I know we have had a few problems from a technical point of view on the threads. These have been worked on behind the scenes and so here is a new open thread that I hope runs smoothly.

Bored with the BBC’s ‘The Honourable Woman’ and looking for something more credible and inventive I settled for Jonathan Creek, episode 1 of the first series.

23 minutes in and we are given instructions on how to hack phone messages.

That was in 1997.

So why the outrage at Murdoch?

The War on Rupert Murdoch is the Real Story of the Hacking Saga.

If you read [Nick] Davies’ piece you are left with the impression that he – and perhaps his paper – hate two things above all: tabloid journalism and the influence wielded by Murdoch’s newspapers….the real scandal, at least according to The Guardian, is that Murdoch’s papers still exist and that, generally speaking and most of the time, they promulgate a right-of-centre view of the world and support the Conservative party.

Power. It’s always about power.

After all, consider this…of a possible 1600 names on a hacking ‘to do’ list….800 or so could have been hacked by the left wing Mirror….

The list of victims has been drawn up based on data from a PalmPilot digital device seized by police from Dan Evans, a former NoW and Sunday Mirror reporter.

Several sources have told the BBC the PalmPilot contained up to 800 names, while a separate list of names given to Evans by a senior NoW journalist contained a further 800 names.

The BBC understands around half of the 800 names on a contact list on the PalmPilot could have had their phones hacked while Evans was at the Sunday Mirror.

Where’s the ‘outrage’?

Free Alan Johnson   Gaza

H/T Is the BBC biased?:

DB on this site noted this from the FPA :

Foreign Press Association blasts Hamas for threatening journalists

The association said that several members of the foreign media in Gaza were harassed, threatened or questioned about stories they reported.

In addition, the FPA vehemently opposed “a ‘vetting’ procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists,” which Hamas is trying to put into place.

On Sunday, Paul T. Jørgensen of Norway’s TV2 reported that “several foreign journalists have been kicked out of Gaza because Hamas does not like what they wrote or said.

“We have received strict orders that if we record that Hamas fires rockets or that they shoot, we will face serious problems and be expelled from Gaza,” Jørgensen added.

Also Sunday, Hamas said it would require foreign journalists to provide information about Palestinian translators and fixers, as well as the address where they were staying, as part of a new procedure to receive a press card.

The new directives are aimed at “facilitating and organizing the mission of our foreign colleagues,” and Hamas warned that reporters who fail to comply will not be allowed to work in Gaza.

Harry’s Place has posted a video of Hamas confirming these claims:

“[T]he journalists who entered Gaza were fixated on the notion of peace and on the Israeli narrative.”

“So when they were conducting interviews, or when they went on location to report, they would focus on filming the places from where missiles were launched. Thus, they were collaborating with the occupation.  These journalists were deported from the Gaza Strip”

“The security people would go and have a chat with these people.  They would give them time to change their message one way or another……..[The Hamas line] The Israeli missiles do not discriminate between fighters, civilians and children. ”

 

Yes, think we have heard that narrative from the BBC…and yet no BBC journalist was coerced into voicing that message for Hamas?

The question we should ask is why the BBC doesn’t seem to need a guiding hand from Hamas to produce reports that have a particular bias?  Just what influences the BBC to produce such Hamas-friendly material even when not pressured to?  Even in their drama, ‘The Honourable Woman’ Hamas was invisible, the ‘bad’ Palestinians were from Fatah.

Perhaps we should ask just what was the deal that Mark Thompson did with Hamas to get Alan Johnson back in 2007?

Free at last

…. but at what price?

FREED BBC journalist Alan Johnston was back home last night – reunited with the family who had waited 114 agonising days for his release. His British Air­ways flight from Tel Aviv touched down at Heathrow at lunchtime and he flew on to Scotland yesterday afternoon.

But amid the rejoicing that sur­rounded the 45-year-old bachelor’s release, there were questions about the deal that won his freedom and the role played by the BBC.

