The BBC, About As Impartial As A Touchline Dad

 

 

The Telegraph slams the BBC for its tidal wave of pro-Labour reporting over the Mail/Miliband punch up:

The BBC insisted that its coverage of what was a significant political story had been “appropriate, balanced and impartial”.

However, an analysis by The Telegraph found the story took up almost 49 minutes of the 12 hours of broadcasting by Today, BBC Radio 4’s flagship current affairs programme, over the four editions between Wednesday and Saturday, while there were 30 articles published on its website — including one in Farsi — by yesterday afternoon.

Ken Livingstone and Lord Glasman, both Labour figures, secured two of the week’s highest-profile slots on the Today programme at 7.10am on Wednesday and 8.10am on Friday, while Left-wing figures including Tony Benn were able to speak without opposing views being presented.

On Saturday night a government source entered the debate and said there was “certainly a question mark” over whether the BBC’s coverage had been proportionate and impartial.

The source suggested that the BBC may have given too much prominence to reporting the row, especially given that it occupies such a powerful position in the media.

 

 

and again:

Questions over BBC ‘Labour bias’

 

What is often missing from the BBC reports is any context….Miliband’s Marxism is only ever fleetingly referred to whilst claiming the basis of the Mail’s article was solely the diary entry of the 17 year old Miliband….when it was clearly based upon his Marxist views.

The BBC has also used this as an opportunity to attack the Mail, quite happily labelling it anti-Semitic by association….and never refers to the Mirror’s own publication of similar articles praising the Blackshirts,  nor indeed making any mention that the Left were as enamoured of Hitler and his Nazis as anyone on the Right….nor indeed to its own wartime anti-Semitism.

‘Have I Got News For You’ got in on the act going beyond ‘a joke’ you might say and taking a highly partisan, political approach….all the more effective at spreading its lie for its high audience and the much more receptive nature of the material.

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27 Responses to The BBC, About As Impartial As A Touchline Dad

  1. Amounderness Lad says:

    With the BBC’s blatantly anti-Israeli propaganda output for it to scream Anti-Semite at anybody is absolutely farcical and more than a little hypocritical.

    As for their claim about the political significance of a newspaper blowing a well deserved Raspberry pointing out a few relevant facts which discredit the glorification claims of a political leader about his father who he persistently asserts moulded his own political stance what a load of guff over very little.

    Miliband, with the complete support of the BBC, is simply playing the Victim Card. “Boo, hoo, the nasty journalist criticised my poor daddy.” Ah, what a shame.

    The bottom line is that there was a claim he didn’t particularly like Britain, well, what a shame, I really am mortified. The simple truth is that a journalist in a newspaper offered a perfectly legitimate opinion about Miliband Seniors attitude towards Britain. From the reaction of Miliband, the partisan BBC and it’s “We want to destroy the Daily Mail because it doesn’t tow the Party Line” you would have thought the claim had been that he was a Mass Murdering War Criminal.
    The truth is that what is at most a storm in a teacup is being reported on the BBC as if it were Hurricane Katrina.

    The simple truth is that the whole issue is a concerted political vendetta by the BBC and the Labour Party to silence or destroy a newspaper whose views and opinions the do not like. This is not the first time this has happened in the last few years, and, no doubt, it will not be the last.

    The current series of attacks by the Labour Party and it’s fellow travellers on those parts of the British Media which do not slavishly support it’s policies is reminiscent of the behaviour of the Soviet Union which only permitted Party Controlled Media Outlets, although we haven’t yet got quite to the stage of miscreant journalists falling mysteriously out of multi-storey blocks of flats, well not yet anyway.

       69 likes

  2. Fred Sage says:

    I shall always buy the Mail in future.

       33 likes

  3. flexdream says:

    At least everyone should now know that the dad who Ed Miliband says was his inspiration was also a committed Marxist.

       31 likes

    • Fred Bloggs says:

      Unfortunately the bBC rely on a large proportion of the public having the attention span of a goldfish. So when they announce the next Labour bribe the public will think that they are their best option.

         29 likes

  4. brett says:

    “Questions”over bbc labour bias”…. my question is why we have to fund what is effectively the labour broadcasting corporation. Why the so called conservative party do nothing to stop it?

       45 likes

  5. Doublethinker says:

    Surely the Tories must see that the BBC will always support Labour and oppose themselves. This lean to the left far exceeds anything you can in Pisa and is getting steadily more blatant.
    I understand how bloody it will be to get rid of the BBC. But if the Tories do manage to win the next general election then they should make sure that they dismantle the BBC completely and ensure that it can never rise again. What a democracy needs is a plurality of views , some from the far left , some from the far right , but most from around the centre left and right. People should be free to choose which slant they want on their news and comment and pay accordingly.
    A single broadcaster cannot possibly deliver this plurality and when that broadcaster is funded by the state then it is clearly going to lean to statist thinking.
    The Tories often talk of letting the market do its work and of how precious freedom of the press is in a democracy. Well they need to make a happy marriage of the two. If they don’t the BBC will further increase its leftist stranglehold and we will lose our democracy. The BBC is a real threat to British democracy and must be abolished.

