The BBC’s Stranglehold On News

The BBC’s monopoly of online News looks to be growing ever bigger as the Telegraph puts up a paywall…….via Guido:

 

 

Digital First Telegraph Go Behind Semi-Paywall

 

Non-subscribers will now be limited to just 20 free articles a month as the new “Digital First” Telegraph goes behind a paywall. It seems to be an FT-style half-and-half-measure. If you want to carry on reading you will have to fork out £2-a-month, or a tenner on tablet.

ON THE BALL….

A Biased BBC reader send this and thought it worth sharing!

‘BBC 1 Breakfast are bringing me alarming reports that England football fans ‘sang racist chants’ recently. This all has to be gone into and investigated they insist, since it simply has to be stamped out.
I’ve come to be a little wary of what the BBC tell me. Particularly when there is a vagueness about their reports and some PC issues at stake. I know the impression that they want to give the mass audience – racism is everwhere, England football fans are evil and racist. But is this true? Afterall the BBC told me earlier this week that Liverpool football fans were all saintly and innocent.
So five minutes of my own investigation informs me the ‘bonfire song’ is a regular feature of the terraces often deployed by – for example – Newcastle fans against their local rivals from Sunderland . Not very pleasant but where’s the racism? Is their blackness the one and only thing the Ferdinand brothers are known for?
Could it be that England fans are little better informed about their sport and its stars than the BBC Breakfast front bench wishes the rest of the nation to know about?
Rio Ferdinand has been banned for eight months and fined £50,000 by the Football Association after being found guilty of missing a drugs test.
IT was football’s wildest holiday, when future England stars Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Kieron Dyer were caught on camera in sex romps.
In April last year Leeds player Michael Duberry and Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand were accused of indecent assault and threatening behaviour in a Leeds nightclub.
The claims were made during the rape trial of a Leeds man, who was later convicted.
Martin Luther King claimed his victim said she had been indecently assaulted by Mr Duberry and threatened by Mr Ferdinand in the club, before the rape by Mr King took place.
The CPS said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the players.
BBC plays down Moyles ‘faggot’ row
The BBC has dismissed as “banter” an incident on Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 show today in which footballer Rio Ferdinand called the DJ a “faggot”.
Rio Ferdinand fined £45,000 by FA over ‘choc ice’ tweet
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been fined £45,000 after being found guilty of improper conduct over comments he made relating to the John Terry racism
The 33-year-old defender, who has played 81 times for England, was given a six-month ban despite being represented by lawyer Nick Freeman, nicknamed Mr Loophole for his ability to get celebrities off driving charges.
Anton Ferdinand was today charged with assault and violent disorder after an incident outside Faces nightclub in Ilford on October 2.
Prosecutor Alex Agbamu said Ferdinand had offered a number of explanations for events that night, claiming he had acted in self defence and fearing he would be mugged for his £64,000 watch.
The court heard that Emile Walker was allegedly assaulted by a group of men outside the nightclub including Ferdinand and another man identified by Mr Walker as Ferdinand’s cousin, who has not been named.
England needed Rio to be like Nobby Stiles, not out partying with Harry Styles.
‘What reasons?’ Rio Ferdinand once asked. Obviously, he had forgotten about his intricate, pre-planned programme that day.
It must have slipped his mind, too, last month when he announced he would pack his bags and go straight there if selected by  England. No mention of an intricate pre-planned programme in that statement, either.
Indeed, for a programme so intricate, not to mention pre-planned, Ferdinand does seem to have rather a peculiar attitude to it.
Traipsing around behind the latest pop fad while the England manager remained in the dark about an impending crisis, Ferdinand seemed to epitomise the self-absorption of so many modern footballers — more Harry Styles than Nobby Stiles.
When discussing his controversial withdrawal from the latest England squad, Rio Ferdinand spoke of his strict fitness regime and how both ‘rest and recuperation’ was a crucial part in allowing him to continue to compete at the highest level.
What he did not first mention was that that strict regime allowed him to work as a pundit for Al Jazeera in a job involving a 15-hour round trip.
Controversial: England’s fans were understandably unhappy at Rio Ferdinand’s withdrawal from the latest squad
BBC: Don’t take their word for anything.

