conflict of interest from yesterday, Biased BBC reader ‘Al the Hat’ coments: A few weeks ago, Radio 5 Live had an extensive discussion on who should replace Michael Vaughan as captain of the England one day cricket team. Guest and former England cricketer Alec Stewart made a long and considered argument in favour of Paul Collingwood, without feeling the need to tell us that he is, in fact, Collingwood’s agent. … Continue reading →

On Saturday Anonanon commented: On this morning’s Breakfast “writer and broadcaster” Simon Fanshawe used his post-7am newspaper review to make overtly pro-Labour, anti-SNP and anti-Tory comments. When Iain Dale does the papers for the BBC his Tory party affiliation is mentioned without fail, but Fanshawe’s Labour activism is ignored. In fact, when it comes to declaring his interests Fanshawe seems to have been granted immunity by his long-time employer [the … Continue reading →

this afternoon about a BBC News Twenty-Bore reporter asking: “What have you got to say about reports that people are selling bottled water AT A PROFIT from the side of the road?” Which is of course shocking – shocking that the Beeboids should make such an assumption – how are they to know what the costs are of providing bottled-water at the side of the road? Perhaps those selling bottled … 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 →

reports that BBC apologises in row over ‘mistake’ in SNP survey: THE BBC has suffered another credibility blow after admitting that it made up a Newsnight survey suggesting that most of Britain and Scotland’s leading businesses were not in favour of independence. Presenter Jeremy Paxman had told SNP leader Alex Salmond that ‘not one’ of 50 firms, made up of 25 in Britain and 25 north of the border, supported … Continue reading →

from end to end, echoing so much of what we have said and discussed here for so long. Particular highlights of his article, BBC in need, sub-headed “Poor old Auntie Beeb is unwell. She’s confused and no longer knows right from wrong, truth from fakery”, include: Management surprise at management ignorance: Much to the apparent surprise of Bennett and Abramsky, two experienced and highly respected corporation bureaucrats, a procession of … Continue reading →

focuses on three interesting environmental topics, including this extract concerning the BBC’s misleading coverage: A feature of the row over the BBC’s rigging of competitions has been the rush to protest that this is trivial compared with the much greater scandal of the BBC’s generally biased world-view on a whole range of topics, giving almost everything it broadcasts a distorting spin. It is not always easy to pin this down … Continue reading →

Despite reports in our local newspaper, Scotland hasn’t yet become independent. One of those who wish that we were independent is Mike Russell MSP. I’ve met Mr Russell once or twice and think that he’s one of the good guys: he doesn’t believe that everything should be done by the state, an opinion that’s far from universal in Scotland. Earlier in the year Mike took part in a BBC programme … Continue reading →

. He has discovered that: Five senior BBC production staff were suspended yesterday as Britain’s most senior policeman raised the prospect of a criminal investigation into the corporation’s rigging of phone-in competitions. The staff, all senior producers or editors, were the first casualties of the row over viewer deceptions involving a series of flagship charity and children’s shows. A fraud inquiry now seems inevitable after Mark Pritchard, the Tory MP … Continue reading →