I thought Evan Davis did a gratifyingly balanced interview with David Howarth and Peter Smyth this morning about the incident at the G20 protest. If only they could apply that approach to other subjects, things wouldn’t seem quite so hopeless. I’d like to hear what everyone else thought.
Unbias!
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This comment from The Guardian I think says it all;
rerab
07 Apr 09, 7:14pm (about 16 hours ago)
Will anyone now dare say ‘if you ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear’?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/apr/07/civil-liberties-g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson
I think Davis is the last remaining half-decent journalist left in that vile, disgusting, lying, cheating, grasping organisation.
OT here, but maybe David will care to address this?
The BBC is now acting as the press release / advocacy agency for the National Secular Society’s campaign to get rid of payment for hospital chaplains from the NHS:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6322&edition=1&ttl=20090408133825
If any Beeboids are out there, perhaps they can answer:
– how is this ‘news’?
– why this open secular bias?
Well Radio 5 certainly hasn’t been balanced today. What about the copper who got hit over the head? What about the bottles being thrown by the ‘militants’?
As for the man pushed over, we don’t know what had gone on before the incident nor to me does it look much like he’s trying to get away. He seemed to be making very little effort to move away from the Police.
I’m not going to judge the incident yet, but the BBC already has. Yes we know the police have form here, but the protesters didn’t really need to be there in the first place.
Ig they want CHANGE, then demand the fat one eyed jock has an election now and they can vote in their green liberals mates.
Of course they don’t believe in democracy only ‘their way or no way’ so they resort to violence.
Ok, let’s take bets on how long Evan can hang on to his job at the BBC. On the other hand , they can’t sack him because he is “gay”. How awful it must be to be trapped in the mind of a Beeboid.
Dr. Ross 12:53
Nice post ! Although a little restrained for my taste.
Martin
I don’t listen to radio 5 and your descriptions of it have convinced me never to begin. Evan Davis WAS balanced, but I fear the BBC has decided to bias its news-reporting heavily against the police. So now, whatever the findings of an inquiry, extenuating circumstances, if any, will look like a whitewash. Same as usual.
Mostly balanced. But Davis let David Howarth state that claims of police being pelted by bottles was not corroborated by the video, when in fact there is evidence of that. Only there’s an obvious BBC cut-away as soon as a bottle enters the frame. Evan Davis may not have been totally biased, but the BBC video editor is.
“Less than helpful” is a weak choice of words to describe violent protests. Davis could have been honest about that, but he wasn’t. Why? What’s wrong with saying that there was some violence, BBC? That doesn’t justify what happened here at all, and stating that there was violence elsewhere doesn’t support all police actions, full stop. It’s silly.
Martin 2:02
You are right. And the way things are developing with the Police frightens me.
Well, I heard Nicky Campbell trying to defend the police against Howarth just after 7pm. I don’t really buy into this line that the BBC are anti-police. In fact, these two forces of state control have a lot in common.
That should have been just after 7am.
And today it is revealed the BBC was offered the video of the asssault on Tomlinson, but refused to broadcast it on the grounds it was “just a London story”. The video was then offered to The Guardian who published it.
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/04/08/bbc-refused-guardian-g20-protest-vid-too-much-of-a-london-story/
The BBC and its friends are certainly going for the police over this issue. Anybody who looks at the video with an unprejudiced eye has to see that the unfortunate Mr Tomlinson was either drunk, drugged or feeling very unwell. How the police, behind him, were to know this is a mystery. To them he looked like some clever poser with his hands in his pockets, taunting them. Happens all the time. Of course he was given a push.
The hysterical goons blocking the streets are the ones who created the circumstances for this man’s death to occur, not the police. His blood is on their kind hands.
Red Lepond: I can’t agree. Nearly all the violence came from the protesters not the Police. The bottle throwing, breaking of windows, Police being hit on the head and so on.
As I pointed out we don’t know what went on with this man before he was knocked over. I’m not defending the Police here, but it’s interesting that the BBC didn’t bother to cover the violence towards the Police and the threats to bankers yet OK this guy has died but we don’t know exactly what the blow he received caused to him.
