FROM PIG TO MAN…

Wonder if you share my..ahem..surprise…that Allegra Stratton, the former political correspondent at the Guardian, has been appointed political editor of the BBC’s Newsnight programme. BBC..Guardian..BBC. Let me quote Orwell.. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Not Taking Sides

“We don’t take sides!” is a cry repeatedly heard from certain biased organisations that operate under banners of impartiality.On the other hand, the foreign secretary isn’t constrained by such a banner. Nevertheless William Hague says the government isn’t taking sides on the intricacies of Egyptian politics.“We do take sides,” he admitted moments later, “on behalf of democracy!“Democracy must always be entirely for the good, it seems, even if the electorate … Continue reading

BLIND!

It turns out that the Television Trust for the Environment – the BBC greenie programmes supplier whose problems I noted here – derives half its income, more than £500k, from the EU, and effectively gives its programmes away; last year it made less than £50,000 from sales. In effect, therefore, it is a propaganda arm of the EU. Not without coincidence, I suspect, its website was mysteriously taken down on … Continue reading

OCCUPY UPDATE

As I pointed out in the comments yesterday, the BBC’s Matt Danzico has been touting for book donations for a new Occupy Wall Street library organised by his sister Liz (aka “bobulate”): (Liz sounds like she could be one of Occupy’s Uptown crowd.) Even *ahem* impartial BBC journalists such as Matt Danzico might think twice about giving stuff to OWS when they hear of the money swilling around the place. … Continue reading

SHAW DROPPING

Thanks to B-BBC contributor Graeme Thompson aka Hippiepooter for this item; My jaw dropped listening to Danny Shaw on 5Live Breakfast this morning. He was reporting on a Guardian story concerning the IPPC investigation into the police shooting of the gangster Mark Duggan. On the basis of partial evidence leaked from the IPPC investigation, The Guardian drew the firm and incendiary conclusion that Mark Duggan was unarmed when Police opened … Continue reading

Continental Drift

As deegee has been pointing out, if Barack Obama got it wrong by saying that Hawaii is in Asia, then the BBC News website has gone one better than the president on the ‘gaffe’ front. It now seems to think that both Australia and New Zealand are in Asia: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15768698 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15732012 The BBC’s World menu changed recently. The old Australasia/Pacific section has gone: Africa Asia Europe Latin America Middle East … Continue reading

SLAP ON THE WRIST

There’s an important investigation here by the Mail on Sunday of a grant to BBC environment “analyst” and greenie poster boy Roger Harrabin of £15,000 from the University of East Anglia’s climate centre, the outfit at the centre of Climategate. The cash, it is stated, was used to fund a range of climate change seminars. Mr Harrabin denies, of course, that the money has influenced his reporting…and the BBC itself … Continue reading