Category Archives: BBC bias

Here you go, a brand new OPEN thread to see us safely off into the weekend! This is where you detail that bias.

“iPlayer is swarming with people,” one source, who asked to remain anonymous, told MediaGuardian. “They’re throwing more and more people at it – a classic mistake – while McKinsey suits run around carrying wads of paper and trying to look important. The BBC often tries to be a software development company, and fails every time.”

BBC’s £1bn HQ is ‘swarming with petty thieves’

Channel 4...’Human Swarm’...We all like to think of ourselves as individuals, but this eye-opening documentary, presented by Jimmy Doherty, reveals new evidence that suggests we actually behave like a herd of animals

Cameron talks of a “swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain” and Labour’s kneejerk dog whistle response is to try to shout him down and berate him for what they like to portray as racist or divisive and inhumane language.

Now it’s my guess that most people are with Cameron on this and don’t think the language used in any way suggests that he thinks the migrants are ‘insects’ and dehumanises them in an ‘incendiary’ fashion as Labour suggest.

In effect Harman, Burnham, Corbyn and all the rest are doing exactly what Brown did when he attacked Gillian Duffy calling her ‘a bigoted woman’ when she used the word ‘flocking’ to describe how the immigrants were swarming over here from Eastern Europe.

Perhaps they should all start to apologise, head in hands style, to Cameron.

Labour can’t help themselves, they see an opportunity for a bit of mud-slinging and pious grandstanding and they jump in with both feet without a single thought entering their little heads.  They know there is huge public concern about immigration, they know this is one of their major weaknesses having let in swarm upon swarm of immigrants whilst lying through their teeth about the numbers, they know something serious needs to be done and yet instead of coming up with a serious policy they decide instead to make an opportunistic attack on Cameron to try and score political brownie points…and yet the public must look on at this and think what a bunch of contemptous little chancers.

The BBC hasn’t noticed though and gives Harman and Co all due  respect without challenging their pretentious and sanctimonious posturing.

This was the BBC’s top story for much of the day and although they haven’t had time to check back on Labour’s own record on such utterances they did have time to slam Farage who also mentioned immigrants ‘swarming’ around him on ITV in the morning and comb the records for other Tory utterances of a similar nature.

Harman herself was once quite concerned about  ‘cheap workers’ and ‘labour’ coming from abroad undermining wages here….surely she meant the poor, the needy, the desperate and oppressed…surely she should be talking of the human stories of each immigrant and not callously dismissing them as mere faceless ‘labour’ or ‘cheap workers’.  Such divisive, dangerous and toxic language from Harman.

It is odd just how vocal Labour have suddenly become having been very quiet on the subject of Calais as the Spectator points out…..Labour stays oddly quiet on the Calais migrant crisis

The BBC could of course have pointed out that Harman’s own son wasn’t above exploiting the migrants…is this ‘dehumanising’ them?…

Curious that she now villifies Cameron for a single word about the very same people her son exploited so callously for amusement and profit…a single word that in the dictionaries is just as applicable to people as to insects or animals….eg...(a swarm/swarms of) A large number of people or things: a swarm of journalists

Labour are getting a free ride from the BBC on this, the only up side is that most people watching are capable of making up their own minds and it’s not the chancers from Labour that are coming out on top, after all it wasn’t so long ago that Burnham was boasting of his ‘tough stance’ on immigration…

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Burnham said: “We were in denial. We were behind the issue all the time, and myths were allowed to develop. There’s still an ambivalence among some in Labour about discussing immigration. I’ve been accused of dog-whistle politics for doing so.

“But it was the biggest doorstep issue in constituencies where Labour lost. People aren’t racist, but they say it has increased tension, stopped them getting access to housing and lowered their wages.”

Labour still in denial about immigration and still claiming others are dog whistling when it is they themselves that are trying to whip up a storm with some self-righteous mud-slinging smears.

Good to see the BBC giving them a credible platform to throw the mud from.

No idea if this is the full facts but I lay it before you to consider for yourselves….

BBC reporter who tried to expose Jimmy Savile scandal claims he has now been ‘forced out’ of his job along with other colleagues ‘on the right side of the argument’

The BBC has forced out journalists who helped uncover Jimmy Savile’s horrific child abuse because bosses regard them as ‘traitors’, a senior reporter said today.