The BBC as usual appear to have convicted the Police already.
The real blame for this death should lie with the protesters. They shouldn’t have been there. If they want to send the Government a message we have elections coming up in June and we have a general election next year.
Send Liebour a message then.
Preposteroso – I agree with you, but it seems that we are in a small minority.
Preposteroso
Exactly right.
This piece argues that the depression this time round is worse than the 1930’s, so far.
http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3421
****Breaking News********
Muzzie’s arrested in Manchester. Breaking on ITV and Sky.
Want to guess which global news network didn’t think it worthy?
Sorry if this is OT, but i just wanted to remind people to listen to tonight’s Nightwaves on R3 (9.15pm)?
————————
Christians in the Arab World
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jq0pf
Rana Mitter and his guests explore the contemporary state of Arabic-speaking Christians. How are they faring in a world of East-West tensions and resurgent radical Islamism? Rana examines the differing theologies and experiences of these communities against the historical and contemporary backdrop of the Middle East.
————————
I wonder if they’ll even touch on the rampant anti-Christian discrimination all over the Moslem world… well, regular readers know the background to that story only too well, and readers of this site can make reasonably informed guesses as to how serious / hard-hitting the R3 discussion will be.
I heard the Today interview and thought that it was balanced and fair (for a change). But I fear that this is very quickly going to develop into another “Stockwell”, with endless footage of the “assault” and numerous lefty talking heads running down our police. They have already been described as being over aggressive and looking for trouble. Soon the scum that smashed up the bank and lobbed bottles will be forgotten. No doubt someone will erect a makeshift shrine for this poor chap, but of course the real reason will be typical lefty propaganda, to keep this tragic incident fresh in our memory.
Who would want to be a copper these days? Not me, that’s for sure.
I bet that this incident will make the police even worse at getting criminals – they will have to rely even more on “thought crimes”
I am not a great supporter of the police (I was before they became political), but I agree if there is blame it should be laid at the feet of the profesional rent a mob
Lets try this.
I think we can all agree on one thing.
Violent protest of any kind and for whatever reason is self defeating and therefore worse then pointless, within a democracy.
Or put another way.
It is a well established fact, that a large peaceful protest, within a democracy, is many times more effective then a non-peaceful one.
The average citizen would very much prefer that this was always seen to be the case.
Therefore.
Why do we almost always get violence during protests, when violence only ever serves the needs of the establishment, not the protesters?
I contend that there are almost always subversive forces at play on one side or the other, or both, that conspire to cause ‘certain things’ to happen, including sometimes certain things such as violence, one way or another.
I personally believe that all organized protest movements are either run, or have been subverted by our own establishment.
After all, if your job was keeping control over this country of THEIRS and you had such a thing as MI5, The BBC, and their combined budget at your command. Would you not greatly wish for ALL actual and potential protest groups to be subverted by your own organization ASAP?
Answer; of course you would. If at all possible, which it very much is.
Therefore the fact that all protest groups of any notable power or size are eventually SUBVERTED, is an absolute certainty.
The establishment have long since had the power to effect many a given problem, therefore the reaction, and therefore their desired solution.
The BBC of course being a large player in keeping the establishments highly deceptive, Smoke and Mirrors show on the road.
The question therefore is.
Are the establishment using this power at this time, and if so, for what Common Purpose or ultimate aim? Or perhaps more importantly. Is any of this in our common and individual, long and short-term interests?
I contend that a short or long term breakdown in British society is being orchestrated, by the only people capable of doing such a thing. Which are certainly not Muslim in origin, however much we may wish they were.
if there is blame it should be laid at the feet of the profesional rent a mob
Jon | 08.04.09 – 7:57 pm | #
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Utter garbage. People are responsible for their own actions. No excuse.
No doubt you’d sneer at some snivelling git who appeared in the dock on some charge or other and said “it weren’t me, it were society wot dunnit…”. Where’s the difference?
Haloscan playing up. What a pile of shit.
The Met were ‘up for it’ were they?
That’ll show those proles who’s in charge, won’t it.
“proles” Twizzle? What are “proles”? You in this century or the previous?
