The BBC wants to increase the licence fee, and, guess what, the Guardian agrees: “At a time when many of our traditional industries have lost their international reputation, the BBC has managed to maintain a blue chip brand of global excellence by combining technological innovation with editorial independence. It has proved a winning combination that is well worth backing for the future”. Well, it’s an opinion. Click through to read … Continue reading →

Test post – please ignore. On second thoughts, a question. I thought I had posted the miscellany below this morning (8.32am GMT). Does the fact that it has no comments mean that no one has been able to see it until just now (3.58pm GMT), or does it just mean no one had any comment to make? Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Blogger is being intolerably slow for me at the moment, so here is a miscellany of Beeb-related items all in the same post. Comments to the effect that a lower proportion of my musings per link constitutes an improvement will be met with a Paddingtonian Hard Stare. – Adloyada writes in critical vein about Andrew Marr plugging Robert Fisk plugging his book on Start the Week. On the other hand, … Continue reading →

On Sunday I noticed a report on BBConline which talked about the international aid effort to Pakistan which was then underway. Knowing that such affairs are almost becoming a catwalk for the compassion of the developed world, I approached with caution. Anyway, a read of the report showed the BBC magnanimously including the US in the lede about international aid swinging into action- generally an upbeat presentation. However, I say … Continue reading →

This morning’s Broadcasting House on Radio Four featured something I don’t think I’ve heard before on a news programme. Around half an hour in there was a long item on asylum seekers, and the alleged shortcomings of the information used by the government to decide on asylum claims. We heard from the Refugee Council, a couple of other asylum pressure groups, Amnesty International and a solicitor specialising in asylum claims, … Continue reading →

BBC: Lib Dems in clear over donation The Electoral Commission has cleared the Liberal Democrats of wrong-doing over a £2.4m company donation it received before May’s general election. The watchdog’s probe looked at whether the donation was “permissible”, as electoral law requires donating firms to be registered and trading in the UK. 5th Avenue Partners was based in London but owned by a Swiss-based firm headed by Scottish financier Michael … Continue reading →

As we’ve noted here before at Biased BBC, often the BBC’s institutional bias is evident in what they don’t tell us – those little details that, somehow, just get missed out. Here are two examples spotted in one browsing session: Picture power: Tiananmen stand-off – an article and introduction about the famous picture of a brave Chinese protestor obstructing a tank at the time of the communist government’s massacre in … Continue reading →

Damian Penny has a good summary of the story that the BBC put out and is now pulling back from, that President Bush said that God told him to invade Iraq. Here’s the BBC’s original press release. And here’s what they are saying now. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

10pm news coverage of David Davis speech – BBC showed a man with his head down, apparently sleeping during the speech. I saw that same man at two fringe meetings – he has some problem with his neck that causes his head to slump over permanently – it never changes, and I know that he was wide awake at those meetings. All praise to him for staying involved and in … Continue reading →

If some adult at the Beeb could provide a straight answer about stage-managed “insurgent” photos, could they also explain the Beeb’s failure to report the results of this poll? It finds that Sunnis are surprisingly supportive of the new Iraqi constitution (even before the latest improvement). However gloomy it looks to BBC reporters, the Iraqis seem ready to prove them wrong. …But the polling by the Iraqi Center for Development … Continue reading →