A sorry spectacle: all those who thought Greg Dyke would never say sorry, think again. Yesterday, speaking to an audience in Glasgow, he apologised unreservedly – for having once given Tony Blair £5000 to help him win the leadership contest in the Labour party. Mr Dyke said he now saw that Tony was “the worst sort of prime minister.” Greg’s repentance for having assisted him in the past was total. … Continue reading →

So says The Blogfessor in The Australian. Glenn Reynolds calls attention to the power of “open-source journalism”. Here are the final graphs: If there’s an analogy to this phenomenon, it’s probably the open-source software movement, which tends to produce far more reliable products via the same process of distributed criticism and relative freedom from groupthink. But I’m afraid that the internet’s threat to cocooned old-media organisations is far greater than … Continue reading →

– A month ago I asked What’s the difference between an interview and a sketch?, highlighting a lavish News Online puff-piece for George Galloway (“Sir, I salute your courage, your indefatiguability” etc. etc.). A few days later I noted here on BBBC that the continued highlighting of the Galloway ‘feature’ on News Online was well past due for a change. And, by sheer coincidence, even though the Galloway puff-piece had … Continue reading →

Well, jodphurs anyway. It seems to be stating the obvious that this BBC article is absurdly skewed. Absurd, because in its efforts to appear impartial it becomes necessary to bastardise history and neuter rational understanding. Of hunting the BBC says ´Not only is the hunt itself steeped in ritual, but opposition towards it is just as well established, with meets as regularly attended by protesters as by those taking part.´ … Continue reading →

is the BBC News Online strap to a pop-up ‘in pictures’ collection of US election bumper stickers. It has been featured on various News Online pages over the weekend, currently appearing on the Vote USA 2004 index page. But does the BBC keep to the impartial middle of the road ‘driving politics’, or do they pull to the left or the right? Here’s a BBBC round-up of the BBC’s chosen … Continue reading →

(With apologies to the late Douglas Adams.) “But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.” I can confirm that the BBC’s Ceefax service did report on CBS’s retraction of the Bush memos. “Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention … Continue reading →

– watching the BBC 10 O’Clock News just now the main story is the tragic and barbaric murder of Eugene Armstrong, one of the Americans kidnapped along with another American and a Briton in Baghdad recently. To their credit, the 10 O’Clock News (in the forms of Huw Edwards, Nicholas Witchell and another correspondent whose name escapes me) was unequivocal in describing this latest atrocity as a murder (all three … Continue reading →

is an interesting article in Saturday’s Times, about the conflict of interest for the BBC created by the Labour Party’s unsubtle scheduling of the Hartlepool by-election for the last day of their annual conference in Brighton: Senior corporation figures had offered to balance coverage of the last day of Labours conference – the day of the poll – after the Tories complained, The Times understands. But Liam Fox, the Tory … Continue reading →

 The people behind Radio Forth are hoping to be granted the new Scottish east coast license: A COMMERCIAL broadcaster is promising to challenge the BBC’s “boring” and “leftish” current affairs coverage by launching a rival radio station. Scottish Radio Holdings, which already owns a number of stations north of the Border, will apply to media regulator Ofcom this week for the new FM licence covering Edinburgh, Fife and Lothians. It … Continue reading →

Private Eye magazine’s regular Lookalikes feature this fortnight highlight’s the striking resemblance between Vladimir Putin and Andrew Marr of the BBC, rather in line with the observations of BBBC aficionados: Sir, Have you noticed the sinister similarities between these two? I have heard that one has his roots in a subversive organisation involved in the dissemination of enemy propaganda. The other is a former head of the KGB. Should we … Continue reading →