Category Archives: BBC selectivity

JERSEY – IS IT HELL ON EARTH?

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Nobody would condone the abuse of children and I would hope that any individuals involved in such depravity are given the maximum punishment available. But do you think the BBC really has it in for Jersey? I see another story being run today on the arrest of a pensioner on rape and indecent assault allegations going back thirty years. This arrest has got nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into what may have happened at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home but it all helps throw more dirt at the reputation of Jersey. I have listened to quite a few BBC stories on this island in recent months and NONE of them were in any way complimentary. I suspect that the fact that the island offers tax-haven status to some wealthy people offends the good little neo-Marxists in Al-Beeb and so any chance to stick the knife in is not missed.

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SOAK THE RICH.

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It says plenty about the BBC values when even a Labour Minister in the shape of John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, comes across as an economic libertarian! We’re talking John Humphrys again folks, and an interview he conducted with Hutton this morning on the “Today” programme. It started off on the topic of the planned strike at the Grangemouth refinery but then it moved on to discuss a favoured BBC topic – the need for government to take action to punish “the rich.”

The Archdhimmi of Canterbury Rowan Williams has been using the Today programme to waffle on about the growing gap between “the rich and the poor” in the UK and clearly Humphrys has much sympathy with this view – all good socialists together and all that. He kept trying to get Hutton to accept that those who make large amounts of money using other people’s money needed their actions further regulated, if not their incomes capped. Hutton, to his credit, pointed out that it was not the role of government to dictate how private companies rewarded their employees, to Humphrys obvious chagrin. I found Humphrys obvious disdain for those who work in the City amusing, given that last time I checked the BBC itself was in receipt of £££billions extracted under threat from the UK TV owning population. Maybe it’s the BBC fatcats such as dear John that need their incomes capped, and their activities further controlled?

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NEVER LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY.

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Here’s a good one for you. If you read this story carried prominently by the BBC (and the rest of the gormless msm) you will be under the impression that pro EU Constitution Irish Labour MEP Proinsias de Rossa was knocked to the ground after a public meeting in Dublin on Monday night. The BBC solemnly reports Labour leader Eamon Gilmore claiming that the MEP was confronted by a group of anti-EU Constitution supporters who screamed abuse at him before knocking him over and pinning him down. Poor thing! Just one problem – it didn’t happen. Turns out that Proinsias tripped over and fell on his face and the entire incident was caught on camera here! But since the source of the story was the pro-EU Irish Labour Party and since the BBC is pro-EU why let the facts get in the way?

The BBC – all the EU propaganda that masquerades as news.

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MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

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I fully accept that the Royal College of Physicians has every right to lobby for the view that the pub industry is acting irresponsibly by offering customers larger glasses for wine than they (the RCP) would like. Some 14% of licensed premises say they now offer only 250ml sized wine glasses – equivalent to a third of a bottle. Of course the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers is just as entitled to hit back claiming that it was in the business of offering customers choice. A balanced exchange of views, until that is, BBC correspondent Keith Doyle puts his pennysworth in by suggesting that there was “even anecdotal evidence that some pub staff were under pressure to maximise profits by encouraging customers to opt for larger drinks.” The evils of capitalism, eh? exposed by the BBC. Keith’s “anecdotal” contribution means nothing and it injects a bias we do not require.

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THE BIG PICTURE.

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Ok, this is the third and last one of these posts (I promise!) but I draw to your attention to the BBC’s Northern Ireland site today and a posting entitled “Northern Ireland’s Big Picture.” And what, you may ask, does this reveal? Why it’s a smiling image of the President of the Republic of Ireland Mary McAleese on what is one of her numerous cross-border sallies. As part of advancing the territorial claim to Northern Ireland, McAleese will turn up at the opening of a letter if it generates favourable publicity. She has of course no constitutional position in Northern Ireland as we already have a Head of State in the shape of Her Majesty the Queen but the BBC appears to believe that tree-planting visits to primary schools by the roving McAleese is part of some “Big Picture.” I’ll say it is – it’s all part of their big picture to soften up the people of Northern Ireland into believing they are not quite British.

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“An Independent Commission”

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Where would the BBC be without it’s regular diet of “surveys”, “reports” and “enquiries” ? On Radio Four’s seven o’clock news this morning, the first three of four stories were all supplied to the BBC. While I’m not a great fan of the journalist Nick Davies’ analytical capabilities, his observational skills are first class – and in his book Flat Earth news he charges that too many news organisations are content to regurgitate the press releases without enquiring into the motives behind them.

Today’s top story featured an organisation new to me, the “Independent Asylum Commission“, which has produced a report lambasting Britain for its appalling treatment of asylum seekers. Said report is getting top billing on BBC news.

The morning is young, and I have work to do. But given that the Commission is sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, what are the odds that it will turn out to consist of pro-asylum, pro-immigration activists ? If any commenters have time to dig I’d be grateful.

Let’s look at another “independent” organisation.

From BBC News a while back :


Reforms of the criminal justice system are largely ineffective in cutting crime, an independent think-tank says.

