(courtesy of the Daily Mail): After years on six-figure salaries as cabinet ministers, John Prescott and John Reid should hardly be short of a bob or two. But yesterday it was revealed that both had pocketed about £250 from the BBC to give their views on Monday’s proceedings at Bournemouth. A source at another broadcaster also claimed that Mr Reid had asked to be paid for a five-minute chat, so … Continue reading →

Please use this thread for BBC-related comments and analysis. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not (and never has been) an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or use as a chat forum. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts. Click through to read and contribute comments on this … Continue reading →

writes David Elstein, a respected broadcasting executive and commentator: If fake quizzes are venial sins, loss of impartiality is – for the BBC – a mortal one. This summer, the BBC published a laudably honest independent report on impartiality, which exposed the prevalence of political correctness and “groupthink”. It revealed how despite all the BBC’s efforts, its editorial processes were captured two years ago by the Make Poverty History lobby … Continue reading →

writes Chris Hastings in the Sunday Telegraph: …BBC employees are furious that the corporation has spared Mr Yentob from disciplinary action after it forced a wave of resignations last week from junior members of staff who committed similar breaches. Staff contacted by The Sunday Telegraph, including some of the BBC’s best known names, said Mr Yentob’s “extraordinary” behaviour should be the subject of disciplinary action. “The Alan Yentob business is … Continue reading →

: As BBC executives fall on their swords for rigging such world historical events as the naming of the Blue Peter cat, I am reminded of a story told me by an ex-minister concerning this programme. It held a competition of a creative nature of which the minister was a judge. He chose an entry that turned out to have been from a child at a fee-paying prep school as … Continue reading →

I see that in his latest Gaza sob-fest on today’s BBC News website, Jeremy Bowen says that: “Israel, like most of its Western allies, regards Hamas as an unreconstructed terrorist organisation bent on the destruction of the Jewish state.” That’s absolutely right Jeremy. Just as we regard a large, grey, four-legged mammal with a long trunk and big ears as an elephant. Ouch! Spot on. Click through to read and … Continue reading →

is The Times report on last night’s latest developments in the BBC fakery scandal. BBC Director General, (Bite-) Mark Thompson, writing on the BBC Editors Blog, Trust and values (worth a read just for the vitriol of the comments!), says: The trawl did find four more cases of serious audience deception to go with the six we disclosed in July. …which of course avoids the question of cases of deception … Continue reading →

reports the Daily Mail: Natasha Kaplinsky has already been chosen to present the oneminute national news, aimed at younger viewers with a short attention span… Horses for courses I suppose in the case of Ms. Kaplinsky. An insider said: “Meetings are taking place at all the regional centres, We were told that some market research had been done and that the audience likes pretty young women reading the news – … Continue reading →

Biased BBC reader David Preiser has written the following for us: On September 17th BBC News Online featured a video report on the front page showing University of Florida student Andrew Meyer being tasered by campus security at a public event. Meyer, was shown asking failed presidential candidate Senator John Kerry a question, then engaged in a scuffle with campus police, who at one point tasered him. The BBC video … Continue reading →