A bit off topic but did anyone hear Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 yesterday? Gordon Brown was the special guest. My goodness, Jeremy certainly fawned over him. And callers were allowed. Carefully vetted obviously. Typical was the phone call from “a housewife in Northampton” where she thanked Gordon for his efforts in taking us out of recession and bemoaned the right wing press for being nasty about him. She thought he was doing a fantastic job. I almost crashed the car.
The next call was from a pensioner who thanked Gordon for taking him out of poverty and was dreading the day when “those nasty Tories got back into power.”
I switched over to Classic FM at that point.
Bob Quick resigns. So Livingturds Muslim terrorist friends will be happy will they?
Seems to me that Quick got too involved in politics, particularly leftie politics.
I hope when the Tories get elected they have a clear out of leftie plods.
scottish cynic |
North Korea couldn’t do a better job, they won’t save the useless turd though!!!
Anyone who wants to see the BBC’s bias in classic form need only look at the “Profile” of Bob Quick attached to the current news story of his resignation. It is essentially a whitewash job, written after the earlier controversy over Quick’s ordering the arrest of a Conservative MP, and a police raid on his office in Parliament.
The Profile goes on to say: “The inevitable result of being at the centre of such a storm is that every aspect of your life is examined — particularly by tabloid newspapers with right-wing sympathies.”
No doubt we should rely instead on the leftist-sympathizing BBC to give us a trustworthy account of these matters.
The rent boy users and drug addicts at the BBC really have jumped the shark this time.
Vicki Pollard on Radio5 defending the fat bitch that pissed off and left her two kids home alone.
The stupidity of beeboids knows no bounds
All morning the BBC have been stating that Quick was forced out by the Tories and in particular Boris Johnson. Now it appears it was 5 bellies that ordered him gone last night and she’s angry with Johnson for saying he’d accepted his resignation.
So how with the drug user sand rent boy addicts spin it now?
BBC new line. Blame the photographer. I’m betting he works for a right wing newspaper?
The BBC News Channel keeps looping video which blows up Quick’s florid booze sodden face during an appearance before a Commons Committee. They appear not to be following the Livingstone line that Quick’s lapse was trivial.
An attack like that shown in the video of Mr Tomlinson is completely unacceptable no matter what provocation may have gone before. In the video I can see no other protestors just lots of plods and photographers so exactly what threat to plod or the Queens peace did Tomlinson represent. He was attacked from behind while walking away from ploice. He was walking along a public street with his hands in his pockets for Christ’s sake.
This incident just about sums up what the British police have become, unaccountable thugs doing their political masters bidding. They are now similar to european police forces allied to the politicians not the public. Interesting coincidence???
Bert Rodinsky | 09.04.09 – 11:18 am |
Agreed, but it also
seems to me they let their frustrations come out on whitey having
had their wings clipped a few months before on the anti israel mob smashing up starbucks etc and being chased down the street by a bunch of rabid muslims.
The drug users are still trying to blame Boris.
Of course the real question is why ar ewe letting potential terrorists into the UK in the first place?
No one from Pakistan, especially students should be allowed into the UK.
No-one appeared to spot the irony on PM last night when the woman from the IPCC asked people to forward any videos they may have of the incident.
Presumably that would involve pictures of the police which it is now effectively illegal to take?
Putting in my tuppence worth on the incident, I find it difficult to see how the police action we saw can be justified, whatever earlier provocation there may have been. The best I could come up with was that they may have thought Mr Tomlinson was attempting to retrieve an offensive weapon from his pockets.
Martin
And no young Pakistanis living in Britain should be allowed to visit Pakistan either.
We must be crazy to let all this carry on. What we hear in the news (often camouflaged by the BBC) is just the tip of the security iceberg.
Preposteroso
I agree with you as well. Seems that there is a growing number of us who do not take video and shouted allegations at face value.
Mr Tomlinson was behaving like a man with a head injury, not a man with a heart attack – all that staggering, and looking dazed. Eye witnesses said he hit his head on the pavement after being pushed.
Did the first post mortem examine the head?
What will the second post mortem show?
Somebody said this video site has Bush masterbating on it!! Filmed by secret service at the white house!! He does have a small penis!!