Author Archives: DB

BBC’s Countryfile cuts comments about badgers from item about hedgehog decline

  By DB | June 18, 2013 - 3:21 pm |
19 Comments

Former BBC presenter Robin Page has uncovered a blatant piece of agenda-driven editing in a recent edition of the BBC’s Countryfile:

The woman talking about hedgehogs to John Craven was the excellent Rebecca Willers from the Shepreth Wildlife Park – she too was featured in my last Diary. On the programme she attributed hedgehog decline to road kills and loss of hedgerows, and then it was clear to me that she had been edited. I know that Rebecca believes badgers are serious predators of hedgehogs as she would not let the CRT put hedgehogs on Lark Rise Farm because of the local badgers.

I telephoned her. “Yes,” Rebecca said: “I mentioned that predation by badgers was an important factor in hedgehog decline several times and it was edited out.” So there we have it – Countryfile changing the story to avoid the facts, or so it seems.

Is it just coincidence that this editorial decision by Countryfile was helpful to those activists opposed to badger culls? I doubt it.

(h/t the BBC’s David Gregory-Kumar)

BBC takes Zimmerman clip out of context to imply racial motive

  By DB | June 10, 2013 - 8:53 pm |
26 Comments

A report by Rajini Vaidyanathan about the forthcoming trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin takes a clip of Zimmerman’s phone call to the police completely out of context to give the impression his actions were racially motivated.

Here’s the relevant segment:

Vaidyanathan: He was unarmed, carrying a bag of sweets and iced tea. He’d been spotted by George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch volunteer. Believing the teenager was acting suspiciously, he called the police.

Clip from Zimmerman phone call: He’s got his hand in his waistband… and he’s a black male.”

bbczim

Now here’s the context of that clip taken from the full transcript of the phone call:

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy is he white, black, or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.
Dispatcher: Did you see what he was wearing?
Zimmerman: Yeah. A dark hoodie, like a grey hoodie, and either jeans or sweatpants and white tennis shoes. He’s here now, he was just staring.
Dispatcher: OK, he’s just walking around the area…
Zimmerman: Looking at all the houses.
Dispatcher: OK…
Zimmerman: Now he’s just staring at me.
Dispatcher: OK-you said it’s 1111 Retreat View? Or 111?
Zimmerman: That’s the clubhouse…
Dispatcher: That’s the clubhouse, do you know what the-he’s near the clubhouse right now?
Zimmerman: Yeah, now he’s coming towards me.
Dispatcher: OK.
Zimmerman: He’s got his hand in his waistband. And he’s a black male.

“And he’s a black male” is obviously confirmation of his earlier response to the dispatcher. “He looks black” was Zimmerman’s first answer. A short time later he gets a better view so he confirms the fact. The BBC’s report takes this clip out of context to make it seem as if Zimmerman’s reference to Martin’s skin colour was unsolicited, an off the cuff remark rather than a fact that had been requested of him. That is to say, the BBC is trying to imply a racial motive.

This is utterly disgraceful, especially given the fact that last year NBC was forced to fire a journalist for broadcasting an edited version of the above Zimmerman phone call that also made him seem racist. I don’t think the BBC’s out of context cherry-picking is any better.

I’ve already mentioned in the Open Thread that Mark Mardell has written an article about racial tensions ahead of Zimmerman’s trial in which the BBC’s North America editor contrives to ignore the fact that Zimmerman is Hispanic. To do so would muddy Mardell’s narrative, which is literally black and white. Rather than go over all that again (and the BBC’s selective use of photos for this story) here’s the link to my earlier comments.

It seems that the BBC has decided on the story it wants to tell about the Zimmerman case, and it’s going to tell it regardless.

Why is Lucas Mendes still employed by the “impartial” BBC?

  By DB | May 28, 2013 - 5:49 pm |
17 Comments

In February BBC Brazil’s US-based GOP/Tea Party-hating columnist Lucas Mendes wrote an article attacking Texan conservative politicians, the latest in a long line of partisan hit pieces from this lefty journalist (representing the supposedly impartial BBC). His dislike of conservative America is so all-consuming that he based much of this recent column on fake facts from a satirical article in the New Yorker which he believed was genuine. He has since been forced to apologise, but is still employed by the BBC to give his opinion on US affairs. BBC Brazil does not have a right-of-centre columnist to balance Mendes’ views.

Here’s a link to the Google Translate version of the Mendes article. At the top is this editor’s note:

Editor’s Note: This column was written based on a satire published in “The New Yorker”. The information below about Senator Lamar Smith are false. Lucas Mendes acknowledged the error in a posterior column, published on April 18 .

“Posterior column” As in talking out of his arse. How apt.

Read it all. Impartial BBC, eh?

