Lenny Henry was never very funny but it seems that he IS now the Cultural Kommisar for Ethnicity on the BBC ACTOR and comedian Lenny Henry yesterday slammed the BBC’s £2.1million plan to foster ethnic talent. The corporation’s director-general Tony Hall announced a new “diversity creative talentfund” last week to help “fast track” shows by minorities. But referring to 12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor and Idris Elba, from TV … Continue reading →

Anyone else catch the “debate” on The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 later afternoon on the “phone hacking scandal”? Superb balance as always with Nick Davies, Guardian journalist; Peter Preston, former editor of the Guardian;Harriet Harman, Labour’s Deputy Leader, Neil Wallis, former Deputy Editor of the News of the World; Lord Norman Fowler, former chairman of the House of Lords select committee on communications; journalist and Executive Director of Hacked Off, the … Continue reading →

The BBC seems determined to use the Coulson conviction to damage Cameron through association. I watched the BBC news last night and it was interesting to see how often they used images of Coulson and Cameron together as if to imply that Cameron was in some way guilty too. Now of course one could say that Cameron used poor judgement in using Coulson – and he himself has said that … Continue reading →

Here you go, an on-time Open Thread. If BBC bias is bothering YOU this is where to detail it.

    The BBC has in times past appointed itself the ‘Official Opposition’ when it felt that Labour weren’t sufficiently rigorous in holding the Tory government to account, so the BBC took on the job itself. It now looks like it has decided, in these straitened times of austerity, to take on the role of Judge and Jury, passing judgement on all and sundry…well, on selected targets anyway. Here Nick … Continue reading →

It’s all about black and white. And Brown. At least through the prism of the BBC. EastEnders has too many white cast members to be authentic, the head of the BBC’s watchdog has warned. The popular BBC soap opera, which is set in the fictional east London neighbourhood of Walford, also has too many young actors to be properly representative, said Diane Coyle, acting chairman of the BBC Trust. In a speech … Continue reading →

  Curious how the BBC broadcasts a programme explaining the issues on a subject that Ed Miliband makes a policy speech about 3 days later.   In May 2013 Ipsos MORI released some research it was working on in conjunction with the left wing Demos and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on how the young view welfare: Generations Ipsos’s Bobby Duffy says Generation Y believes people need to take greater personal … Continue reading →

Another view of Diane Coyle and her application to take over from Patten: David Keighley: Europhile quango queen and climate change warrior. No wonder Dave wants her as BBC chief   One thing is certain about Ms Coyle if she does land the chairman’s role. She won’t be pressing for any significant changes in the BBC’s journalism. She has already declared: “I’ve always valued the BBC, not least as the best … Continue reading →

       Alex Proud, of the Telegraph, BBC and C4 tells all: Why I love the BBC The BBC upholds genuine British values at home and offers great PR for our country overseas. What’s not to like, asks Alex Proud Straightforward, intelligent coverage that we can trust. The BBC is also one of the greatest exponents of “British values” there is – assuming that by British values you mean … Continue reading →

    A break from the usual….perhaps this explains Obama’s recent comments on Scottish independence…though I’d have thought he was more likely to be on the  left wing than centre back:     Here’s one for the UKIPer’s:           chuka.umunna.mp@parliament.uk