Back To The Old Assumptions. This anti-US story seems a much more natural expression of the BBC’s judgement on world affairs. In the ‘good news Guantanamo Bay’ story below, the reader was expected to be surprised to hear that a young detainee was not bitter over his treatment. The assumption was that the reader would naturally believe that the US is treating inmates badly, with just the odd ray of … Continue reading →

The Happiest Days of Your Life. Kudos to the BBC for reporting this tale of happy days at Guantanamo Bay. Perhaps they might consider rethinking the kneejerk headline slot that’s been given to groups of professional worriers like Human Rights Watch? Among other lovely ‘think again’ passages: ‘You might think he (detainee’s father) would be angry with the Americans. Actually he thinks they have done Naqibullah a favour. ‘ Click … Continue reading →

Tuesday Update. Melanie Phillips expresses my feelings on the ‘categorically untrue’ affair.Sunday Update: Read Mark Steyn on The Lop-Sided Take. So there are two rounds of scandal-mongering taking place as Kerry and Bush begin to square up to each other. One is well known from the last election, the other is becoming well known. How this process is handled by the BBC is very important: each word in a report … Continue reading →

, it is safest to have your say as a comment. Writing to me is always a gamble: will I lose your email, misattribute it or merely ignore it? Here, belatedly, are some that slipped through: From Stan Brin: I am an American journalist specializing in media criticism. Two questions: 1. Does anyone in Britain know how horrid the nightly North American BBC television broadcast is? Pure propaganda, paid for … Continue reading →

“Does the BBC really need six million more enemies at this time, six million more people who think BBC self-regulation has failed, and the licence fee is no longer justifiable?” asks the author of this surprising Thought for Today. They seem to think they do. They seem really quite proud of Popetown. Just in case anyone misses the point: I support freedom of speech for the vilest messages, for stuff … Continue reading →

There has been an unexpected applicant for an important position at the BBC. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

. An absolute must-read as Gerard Baker of the Financial Times, writing in the Weekly Standard, surveys the state of the BBC: ‘The sheer scale of the BBC means that “the truth as seen by the BBC” is what gets believed. Aunty is simply too big and too powerful for the modern media era. The BBC is, in fact, a curious vestige of pre-Margaret Thatcher Britain: a massive public monopoly, … Continue reading →

Now I am going to put it to good, if belated use: a few days ago Dave Holroyd wrote: BBC America’s 6.00 PM EST (their only evening news report) news coverage of Gavyn Davies resignation was a peach! First selections from Hutton’s summary (3 minutes), then Campbell’s press conference (2 minutes), then the resignation speech (4 minutes) and finally a six minute segment about international reaction to the Hutton reports … Continue reading →

, but the little caption in a grey box on the main BBC news page linking to this story used to say something like “American troops in Iraq: giving out sweets by day, kicking in doors by night.” I’m not complaining about the story itself, but that caption somewhat gave the impression that the door-kicking was mere vandalism that the soldiers indulged in under cover of darkness. Actually the story … Continue reading →

This is somewhat off our usual beat, and I am the last person to come to for for an opinion on computer stuff – but here’s an email I received, which I shall reproduce for reader interest. Hi. I’d like to draw your attention to a remarkably ill-conceived article on the current “MyDoom” virus at this link. Almost every paragraph contains either errors or gross distortions of fact, and the … Continue reading →