– writes David Steven. That got my attention. It was he who analysed Andrew Gilligan’s blogging as a reporter in Iraq. Now he and a colleague have looked at one of the most successful elements of the BBC coverage of the Iraq war, the Reporters’ Log in a similar manner. This post contains a summary of what they found. A link to the actual report, “Whose Agenda?” is at the … Continue reading →

I should have posted this ages ago, but better late than never. You may recall that on June 27 2003 I posted an item about the BBC’s John Willis and US talk show host Michael Savage. To recap, Willis, BBC Director of Factual and Learning, made a speech in which he claimed that Savage said the Arabs must be “snuffed out from the planet, and not in a court of … Continue reading →

I’ve just noticed something else about the Megan Lane article Peter Briffa posted about two posts down. It says Conservatives with a small c, too, share this unease about the pleasures of the flesh. In a 1951 letter only now made public, Ronald Reagan revealed his angst about sex. “Even in marriage I had a little guilty feeling about sex, as if the whole thing was tinged with evil,” the … Continue reading →

the links from us, but this Beebwatch makes some fine points. (Registration needed.) Radio 4’s World Tonight attracts smaller audiences than Today and is rarely criticised for bias, yet few BBC programmes are so slanted towards the Left. … There was a 17-second clip from America’s UN ambassador, John Negroponte; then a 77-second interview with the Arab League’s ambassador and 170 seconds with Phyllis Bennis from the violently anti-Bush Institute … Continue reading →

Libelling Hilter isn’t an easy thing to do. However, in this piece on the Tories, Megan Lane portrays the Great Dictator in an unflattering light. “The Nazi regime cracked down on abortion and equality for women”, she claims. Not true, as a brief Googling can confirm. Adolf was very pro-choice. I wonder why she feels obliged to make such a claim. Right-wingers anti-choice, left-wingers pro-choice, perhaps? Click through to read … Continue reading →

The ever-brilliant Stephen den Beste fisks this ridiculous piece of BBC anti-American propaganda posing as news. This sort of analysis would be met with shock and horror in Islington by the soft-left supporters of the BBC, no doubt. The BBC of course does not understand civil disobedience – it is not a right to break the law and get away with it because one (thinks one) has noble intentions, it … Continue reading →

That’s one reason I can think of for this BBCi headline. BBC: Reagan had ‘evil sex’ angst Compare this with ABC and Time. ABC: The Reagan Letters Time Magazine: The Real Reagan Of course, it couldn’t be a commercial motive since the Beeb is “above it all” and the license fee keeps the larder well-stocked. Another less charitable possibility springs to mind: a visceral reaction to the man and what … Continue reading →

blogleagues never sleep. Bran at Blog Irish continues to hold the Beeb to account whilst Norm at Normblog goes after those clueless Beeb apologists. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

would have averted all this trouble. “We goofed.” Those two little words, uttered by the BBC early in its latest escapade in biased journalism — falsely claiming the Blair government “sexed up” its intelligence reports during the lead-up to the Iraq invasion — would have saved a lot of time, a lot of money, and at least one life. Instead, we have the BBC’s bloated buddy, Andrew Gilligan, admitting, in … Continue reading →

Public Interest comments on a Polly Toynbee article on how we need the BBC for our own good. The Spectator says “reform it, don’t kill it” but Samizdata disagrees. Will Thomas writes that Salam Pax will be on the Beeb today, “Answering Qs from carefully selected Beeb junkies this afternoon at 2:30 [BST]. – Just in case you were interested in trying to creep past the censors, like me.” Good … Continue reading →