       65 likes

  6. Alex says:

    The BBC always uses it’s ‘comedy’ programs to spread its Leftist bile. HIGNFY is pure left-wing propaganda.

       53 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      ‘‘Have I Got News For You’ got in on the act going beyond ‘a joke’ you might say and taking a highly partisan, political approach’
      It’s clear HIGNFY have a DM default setting beyond balance, but it was a story and deserved satire.
      Which was delivered. All one way, but delivered. The C4 peroxide sink guest was a predictable embarrassment, looking left and left to see if she could get away with saying… nothing of value but that she was ‘right on’. Baker and Merton & even Hislop certainly were aware of the facial tics that see the chekky still coming.
      Actually I thought it lasted a very brief time given usual BBC ‘encouragement’ of such matters. I imagine they are the only broadcaster still raking this corpse over still today?
      Actually the best line of the evening was Hislop’s about the Miliboyband line-up: ‘No Direction’.

         19 likes

      • pah says:

        Considering the bile they usually reserve for Tories HIGNFY went right over the top on this one. The most amusing part being they couldn’t see that what they do week in week out is far worse than anything the Mail has ever done.

        The stench of hypocrisy was overpowering.

           33 likes

  7. George R says:

    “My father, like Ed Miliband’s, was a Jewish refugee from the Nazis. My grandparents died in Auschwitz. Having worked for this paper for 13 years, I can say with certainty that it’s deplorable to say the Mail is anti-Semitic ”
    By ALEX BRUMMER.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2444472/ALEX-BRUMMER-Its-deplorable-say-Mail-anti-Semitic.html

       35 likes

  8. will says:

    I think that the BBC’s agenda of undermining any alternative to Leverson should be given more coverage.
    Both Dimpleby (on QT) & Coburn (Politics Today) stated that the press’s proposals for regulation were “no regulation at all”

       25 likes

  9. F*** the Beeb says:

    The only question is why are some people still too thick to see how blatant the pro-Labour bias really is and, in some cases, actually somehow convince themselves the BBC is pro-Conservative?

       34 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Yes, just been arguing with a lefty elsewhere (whom I’m convinced in a BBC employee) even when presented with evidence, they still swear black is white and trot out the same old “show me the evidence” crap, and in true lefty tradition resort to insults.

      The most common anti bias argument going around right now is ‘how can they be biased when Ex Tory MP Chris Patten is Chairman Of The BBC Trust?’

      Of course they forget that Patten was part of the plot to down Mrs Thatcher and was soon ousted of by the good people of Bath in 1992, Patten wasn’t isn’t and will never be a true Tory.

         27 likes

  10. Peter Stroud says:

    The leftish bias still goes on. Even today, on The Sunday Politics, the Mail article was given time: and whose opinion was sought? None other than Lord Prescott. And who was called to support the Mail? No one. Even Brillo is banging the left wing drum.

    Oh, by the way: we were all pleased to hear that when Miliband contacted Prescott, he made it known to him that he did not wish this to influence the upcoming debate on press regulation. Pull the other one John old son.

       30 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      The champions of moral rectitude deployed by the BBC/Labour joint PR squad so far are an interesting bunch. Campbell, Hasan, and now… Prescott.
      Taking an ethical lead from an ex-Minister who decided to pull a Kennedyesque bit of Droit du Seigneur on a lowly staffer is… ‘brave’.
      Though, of course, that was a different time.

         19 likes

      • Dysgwr_Cymraeg says:

        Kennedyesque, droite de……..etc
        Do you mean that the fat lump of lard ate all the pies and then shagged his secretary?
        Less euphemisms please lol.

           15 likes

  11. George R says:

    Supplementary.

    “Former news presenter Peter Sissons accuses the BBC of a ‘basic failure of journalism’ over Ed Miliband row with the Daily Mail.”

    http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/10/06/former-news-presenter-peter-sissons-accuses-bbc-basic-failure-journalism-over-ed#0MglrcGvAwG0s4dO.99

       23 likes

  12. Nibor says:

    I thought the liberal/left loved Dr Johnsons phrase “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel ” ?
    (Actually misquoted and the Dr never put it in print himself ) .
    Now they want to tell us Milliband senior is a patriot .
    Good to see old fashioned virtues coming back .