Meirion Jones claims whistleblowers have been either squeezed out or moved into dead-end roles after they helped expose the paedophile.

Mr Jones, who has left the corporation after 23 years, says that management refused to sack anyone but instead would ‘drip poison’ about him and ‘make life hell’ for others they considered ‘traitors to the BBC’.

He told Press Gazette: ‘People said they won’t sack you after Savile but they will make your life hell. Everyone involved on the right side of the Savile argument has been forced out of the BBC’.

The award-winning investigative journalist was told there was no place for him at the BBC three days after finishing a documentary of Fake Sheikh Mazher Mahmood.

He said: ‘I went to an employment lawyer. He said if you sue the BBC you will win. However it will take a year and the BBC will settle on the steps of the court.

‘I thought about it and I thought I’ll take voluntary redundancy and go in that case.’

His colleague of 23 years Liz MacKean, who worked on the Savile story documentary with him left in spring 2014.

She told Press Gazette: ‘I didn’t feel encouraged to stay. I felt I would do better to work outside the BBC.

‘There were still so many people who have been shown to be on the wrong side of the story who have stayed.’

Mr Jones claims that Tom Giles, who the Panorama editor in charge of the ‘What the BBC Knew’ Savile documentary was also ‘squeezed out’ into a strategy role ‘going nowhere’.

He says that former BBC head of global news Peter Horrocks, who took over at the height of the scandal was also ‘squeezed out’ because he ‘forced through’ the Panorama. 

Mr Horrocks is now in a senior role at the Open University.

But several others involved in the scandal managed to keep their jobs.

Aunty has lifted up her skirts and flashed her racy knickers at us…..well, her bloomers anyway.

This is an interesting look at what is an open secret…the BBC’s tight rein on what it thought was appropriate for the audience to be allowed to watch or listen to…From The Independent….

BBC: the Secret Files, BBC4 – TV review: The BBC opens its vaults to show how its power dynamic operated

“This, unless you understand exactly what they’re trying to do, is crap, and pretentious crap at that.” That’s the dismissive verdict BBC assessors gave to rock band T-Rex, back before they were famous.

The existence of the BBC Talent Selection Committee, with its idiosyncratic – and often plain wrong – views was one of the great revelations of BBC: The Secret Files.

This documentary’s presenter Penelope Keith made her name in The Good Life, but Margo Leadbetter’s snootiness was as nothing compared to the various memos that emerged from the Written Archives Centre vaults in Caversham. Back in the days when the Corporation had a broadcasting monopoly, it acted as a gatekeeper to the British public and success without its approval was virtually impossible.

This power dynamic was evidenced by an extraordinary mountain of begging letters, signed by everyone from a penitent Tony Hancock to a humble-sounding Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones and Enid Blyton, who was effectively banned from the airwaves for nearly 30 years, because someone decided her stories lacked “literary value”.

Oh, how times have changed! Now it’s the Beeb that’s forced to write begging letters in an attempt to justify its continued existence.

The BBC Talent Selection Committee…its decisions idiosynchratic and often plain wrong…yep..how times change….still, they did send Donnison into exile in the Antipodes….someone must recognise talent when they see it.

Peter Allen was having a discussion (about 2 hrs 37mins) about Calais and the migrant attempts to rush the border (astonished to hear the BBC say maybe 500 have actually made it through the tunnel!)…he had 4 politicians on to give us their views…no one from UKIP though.

Allen referred to the Nicky Campbell phone-in which I hadn’t heard.  Allen said that there were some extreme views being voiced which he thought might have worried Labour’s Mike Gapes. I have quickly run through Campbell’s programme and as far as I can make out the BBC seems to have filtered out most anti-immigration callers…the ones I did hear were concerned about immigration but expressed sympathy for the migrants and one suggested that the solution was to build the economies and stabilise the countries where the migrants were coming from.  Hardly worryingly extreme or extremely worrying.  The other callers were either truckers, politicians or several who were pro-immigration…one of whom, maybe Allen’s ‘extremist’ (unlikely I know),  wanted the borders kept open because it is our nation’s, no doubt fascist, behaviour that has caused all the world’s problems and resulted in the migrant crisis…therefore we must pay!

