You may often come to the conclusion that BBC presenters are ignorant of the subjects on which they are interviewing  and have undue reliance on, or respect for, the interviewee ‘expert’ and subsequently fail to challenge him or her on  their statements…either out of lack of subject knowledge, too much deference or all too often a set of beliefs which are in line with those being stated and so the presenter is disinclined to question them.

It seems that at least one person in the BBC itself has noticed this propensity for sitting back and accepting any old guff as insightful and knowledgeable comment.

 
William Dalrymple, it should be noted, is an English writer gone ‘native’ in India..one who has an affinity for the Muslim world view…and is inclined to make excuses for the Muslim terrorist….and as he himself says he is…‘an anti-colonial Scot, who has written fiercely critically of the Raj for a quarter of a century. ‘  No wonder perhaps that the BBC asks for his opinion on events so frequently.

This is a letter from a BBC employee to Ariel Magazine concerning an interview with Dalrymple…
‘Historian William Dalrymple was interviewed on Saturday, December 29 on the India rape story.
Twice he made derogatory, inflammatory comments about ‘Jatts’ – the community of North-west region (Punjab) – leaving the listener with an impression it’s this community that is a problem (if not to blame).
At no time was he challenged. Presumably, none of the PM team had heard of Jatts, so had no idea to whom the historian was referring – hence took his ‘expert’ view.
Like me, the majority of Jatts are Sikhs, not Hindus. They’re a minority community in India, mostly farmers, regularly caricatured in Bollywood films as uncouth country bumpkins.
Mr Dalrymple played on this prejudice at what is a highly emotive time in India. We have yet to know more about the accused – who they are, where they come from – but for him to use his interview to demean the Jatts was irresponsible and dangerously misleading.
More importantly, it was also lazy journalism on the part of Saturday PM. It may have been a quiet period during the festive season, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to get a guest who was ‘best fit’ for this sensitive story. Mr Dalrymple was not.
All the team needed to do was to contact the WS Hindi team (London or Delhi) who’d have given good guidance and even suggested the right guest – one or two of the correspondents specialise in women-related issues and guested on World News on the story. All that rich resource at PM’s fingertips – unused. What a waste.
Guess WS Language teams still have a job to register on the radar of ‘big’ national programmes, be they radio or TV. ‘One BBC’ still has a way to go.’
Jat Dhillon, senior producer, BBC Global India TV and World News

I see that the police trade union has been busy using the BBC  for a little scaremongering and shakedownism!

“The number of young police officers in England and Wales has fallen by nearly 50% in two years. There were 9,088 officers aged under 26 in 2009-10 but only 4,758 in 2011-12, figures obtained by the BBC show. In Cleveland, North Wales and Staffordshire the fall in the number of officers aged under 26 was more than 70% over the period. Overall police numbers hit a nine-year low in 2012, due to tighter budget constraints slowing recruitment.”

Oh no..those savage and cruel Coalition cuts. Vote Labour – the policeman’s friend. Looks like the BBC is keen to do all it can to prove how awful cuts are for these highly paid police officers

I was sorry to hear of Andrew Marr’s stroke and wish him a full and speedy recovery. I may not agree with his politics but I hope he gets well soon. However I did  tune in to his programme this morning to watch James Landale interviewing Labour leader Ed Miliband and what a difference it made! I felt Landale was to the point, dogged and took no nonsense. Miliband look rattled to me and this is how all politicians should be treated and it was SUCH a refreshing contrast to Marr’s pally-wally act with the likes of Miliband. Thoughts?

Bias comes in many guises. A Biased BBC reader notes concern about the BBC using non-BBC material on news bulletins and their NORTHERN IRELAND website without declaration or caveat;

“In the case of the driver last night in Newtownabbey a clip of the incident was played this morning at 9am on Radio Ulster with I think no introduction at all and certainly no mention of the source of the material and without the usual “the BBC has not been able to verify this” caveat as done on Syria.

This was what they did last summer by endlessly displaying at the top of their website, the clip supplied by Sinn Fein of the band parading in circles outside St Patrick’s which emphasis ensured marches along Donegall Street became a huge issue for months, and will be for decades. They also failed entirely to put the matter in any context  e.g. one small fact being circling was what the band did when the parade stopped, anywhere. Do they have protocols for such use of externally supplied material and if so why aren’t they using them here? Would they use the same editorial judgment to broadcast if it was a strike and picket by hospital or transport workers (like BA stewards two years ago)?”

UPDATE

Subsequently the BBC have rephrased the wording to the incident. The are no longer claiming he was a road user?? However the BBC are still saying he was stopped from trying to visit his seriously ill wife in hospital. This is completely at odds with the eye witness accounts.

UPDATE

BBC NI website 16.47 12 Jan

‘In Rathcoole in Newtownabbey, a distressed pensioner pleaded with protesters to let him pass through a road block so he could make his way to visit his seriously ill wife in hospital.
The protesters jeered at the elderly man and refused to let him through.’

BBC presenter William Crawley has been lobbing fairly provocative if seemingly  innocuous comment on to his Facebook page every couple of hours says:

William Crawley 2 hours ago via Twitter

• Contrary to rumours of fake audio, the recording of a distressed pensioner last night was made by BBC reporters live at the scene.

Impartially reporting the facts or vigourously pursuing an agenda?

BBC have been bigging up Heseltine’s attack on Cameron’s alleged desire to negotiate new relationship with EU. They have kept this narrative going all week. First, US criticism of putative changes in EU relationship, then German,  now Hezza.  I suppose anyone who stabs Thatcher in back is assured BBC gratitude?