NUTS

The teaching unions are revolting.  Looks like the NUT are going…wait for it…to pass a vote of “No confidence” in Michael Gove.  Oh, and Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw. Were I Gove,  I would be encouraged to get the comrades gander up  -but the BBC clearly see the wrath of the Unions as a major damnation for the Education Secretary! I was on BBC5 Live last night debating the Teacher Unions whingeing for mediocrity with a spokesman for the NUT. What surprised me were the number of “teachers” who phoned in, immediately declared they were NOT members of a Trade Union, and then promptly agreed with most aspects of the NUT jihad against Gove. I’m sure the BBC were singgering all the way to the news headlines.

The BBC rewrites the Bible

You’ve got to give it to the BBC…they are if nothing else, completely unbiased when it comes to matters of religion.

They rewrote the Koran, reforming Islam on the way, writing out  all  the nasty stuff about killing unbelievers and imperatives not to make friends with Christians and Jews….it is officially ‘The Religion of Peace’ now.

 

And they have now rewritten the Bible and changed how the Christian Faith should be perceived….and on Good Friday of all days.

 

Thanks to George R who provided this link:

BBC accused of provoking Christians with Mary Magdalene documentary

A Bishop last night accused the BBC of deliberately provoking Christians by screening a documentary on Good Friday suggesting that Jesus had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, said the programme, presented by Melvyn Bragg would be “hugely offensive” to devout Christians because it amounted to the “sexualisation of Christ”.

He said it was all the more upsetting because it is being screened at midday on Good Friday – the moment the Bible says Jesus was put on the cross.

Bishop Nazir-Ali accused the corporation of deliberately causing offense to Christians and questioned whether other groups would be treated in the same way.

The Pakistan-born cleric, who was the fist non white bishop in the Church of England, added that the programme could cause particular problems for Christians in Muslim countries where they are already facing persecution.

He said “I am concerned about the misuses of very obscure Gnostic gospels to impugne the integrity of the Bible.”‘

 

 

I think the answer to the Bishop’s question is ‘No, other faith groups, especially Islam, would not be treated in this manner by the BBC.’

Indeed the BBC goes out of its way not to offend other religions even on the smallest scale:

The BBC’s Religious and Ethics Department explains on its website that it uses BCE and CE in order to be “religiously neutral.”

It states on its FAQs page: “In line with modern practice bbc.co.uk/religion uses BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era) as a religiously neutral alternative to BC/AD. As the BBC is committed to impartiality it is appropriate that we use terms that do not offend or alienate non-Christians.”

 

A BBC survey of viewers found that they viewed it as anti-Christian:

The BBC is widely regarded as displaying an anti-Christian attitude in its programming, according to the Corporation’s own research.

According to viewers, the BBC uses “derogatory stereotypes” of Christians which portray them as “weak” and “bigoted”.

The BBC report, carried out as part of the corporation’s diversity strategy, said: “In terms of religion, there were many who perceived the BBC to be anti-Christian and as such misrepresenting Christianity.”

A former BBC news anchor warned that Christians are “fair game” for insults at the broadcaster whilst Muslims must not be offended.

Peter Sissons, whose memoirs were being serialised in the Daily Mail, said: “Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.”

 

That was in 2011…it doesn’t seem to have changed anything…so much for a ‘diversity strategy.’
 

It is perfectly legitimate for the BBC to ask questions of Christianity…but only if they do the same to other religions. especially those such as Islam which is such a dominant and aggressive force….and the timing with the BBC is always the same….designed to raise the most amount of offence  to Christians and controversy as possible.

That’s Not Me, That’s Not My Africa

This is perhaps a classic example of why the BBC should not be a ‘campaigning’ organisation, one that takes sides or a particular narrow view of any concern….the inevitable unintended results that follow a lot of ‘do-goodery’ are often more harmful than those that would have resulted from taking a wider, more nuanced, perspective and not resulting a one size fits all solution.

