The BBC’s editorialising of the news is quite something. Faced with the very foolish Muslim anger over the Pope’s rather erudite (and I might add, as a non-Catholic, rather excellent) speech, the BBC states baldly: “The BBC’s Arab affairs analyst, Magdi Abdelhadi, says the reason for the vehemence of Muslim reaction is simple: America’s global “war on terror” is perceived by many Muslims as a modern crusade against Islam.” Ooh, … 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 →

Note: updates below. (I also added a few more comments to the P.S.) Throw them into a room and hope it works: I’ve just been watching one of the most superficial-ever episodes of Newsnight. A whole load of “experts” — although Paxman admitted to one transport “expert”, a completely obscure local Labour figure, that they had asked 48 other people before alighting on him — were collected together in a … Continue reading →

: when being right sounds like being wrong. It was DFH who first drew attention to Kim Howells’ comments on the Hezbullah initiated war in Southern Lebanon. Howells framed his comments thus: “Look, a nation has got a right to defend itself against this kind of action…” And he meant Israel. The BBC then headlined: “Minister Condemns Israeli Action” Now it would seem that they are at it again: that … 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 →

: so easy. I admit I rarely post something about BBC bias in UK politics, and I regret that personally. I’m usually too despairing to do so [or busy- ed.]. However I listened to Andrew Marr interview Gordon Brown today, and it was laughable how Marr merely accepted Brown’s repeated assertion that he would back Blair “in the decision he made” (yes, this was a disembodied claim, sans context), but … Continue reading →

at the Beeb continues with this piece naysaying any Saddam-Osama link in a politically suspect report by a committee of the US Senate. As Andrew McCarthy in The Corner helpfully notes, that’s exactly what the Clinton administration thought. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

. Stephen Pollard thinks the BBC might have memory issues Could be right. The main BBC online story tonight is the same as it was in 2004, coincidentally in the run up to another US election. Something about Saddam and Al Qaeda- yawn- not. Why bother with news when you can recycle? It’s so much more eco-friendly. Still, maybe it’s to avoid headlining something about this. It’s what the Americans … 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. Oh, and I BTW recommend … Continue reading →

It occurred to me, as it usually does reading coverage following Bush speeches, that the BBC had missed the point about Bush’s speech containing his statement on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et al when they headlined it “Bush admits to secret prisons”. They were not alone in their absurd focus- which is really a kind of ‘told you so’ journalism, the ‘told you so’ involving restating the unnecessary- and, of course, … Continue reading →