       8 likes

  13. the last northern outpost says:

    The problem the school curriculum only ever teaches about WW2. So people below 30 never hear about stalin, Pol Pot & the Chinese CP. They only ever here about the cuddly Commies as presented via tony benn et al by the BBC and the other left wing outlets. Never the 100 million murdered in the name of socialist brotherhood

       9 likes

  14. George R says:

    “My question to the panel: where DOES the BBC find such partisan audiences?”
    By DOMINIC LAWSON.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2447357/DOMINIC-LAWSON-My-question-panel-DOES-BBC-partisan-audiences.html

       10 likes

    • Demon says:

      One thing Lawson said is that the panel is balanced. Wrong! Of the five panellists, three or four are always of the left (including the obligatory Liberal-Democrat) and yes, before the coalition they did always gang up on the Conservative along with the “non”-political guest (generally a left-wing “comedian”). Dimbleby always assisted the left panellists if the right one was mmaking a good point. The interruption quotient was always many times more for a conservative than a left-wing panelliest. What he says about why the audience is always so ridiculously left-wing is intersting and valid.

         7 likes

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  16. John says:

    No words needed…..(apart from what a complete load of sh!t)

    Thanks for contacting us regarding BBC Two’s ‘Newsnight’ broadcast on 1st October 2013.

    I understand you’ve a number of issues with this broadcast, firstly I note you’re unhappy that Alastair Campbell was invited to contribute to the programme.

    Programme contributors such as Alastair are appointed on the basis of their experience and talent, but judgements are often subjective and we would never expect everyone to agree with every choice we make. We know there will be divided opinions on subjects such as this, however we feel as a whole we have guests who represent our audience overall.

    In regards to the comments concerning the chairing by Emily Maitlis, as with any ‘Newsnight’ discussion, we sought to challenge all sides of the debate on their policies and arguments. It is the nature of live interviews that not everyone gets complete parity of air time and often there will be interruptions. In situations such as this it can be difficult to control heated debates and we feel that Emily was more than professional.

    We appreciate this was a lively and at times heated debate on a clearly divisive subject. That said, we believe both Alistair Campbell and Deputy Editor of the Daily Mail Jon Steafel were given time and space to make their positions heard.

    We believe Emily Maitlis interjected where necessary, pressed both guests and handled the discussion in a fair and impartial manner.

    We regret on this occasion you felt the need to complain and I can assure you that I’ve registered your comments on our audience log.

    This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are made available across the BBC.

    Thank you again for taking the time to contact us.

    Kind Regards

    Tanya McKee

    BBC Complaints

       3 likes

    • Guest Who says:

      Textbook BBC Complaints Cookie Cutter Blow Off..
      Featuring, in order…
      Tell you what you know already (with a probable redirect away from some other points of value to what they want to answer, albeit nowhere near based on factual matters): ‘I understand you’ve a number of issues with this broadcast, firstly I note you’re unhappy that Alastair Campbell was invited to contribute to the programme.

      Blatant delusion and/or lies (FoI exemption internally secure from ever being checked): ‘Programme contributors such as Alastair are appointed on the basis of their experience and talent,

      Hand-washing kick into semantic, ‘prove it otherwise’ long grass: ‘but judgements are often subjective and we would never expect everyone to agree with every choice we make.

      ‘Feelings’ and unsubstantiated claims: ‘We know there will be divided opinions on subjects such as this, however we feel as a whole we have guests who represent our audience overall.

      More ‘feelings’ and more outright lies (Peroxide sink Maitless was out of her depth and slammed for her lack of chair control. Maybe her heels were hurting): ‘In regards to the comments concerning the chairing by Emily Maitlis, as with any ‘Newsnight’ discussion, we sought to challenge all sides of the debate on their policies and arguments. It is the nature of live interviews that not everyone gets complete parity of air time and often there will be interruptions. In situations such as this it can be difficult to control heated debates and we feel that Emily was more than professional.’

      Faux empathy: ‘We appreciate this was a lively and at times heated debate on a clearly divisive subject.
      And, of course, ‘belief’: ‘That said, we believe both Alistair Campbell and Deputy Editor of the Daily Mail Jon Steafel were given time and space to make their positions heard.’

      And yet more… ‘belief’: ‘We believe Emily Maitlis interjected where necessary, pressed both guests and handled the discussion in a fair and impartial manner.’

      Insincere apology: ‘We regret on this occasion you felt the need to complain

      Confirmation that it has gone down the BBC memory hole and there will be zero official log that they have blown it off based on nothing other than internal feelings and belief: ‘…and I can assure you that I’ve registered your comments on our audience log.

      This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are made available across the BBC.
      They really don’t even pretend any more.

      Thank you again for taking the time to contact us.
      Now, what are you going to do about it?

         2 likes

  17. GCooper says:

    Complaining to the BBC is a waste of time. The arrogance of the Corporation knows no bounds.

       2 likes