In 1984 the BBC broadcast reports from Ethiopia asking what is the attitude of the rest of the world to the situation…in 2009 they still seemed pretty pleased with the results: 

‘Twenty-five years ago Michael Buerk’s harrowing and moving reports for BBC News on the famine in Ethiopia sparked an international reaction which led to millions of pounds being raised for aid to be sent to the region.’

 

Africans however have a different take on things saying that their continent has been stereotyped as lawless and violent…a hopeless basket case.

They say:  ‘That’s not me, that’s not my Africa’

They have made a video to highlight their concerns about the image of Africa being portrayed on our screens by the likes of the BBC:

Africa For Norway charity single

 

The BBC has, without any recognition of its part in this stereotyping reported on the video and the thinking behind it:

BBC take on the video.

 

Even the Charities have admitted the previous approach was wrong, concentrating too much on the negative in a relentless manner that made people switch  off as they believed Africa was a ‘hopeless case’…ironically again reported by the BBC….

Africa image harming aid effort, says charity Oxfam

A negative image of Africa in the UK is harming efforts to raise food aid in the continent, charity Oxfam has said.

It found that three out of four people had become desensitised to images showing hunger, drought and disease.

Respondents to the survey said over-exposure to negative media and advertising portrayals of Africa and developing countries in other parts of the world was “depressing, manipulative and hopeless”.

“If we want people to help fight hunger we have to give them grounds for hope by showing the potential of countries across Africa – it’s a natural instinct to turn away from suffering when you feel you can do nothing to alleviate it.”

And when speaking to the BBC, Dame Stocking said a negative image of Africa was “not the truth” about that continent.

 

 

Such events have to be reported and the results of famine dealt with but if a wider view of circumstances was taken perhaps a much more longer lasting and effective solution could be found.

 

Michael Buerk reported that nature may have started the famine but that it was man, in the shape of armed militias, that was compounding it.

Perhaps a better use of aid money might be to deal with the militias and provide protection for the population allowing them to farm and produce a living, drought permitting….that different view could have been taken if more had been made of the militia’s dangerous heightening of the  impact of famine on some of the people of Ethiopia.

 

How does such focussed reporting impact now? 

A good example would be climate change where the BBC has taken sides…promoting one view of the causes, subsequent effects and desired solutions to the exclusion of all others….solutions that may be costing lives.

This means we don’t get the full picture, we are not ‘allowed’ to dissent from the consensus and the result is that government is able to plough ahead introducing disastrous and enormouosly expensive, and it turns out deadly, policies without any effective opposition.

There were excited claims in 2003 that climate change was killing thousands of people and in 2001 the BBC was reporting that the ‘experts’ say:

‘Climate changes could cause thousands of deaths every year – but reduce the number of cold-weather deaths….warmer conditions could cut the number of elderly people who die during the winter months by around 20,000 each year.’

The BBC does report that ‘the UK could see health benefits from climate change‘ but doesn’t expand on that, but does give room for an environmental pressure group to make dire predictions:

‘Frances MacGuire, climate policy officer at the pressure group Friends of the Earth, said: “This report shows thousands of British people will die early from skin cancer, in heatwaves and during extreme weather events caused by man-made climate change.’

 

How times change as winters get more severe  not less and the government green taxes, introduced to tackle the ‘warm winters’,  push up fuel bills to unaffordable levels and costs the NHS over £1 billion:

‘Illnesses related to living in a cold home cost the NHS £1.36bn every year, a report by Age UK suggests.  Age UK says thousands of older people are dying prematurely due to the health effects of living in the cold.

Each year in England and Wales there are about 27,000 extra deaths each winter, mostly among older people.

Age UK is urging the government and local authorities to help improve energy-saving measures in homes in a bid to reduce winter deaths.

The majority of the elderly who die in winter die from strokes, heart diseases and lung problems, worsened by the cold.’

