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
. is looking for suggestions for an anti-BBC ad. A worthy cause I am sure many here will support by volunteering ideas here. Update 8.06: Sorry for being a little behind the curve, but 18 Doughty st. have got to the stage of deciding from a shortlist of three adverts. Apparently you can vote at this page here based on a written and video summary. Click through to read and … Continue reading
via commenter anonanon: The BBC is advising MEPs on how to improve the “image” of the European elections, as part of a drive to make the next round of voting for the European Parliament more “viewer friendly”. Senior executives have held meetings with officials in Brussels who are seeking ways to draw more viewers into the “excitement” of the 2009 European Union-wide polls. James Stephenson, the editor of the … 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
Hate President Bush ? Got a new record out ? The Today Programme can meet all your UK publicity requirements – just ask Patti Smith. Presenter (RealAudio) – “Ry Cooder, I’ve never heard of you, but our editor listened to ‘Bop Till You Drop’ a lot back in 1980. Would you like five minutes to abuse President Bush ?” Cooder – “Why, thank you … I don’t know anyone who … Continue reading
Blimey, that’s a lot. 30 million miles further than the Sun. Commenter J.G. writes : Fed up as I was with the constant bleating about man-made global warming we get on the BBC, I thought I would find out just what they are doing to help the planet. So I put in a FOI request asking about the air miles the BBC fly, the carbon that this produces, and how … Continue reading
