In a lengthy speech on media bias, Melanie Phillips examines the awful consequences of biased reporting regarding Israel and Iraq. The speech runs to 17 pages in a pdf document on her website. Here are her observations on the BBC. But probably the greatest single reason for the obsessive and unbalanced focus on Israel,along with the irrationality over Iraq, is the hostility and prejudice of the BBC’s reporting. Unlike newspapers, … Continue reading →

It has come to our attention that the tiny state of Israel is doing yeoman’s work in the tsunami disaster effort. Unfortunately, very few people would have heard this, for you have not reported it! You and your colleagues received a press release (Dec 27) to this effect. Where are your reports? This is not looking good. Ms Guerin, since you are a lover of truth, please note the following … Continue reading →

– according to BBC News Online and the BBC One O’Clock News today. What neither of these unbiased, impartial BBC productions manage to mention in covering this good news is the role of US Navy personnel and equipment from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the removal operation – as anyone who’s been watching Sky News this morning would know all about, with film of the removal operation and … Continue reading →

A couple of BBC news stories, both on and offline, caught my eye this morning – both have been admirably fisked already by The Candidate and by Marc at USS Neverdock. The BBC stories and their fiskings are as follows: BBC: Army restricted ethnic recruits The Candidate: Army restricted ethnic recruits… probably As The Candidate says, the story, as presented by BBC News Online, makes an unsupported logical leap – … Continue reading →

Javier Solana + EU + pressure on Eurosceptic Britain = free airtime. So says Richard North, anyway. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

, shown on BBC2 last Thursday, was one of a surfeit of humorous end-of-year review shows, this one being notable for its pimping of the official BBC world view. Described in the BBC’s own listings as “a light-hearted romp through the 50 Winners and Losers of 2004 from the world of entertainment”, the programme, presented by Dermot O’Leary, was mostly amusing, but, unsurprisingly, they managed to slip in a few … Continue reading →

* – the ever astute Michael Gove had an interesting opinion piece in The Times last week. Here’s a chunk to whet your appetite: The leftish bias in Radio 4’s content manifests itself subtly, yet insistently. Voices from the far Left such as Linda Smith and Jeremy Hardy are introduced on the News Quiz, or given their own shows, in a way which gives no clue to their political shading. … Continue reading →

– B-BBC commenter PJF notes the BBC’s treatment of the New Year messages from each of the UK’s three main political parties. PJF points out that Charles Kennedy’s Liberal Democrat Party new year message is reported, complete with fluffy quotes, but omitting the full text of the message for those interested in reading beyond what the BBC sees fit to selectively quote. The full text of CK’s speech is on … Continue reading →

Is it self-parody which drives the BBC (in a story about the growing power of blogs and the blessedly waning influence of MSM as news gatekeeper) to completely omit mention of Dan Rather’s cliffwalk to retirement at the hands of lowly pajamahadeen? Here are a few graphs from the story: The blogging movement has been building up for many years. Blogs in places like Iran have provided sources of information … Continue reading →

– BBC1’s late evening news programme last night covered the Indian Ocean earthquake tragedy extensively, including efforts to raise funds, supplies and assistance for those affected. There was an interesting, arguably characteristic, contrast in the coverage of fund-raising efforts – in Ben Brown’s report on Kofi Annan and Colin Powell speaking at the UN (broadcast live on Sky News earlier), the clip of Colin Powell was cut as short as … Continue reading →