of BBC programme makers, revealing that: COMPANIES are paying fees of up to £40,000 to advertise their products covertly on BBC programmes, often in breach of the corporation’s rules. At least 50 cases have been identified where top brands have bought favourable exposure on BBC television by paying specialist agents. The article goes on to point out that: The licence fee payer is the loser from the multi-million-pound trade. By … Continue reading →

we learn that Lance Price, a former BBC reporter who, surprise, surprise, went to work for the Blair government as a spin doctor from 1998 to 2001, says: The media was bullied, browbeaten and bribed with favours to report Labour favourably. and worse, that: The BBC reveals its questions in advance to Blair at press conferences in return for their reporters being chosen to ask their questions first. A fuller … Continue reading →

, Tony Blair said the BBC’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina was “full of hatred of America.” Tony Blair wasn’t the only critic. This article from the Financial Times says: Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony Corporation, also criticised the tone of the BBC’s coverage during a seminar on the media at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York. Sir Howard Stringer … Continue reading →

obsession with Bush to new extremes. Yes, the BBC has reported that the president once needed to pee. (Hat tip: Susan) Stop the presses! In another blow for media credibility, “Susan” a reader of “bloggs”, has thrown a googly to demonstrate that his handwriting’s not like that. I await the retraction from the BBC. (“Correction: Bush Did Not Need To Urinate After All.”) Some may suspect that the whole thing … Continue reading →

Honest Reporting has a roundup of coverage of the synagogues burnt by the Palestinian mob in Gaza. It features an old B-BBC standby, Orla Guerin, who wants you to understand. She says, “Israel stole thirty-eight years from them; today, many were ready to take back anything they could.” Watch the video clip. Hat tip: Teddy Bear and others. That reminds me of something I meant to say ages ago, but … Continue reading →

So I’m wondering what’s on the tv tonight and I go and take a look at the Radio Times website. Yeah, I know it’s run by BBC subversives, so it’s all part of the Axis of Evil, but even so… Here’s the promo for No Sex Please We’re Teenagers: “There are some surprising results when the teens trying to give up sex for five months face the zeal of the … Continue reading →

Rob writes: There is an interview with Kofi Annan on the BBC website. The interview is conducted by Lyse Doucet. Not an entirely surprising line of questioning by a BBC “reporter”. I’m afraid I couldn’t be bothered to write a transcript of Annan’s replies. I think the questions speak for themselves. Q1) Let us start with the crisis in the US state of Louisiana. Has the aftermath of this crisis … Continue reading →

generated by Matt Well’s now famous piece (Quick! Slap on the “Viewpoint” label!) that I am genuinely not sure whether Rottweiler Puppy’s fisking has already been mentioned on this blog. The BBC was earlier congratulating itself on having had 400,000 page impressions on this piece over the weekend 3-4 September. Ed gently suggested that even then not all of them might have been from fans – although I am willing … Continue reading →

Over two years ago I wrote a short blog entry on ‘black American conservative writers’, and ended the piece with ‘A prize for anyone who ever gets to hear one of them on the BBC’. Well, I’ve checked my mail and no-one’s written in, so I’ll have to drink the prize myself. For yesterday morning, the voice of Deroy Murdock was heard on Radio Four – admittedly as the last … Continue reading →

.It’s fascinating to read this Newswatch article (hat-tip to commenter Ritter) and compare it to the article ‘From the Editor’s Desktop’. Compare and contrast: ‘It doesn’t happen that often, but every now and again the heroic team that handles all our feedback looks up from the wave of grumbles and groans and points out a stack of praise for something we’ve done.’ (he was referring to response to this article … Continue reading →