Whilst watching BBC News Twenty-Bore yesterday morning

there was a great example of the BBC’s bias towards itself. Around 11.15am, they showed a lengthy filmed package about the BBC’s new production of Robin Hood, which will “fill the coveted Dr. Who slot on Saturday evenings”. This went on for a good many minutes, with excerpts from the production, interviews with the actors and production team and so on. It was nothing but an advert, an infomercial, masquerading … Continue reading

“Civil liberties group”

is the description the BBC uses for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. In a post for the influential left-wing site Harry’s Place, “david t” says: Secondly, it is wrong to describe MPACUK as a “civil liberties group”. It is, rather, an extreme Islamist organisation which republishes material not only from other extreme Islamist organisations, but also from US and UK neo-Nazi websites. Read and note his first point as well. … Continue reading

Selective reporting of the news

is the Beeb’s stock in trade. If it’s not in line with their script, forget it. If they can get over their Foleygate giddiness to report that Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s ruling has been given a unanimous smackdown by a 3 judge panel I’ll be surprised. You may recall that the BBC editorialized that her ruling was a “stinging rebuke” to the Bush administration way back in August. Will the … Continue reading

18 Doughty Street

Over on Iain Dale’s site he mentions a BBC report about the forthcoming Internet TV station, 18 Doughty Street. According to the BBC the new station will be: “… a sort of British version of Fox News, which is Rupert Murdoch’s news channel in the United States. Fox is attacked for being politically partisan and that of course is not allowed here.” “Not allowed here”! I had to pour myself … 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

In Praise of Cuba

Titillating it may be, but the BBC’s reporting on Cuba’s centenarians here strikes me as downright dishonest. Scott produced an excellent post on this earlier, last month in fact. The BBC, it seems, has a policy of presenting Cuba as a first world country, at least in matters of health. Talk about stretching the fabric of reality. Notice how the information is filtered through a)A state social health program and … Continue reading

“What’s Wrong With America ? …”

… wails John Humphrys (RealAudio) on the Today programme. This blog isn’t a place to discuss gun control. Nor American culture. Nor Islamic culture, come to that. But there does seem to be a pattern here. When a few Americans do bad things, be it at Columbine or Abu Ghraib, the question is always asked – what does this tell us about U.S. society and culture ? Not so for … Continue reading

Jousting Burnett

Have a look at this fascinating Alistair Burnett BBC blog discussion of the terminology “so-called war on terror” at the BBC. I see this formulation not as qualification, but denigration- and I think with good reason The prompt for this came from a Newsbusters post. We have dealt with it before Also, I wonder how balanced the BBC would consider Dennis Boyles? In what I would consider not a coincidence, … 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

Readers write:

“Some critics suggest …” This report on a church organisation helping out women who are the victims of sex trafficers: A ‘tiny drop in the ocean’ It contains a completely unneccessary comment about “some critics suggest that if the homes are run by the Church there is a chance its beliefs will be imposed on victims around issues such as abortion.” without identifying the critics. It’s a nasty and snide … Continue reading