A few weeks ago Hamas fanatics were tossing their rivals from the Fatah group from the tops of buildings in their ruthless pursuit of control of the Gaza strip.

Last week a jubilant Mr Johnston was a guest at the table of the Hamas leadership just hours after his release.

So far there has been silence from the BBC about visits made to Gaza by its director-general Mark Thompson during the kidnapping.

It is believed he was meeting senior Hamas officials with the aim of securing the release of one of his staff.

A few weeks ago the Sunday Express was informed that the BBC was taking advice on how to handle the crisis from a London-based private security firm which employs former members of the special forces. We were told that the corporation was considering paying a ransom of about £2million for the return of their man, a claim strenuously denied by senior executives at the time.

The Sunday Express did not run the story for fear of damaging the delicate negotiations going on behind the scenes in London and Gaza.

It is being claimed that Hamas has benefited greatly from Mr Johnston’s release and there has been a trade-off.

They seek to disrupt this site with their obsessive stalking. Do NO engage with them please.

Here we go, a new OPEN THREAD to detail the bias. Please keep it polite and to the point.

The BBC’s security correspondent has decided to redraw the borders of the Middle East and hand over Israel to the Palestinians as their ‘homeland’….talking about refugees generally in the Middle East he stated that…. (12 mins 50 secs)

‘It would be quite wrong to talk about refugees in the Middle East without mentioning the Palestinians because,  you know, there is a refugee problem for them going back to 1948, you know, generations have grown up exiled from their homelands…er as they see it.’

 

Not sure why we shouldn’t forget about the ‘Palestinian refugees’…as they see themselves…as all their fellow Arabs seem to have forgotten them and left them to rot.

BBC Trending seems to have a habit of picking ‘trends’ that are in some way damaging to Israel.  The latest is this:

#BBCtrending: Schoolboy’s Facebook photo divides Jewish South Africans

A Jewish schoolboy from South Africa has posted a photo, and message of support, for Palestinians living in Gaza – highlighting a rift in the country’s Jewish community.

Last week, Joshua Broomberg uploaded a picture of himself and two friends to Facebook. All were wearing Palestinian scarves, and it was accompanied by a message reading “Team South Africa… show our opposition to the human rights violations being carried out against the people of Palestine”.

Can’t imagine why the BBC would like to showcase that but not a video that could expose Palestinian duplicity and lies.

We’ve mentioned before that BBC Trending dodged examining the video that alleged that an ‘Israeli sniper killed a Palestinian civilian’…..it frequently does look at the possibility that many photographs and videos on social media may not be all they purport to be…but not in this case despite the video almost certainly being a fake.

However such possibilities didn’t prevent the fearless Orla Guerin, who previously made a totally false claim that the Israelis had massacred Palestinians in Jenin, from deciding that a war crime has probably been committed, as ‘evidenced’ by that video….she expresses absolutely no doubts at all about the video….nor about the claims of a Palestinian who said he was shot in his home by an Israeli officer….a claim backed up by no evidence at all other than the Palestinian’s word….

Gaza conflict: Allegations of war crimes

The BBC reports:

Israel export licences warning from UK

UK arms export licences to Israel will be suspended only if there is fresh violence in Gaza, ministers have said.

The UK has identified 12 licences for components which could be used in equipment in Gaza by Israel. It said it would suspend them “in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities”.

The Lib Dems had urged a suspension regardless of the current ceasefire.

A spokesman said this was “as far as we have been able to reach in collective agreement with the Conservatives”.

The Lib Dem spokesman said it was “no secret” there had been a difference of opinion in the coalition government on the issue of export licences.

What this BBC report, and there is no later one, isn’t making clear is the level of disagreement over these export licences as revealed by their own Ben Judah on Twitter:

All kind of worth a mention I’d have thought…Cable opportunistic and playing to the gallery with a policy that rewards the terrorists.

Definitely worth a mention you’d have thought.

Always  of interest what catches the BBC eye and what doesn’t.

