Not that I’m surprised or anything, but you can tell when the BBC are really “behind” a certain news narrative because the quotemarks go out the “window”.
[Update: I see David has posted on this below. I think I will leave this post here for now, as it brings a different angle]
I suppose they’re out of practice, but the BBC has made a hash of reporting the terrorist attack on British soldiers in Northern Ireland. As Pounce and others have pointed out, and as I noticed too, the headline has shifted from “Two die in ‘barbaric’ Army attack” to “Two die in ‘barbaric’ Northern Ireland attack”. Like others, the first title had me confused as to who attacked whom. The current one completely lacks specificity, and the surrounding text fails to mention the nationality of the “military personnel”.
Even more interesting for me is the disappearance from the front page and from the links to the topic of this highly relevant contributionfrom Deputy First Minister McGuinness, who claimed late last week that “army special forces are a ‘major threat'”. It certainly seems that someone was listening very closely to the DFM’s words. Initially this must have seemed relevant to the BBC, as they published it alongside the main story of the attack. Now they seem to think it irrelevant. Or is it something else?
By the way, discussion of this topic will probably arouse strong feeling. I hope people remember we can see the BBC as meddlesome, ignorant, cringing and politically motivated without adopting too rigid a view of the issues behind the news.
Caught an interview with Sir Hugh Orde, the politician masquerading as the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The issue discussed was the raised threat from republican terrorists (or “dissidents” as the official euphemism would have it) and the news that British Army special forces have been sent to Northern Ireland to raise intelligence on this terror group. The BBC chose to frame the interview by pointing out that Sinn Fein and the SDLP are very unhappy about this and then Orde was asked to explain himself. Bias Number One; The BBC saw no need to ask what unioniss think about this, presumably they are not worth hearing from. Is it possible some may actually welcome anti-terrorist moves?? Bias Number Two; The BBC now likes to pretend that Sinn Fein and the IRA are somehow strangers in the night and treats the bleating of this collective of terrorists and their depraved advocates as the new moral majority. Why does the BBC not explain that the Sinn Fein leadership contains terrorists before it goes on to lovingly provide them with a platform? Is there such a thing as a good terrorist in BBC world-view? One of my big concerns about the BBC is that fact that it will not accept that there is such a thing as a terrorist, (Except for the IDF and US armed forces) and so all discussions on terrorism are wrapped up in incoherent moral equivalence.
So often with the BBC the bias lies in what is does not say. Here is a good example of how the BBC assiduously cultivates what government wants with no regard to providing a broader balanced view.
The BBC report here covers a secret meeting between the NI Security Minister Paul Goggins and members of the UDA terrorist group. The impression given is that Goggins is “getting tough” with these verminous thugs. However, don’t be fooled. Another local media outlet has revealed that Goggins has declined to call on police to seize loyalist weapons after a senior PSNI officer indicated police know how to find arms dumps!
So two versions of Security Minister Paul Goggins. The BBC version which portrays him as a tough-talking kinda guy who is determined to sort out armed terrorists and then there is the Belfast Telegraph version which reveals Goggins restraining the Police from carrying out their lawful duty to protect the public! I know which version I believe. With BBC reports you have to read between the lines….
In my view, the BBC has played a central role in propagandising the fantasy that Northern Ireland has found true peace and lasting happiness ever since we all closed our eyes and embraced institutionalisng terrorists in government. (Apart from malcontents like me, naturally) So what to do when reality casts a dark shadow over the fiction that has been assiduously created? Well, you could try blaming it all on the pizza.
I was reading this BBC report concerning the shooting to death of a man in Londonderry last night. The BBC almost casually slips in the detail that the man had been pursued by a group some of whom wore masks. Oh – you mean a bit like masked IRA men? Now we all know that terrorism has ceased and the IRA murderers are now angels of peace so the BBC does not enquire as to the precise background of these masked killers. Where did they come from, exactly? How could it be that they were armed? Where they organised? Bizarrely, the story then spins around the revelation that the man is alleged to have been delivering a pizza and the local community is most concerned about the time it took the police to respond. Evidently no one is that bothered that masked terrorists can take a human life in the middle of this built up area.
As you and I both know the BBC plays an active role in advancing certain political left-wing agendas, rather than just objectively reporting the news, and as such it frequently has to studiously avoid stating unplatable truths. So when we read “news” it’s always important to consider what is left out as much as what is put in. Bias is a subtle beast.
Now then, I was reading this glowing propaganda piece on how the late David Ervine “was an example to us all.” So says US Senator George Mitchell, another much-loved BBC figure. But who was this good man David Ervine? He was a convicted loyalist terrorist, intercepted by the police whilst on a bombing mission. Ervine got out of jail years later and moved into politics. His closest political associates were Gusty Spence (convicted murderer) and Billy Hutchinson (convicted murderer) During his tenURE as leader of the Orwellian-entitled Progressive Unionist Party, he was feted by the BBC as the exciting new face of unionist even as the scent of semtex exuded from him. The PUP were and remain the political apology wing for the murderous UVF terror group, to which Ervine had belonged. The UVF continued to murder and maim even as Ervine preened as a neo-politician. You would not get any of this background from this piece put up by the BBC, and you are not intended to. This is all about the State Broadcaster playing the subtle game, ensuring that government policy of appeasing terrorists and indeed eulogising them is sustained. I imagine that the day terror godfather Martin McGuinness dies the BBC will don black ties and play solemn music – more than his victims ever got.
Here’s a good one for you. I see that four of the seven men arrested by the Irish police (gardai) in County Donegal as part of a probe into paramilitary activity are BBC journalists!
The BBC has said the journalists were working on a current affairs investigation and had full editorial authority under the BBC’s guidelines. A spokesperson said the other parties present were fully aware that they were with BBC journalists. The arrests were made on Saturday night. The men, who are aged between 30 and 48, are being held at Burnfoot, Letterkenny and Milford Garda Stations. They were arrested under Section 30 of the Republic’s Offences Against the State Act. A garda spokesman said the men were being held over “ongoing investigations into paramilitary activity”.
The BBC and Irish terrorism, a perfect partnership.
