedom of movement…but Dimbleby didn’t challenge him on that very critical point…surely one if the major ones of the election.

Corbyn not right that richest are doing best and poorest worst – since Cameron came to power, the opposite has been true. pic.twitter.com/iipekJh3AK

— Fraser Nelson (@FraserNelson) June 2, 2017

Corbyn was also allowed to make what are obviously false statements about the rich getting richer and the rest being left behind….not to mention the poorest not going to university due to tuition fees….we know for a fact that there has never been a time when there have been more students from poorer backgrounds than now…due to the availability of loans for tuition fees….they have not stopped students from going to university, the opposite in fact.

As for taxes, millions have been taken out of tax in the last 7 years as the allowance has been raised and the rich have in fact been made to pay a far higher share of the tax take than anyone else, not only that but interest rates, and thus mortgages and loans to business, have been at  record lows for years and inflation has been unusually low as well….OPEC doing us all a favour by keeping fuel and thus prices all round low.  So wages in cash terms may not have risen hugely on the face of it but spending power has been increased by other means as costs have been lowered…and people kept in jobs by agreeing to lower wages rather than having been sacked as in other recessions.

Corbyn was allowed to get away with that very simple picture of what has happened and treated us to the usual platitudes about equality, social justice, peace and negotiations…anyone who basically shouts his way through such a session as he did just doesn’t seem trustworthy…and his cheap clowning such as the dig at May for not being at the debate or as the programme finished shouting out that he had so much more to say said it all for me.  No one in Brussels will take him seriously especially as they know he is intent on staying in the EU…he has already surrendered one issue…on the status of EU citizens already in the UK whilst the EU has refused to say the same for Brits abroad.

This format is certainly a lot better than the circus of the last debate with all the leaders squabbling and point scoring. [Odd that the SNP deputy should criticise May for not being there whilst no sign of Sturgeon…he claims he is leader in Westminster…not a credible getout methinks].

However even tonight’s format is not perfect in that it doesn’t allow for extended questioning on one subject to any great degree, having to move on inexorably so that as many people as possible get to ask a question.  Perhaps we should have a written exam for the prospective PMs in which they set out in detail not just what they want us to hear as in the manifestos but the answers to questions that the public want to hear.

I note George Eaton at the New Statesman is silent on Twitter this time….have the Corbynistas got to him?

The BBC was always very obliging to Labour in the terms they used to describe Tory policies..the Bedroom Tax of course springs to mind, occasionally with an additional ‘so-called’ prefix as if that made it non-partisan, then we have the more current ‘dementia tax’.

What about ‘Garden Tax’?  Will the BBC be using that term, so-called or otherwise?  Unlikely as it is a Tory term for Corbyn’s proposed suggestion that a land tax might be in order to raise more money for local government.  Just how much money we don’t know, and who exactly will pay it we don’t know….isn’t the BBC eager to investigate?  Perhaps it is that ‘magic money tree’ Amber Rudd suggested was going to be the source of Corbyn’s funding?  Magic money gardens…..Corbyn sticking to his metric?… going for the inner city vote…the flat dwelling workers and Nottinghill/Islington media luvvies who have no gardens?

A Labour government will give local government extra funding next year. We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term.

Had a Google of ‘BBC’ and ‘Garden Tax’ and nothing turns up…which is odd as it’s making the front pages of the papers and the farmers are up in arms warning us that food bills will rise…something normally the BBC would be desperate to report….from Horticulture Weekly…

Labour manifesto ‘garden tax’ concerns raised

Labour’s manifesto contains proposals to replace council tax and possibly business rates with a Land Value Tax (LVT) on homes and gardens.

Under proposals, the new tax would be imposed as an up to 3% levy on the value of land.

The annual tax is calculated using the market rental value of land so would hit those with large gardens harder.

The Institute for Public Policy Research says the tax might become a “tax on gardens”.

The National Farmers Union has warned that if agricultural land, which is currently exempt from council tax and business rates, is also hit it would simply lead to hikes in food prices.

I’m sure this will provide a rich source of jokes for the BBC’s finest from the News Quiz, HIGNFY and the extremely partisan muppets on the Today show…..no not Robinson and Webb, though easy mistake to make, I mean D’Ancona and Behr whose comedy run down of the election this week was basically a Labour political broadcast with jokes…much like its manifesto I suppose.

The BBC has been consistently ‘concerned’ about ‘Big Data’ and social media being used to manipulate what people think and sway their votes….much claiming that Trump and Brexit were won by underhand subterfuge using such methods.