Here they report that the Great barrier Reef is in trouble….mainly from climate change:

Australia Great Barrier Reef outlook ‘poor and deteriorating’

The outlook for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is poor despite conservation efforts, with further deterioration expected in coming years, a report says.

The bleak forecast came in a five-yearly report released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Climate change remained the biggest threat to the site, the report said.

But poor water quality from land-based run-off, coastal development and fishing also posed challenges, it said.

Contrast the attention paid to climate change in that report with the reluctance to mention it in the BBC report on this story:

From the Times July 3rd:

‘Dont’ blame climate change for loss of coral’

A misplaced focus on the impact of climate change has delayed vital work to save vanishing coral reefs in the Caribbean, a leading scientist said.

The main reasons why the area covered by live coral has more than halved since the 1970s are overfishing and coastal pollution, according to Carl Gustaf Lundin, director of the global marine programme at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The BBC in its report on ‘The most detailed, careful study of its kind that’s ever been done.’ took a different tack and decided not to mention the inconvenient claim that climate change had little to do with the reef destruction…..

Caribbean coral reefs ‘could vanish in 20 years’

This BBC report managed to completely ignore the explicit statements in a study from the International Union for Conservation of Nature which had 90 experts run an analysis of 35,000 surveys of Caribbean reefs from the last 40 years and found that you can’t blame climate change for loss of coral…..it had been a ‘convenient truth’ to blame climate change as it allowed local governments in the Caribbean to avoid taking difficult measures to deal with overfishing, pollution, the impact of tourism and sewage, and soil erosion.

Climate change has not been the main determining factor when assessing what causes damage to the Caribbean reefs….the main factors were pollution, overfishing and overpopulation…..ocean warming played a very minor, if any, role in reef loss, but its future effects shouldn’t ignored.

From despair to repair: Dramatic decline of Caribbean corals can be reversed

If these factors were addressed it was found that the reefs recovered…therefore proving climate change was not the cause of reefs disappearing….climate change is still occuring and yet the reefs recover from almost total lifelessness.

The BBC report whilst managing to avoid mentioning the analysis that stated quite clearly that climate change was not the main factor does manage to fit in this comment of their own:

Conservationists say that warming ocean temperatures are also driving some of the losses.

As temperatures rise, corals lose the tiny algae that live in their tissues, causing them to turn white – a process known as coral bleaching.

A more honest report comes from Forbes which reports both that previous damage had little to nothing to do with climate but also that climate change may pose a threat in future:

Solved! The Mystery Of The Disappearing Coral Reefs

The report says the consequences of global warming “pale in comparison to the introduction of the unidentified pathogen that caused the die-off of Diadema antillarum”.

“The threats of climate change and ocean acidification loom increasingly ominously for the future, but local stressors including an explosion in tourism, overfishing, and the resulting increase in macroalgae [seaweed] have been the major drivers of the catastrophic decline of Caribbean corals,” says the report, edited by Jeremy Jackson, Mary Donovan, Katie Cramer and Vivian Lam.

Just curious that the BBC weeded out the negative statements about climate change that other news outlets picked up on…is this just another example of the BBC ‘managing perceptions’ in its attempt to persuade us of the dangers of climate change?

Seen this?

BBC bosses have refused to apologise after a tribute story to paedophile Jimmy Savile appeared second on a list of ‘most popular’ stories on its website – below coverage of the death of Robin Williams.  Twitter users expressed outrage as the Savile story, filed hours after his death on October 29, 2011, suddenly appeared on the website and shot up the most read story list this morning. The BBC said it was because it had been shared through social media and was automatically added to the BBC’s most viewed story list as it rose up the charts.

I was discussing this with Jon Gaunt over on Fubarr Radio earlier and my point is that I really do believe that the BBC still don’t quite “get” the fact that for DECADES they sheltered one of the most notorious paedophiles this country has ever seen. Sure, they cannot be held responsible for whatever story from the past trends on social media – I get that – but they should still come out and express some contrition over THEIR star – the predatory monster Savile! Thoughts?