The Crime and Society Foundation, at King’s College, London, says ministers should focus instead on tackling root causes such as poverty and sexism.

This ‘independent think-tank‘ is staffed by :

A former communications director for the anti-prison, pro-criminal National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.

A former researcher for the anti-prison ‘children’s liberation’ National Children’s Bureau and the Child Poverty Action Group.

A former Communications Officer at Action for Prisoners’ Families.

A former employee of the Howard League for Penal Reform, aka the Howard League For The Abolition of Punishment.

On its advisory board sits the anti-prison campaigner Una Padel and one Nick Page. Could it be this Nick Page ? Alas I think it’s this one.

There’s “independent”. And there’s BBC “independent”.

UPDATE – I see David and I have taken the same story this morning. Let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend, as Chairman Mao once said.

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What The BBC Miss Out – or The Mysterious Vanishing Far-Left Again

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David reported yesterday on the hefty BBC coverage given to the views of one Paul McGarr, “a teacher from east London“, who doesn’t like our armed forces much. He featured prominently in news bulletins as well.

Alas, there were one of two things about Mr McGarr that the BBC didn’t care to share with their listeners, viewers and readers. A pity, as they may have provided much-needed context.

Oliver Kamm reports that Mr McGarr is a former council candidate in Millwall for the far-left Respect party. He also links to this piece by Mr McGarr in the far-left paper Socialist Worker, written just before the military campaign against Saddam Hussein.

Socialists have done and continue to do all in our power to build the movement to prevent war and to stop war when it starts. But if war starts the very worst outcome would be a quick victory for the US and Britain.

The best response to war would be protests across the globe which make it impossible for Bush and Blair to continue. But while war lasts by far the lesser evil would be reverses, or defeat, for the US and British forces. That may be unlikely, given the overwhelming military superiority they enjoy. But it would be the best outcome in military terms.

Mr Kamm puts it better than I can :

In short, and given the fact of the Iraq War, Paul McGarr and Socialist Worker wanted Saddam Hussein to win and our armed forces to be defeated. This is not what I say: it’s what they say.

I find it impossible to believe that the BBC would give several paragraphs to, say, a BNP activist talking about immigration, without (correctly) letting viewers and listeners know the political allegiance which informs their speech. Yet a far-left activist who actually wants our soldiers to be defeated is given a free ride. Is it that their journalists know, but don’t care ? Or are they too lazy to type a name into Google ?

The BBC have previous when it comes to this sort of thing. And it’s worth noting that the annual NUT conference is one of only FIVE recorded occasions when BBC News online have detected the presence of a British ‘far-left’. Admittedly the detection took place in 1999.

Hat-tips – DB and other B-BBC commenters, who also point out :

Reporter Hannah Goff is a union activist (I was once an NUR shop steward, mind, so I can’t talk)

Who produced this puff-piece about the keffiyeh-wearing chap who wrote this and this ?

Who fails to mention the fate of resolutions (p90) proposing that curriculum material be provided by CND-except-Iran, the Stop The War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign ?

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When the Government …

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… desperately trying to think of ways to promote social cohesion, comes up with the (IMHO idiotic) idea of a loyalty oath, what broad cross-section of Brits do the BBC canvass for their views ?

A union leader, a republican pressure group (which I’ve never previously heard of), and a left-wing Labour peer.

(Oh, and something called “the Scottish Government” – Alex Salmond’s rebranding of the legal entity called the Scottish Executive. There is still only one government in the United Kingdom, but there’s an iron BBC law. When an organisation of which you approve rebrands itself, accept its self-redefinition uncritically, repeating and reinforcing it. I’m thinking of the “crime reduction charity” formerly known as the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders).

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EXONERATING JUDAS.

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How interesting to read that the BBC is to screen a new drama about the final week in the life of Jesus Christ which appears to exonerate Judas and Pontius Pilate. Producers of The Passion have portrayed the men in a sympathetic light because they believe they have been “very harshly judged” by history. A BBC spokesman said:”We are not seeking to subvert or rewrite the Gospel narrative – we are just retelling it to bring it alive for a contemporary audience.” Right, so you KNOW that that this is exactly what they are looking to do. However I’m looking forward to these bravehearts in the BBC pitching a drama about the life of Mohammad which implicates him in a paedophile and mass murdering scandal. I mean, it’s not JUST Christianity that the BBC wishes to “take a fresh look at” – is it?

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NOT LEAVING ON AN (IRISH) JETPLANE

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 As I write this, there is a bomb scare at Belfast International Airport. The fruits of peace, I guess. The BBC on their main news portal for Northern Ireland choose to illustrate this with an image of two Irish airlines, one of which does not even fly into Belfast International! Could it be that the BBC think Belfast is in Dublin? The following arlines also fly from Belfast International; Easyjet, BMIbaby, Jet2g0, Manx airlines, Zoom, Air Transat, Continental, Fly globespan…but apparently only images of Irish carriers are available on a Sunday.

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