Today we learn that Labour has been the fortunate beneficiary of Twitter bots streaming out pro-Corbyn and anti-May messages, not just Labour but the SNP have been disproportionately figuring in the data.

Labour dominating Twitter conversation in UK election campaign, says study

Hashtags such as #VoteLabour and #JezzWeCan are outperforming the likes of #VoteTory and #StrongAndStable, according to the new study.

But the ‘junk news’ that blighted the US presidential race is also playing a role in the UK election, accounting for almost 13% of relevant content shared.

The researchers analysed more than 1.3 million tweets produced between 1 and 7 May 2017, using hashtags associated with the primary political parties in the UK, the major candidates, and the election itself.

Interesting though how the BBC plays this…it does report it but plays it down...very little ‘junk news’ …fortunately most people are sharing ‘quality news’…..

The research was based on an analysis of political news links shared by UK users in the first week of May.

Of those shared, 53% linked to professional news and information sources, while 13% linked to junk news – stories that are misleading or conflate opinion and fact.

The rest of the sample included links to content created by politicians, experts and blogs.

The study found users shared marginally worse quality news and information sources than German and French users, but far better than those in the US.

“It’s concerning and shows that social media isn’t the best source of political news”, Monica Kaminska, one of the report’s authors said.

“We still have junk news, bots that are active, misinformation that is being spread.

“[But] it seems to be the case that people are [still] sharing good quality news.”

Yep, all those reports from the BBC telling us Brexit was the result of fake news spread on social media…now apparently, when Labour are in the frame, not so much….all is cool…one is reassured…..

After the dramatic and close campaigns that led to Brexit and President Trump’s election, there have been concerns about social media eroding democracy.

In particular, there have been allegations about how wealthy individuals or foreign powers buying advert space on social media, or using bots – automated software that mimics human behaviour – to influence how people vote.

But this examination of the quality of news people in Britain can find on Twitter, which admittedly reaches fewer people than Facebook, is reassuring.

And don’t worry…it’s all positive thinking for Labour, none of that horrible fake news or rampant abuse…

“It’s difficult to say even whether the conversation is positive or negative about Labour”, said Miss Kaminska.

“[From] the hashtags that we’ve selected, I would lean towards saying the conversation is positive.

Hmmm….tonight’s Great Leap Forward’s ‘Tweetstorm’ on Twitter is hardly what you might call ‘quality’…oh yes, quality production, just a shame the content is wanting….33mins 55 secs of slow death…..unwatchable I suspect even for the most committed…and you’d have to have been committed to want to watch it……that hair!…..and Labour seem to be bombarding us with adverts on Youtube …great!

https://twitter.com/nonideefixe/status/870223890500505600

The BBC’s environmental campaigner and pusher of alarmist climate porn, Roger Harrabin, will be burning the midnight oil (carbon neutral] tonight as Trump dumps the deal.

What more is there to say except LOL.  And maybe LOL again.

Paris climate deal: Trump announces US will withdraw

WM POLL: TORY DEBATE VICTORY
– 40% say Amber Rudd won
– Corbyn second on 33%, Nuttall 22%
– 8,000 voted https://t.co/CiXVYNT82P

— Westmonster (@WestmonsterUK) June 1, 2017

So who did win the debate, such as it was?

Kuenssberg told us that it should be chalked up to Corbyn….others disagree saying a poll immediately after the debate gave it to Rudd…which would be quite remarkable achievement for her in the face of a baying mob and 7 other opponents….

Westmonster Poll: Conservatives won debate

A Westmonster poll of almost 8,000 people immediately following last night’s BBC election debate has seen the Conservative Party’s Amber Rudd backed as the winner.

40% judged Rudd to have won, with Jeremy Corbyn in second place on 33%. Paul Nuttall was third on 22% and Tim Farron bringing up the rear on just 5%.

Though this poll is massively unscientific, the fact that 62% backed either Rudd of Nuttall, who were both derided by the live studio audience points to public reaction across the country to be much different to in the massively pro-Remain City of Cambridge.

Sad this wider range of opinion wasn’t reflected in the audience on the night.

Any sign of this on the BBC which normally is so quick to point out the slightest suggestion that a single job might be transferred to the EU?

Dutch bank ING moving jobs from Amsterdam to London. Still the powerhouse of Europe! ????????????????https://t.co/nnIXdGdlk3

— Westmonster (@WestmonsterUK) June 1, 2017