Just another report from the Beeb. “Globorix will only be used in Africa to prevent meningitis at prices that may never cover its research costs. Experts say it is a sign big companies are changing their business practices, but some critics say it is not enough.” Ah, those “experts” again. And how “business practises” are a’changing. Later in the article we find how “Teaming up with people like Bill Gates … Continue reading
I’ve written before about the strange things you can read over at the Radio Times website. Well tonight, between 7.30 and 10, there is going to be an extremely unusual football match. I wonder who the BBC want to win. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
“when it became clear that the presenter was interested only in the opinion of his two Euro-phile guests, and had brought me along as a sort of pantomime Euro-phobe, I saw no purpose in carrying on.” Indeed the BBC can sap the will to carry on. Daniel Hannan persevered, and got results. Read all about it. The conclusion he draws is that the BBC is unwittingly biased, and amenable when … Continue reading
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
: at one time, a desire to denigrate Wilberforce was a sign of liking slavery. Now it is the latest thing in politically-correct chic. “In Search of Wilberforce” (BBC2, 21:00 – 22:00, Friday 15th March) was actually in search of ways to belittle him. His memorial states that … his name will ever be specially identified with those exertions which, by the blessing of God, removed from England the guilt … Continue reading
Gerard Baker in the Times : You really do have to leave the country to appreciate fully how pernicious the BBC’s grasp of the nation’s cultural and political soul has become. The groupthink and assumptions implicit in almost everything broadcast by BBC News, and even less explicitly by much else of the corporation’s output, lie like a suffocating blanket over the national consciousness. This is the mindset that sees the … Continue reading
Just a little comparison. A profile of Chirac on the BBC spent half of its time praising him, and the other half being respectful and/or mealy-mouthed. Soft-pedalling corruption; omitting oil-for-food; forgetting the famous quote when Chirac told Poland they missed a good opportunity to remain silent. Very Old Media. For some fresh air, you have to go elsewhere. To get quotes like this: “He won’t go to jail. My bet … Continue reading
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
18 Doughty St., in the midst of a series of items on the BBC, have a video up which shows Robin Aitken’s confirmation that in one BBC newsroom a poster of George W. Bush as Hitler was displayed without demurr from staff there. Significant? Well, take a look at the video and see what you think. In the interview from which it was excerpted (in DS’s Brought to Book series), … Continue reading
via Wat Tyler, who examines the Today programme’s coverage of ITVs current woes, this little gem from ex-Beeb business editor Jeff Randall. In its coverage of the private-equity debate, Newsnight, BBC2’s main current-affairs programme, depicted those in the industry as stand-and-deliver Dick Turpins. When I asked the editor of another leading BBC news show about impartiality and the internal reaction to Newsnight’s approach, he said: “Nobody even mentioned it.” Sounds … Continue reading