Whilst Allen thought Gapes might be worried about people having ‘extreme’ views (Allen didn’t elaborate on what they were) it turns out Gapes wasn’t worried at all because he knows that phone-ins such as Campbell’s attracts right-wingers who are out of work with nothing to do except be angry about the world.

So now we know…the sheer contempt he has for most people of this country.  His patronisng and arrogant, unpleasant attitude is exactly what we have come to expect from the Left…and why Labour loses and will keep losing elections…they have a total and utter disregard for the People’s opinions, they hold them in complete contempt and are absolutely dismissive of their views.

I guess he hasn’t learnt a thing…

Labour shadow minister accused of ‘contempt for working classes’ over white van tweet

Fair-do’s Allen did stand up for the callers and even the Tabloid Press which might possibly be representing the views of the many rather than being the people who get the blame for ‘whipping up anti-immigrant feeling’…of course those who want to control immigration don’t have considered and coherent reasons for their stance…its just racism, stupidity and prejudice.

Gapes was in the Home Office from 2001 to 2002 so I suppose he feels some responsibility/guilt for the car-crash immigration policies that Labour passed onto the Tories.

Campbell told us that it is all about women and children and suffering…and he managed to slip in a quick soundbiote for climate change….things can only get worse as the climate does and forces people to flee their burning hot countries…the ones not under metres of flood water….guess he had a tick list of things to mention.

The debate about migration is very narrow, as you can tell from Campbell’s thoughts  There is very little about the real impact of migration upon the country and just when do you draw the line on numbers.  It was interesting to hear the 4 politicians, Labour, Tory, SNP and Clyde Cymru, all being to varying degrees accepting of immigration and essentially a de facto open border,  not one of them represented the views of what must be the majority of the people in this country.  They all take the easy, non-controversial route of expressing sympathy for the migrants saying we must look at this as a human tragedy essentially not a security issue and yes, the numbers must be controlled…but of course they refuse to state a number or how it will be done.

Oh, and if you’re an immigrant and you want help setting up home or just a bed for the night, or someone to pay for your kids’ education and healthcare contact Mike Gapes, Member of Parliament for Ilford South….and see if he puts his money where his principles are…I’m guessing you’d better find a nice warm doorway to sleep in……

I was listening to BBC Today this morning on Radio 4 for my sins and around 6.40am on came Lyse Douchet with a fulsome tribute to Obama’s horrific deal with the Mad Mullahs in Iran. Her take on it was that because Obama had willed it,  and because the likes of the UN Security Council and the EU had also piled in, the fact that it has NOT gained approval from the US Congress is a pesky detail that will surely be resolved.

Gosh – I remember the BBC taking issue with George W Bush anytime he tried to go it alone with out Congress approval  but when it’s Obama….ah…different story. Lovely Lyse went on to inform us listeners “it is good to be back in Iran”. Let’s hope she was wearing her veil.

Middle of the week and time for a new one of these for your completion! DETAIL the bias here!

Nothing so far on the BBC as this video is released by police….can’t imagine the same lack of, or similarly slow, reaction had the attackers been white and the victim Asian…

Shocking video footage shows gang of Asian men launch vicious Tower Bridge attack on a lone 29-year-old man

And this….

Public anger after French sunbather beaten up by gang for wearing a bikini in Reims park

French social networks exploded with anger after a young woman was reportedly beaten up by a gang of girls and young women for wearing a bikini in a park.

Authorities have not identified the attackers but most commentators have assumed that they were Muslims.

The authorities have not named them but said that they all came from housing estates with large Muslim populations.

Arnaud Robinet, the mayor of Reims, said: “We have to be very careful not to jump to conclusions. All the same, I can understand why people have assumed that this attack had religious motives. If that turns out to be the case, it is a very serious incident.”

Not so serious that the BBC deems it a reportable story.

And just for interest…

Denmark bans kosher and halal slaughter as minister says ‘animal rights come before religion’

The BBC thinks much of the problem with the Public is that they are ignorant and prejudiced.  The BBC sees it as its job to educate you, to enlighten you, to help you think the right thoughts.

Think the EU is a bad idea or that mass immigration is somehow detrimental to the interests of the UK?  Think again, the BBC is here to tell you why you must love the EU…

Why is EU free movement so important?

“The founding fathers of the European Community wanted it to be a construct that also had a political integration and for that you needed people to move because the minute people crossed boundaries and borders, you had deeper integration… So it was both a social as well as an economic aim.

