NOT SO EVAN-HANDED

Getting back into the swing of things, I thought I’d monitor the New Channel’s coverage of the AV referendum campaign on Tuesday. On that day at least (I can’t vouch for any of the others), it seemed scrupulously balanced – balanced number of guests, exactly the same length of interview (well three seconds difference!) for the pro- and anti- spokespersonages, appropriate questions to each side, same number of interruptions, and … Continue reading

HOBSON’S CHOICE

If you use the BBC News website’s ‘Search’ function, as many do, you’ll find that broad categories have a right-hand section where BBC editors recommend sites ‘elsewhere on the web’ for readers to investigate. Some of these (usually links to newspapers or news agencies) are regularly updated. Others are much more permanent choices, staying up for several months. The three examples below have been the editor’s choice for over half … Continue reading

"UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN…"

There’s nothing that BBC greenies like better than to make us feel bad. It’s glorious spring weather and it’s a holiday, but David Shukman is at pains to warn us that our enjoyment should be limited…and that our unpleasant polluting habits like driving cars and should be reined in. The eco-bogey this time is smog, that nasty, indeterminate stuff (fully of menacing green-creed stuff like PM10s) that will kill us … Continue reading

Less is More

The necessity for brevity in BBC online articles calls for ruthless pruning of irrelevant material. Ditching the detail and binning the background lays bare the priorities and prejudices of the BBC. What’s hot and what’s not; the salient v the superfluous. What’s left unsaid says it all. Let’s peek beneath the cloak of impartiality to expose the agenda-driven underbelly and unveil the secrets of the subtle but revealing body language … Continue reading

False dawn

I switch on the radio. “They’re firing from mosques and hospitals” a voice is saying indignantly, “Fighting in a most underhand way. They’re taking off their uniforms and wearing civilian clothing and using women and children as shields”“At Last!” I’m thinking. “The BBC has finally recognised exactly how Hamas operates, and understands what Israel faces whenever it tries to defend itself. “But of course I was mistaken. It was not … Continue reading

Reflections on the Theme of Time Management. or: Me Me Me.

I’ve been writing on this website for a couple of years or moreand it don’t seem a day too much,but there aint a broadcasting corporation livin’ in the landas I wouldn’t “swop” for a bit of honest reporting. However for all my efforts, and those of David Vance and the others, nothing changes at the BBC. In fact, things have taken a turn for the worse now that the chair … Continue reading

Ken Cons The World

A Website called “We Are For Israel” is shocked that the BBC refers to the late Vittorio Arrigoni as a peace campaigner. H/T Daphne Anson.This may seem like a trivial matter. For one thing, he was, in a way, a peace campaigner, that is if you define peace as a Middle East without Jews.The BBC may or may not be aware of Mr Arrigoni’s reputation, but to take even the … Continue reading

ENDA ON AN AUSTERITY BENDA?

Anyone catch the odd interview here with Irish PM Enda Kenny on BBC “Today” this morning? The line being taken by Evan Davies was that Ireland should follow Iceland and choose to default on its massive debt. Enda, being a good little European, insisted that Ireland was 100% committed to “colleagues” in the EU. Wonder why the BBC were wanting him to suggest he might follow Iceland? – one way … Continue reading