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with which we have been dosed for so long” –how the BBC was described a while back.

“These well-meaning gentlemen of the British Broadcasting Corporation have absolutely no qualifications and no claim to represent British public opinion. They have no right to say that they voice the opinions of English or British people whatever. If anyone can do that it is His Majesty’s government; and there may be two opinions about that. It would be far better to have sharply contrasted views in succession, in alteration, than to have this copious stream of pontifical, anonymous mugwumpery with which we have been dosed for so long.” – Winston Churchill from a speech in the House of Commons, February 22, 1933.

Sounds like Mr Churchill was looking for some kind of “pick-me-up” too. (See below.) (via Andrew Sullivan)

UPDATE: Check out another telling Churchillian quote here just below the item on the BBC, observed to be “in the vanguard of anti-Bush hysteria.”

. By my definition (1 paragraph = 1 Spoonful) there are 14 spoonfuls of anti-quagmiritis medicine in this article by Austin Bay courtesy of the Instapundit. I think those who think that BBC coverage is biased against the US efforts in Iraq should respond most vigorously to the treatment. Warning: some may experience an allergic reaction- if so, discontinue treatment. I recommend the full dosage personally, as the disease is a virulent one.

which is already being used to support the party line of the pro-tyrant left that Iraq is ‘a quagmire’ and and now entering a ‘spiral of violence’–in reference to the latest French pronouncement. (Mr Villepin’s moralising hypocrisy is hard to stomach when some of those missiles killing and maiming Iraqi civilians and coalition soldiers were made in France during the sanctions period.) Though the CIA has consistently got it wrong, the BBC adopts an oddly trusting posture toward the main US intelligence agency (The enemy of my enemy is my friend?).

Given that eighteen of a two thousand strong Italian deployment died in Nasiriya as a result of the truck bomb on Wednesday, and since nine thousand Poles are running a segment of Iraq, it’s interesting to note that as of ten days ago, this was the BBC correspondent’s analysis, with ‘credit’ too to the Democrats:

‘Outside help suggested.

… Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt called for outside help.

“We cannot solve this problem alone,” he said.

He added that the US should talk to foreign leaders, “treat them with respect and … get the help that we should get from our friends.”

Easier said than done, of course, given the reluctance of anyone else to get involved at this stage. ‘- Paul Reynolds

Now, the fact that there were already almost as many Polish soldiers as British soldiers in Iraq seems to have ‘passed him by’. We’ve heard next to no analysis of these participants until now when the press is a bad one, because the British Press, and especially the BBC, felt that GWB ignored a large body of international opinion (trans: theirs and the EU big players) by going to war, and should be depicted as isolated. I don’t think we (the British civilian population, represented by the media we support) are qualified to call ourselves ‘allies’ anymore.

(btw- sorry to highlight the same article twice, but there seemed to be too many issues to be coverable in one post- or even one analysis. This one seemed germaine just now).

Update

Nicholas Vance has more on the BBC’s comparisons of the Iraq situation to Vietnam and their perception of US ‘isolation’

Update 2: My Factual Error I’d just like to acknowledge that the Poles are running the nine thousand strong contingent in central Iraq. They contributed 2000 or so troops themselves. In the excitement of their stream of news from Iraq the Beeb has preferred to forget about their peaceful activities until the bomb on Wednesday.

(see below) may wish to check this regularly for speeding Beebies. CAMERA stands for Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. (Via The Corner)

Most of us will remember how the BBC was criticised for using the term ‘quagmire’ to describe the war in Iraq, when in fact nearly miraculous progress was being made on the road to Baghdad. The BBC took such offence it would seem that they’re hanging on to the word whatever the cost- they’ve even dipped into their Oxford Book of Quotations to support it.