“If you wish to create a structure which would stop Germany and France ever going to war again, which was at the heart of the original principle,” says Gisela Stuart, the Bavarian-born Labour MP for Birmingham Egbaston, “you did require a movement of the people in that area which would simply mean brother would never take up arms against brother again. And that has been achieved.”

Really?  The forced mingling of different populations, different races and different religions is a recipe for peace?

Really?

It has always been an excuse for war….Hitler was a fine example of the use of a German population in another country as an excuse to invade in order to ‘save’ them…look at Yugoslavia….and look at Ukraine and the Crimea now….look all around the world, look in the UK…look in Burma, look in the Middle East, look at Christians being persecuted everywhere by Muslims as the Guardian tells us.…’Christians are facing growing persecution around the world, fuelled mainly by Islamic extremism and repressive governments, leading the pope to warn of “a form of genocide” and for campaigners to speak of “religio-ethnic cleansing”.‘

The unwanted mingling of populations nearly always ends badly.

Just look how quickly the Greeks were ready to turn on the Germans with old hatreds.

The BBC knows where to point the finger of blame…..We have all been led up the garden path by Nigel Farage, he has ‘seized’ on, and presumably vastly and falsely inflated, the concerns about immigration and generated, all by himself, the idea that the EU is an undemocratic tyranny with too much power over us…..

It was this new wave of migration after 2004 that generated a sense of public unease about impacts on jobs and services. Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, has seized on these public concerns, arguing that high levels of migration from the rest of Europe have effectively been imposed on Britain by the European Union. He’s used it to bring to life the idea too much power has been transferred to Brussels.

Yep…I’d never come to that conclusion all by myself.

Good job the BBC is here to inform, educate and enthrall me with its insights…or “Ideological Sheepdip”  (H/T More Like The Soviet Bloc Every Day)

The Guardian is frantically pushing every knob and pulling every string in order to promote the BBC.  Losing the BBC, not that that is going to happen, would be a body blow to the vast array of leftist cabals that rely upon it to plug their world view without question.

The Guardian’s phone book is being well thumbed just now as they try to get all and sundry to write something nice about the BBC and raise the alarm about the coming apocalypse as the vengeful Tories target poor old Aunty.

The Guardian does its own bit to fly the flag with articles such as this…Why the BBC’s updated iPlayer Radio app will change your life  which is no more than a very obvious bit of cheerleading for the BBC and its services.

The Guardian even admits what it is up to…‘The update of the BBC iPlayer Radio app has arrived just in time to make a valuable contribution to the debate around the licence fee and also improve your summer holiday experience. ‘

The BBC however is not, as we know, standing back from the fight.  It is more than happy to use licence payer’s money to defend their entrenched and privileged position and do so not openly but by creating ‘news stories’ that are little more than disguised adverts or exhortations on behalf of the BBC itself…on Sunday I heard the head of British athletics  on 5Live saying that the BBC was essential for athletics in this country to prosper…we must have the BBC showing athletics apparently…..I wonder what conversation went on before he went on air and how many more such people will be claiming that the BBC is the only thing between them and a proper job?

Then there is this…

Is public service broadcasting in terminal decline?

Public service broadcasters all over the world are coming under increasing pressure to justify their funding models. So is it inevitable that these broadcasters will lose at least some of their public money, forcing them to adopt more commercial funding structures?

Would that actually be good for anyone?

Of course by ‘in decline’ the BBC means under attack from the vested interests of commercial companies and prejudiced politicians…there is no real justification for questioning the size, funding or scope of the BBC dontcherno… it’s all an anti-BBC plot!!….and nobody wants that the BBC relays to us…

Former World Service presenter Robin Lustig told Newshour Extra: “The great joy of having public service broadcasting is that it’s a form of entertainment, information and education which is not determined by advertisers or government interests. It’s determined, imperfectly, by what viewers and listeners want.”

And the statistics do seem to show that public service broadcasting is what the public wants.

And if the message wasn’t clear the BBC reinforces it at the end with the same old rhetoric…

As the debate continues on at least three different continents, Robin Lustig asks: “Who are the people who want to dilute the influence of public broadcasting?

“They are either commercial rivals who fear they are not making as much money as they would be able to, were it not for the public service broadcasters – or they are governments who want to have more control over what’s being said.”