The Plain English Campaign gave a gobbledegook award to Donald Rumsfeld the other day. If you are interested, I gave my plain opinion of the Plain English Campaign on my blog here. In this post I’d just like to point out, that of course the BBC zoomed in on this story like flies to honey. As usual, the Beeb did not waste any valuable sneering energy on actually examining Rumsfeld’s … Continue reading
, this one’s for the diehard fan. What I mean is that there’s nothing new in it, and certainly not the polemical tone, but it makes some connections that might interest some people. Greg Dyke’s recent speech (see several posts below) was interesting for his suggestion that ‘the free marketers have got it wrong’. The Val Macqueen article I’ve linked to goes ballistic in response to Dyke’s superior tone, courtesy … Continue reading
. Another interesting move by the BBC in the War on Gilliganism. It’s exactly the kind of costly draconian measure I’d expect from an organisation that is more interested in self-preservation than reform. Update.Stephen Pollard tidies up a couple of stories for us. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.
. A gulf of epic proportions emerges between these two pieces by Fox and the BBC on Iran’s nuclear programme and the controversy surrounding it. No doubt Greg Dyke would take that as a sign of success, but after reading them I know which I find more convincing, and I know which gives me words from the horse’s mouth as opposed to a luke-warm second-hand mush of pandering UN-speak where … Continue reading
with the “British Bias Corporation” about their pathetic slant against President Bush’s linking of Iraq to the worldwide “war on terror”. It was notable, too, that Mr Bush chose the “war on terror” as a major theme of his visit, linking Iraq to that worldwide war. His advice to the Beeb: “read your own service” to discover that there really is a war out there, even in Britain. Click through … Continue reading
. Reading Greg Dyke’s speech in New York recently (see below posts), it seemed that I was hearing about a magical Kingdom, let us call it ‘Beebland’, where the journalists have such integrity that balanced coverage in the public interest, er, magically prevails. I wonder, do the people of Scotland agree, after the ‘coverage’ of the ‘building’ of their monumental folly, the new Scottish Parliament building? Many, many questions arise … Continue reading
This needs remarking on, even just for the sound byte we’ve all thought but rarely heard spoken by a public figure: “Getting the BBC to admit it is wrong is like squeezing blood from a stone.” – Ben Bradshaw, former Beeb journalist and [current UK Government] Fisheries Minister. I wonder whether the Government will let the BBC off the hook when the Charter renewal discussions begin? Maybe they are just … Continue reading
The poet Benjamin Zephaniah Says NO to OBEs- especially in the light of the Iraq war. Yes, that’s right- but he also took the air-time on Channel Four News last night to praise the BBC World Service because they had changed their name from the BBC Empire Service. So, apparently the leopard can change its spots. It’s all in a name. I would never seek to defend a certain old … Continue reading
in some respects, and incredibly nuanced (ie. sophisticated) in others. Yet another example here of where essentially the Beeb are harrying the US over operations in Iraq. They recently reported the fall in attacks on US troops, masked carefully by a headline about increased attacks on Iraqis (see Tues ‘Different Tactics’). Now they report a denial by the US that extra troops are needed for a worsening security situation in … Continue reading
. Well, some of them have been coming here, so maybe some of us should go there. I don’t normally say a lot to anyone about the NHS. They were good to my Grandma and bad to my Grandpa, and family members tend to end up dying there. I think though that in BBC coverage of the NHS it’s worth bearing in mind that they are kindred spirits, both formed … Continue reading