(Some previous Biased BBC posts about Lucas Mendes can be seen here.)

Mardell admits Benghazi was ignored: too complicated, only Obama-is-a-Muslim websites interested

  By DB | May 18, 2013 - 6:57 pm |
31 Comments

Here’s the BBC’s North America editor Mark Mardell on today’s From Our Own Correspondent explaining why Benghazi hasn’t been a big deal for journalists such as himself:

Conservatives have long suggested a cover-up, that the authorities removed words the State Department objected to, particularly the word “terrorism”. Conservatives contend that what they call the Mainstream Media, and sometimes label the Lamestream Media, have ignored this and other stories. And that is largely the case. The trouble is from the very get-go the President’s critics eagerly build on uncertain evidential sands a tottering tower of such baroque design that anyone simply looking for the facts is a bit put off. The websites making much of Benghazi usually stress the president’s middle name – Barack HUSSEIN Obama – and hint he is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“usually stress the president’s middle name… hint he is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood”? I’ve been following the story since the attacks happened and none of the websites I’ve been reading make such claims. Mardell is spewing nonsense, although in his defence he does admit facts are hard and he is easily “put off”. It’s difficult work, proper journalism.

Talking of which – on MSNBC yesterday Bob Woodward, a reporter not unfamiliar with the occasional cover-up, compared Benghazi with Watergate (via Weekly Standard)

“And I have to go back 40 years to Watergate when Nixon put out his edited transcripts to the conversations, and he personally went through them and said, ‘Oh, let’s not tell this, let’s not show this.’ I would not dismiss Benghazi. It’s a very serious issue.”

Mardell didn’t think it necessary to include the views of an actual Watergate journalist in today’s report, even though he mentioned Watergate in his link:

I guess Woodward must be one of those nutters who thinks Obama is a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Whatever Woodward’s reasons for his interest in Benghazi, at least he isn’t the sort of journalist who is “a bit put off” when the facts are a little complicated. If Mardell had got the tip-off about Watergate all those years ago Nixon would have seen out his term of office without a problem.

Boston bombing update

  By DB | April 19, 2013 - 10:21 am |
104 Comments

(Updates added below)

Here’s how BBC Radio Five Live’s 1pm news bulletin dealt with the Boston bombing on Tuesday 16 April:

listen to ‘BBC R5L news bulletin on Boston bombs, 16.4.13’ on Audioboo

Jonathan Marcus: “The United States has a very large and well-developed group of radical extremists of their own. People I suppose you would categorise as being on the far-right, people who are opposed to federal authority, particularly enraged by things like gun control and immigration and so on.”

Suspect number 1 is now dead, and number 2 – still on the run at the time of writing – has been widely identified on social media as Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student who has been missing for some weeks. Here’s Sunil:

sunil_boston

I’ve a got a sneaking feeling that speculation about the political motivation for the bombings might play a lesser role on the BBC from now on.

Also this from NBC:

Law enforcement sources said the suspects have international links and have been in the country legally for about a year.

UPDATE. Looks like I could have fallen into the speculation trap:

UPDATE 2. NBC reports:

Both of the suspects are brothers of Chechen origin and have been in the U.S. at least a year as legal permanent residents, authorities tell NBC News. The suspect on the run is believed to be Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, NBC News’ sources say.

POLLARD TRANSCRIPTS

  By DB | February 22, 2013 - 12:19 pm |
19 Comments

The BBC has released transcripts of the Pollard inquiry on Savile, but hasn’t made it easy for those trying to find out the details.


(above image via Lucy Manning)

The Telegraph and Guardian are liveblogging the release of the transcripts. Add your thoughts here.

HUGH SYKES: EUROSCEPTICS = RATS

  By DB | January 26, 2013 - 5:11 pm |
86 Comments

Commenting on the proposed EU referendum, senior BBC foreign correspondent Hugh Sykes makes known his views of the better-off-out brigade. A taste of things to come from the BBC?

Update. Twitter has just changed the way tweets can be embedded meaning that things don’t work as before. Therefore here’s a good old-fashioned screengrab for the full exchange between Sykes and me.

Update 2. “scrupulously objective” :

BBC : £5,000 for Tranny Comedy

  By DB | January 23, 2013 - 10:10 pm |
54 Comments

So Fawlty Towers gets censored but the BBC puts up £5,000 to promote transgender comedy (ht DJ):

The Trans Comedy Award opens up an opportunity for the transgender community and members of the general public to portray transgender characters and the transgender experience in an affirming manner.

We are looking for original comedy sitcoms, comedy dramas or sketch shows featuring transgender characters and/or themes and written for television. An award of up to a maximum of £5000 will be shared between the selected writer(s) in order that they may develop a pilot or taster.

Hey, let’s do the show right here!

