Dan Sabbagh and Adam Sherwin, writing in The Times, Socks the Blue Peter cat who could cost BBC staff their jobs, reveal that the real name, or at least the name that topped the viewer poll, of Socks the Blue Peter cat is… a variant of Puss Cookie (see update below). No wonder it was deemed inappropriate – even Mrs. Slocombe would have spotted such an obvious opportunity for double-entendre! … Continue reading →

Robert Peston’s reporting for the BBC of the whole Northern Rock saga has had a “blame Mervyn” undertone to it. Today he basically peddles one of the two Treasury favoured spin lines; The Treasury’s primary spin-line is that it is all because of the sub-prime crisis in America and that no one could predict it coming.  The second line of spin is that it is the Bank of England’s fault … Continue reading →

, a “U.S. Libertarian talk radio host and commentator“: If you were listening yesterday you know that a crew from the BBC was in the studio for about 90 minutes taping the show. This preceded a 60 minute interview they had requested after the program was over. So … after the show they changed their lighting, brought in their reporter, set the stage, and the taped interview got under way. … Continue reading →

in addition to the earlier sacking of a BBC 6 Music producer there has also been an issue over an online vote to choose the name of one the Blue Peter cats and that “an Executive has been suspended there too”. The MediaGrauniad reports Former Blue Peter editor suspended: Richard Marson, the former Blue Peter editor, is understood to have been suspended after another instance of alleged viewer deception on … Continue reading →

is representing a BBC 6 Music producer who was apparently sacked yesterday following an investigation related to the fake phone-in scandal. BECTU are reported to have said: The corporation is picking on junior staff… The fakery had been going on long before the sacked producer had joined the show… …an interesting line of defence for the union to take – suggesting that there are others involved too and that the … 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 →

(see quote in our sidebar), is interviewed by Vincent Graff, ‘You want me to slag Murdoch off’, in the MediaGuardian: Now, a couple of years after leaving the BBC newsroom for a return to newspapers – although he still presents the 5 Live show – does Randall think much has changed? It will not surprise many of his former colleagues that he views the corporation with much the same contempt … Continue reading →

, asks BBC Newsround’s al-Qaeda posting: why, oh why, did they do it?, mentioning Biased BBC’s role in getting the BBC to revise their CBBC Newsround 9/11 Guide (again). Roy describes Biased BBC as being being “cock-a-hoop because, lo and behold, it appears to have achieved a major climbdown”. And there was me thinking my ‘It looks like we’ve had a result‘ post was quite restrained – particularly since we … Continue reading →

and the confusion over its various versions, we now have the original ‘really offensive’ version (from before the recent fuss) of BBC Newsround’s Why did they do it? page, and it’s not a pretty sight:   The original ‘really offensive’ Why did they do it? page This is undoubtedly the version that Newsround’s Editor, Sinead Rocks, apologised for in all those emails to people who were actually complaining about the … Continue reading →

– in the next couple of hours Biased BBC’s Sitemeter total will notch up 2,000,000 individual visits. Sitemeter isn’t definitive, for instance we have lots of readers using RSS (who aren’t counted by Sitemeter), but, as with a car clocking up 100,000 miles, it is a milestone nonetheless. Here’s to the next million visits! Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.