Yes, it’s time to own up. I have just been watching the BBC’s Reporting Scotland programme. Tonight they were covering the “fringe” parties contesting the elections for the European Parliament. I almost fell off my chair when I heard this about the British National Party: “The BNP is no stranger to controversy or protest. It maintains that it isn’t racist, though it’s opposed to immigration, the Euro and the European … Continue reading →

(Further to Kerry’s post) Caroline Hawley has one of her fact-lite, mood-heavy pieces in which she reasserts the likelihood of US foul play (but it’s buried at BBC In Depth, and no mention of kiddies because that piece of propaganda has been, er, exploded). This after Gen Kimmitt releases even more convincing evidence that the target was correctly identified and successfully destroyed. Kimmitt says “The more that we look at … Continue reading →

The Belmont Club has some help for the Beeb and other media outlets. It is hard to determine if some reportage is deliberate bias or lack of careful analysis or human laziness. Although the news media functions as the civilian intelligence system, collecting raw data, processing it and distributing it to the public, for historical reasons it lacks many of the features which professional intelligence systems have evolved over the … Continue reading →

Via email: BBBC reader, Andrew, fisks BBC coverage of all things Green. Monday (17MAY04) evening’s BBC Ten O’Clock News covered the launch of the Green Party’s European election campaign. The presenter, Huw Edwards, mentions the Green Party’s ‘alternative’ policies on the environment, transport and energy, and states that “Greens said people would also be drawn by their opposition to the war in Iraq”. We then cut to a filmed item … Continue reading →

Not likely. No, it seems that the BBC is sworn to spare us the good news. Speculation, rather than news, is the true business of the Beeb. Think of it– Greg Dyke is gone, Gilligan has vanished, Morgan had to be pulled kicking and screaming from his office. But still it’s– Blair ‘not ready to stand down’ Here’s a suggestion from Jeff Jarvis. He even mentions the BBC! If I … Continue reading →

The Outstanding Melanie Phillips. I’m only quoting the culminating argument of this piece, so I advise everyone to read the rest (Melanie’s an avid Today Programme listener): ‘What all this shows is that the BBC has become far more than a redoubt of Guardian and Independent values; far more than a journalistic disgrace; far more than betrayal of the concept of public service broadcasting. It has become nothing short of … Continue reading →

a BBC ‘world affairs correspondent’ or an ordinary Iraqi who is telling what the media seems quite hesitant to share? Do you believe the BBC’s media partner in the Arab world, al-Jazeera? Some things are just unbelievable–as Andrew Sullivan observes. “His killers shouted “Allah is great” before holding what appeared to be a head up to the camera.” What appeared to be his head? Who do they think Zarqawi is: … Continue reading →

as of 1pm British Summer Time. I’m hoping it will come back of its own accord, but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do to speed this process at the present. Apologies. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

The headline and first paragraph of this story about the family of an Iraqi girl killed by a British bullet say: : Hanan’s parents pledge vengeance The parents of an eight-year-old Iraqi girl allegedly shot dead by British troops have vowed to avenge her death. This is 50% true. It is supported by the quote given by one parent, her mother, who said,”I hate the British. If I catch the … Continue reading →

This one is tentative. It looks to me like a possible example of the BBC ascribing moral equivalence to two sides that are not morally equivalent, at least not recently. However I do not know much about the history of the two communities involved, and I am open to correction. In Pakistan fifteen Shia Muslim worshippers were murdered at prayer almost certainly by a Sunni Muslim suicide bomber. The BBC … Continue reading →