Sometimes, I hear things on the BBC that make me do a double take For the past day the BBC has been trolling the notion that half the worlds food “is thrown away” with UK supermarkets getting accused of wanton waste. On Today this morning, Evan Davies speculated that “Supermarkets give us things we do not want” and therefore end up jinking such produce. What a remarkably stupid and left wing idea. Has he not heard of supply and demand? Supermarkets only provide things they think we will want. Sure, sometimes they may get it wrong but the notion of Supermarkets imposing “things” that we do not want is detached from all commercial reality. Perhaps Evan has been working for too long for organisation that DOES impose things on us – the BBC?

Better late than never and by popular request! BBC bothering you? Detail it here!!!!

The BBC’s environment correspondent Matt McGrath reveals that when the science doesn’t match his beliefs he doesn’t bother with the science:

I don’t know about you, but the recent row about Met Office climate predictions and a slowdown in global warming has left me shrugging my shoulders.

Yes, obviously the science is important and the issue is critical to our survival as species etc etc, but arguments about experimental models and degrees of difference seem really far removed from the concerns and interests of many people.

Get to the bottom of the article and you see he changes his mind about the importance of science…when it supports his argument…whilst ‘appearing’ to present a sceptical viewpoint he in fact presses the man-made global warming view…..

Meanwhile, despite the supposition in the UK that global warming may actually be stuck on pause over the past two decades, new figures from the US suggest that 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded.

The article is about the bushfires in Australia which the Greens are overjoyed to see occurring as they believe they point to God scourging the Earth of evil CO2 polluters and climate change deniers.

McGrath again attempts a subtle sleight of hand….making you believe that scientists are cautious about claiming a link with global warming…only for him to add that ‘the connection has become a bit more  certain’…..so, yes, they’re  ‘cautious’…but you know what…global warming is man-made:

‘Politicians are often quick to point the finger at a vague notion of global warming.

“Whilst you would not put any one event down to climate change,” said Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, “We do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions.”

Scientists, though, have been remarkably silent on the connection.

The connection between climate change and wildfires has become a bit more certain. In a paper published last year, leading Australian experts predicted an increased risk of fire in some of the areas now suffering the worst affects, including Tasmania and South Australia.

But the report couldn’t clearly identify the source of that change.’

In the article he is quick to list ‘record’ temperatures and severity of the bushfires…however just as with the BBC’s report of ‘record’ rainfall in the UK he fails, conveniently, to look back in history.

Bushfires are not new to Australia.

Extraordinarily extreme bushfires are not new to Australia.

‘Bushfires in Australia are frequently occurring events during the hotter months of the year due to Australia’s mostly hot, dry climate. Large areas of land are ravaged every year by bushfires, which also cause property damage and loss of life.
Certain native flora in Australia have evolved to rely on bushfires as a means of reproduction and fire events are an interwoven and an essential part of the ecology of the continent
In some eucalypt and banksia species, for example, fire causes seed pods to open, which allows them to germinate.  Fire also encourages the growth of new grassland plants. Other species have adapted to recover quickly from fire.’

In 1851 there were the Black Thursday bushfires in Victoria with 5 million hectares burnt    and  1 million sheep and thousands of cattle killed.

In 1938-39 there were the Black Friday bushfires in Victoria in which 2 million hectares  were burnt.

In 1944 the bushfires  in Victoria burnt 1 million hectares.

In 1961 the  Western Australian bushfires burnt  1.8 million hectares.

We have this alarming report from the BBC:

Academies could ‘fuel social segregation’

The rising number of schools in England with academy status could fuel rather than improve social segregation, says a report by the Academies Commission.

The report says some academies may “covertly” select pupils by using extra information on families or holding social events with prospective parents.

I heard an interview on the radio about this and what was immediately clear  was that it was unclear just where the evidence came from to support the claims…..the person from the Academies Commission (so called…it is entirely unconnected with government….and is a private initiative) was very coy….only saying some parents and schools had complained.

Well we know the reaction of the NUT and other teacher unions to academies….and who were the parents?  You may think hardly a disinterested bunch in undermining academies and Michael Gove.

And just what is the ‘Pearson Think Tank‘ which set up the Academies Commission as the BBC tells us, but without revealing any more…..

The Academies Commission was set up by the Pearson Think Tank and the RSA charity to examine the implications of the “mass academisation” of state schools.

Having read the below you might have thought the BBC, well  known for its determined efforts not to allow a right wing think tank or ‘pressure group’ to go unlabelled as such in the interests of balance, would have something to say about what turns out to be an enormous corporation that has its fingers in many educational pies….and may have an interest in stirring up discontent about school standards…so that it can then provide the ‘solution’….all at a reasonable cost of course…….

I guess the BBC are happy to look the other way when one of the Coalition’s flag ship, and most successful policies, is under attack….or perhaps it doesn’t want to attack a company that it works closely with in its BBC Active capacity….

Pearson’s core education publishing business includes, in this country, the brands of Heinemann, Longman, BBC Active and the Edexcel publishing label.

The Guardian reveals many doubts about Pearson:

Stephen Ball, professor of the sociology of education at London University’s Institute of Education and an expert on education business, sees Pearson’s school-improvement model, alongside its policy work, as particularly interesting. He says: “I think it’s related to an overall strategy: they want to offer products and services in all areas of school practice: assessment, pedagogy, curriculum and management, and they want to create the possibility for that through policy work.

“They want to have indirect influence in policy to create opportunities for business expansion. It’s a very well thought-out business strategy. I think we should be thinking about it, because a lot of it is going unnoticed.“

Or maybe noticed but ignored at least whilst it attacks Coalition policies.