Further to Andrew Bowman’s post below, take a look at this: UK on Terror Alert. I think the starkness of the atrocity at Beslan may have prompted a change of policy. If so, better late than never. But was there ever a policy of avoiding the world terrorist? Readers here may not be in much doubt. We’ve been tracking this very issue for months, and when we do find a … Continue reading →

– over the last few days David Chater of Sky News has been using the word ‘terrorist’ to describe the terrorists involved in the Beslan massacre. This evening another Sky News journalist, Juliet Errington, also used the word terrorist in a Beslan report. It’s good to see Sky News moving away from the dishonesty, deception and moral equivalence of describing anyone with quasi-political grievances, guns and bombs as ‘militants’. I … Continue reading →

: Melanie shoots another fish in the barrel– again this incident I saw, being a Newsnight item where the appearance of John Redwood brought out the spiteful worst in the Newsnight team, as they repeatedly mocked him for not knowing the Welsh national anthem when Welsh secretary years ago. An oldie but a goodie for the Conservative-haters at the Beeb. Melanie Phillips is back on her beat– and angry at … Continue reading →

It took me ages to get that last post out, if I have at all. (It’s not showing up when I look at the blog, but that’s not conclusive.) There is little point in emailing me at the moment. My apologies. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

, children, is that no actual murders of children took place. Some of them may have been caught in the crossfire and some of them may have just died in unspecified ways, but, so far as I can see, Children’s BBC coverage of the massacre does not treat it as a massacre at all. Russia holds first seige funerals. Russian troops “end school seige”. Timeline of Russian school seige I … Continue reading →

When troops die in Iraq the exact circumstances seem in one sense insignificant. But I think it’s worth pointing out that the seven US troops who died near Fallujah today were killed by a car bomb which the BBC, in reporting both before they identified the cause of destruction as being a car-bomb, and afterwards, defined as an ‘ambush’. This seems wrong to me, because for one thing it is … Continue reading →

In the Technology section of the UK version of BBC News Online last Tuesday there was a story headlined Howard in vote ‘spamming’ row. I expected, reasonably enough, that the headline referred to Michael Howard, leader of the UK’s Conservative Party. It turns out, for those with time to click on the link and read beyond the headlines, that it’s about John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, and some political … Continue reading →

from Jeffrey Archer’s

Whilst reading this Guardian story (“Republicans bring out the knives”, indeed) that mysteriously appeared on BBC News Online I noticed the Related Internet Links list reads: – 2004 Republican Convention – Counter Convention – George Bush – John Kerry Who or what is Counter Convention I wondered? A quick look later, and lo, it’s a website set up by a ‘collective’ of ‘protestors’ and ‘activists’ who are ‘dedicated to helping … Continue reading →

Last Wednesday, 25AUG04, News Online featured a story headlined Gay group protests over Mobo list about the nominations of artists whose songs include allegedly* homophobic lyrics, as highlighted by the gay rights group Outrage! When I went back to look at the story after the weekend it had changed: – the first paragraph used to end ‘allegedly include homophobic lyrics’, – the word ‘allegedly’ has now been deleted – so … Continue reading →