Charlie Beckett, Director of POLIS

, “a joint initiative from LSE and the London College of Communication aimed at working journalists, people in public life and students in the UK and around the world”, invites everyone to a public debate tomorrow evening: The Future of Impartiality: Is the Public Service Ethos Doomed? Thursday November 8th, 2007, 6.30-8pm New Theatre, East Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE The speakers will be Emily Bell … Continue reading

Compare And Contrast Part 6287

Prime Minister Tony Blair has had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. President George W Bush has discussed the sex scandal which has rocked the Catholic Church in the United States during a private audience with Pope John Paul II on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has voiced hope for improved understanding between the Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches, following an audience with Pope John Paul … Continue reading

For most of Monday BBC Views Online went big on Supermodel ‘rejects dollar pay’

, so much so that at 1am London time, fifteen hours after the story went live, it remained the most popular story worldwide, according to BBC Views Online’s on Most Popular Now stats. As is their way with anti-US stories, BBC Views Online enthusiastically reported: The world’s richest model has reportedly reacted in her own way to the sliding value of the US dollar – by refusing to be paid … Continue reading

Last Thursday BBC Views Online reported Ex-mayor guilty of benefit fraud

: A former mayor and his wife have been convicted of fraudulently claiming state benefits. John Walker, 57, who was mayor of Sefton, and his wife Catie, 43, were found guilty of exaggerating ill health to obtain disability living allowance. Two Biased BBC readers pointed out a surprising omission from the BBC report, contrasting it with this earlier report from the Liverpool Daily Post, Benefit fraud trial mayor victim of … Continue reading

Biased BBC reader BM reports that Saturday’s BBC Views Online report, Labour ‘united despite mistakes’

, might as well have been a Labour Party Press Release – a jolly retelling of Ed Balls’ words, unencumbered by any opposition response (not even from the BBC’s favoured ‘opposition’, the LibDems), with, for good measure, a free kick at David Cameron at the end. Biased BBC reader Pete points out another BBC Views Online story, NHS staff protest against reforms, apparently so universally uncontroversial that it too requires … Continue reading

One incoming link to Biased BBC today is from Pistonheads.com

. One of their contributors, tank slapper, has linked to Biased BBC as part of their discussion, BBC. Why? Another contributor, Ecks Ridgehead, has responded: Yes, well that blog is hardly reliable, is it? Ten minutes of brief checking shows that the post Why Doesn’t The BBC Name Emily Thornberry?" is undermined somewhat by the fact that the BBC article referenced names Emily Thornberry in the second paragraph, and that … Continue reading

General BBC-related comment thread:

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Here’s a gem of BBC groupthink from last night’s BBC Six O’Clock News

, transcribed in full: George Alagiah: The number of immigrants arriving in Britain is too high, that’s what the Conservative leader, David Cameron’s said, in his first ever major speech on the issue. He says there’s an unsustainable pressure on public services because of a rising population. The Tories say that there should be strict annual limits on the number of migrants allowed to come here from outside the EU, … Continue reading

General BBC related comment thread:

Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

On Thursday night the Guardian broke a story, published on Friday, that Peer was paid to introduce lobbyist to minister

, concerning the payment of cash to former Labour frontbencher, Lord Hoyle, formerly Doug Hoyle, a onetime government whip, MP for Warrington and chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, by a lobbyist: …for an introduction to Lord Drayson, the defence minister in charge of billions of pounds of military procurement, according to evidence obtained by the Guardian. The story was mentioned briefly in Newsnight’s round-up on Thursday of Friday’s newspapers, … Continue reading