FX Doorbell

Pizza Guy: Hello, did someone order a pizza?

Tranny Suzanne: Yes that’s for me and my friend Tranny Julie. But we wanted extra sausage.

Pizza Guy: Looks like you two have enough sausage already!

Tranny Julie: Ooh, cheeky! Get your gob round this while I knock off an Observer column.

Pizza Guy: So you were both trannies all along?

Tranny Suzanne: Yes. And now we have our own shit BBC sitcom, a bit like Miranda only somewhat more shemale.

(I do apologise – unexpectedly found a bottle of Glenmorangie in my cellar this evening and I’m bit off my head)

BBC BUSINESS JOURNO AGREES COVERAGE OF OBAMA “NOT JOURNALISM”

  By DB | January 22, 2013 - 12:08 pm |
19 Comments

FT journalist Janan Ganesh is not impressed with the fawning media coverage of Obama. The BBC’s Dominic Laurie agrees and concedes that the BBC does not escape blame.

Ministry of Truth: Benghazi was a “huge issue” in US election after all.

  By DB | November 16, 2012 - 1:39 pm |
42 Comments

On this morning’s Today programme BBC Washington correspondent Paul Adams admitted that Benghazi was a “huge issue” in the US election. Funny that, because at the time the BBC clearly thought it was a non-story, best ignored. During the final weeks of the election campaign, as more and more evidence emerged showing contradictions in official claims over what really happened and Republican politicians demanded to know the truth, the staff at the BBC’s Washington bureau decided to bury the story and reported none of the new developments.

But today Adams told us that Benghazi had after all been a big deal during the campaign, explaining that the Republicans hoped “it would undermine Barack Obama”. And there’s the reason the BBC’s pro-Obama editors and journalists ignored the story during those final weeks of the campaign – they had no desire to give any publicity to something that could help the GOP against their guy.

Today programme 16/11/2012 (approx 44.30 in)

Sarah Montague: Now David Petraeus is up before Congress today on another matter isn’t he?

Paul Adams: He certainly is and this is of rather more concern, actually, to most politicians here in Washington and that is what exactly he knew about the attack on the US consulate building and CIA annex in the Libyan city of Benghazi which resulted in the death of the American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Now this was a huge issue that the Republicans were running with before the election in the hope that it would undermine Barack Obama. They are still pursuing it. There is a lot of anger about what the Republicans regard as essentially a cover up, an attempt by the administration – various bits of the administration – to portray this as simply a mob attack in the wake of publication of that notorious internet video about Mohammed rather than call it what it was which was an organised terrorist attack by groups allied to al-Qaeda. And they also want to know exactly what the CIA was doing there in Benghazi at that annex and what steps were taken to try and relieve the situation once that attack began.

Of course Petraeus is big news now, and the BBC can no longer pretend there’s nothing to report. Hence the whiplash-inducing reassessment of recent history.

A few days before the election I asked BBC foreign correspondent Hugh Sykes (who wasn’t covering the US elections) why the BBC had been ignoring the latest Benghazi developments. He said it was “odd” if the BBC was indeed not reporting it:

By the time of our exchange the BBC had pretty much given up reporting the story. “Odd” indeed.

And while I’m on a Twitter splurge, BBC newsreader Alice Arnold was on holiday in America with her partner Clare Balding when the election was on. She played golf with a Texan guy – good company, apart from his politics:

Phrases you won’t find BBC journalists tweeting: “He was a Democrat but apart from that…” “He was an Obama supporter but apart from that…”

And here’s BBC news producer Richard Bowen (ex-Washington, now London) exchanging a little joke with a friend on the day after the election:

The ultimate horror – a Republican voter! Still, could be worse – the kid might grow up to be a BBC journalist.

Spinning the US jobless figures

  By DB | November 2, 2012 - 3:15 pm |
33 Comments

When the US jobless figures came out last month showing a drop in unemployment, this was the BBC’s headline:

Today’s figures show the unemployment rate has gone back up to 7.9%, so this time the BBC headline concentrates on jobs created instead:

Note the phrase I’ve highlighted above. A few minutes after taking that screengrab I noticed the page had been updated (although the timestamp remained the same):

Someone had decided that even mentioning the rise in the jobless rate on the main page was too negative. To discover that the unemployment rate has gone up one now has to click through to the story. The BBC will do anything it can to make things seem better for Obama.

UPDATE. The Commentator spotted the spin too.

UPDATE 2. I’ve noticed another change. The original opening line for the article was as follows:

The US economy added 171,000 new jobs in October, which was more than had been expected.

By the second draft a word had been added:

The US economy added 171,000 new jobs in October, which was much more than had been expected.

(Via Newssniffer)

Not very subtle. By election day there’s every chance the BBC will be spinning this as the most awesome set of job figures in, like, ever.