READ AND WEEP

A guest post by Hippiepooter. This is overdue but I think you’ll agree very worthwile covering. H/T to ‘Buggy’ for bringing this up in the Open Thread a couple of weeks ago. Here is a BBC Online report 7th April that they headline thus:- Blackpool children ‘safer than ever from grooming gangs’ When you compare it to the Blackpool Gazette story below, you may agree with me that it touches … Continue reading

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Mail Online, which has just overtaken The Huffington Post to become the second most popular newspaper website in the world, reports on a story that the BBC is also running near the top of its news agenda today – but their take on the story could hardly be more different to the BBC’s: ‘We will unleash a nuclear hellstorm if Osama is killed’: Wikileaks releases chilling interrogation files of Guantanamo … Continue reading

Double Standards

When something bad happens to Jews or Israelis the BBC reacts with indifference or worse. The reporting of two recent incidents (or non-reporting of one of them) contrast sharply with the BBC’s treatment of similar incidents, which, when they concern Palestinians or Muslims, cause cataclysmic BBC eruptions. Incident 1, the burning of the Torah in Corfu, was mentioned on the Open Thread with a link to Ray Cook’s blog, but … Continue reading

The Protection of Information Act

Everybody who frequents this site will know that the BBC has spent lashings of our telly tax on legal fees to safeguard the secrecy of a report they themselves commissioned. The subject was their coverage of the Middle East, and the question was: is the BBC biased against Israel?The legal battle took many twists and turns, and Steven Sugar, who steadfastly fought for the release of the Balen report, very … Continue reading

WHERE OTHERS LEAD….

A so-called “investigative” scoop in the Daily Telegraph suggesting that the BBC is involved in the organisation of COMplus, an international group that supports climate change alarmism, has also caused ripples in the blogsphere. Richard North and WUWT have followed up. I’m totally in favour of enterprising, sceptical journalism, but I’m afraid on this occasion, the Telegraph is more than a year behind. I filed this story (based on research … Continue reading

Easter Offering

This is a Guest Post By esteemed commenter Chuffer.______________________________________ What you missed by not watching News24 at 11 o’clock, Easter Sunday….Dramatic Intro Music. Nicholas Owen: This is BBC News; the headlines at 11 o’clock.Video: grainy film of a Syrian funeral.Owen: The Liberal Democrats launch a stinging attack on the [confused pause] campaign to change our voting system.(Video ends – cut back to frowning and confused-looking Owen.) They accuse the ‘No’ … Continue reading

INTERNAL DISAGREEMENTS

Today‘s Evan Davis and BBC political correspondent Louise Stewart had a lot of fun at the expense of David Cameron and Nick Clegg this morning over their disagreement over internships. They returned to the subject later, after which Evan talked to Gus Baker. The Today website describes Gus as “a student and co-founder of pressure group Intern Aware.” Evan Davis described him in similar terms on the programme. Mr Baker … Continue reading

ANTI-SEMITIC SHILLS FOR GADDAFI

A guest post by Hippiepooter: If I was an anti-Semitic despot desperately trying to cling to power and I wanted to give an interview with pliant Western journalists to make propaganda, I know that Jeremy Bowen would be at the top of my list. It came as no surprise to me that Mr Bowen was one of the three journalists that Colonel Gaddafi chose to interview him. This said, in … Continue reading

PLAYING FAVOURITES

Certain think tanks, pressure groups, unions, associations (etc) can pretty much rely on the BBC to report their press releases, reports and studies. Articles appear daily on the BBC website devoted to such things. Others are not so lucky, having their reports ignored – or, if not ignored, marginalised or criticised. There’s an article on the website at the moment that, rather unusually, considers two separate reports from different organisations. … Continue reading