 

More than 4000 people in the Midlands died last winter because of the cold weather, and more than a million families in the region were living in fuel poverty….That’s according to the charity National Energy Action.

 

The BBC has persistently taken one group of ‘experts’ side on climate and the results have been catastrophic.

Can the BBC be partly to  blame for the ‘vulnerable’ dying in their homes as they turn off the ever more expensive heating?

A good question.  Had the climate change sceptics been allowed a voice, had the BBC not decided that the science was settled, had the solutions not then been directed at what might not be the real problem….. perhaps government green policy may have been more targeted at the real problems and outcomes …and direct resources to dealing with those rather than  waste enormous sums by ’tilting at wind turbines’ enriching already rich land owners and energy companies at the expense of the poorest who now choose…as the BBC tells us when it suits them (ie when attacking government cuts in welfare)…whether to use their meagre resources on ‘heating or eating’.

 

Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph gives an excellent perspective on climate and the cold and the fatal results of a misguided interpretation of science and the resulting policies.

TAXING ISSUES

With lots of changes to Welfare coming in next month, the BBC has been to the fore in pointing out these will hut “the poor”. I was on BBC Three Counties earlier this week debating these changes with someone from the Resolution Foundation (A Labour front masquerading as a “independent think tank”. The issue under debate was the reduction in subsidy from Central government to local government in housing benefit. Basically, there is a 10% reduction and Councils either learn to spend less and so keep council taxes as they are (already way too high in my opinion) OR they ask those who currently make no contribution to council tax to cough up a few pounds.  This is presented as Apocalypse Now by the BBC and the clear meme is “evil conservatives hurting the poor”   It strikes me that the BBC really does behave as the official opposition to ANY change to UK welfarism and maybe that it because as the recipient of over £3 BILLION a year, it likes the idea of something for nothing?

MAGGIE BAD, MANDELA GOOD

Following on from my Mandela post, I see the Telegraph reports that  BBC staff who went on strike yesterday said they were prepared to return to their desks if Nelson Mandela died, however the staff’s generosity stopped there.

After news that the 94-year-old was in hospital broke, union leaders declared that in “the sad event of his death, and for BBC news coverage of that story only” the staff would postpone the strike.  However when the strikers were asked whether the ailing Lady Thatcher, scourge of the unions in the 1980s, would be treated in the same manner, there was a marked change of approach. Both Bectu and the National Union of Journalists said simply that they had not considered what they would do in the event of the 87-year-old former prime minister’s untimely death.

The visceral loathing of the brand of Conservatism that Margaret Thatcher espoused is clear. The comrades will rush back to ensure the sanctification of Mandela but their demonisation of Thatcher continues.  Given how blatant this – is in what way can we expect them to be unbiased when they then cover stories in which authentic conservative values are in play?

 

THE KING OVERSEAS

I can’t believe the BBC are STILL droning on about David Miliband as he leaves the UK to spend more time with his ego. I think it may be a topic for Any Questions this week. A Reader posted this and I think it fairly well sums up BBC coverage.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard but there has been a massive news story in the UK just recently. A man left his job in politics to go to another job which isn’t in politics, working for an organisation that very few people had ever heard of before this man went to work for them. If you haven’t heard the news the Communications and PR representatives of the New Labour Party have been covering the story in some depth. It’s so important it warrants more than 10  er ‘news stories’ on their website!
David Miliband to step down as MP
Nick Robinson  – Is that it for David Miliband?
Nick Robinson – David Miliband quitting Parliament
March D’Arcy – Farewell, David Miliband
Miliband joins list of political ‘nearly men’
David Miliband ‘feared being distraction’ for Labour
In full: David Miliband letter of resignation as MP
David Miliband: Reaction to MP’s decision to quit
David Miliband: Peter Mandelson predicts political comeback
Ed Miliband sorry to see brother David resign as MP
Ed Miliband: Keen to recruit brother if he becomes PM
David Miliband ‘never waiting for his brother to fail’
Jack Straw: ‘Sorry to see David Miliband go’
David Miliband: Career in politics