BIAS WITH A SMILING FACE

Ordinarily, I will tune in to Radio 4 “Today” or else check out the BBC main news portal as a means of assessing the presentation of news by the State broadcaster. But this morning, I am in London on business and I can only watch the TV news in my hotel room. So, for a change, I tuned in to the “Breakfast” programme on BBC1. It’s an eye-opener because it too has a rampant bias which is ever so subtle and aimed at the wider audience watching at this time in the morning. In that regard one could argue it is all the more dangerous in terms of its’ malign influence.

The lead story was concerning how people are being aggressively pursued by debt collection agencies. And who did the BBC choose to interview about this? A lady, clad in full Niqab gear, who claimed she was the victim of identity confusion. The fact that we could not even see her face because she chose to wear Islamic garb seemed an irony lost on the BBC. Cut to fluffy dog story – and then we had a story about Lord Rumba of Rio’s bail-out to the UK car industry, with an touching human interest interview with an ever so grateful car industry worker. Good ol’ Mandy – he’s providing much needed job security. Cue more feel good news about the octuplets. Then a story about rising child care costs in GB which are, thank goodness, being obviated at least in some areas by progressive local Councils and our wise government. It’s the proverbial curate’s egg, inane in some bits, toxic in others!