What they cover, and why

When the US lower House votes on a military funding deadline (a long acknowledged and anticipated event), the BBC has no need, and I would argue, no right, to make that its headline. Yet it does. It is internal US politicking, and given the primacy of both President and Congress, of little moment. Meanwhile, to the right on the BBC front page is a totally pointless video entitled “Dubya Dances”. … Continue reading

Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. 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 … Continue reading

Today’s Times reports Blue Peter ‘sorry’ over goat killing:

Blue Peter has apologised for showing children the ritual slaughter of a goat in scenes that included the animal’s agonised death throes. Ofcom criticised the BBC after viewers complained that the scenes, shown without warning, were shocking and wholly unsuitable for children. The footage was shown in a feature about a village in Oman preparing for the Eid ul-Fitr festival. The killing was shown in long-shot and from behind, so … Continue reading

Open thread – for comments of general Biased BBC interest:

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. 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 … Continue reading

According to Natasha Kaplinsky on the BBC One O’Clock Views today:

The BBC has confirmed that an Iraqi bomb has got through the armour of a Challenger tank for the first time. – quite why the BBC are able to confirm this, since they don’t operate the tanks, escapes me. Perhaps they’re using ‘confirmed’ in the same way as that other lazy BBC-ism, “the BBC has learned”, when of course the BBC’s job is to report, rather than to toot it’s … Continue reading

*** Stealth edit alert *** Stealth edit alert ***:

BBC Views Online’s sleazy stealth editors have been in action again (though I doubt that they are ever really out of action – it’s just that we don’t always spot it happening). On Saturday morning BBC Views Online reported Migration ‘tipping point reached’, beginning: Immigration could lead to the political break-up of Britain, according to think-tank Civitas. A pamphlet by the group suggests that Britain may have reached a “tipping … Continue reading

Nationalists.

The following BBC story, Three killed at Turkish publisher, describes how three people have had their throats slit at a publishing house in Turkey that produces Bibles, or bibles as the BBC puts it. All the bold type in the excerpts below was added by me. Nationalists had protested at the publishing house in the past, accusing it of involvement in missionary activities, local media reported. There is a rising … Continue reading