Judge and Jury

.Reading Kerry’s post on David Frum I found what I felt to be a ‘money’ quote. Here ’tis: ‘How can you do a program that purports to study why British people are so hostile to President Bush – without taking note of the state broadcaster’s role in creating and magnifying that hostility? ‘ In other words, the Beeb foregrounds the debates we have in society. Now, hear this: ‘Ms. Doucete, … Continue reading

Beebsquirm

. As a commenter in the below thread also notes, the Beeb’s journalists are logging their responses to the Bushes’ visit. It was (and still might be later on) a delightful selection of half-baked preconceived ideas disappointed, with dashes of wishful thinking thrown in. Until, that is, it was radically stealth-pruned back (these days, stealth editing isn’t enough- stealth-pruning under cover of darkness is the thing). For instance, maybe Jules … Continue reading

On that DoD memo leaked from last Saturday…

It is now 5 [actually 6] days on and still no BBC coverage on what should be a major story alleging, as it does, a longstanding Saddam-Osama link. As for the press, the lockstep we see up ’til now is impressive. Where is the BBC on this? As Jack Shafer writes (for a non-Murdoch outlet by the way!): Everybody knows how the press loves to herd itself into a snarling … Continue reading

And you thought the BBC was bad…

Earlier on this evening I was watching Channel Five’s early evening news. They were doing an item on the changes that have been made to the UK’s directory enquiry service. Time after time they said things like “…things got worse after deregulation” and “Has deregulation been a disaster?” etc. Only one problem. It wasn’t deregulated. Precisely the opposite in fact. What happened was that BT (the UK’s largest phone operator) … Continue reading

He Wins Again

. A few days ago Andy Whittles and I were e-debating a scarifying BBConline report on an Iraqi health warning by British medical charity Medact. We decided we hadn’t got enough to go on, though I later discovered that one of Medact’s leading funders was the European Commission (ahem). A sparkling Mark Steyn’s not so shy in denouncing them, the protesters-to-be, and by association with the uncritical article noted above, … Continue reading

American Tourists

. It’s difficult to predict just how bad the BBC coverage of Bush’s visit to the UK will be. The trouble is that they have a lot of room for manoeuvre given the range of groups that might be evident in the anti-Bush, anti-war protests. I’ve already indicated one problem- there are those who don’t like Bush (for example anti-death penalty people) and there are those who don’t like the … Continue reading

Churchill’s doctor, Lord Moran, favored continuing the BBC monopoly

More from renowned BBBC correspondent Winston Churchill. Here’s the ‘latest’ courtesy of Andrew Sullivan: ‘Churchill’s doctor, Lord Moran, favored continuing the BBC monopoly. When he questioned Churchill about it, the great man exploded. “For eleven years they kept me off the air. They prevented me from expressing views which have proved to be right. Their behavior has been tyrannical. They are honeycombed with Socialists – probably with Communists.” ‘   … Continue reading