This article by Paul Reynolds first appeared some days ago, and then disappeared, and then reappeared. The prime theme is how Iraq might be like Vietnam, but then again it’s unlikely to be Vietnam, and in fact it’s more like that little known colonial conflict fought by the USA about 100 years ago in the Philippines, which was described (according to Reynolds) by Mark Twain as “a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater.” So, in appearing sceptical (but suggestive- read the article) towards the Vietnam comparison, Reynolds is able to revive one of the BBC’s favourite words (‘quagmire’) and seemingly vindicate the stupid journalism of six months ago.

Well, as Sandy P. also noted below, a ‘Middle East Policeman’ anyway. According to the Telegraph, Malcolm Balen has been appointed to smooth over the ruffled feathers of the Israeli (and British) Government, who felt short-changed (to put it mildly) in recent coverage of the Intifada (and Iraq). Now, I might be being over literal (it has been known), but don’t you have a policeman to curb the activities of criminals? The BBC still denies it has done anything wrong, so why the ‘policeman’ except to send everyone the right sort of spin?

is BBC Radio Scotland’s flagship morning news programme.

During the 11th November edition from 6:00am onwards, BBC Radio Scotland ran the following in their half-hourly news summary very prominently

“Over 2 million people in Britain are malnourished. The elderly, poor, socially isolated and chronically sick are particularly vulnerable”

Sounds like a case for higher welfare payments and ‘social inclusion’ – right? Presenter Maihri Stuart interviewed one of the authors of the report that prompted this headline at around 7:50am, clearly of the opinion that this was a poverty issue, and possibly connected with Scotland’s notoriously poor diet.

Oops! As the author of the report pointed out “I should say we are really talking here about the very sick – for those in hospital and in poor health one of the first things that can suffer is a person’s appetite”. The report is a warning to healthcare professionals to watch the diet of their patients, and to watch for sudden weight loss.

Not surprisingly, by the 8:30am news summary the item had disappeared without trace. However, anyone listening between 6:00am and 8:00am will have been misinformed.

For me this was an interesting item because I’ve often suspected BBC journalists take press releases from the fax machine, and never read beyond the first paragraph. Is it bias? Only in as much as shows the instinctive, almost knee jerk reaction to any story, and the angle they use to present it.

for useful news coverage during his Africa travels. Only the Beeb and a “nameless French network” were on offer in Rwanda and Ethiopia.

I give [the BBC] credit for better overall war reporting than we see in the States; but it’s pretty laughably biased. Apparently there was an ANSWER protest here in the US while I was away: watching the BBC, I half expected to come back to find America’s streets in ferment, and civil unrest rising over this war in Iraq we are evidently losing badly. Right. Well, it made for exciting copy, anyway.

So, I suppose there’s some use for overheated reporting after all.

Bernard Goldberg, 28 years with the American TV network, CBS, explains why elitist news organisations like the BBC need help seeing their bias.

They don’t think that their positions on the most controversial issues of our time are liberal positions. They think they’re mainstream positions, because all their friends in the bubble think the same way as they do. They think everything to the right of center is conservative. Correct. And everything to the left of center is moderate and mainstream. That’s how crazy it is.

And that’s why you can go up to these people and say, ‘Well, there’s a liberal bias.’ And they’ll say, ‘No there isn’t. And anybody who says there is, is a conservative ideologue and that’s the only reason they’re saying it.’ They don’t look at themselves because it’s as if you asked a fish what it’s like to be wet all day. And the fish says, ‘What do you mean wet? What’s wet?’ The fish has no concept of wet because he has no other frame of reference. Well, these people live in the same type of environment. And that’s why–that’s why fixing the problem themselves is so incredibly difficult.

Goldberg is interviewed on the CBS-fisking blog RatherBiased. Much of the interview features US news but one will have no difficulty seeing a familiar pattern. (What’s missing is the license fee.) Goldberg was largely frozen out by his former TV newsies after his book Bias was published a few years back. They closed ranks real quick-like. Even Larry King refused to have him on. Bias sold a gazillion copies anyway because it resonated with many Americans. His follow-up to this is Arrogance. Hmmm. I wonder what he’ll name the next one?