Adloyada writes on the BBC’s treatment of quotas for faith schools. I’d noticed how the BBC has been framing the debate in terms of “the archbishop again denied…” and had began to think of writing a post about it. Adloyada beat me to it, and also looks at what I would call actual misrepresentation of the positions of the various branches of Judaism. For instance it gave a lot of … Continue reading →

compare and contrast these two news reports of the same court case:     Pregnant girl ‘pinned against post by racist road rage Doc in 4×4’ A GP drove her car at a pregnant nurse squashing her against a post in a road rage clash, a court heard yesterday. Sarah Chambers and her boyfriend chased Dr May Arnaot, 50, after she allegedly hit their Fiesta and did not stop. They … Continue reading →

According to this report: “Global warming could cut the world’s annual economic output by as much as 20%, an influential report by Sir Nicholas Stern is expected to say.” Call it debasement of the English language, call it wishfulfillment journalism, but surely the “influence” of a report can only be estimated after the effects of its publication are known? Still, it makes for a nice consistency: a hypothetically gloomy report … Continue reading →

The bandwagon is gathering momentum. Yesterday it emerged that a BBC executive, Ann Davies, has questioned whether the corporation should “help break the constraints of the PC police” after audience research found it was out of step with much of mainstream public opinion. Another BBC boss, Richard Klein, commissioning editor for documentaries, told staff it was “pathetic” for the BBC to pride itself on being “of the people”. They’re all … Continue reading →

The Evening Standard reports on the views of BBC commissioning editor for documentaries, Richard Klein. (Hat tip to Jonathan Boyd Hunt. Read his comment here.) Klein said: “By and large, people who work at the BBC think the same and it’s not the way the audience thinks. That’s not long term sustainable.” “We pride ourselves on being ‘of the people’, and it’s pathetic…..Channel 4 tends to laugh at people, 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 →

Little Bulldogs looks at the response in the BBC Editors’ blog to the impartiality seminar. Breakfast with Nanny: Johnathan Pearce on some of the assumptions behind the stories featured one morning on BBC breakfast television. Tim Worstall shared Ed’s low opinion of the piece about the EU accounts criticised below. House of Dumb. We at this blog are too modest to summarise this post. Oh, and I expect it is … Continue reading →

(12 in a row) According to the BBC’s Stephen Mulvey, “reports saying that the auditors “refused to sign off the accounts” are misleading.” Meanwhile, The Financial Times reports from Brussels “Auditors refuse to sign off Brussels accounts” (The relevant EU Commissioner says “I can assure the EU’s citizens that the money is well under control.” That’s what I’m afraid about.) The BBC reports: “the European Commission has made unprecedented efforts … 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 →

Further to Natalie’s post below, it could be added that the long-time BBC journalist, Robin Aitken, has been speaking out trenchantly in recent months. The Croydonian was there at a recent debate entitled “Can We Trust the BBC?”, did some notetaking, and followed it with a written up version. It accords both with what this blog has been saying and what recently senior BBC journalists have confirmed in note-perfect fashion. … Continue reading →