Sadly, I missed this response from Roger Harrabin on April 7. It deserves a wider airing for its surprise value (to put it mildy). At least he has not so far resorted to BBC lawyers, as one of his sensitive colleagues has: Here is the official BBC comment: “It is well known that BBC correspondents are often invited to act as an independent moderator for events, sometimes for a fee. … Continue reading
From the Sunday Times: “The Tories have reined in plans to freeze the TV licence fee and force the BBC to reveal the salaries of its highest paid stars. After the party’s combative approach towards the corporation in the run-up to the election, Ed Vaizey, the new minister for media and arts, has used his first interview to tell the BBC that it will be treated firmly but fairly by the … Continue reading
Did you see the BBC doing everything possible to present an imagined split in the thinking of the our new Government as regards Afghanistan? I suppose this is what we need to get used to as the BBC’s highly trained teams of experts parse every word, examine every motion of body language, to see if they can detect division between the Cons and Libs. Can’t recall the same enthusiasm for … Continue reading
I see that the BBC are trailing a series of programmes about WAGS (Wives and Girlfriends of soccer stars) and how they help South African kids achieve their dreams. Great to see quality programming. Well worth the £3.5bn per year they steal from us? Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
This heading is designed to preempt queries about its relevance to this site. I put it to you that dumbing down and bias are closely related, maybe siblings. The BBC’s dumbing down and repetitive programme ideas have become sinister. They constantly parade low standards and questionable ideals before our square and hypno’d eyes. This creates unrealistic expectations yet somehow stifles aspirations.Take this programme about entrepreneurship called High Street Dreams. Tired … Continue reading
Compare and contrast these two accounts of the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change, one by the BBC’s Roger Harrabin, the other by a genuine journalist who attended the event. Mr Harrabin’s sole intent, it soon becomes apparent, is to pour scorn on the conference; to him the 700 who gathered in Chicago were steak-eating, libertarian, republican, right-wing Yanks. In the BBC’s rogues’ and vermin gallery, you can’t get any … Continue reading
Weekend comes, sun shines, new open thread. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
May is my favourite time of year and have you noticed that – after our rather cold winter – it’s a fantastic month for, well, the mayflower? I travelled from Brighton to London yesterday by train and mile after mile of hedgerow was filled with that wonderful blossom. Strange, then that the BBC isn’t reporting it – especially as in 2007, after a winter that was a tad warmer – … Continue reading
The second post-election Question Time comes from Richmond, Surrey. On the panel tonight we have a line-up positively pulsating with familiarity: Theresa May, Caroline Flint, Ming Campbell, Universal Shami and Douglas Murray from the Centre for Social Cohesion. For those playing the Buzzword Bingo, we’ll be invoking the “BBC Coalition Attention Distraction Rules” which means that playing your joker on Labour Leadership gets you double points for every lefty nonentity name-checked … Continue reading
Nice to see Richard Black maintaining his track record in unbiased reporting. His contribution today is a one-sided homily backing our suicidal government’s quest to de-industrialise Britain by pursuing higher CO2 emissions targets. Not a squeak in his report, of course, from anyone who opposes CO2 reductions; but there is a gut- wrenching homily in support from an eco-mania group called Sandbag – they want the Cleggerons to go further. … Continue reading
