This evening’s BBC Ten O’Clock News:

Matt Frei visits the home town of the American held hostage in Iraq. Amidst much tired hackish blather, he informs us that over 200 westerners have been kidnapped in Iraq, and that: “…one in three have been executed by their captors.” What a putz. Have the berks at the BBC no decency? To any reasonable human being these people were murdered – there is no other word for it. Simple … Continue reading

No longer hated by the people of Afghanistan

, Yanks (like me) are thankful (but not really surprised) over stories such as this one. Will the Beeb deem it newsworthy? [Note to Beeb lurkers:It’s based an ABCNews poll (PDF) and methodologically sound (PDF). So, why not go ahead and report some good news for a change? I’m still capable of being surprised, even by the Beeb.] Hat tip: Instapundit Click through to read and contribute comments on this … Continue reading

Watching BBC News this afternoon,

starting with the One O’Clock News with Anna Ford – who informed us about the outcome of a government investigation into the crash of an RAF Hercules “Jet” in Iraq (killing ten service people). How many decades has the Hercules (the C130 to our US cousins) been in service? What kind of plane did the Iranians crash just this week? Was it a jet? No. It has four large twirly … Continue reading

Q.

Can you spot the missing word(s) from this BBC News Online article, Thousands march for HK democracy, about a major pro-democracy demonstration in Hong Kong? A. Yes, you got it, the missing word(s) are communism and variants thereof, with bonus points if you also noted the omission of any reference to the Tiananmen Square Massacre (sorry Beeboids, that would be the Tiananmen Square Tragedy to you). Click through to read … Continue reading

One by One

Reading this article at BBConline one has to try to follow the tortuous logic of a journalist trying to justify after the event the BBC’s skewed approach to the news, in this case to ‘Questions of Murder’. As Dumbjon points out, the notion of challenging authority doesn’t apply when the BBC agrees with that authority- when, for example, the race-based news quota method is applied. Anthony Walker died, and that’s … Continue reading

Roundup

Peter Cunningham writes: “The following article on BBC online “US abortion rights in the balance?” ends with the sentence “And for many women with unwanted pregnancies in that southern state, little would change.” It is interesting that the author choose not to use the equivalent, “And for many unborn babies in California, little would change – they would continue to be killed.” Ritter pointed out this Newswatch article on the … Continue reading

John Sentamu

became Archbishop of York on November 30. This report by the BBC’s Religious Affairs Correspondent, Robert Pigott, describes his enthronement. It touches on his political views: “He denounced the war in Iraq and demonstrated against it. He criticised racism in the police after being stopped and searched eight times during six years as a bishop in London. “He said of the Church itself that it was socially glued together by … Continue reading

BBC News Online’s front page prominently featured this important

news for most of Tuesday: Bottom boost Testing out the pants that give you a bottom to rival Jennifer Lopez It’s reassuring that News Online are getting to the bottom of some stories – it’s a pity though that others, such as this one, Christian doctor ‘was forced out’, seem to pass the BBC by. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Just a wee blogule

about BBC editorialising within news items (a habit I often notice and fail to raise consistently owing largely to time constraints). Having reported that Mr Green had been cleared of ‘inciting hatred against homosexuals’, the BBC went on to say ‘He has shown little regret for his comments when addressing the media. He has also said his comments referred to a homosexual lifestyle, rather than individuals.’ Remind me, what was … Continue reading