Britannia Radio

Biased BBC

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 ed thomas # General BBC-related comment thread! Please use this thread for comments about the BBC's current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog - scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It's your space, use it wisely. Comments: 21 - Biased BBC Home ed thomas # Joshing with the Beeb It seems that's what Russia is doing- taking delight in the cluelessness of our "national" broadcaster. The BBC's Helen Fawkes reports, apparently sans body armour, of a prisoner swap in Georgia. 15 Georgians are handed over in exchange for five Russians. She notes that there is a small Georgian protest and says: "One of the banners said: "Stop Russian aggression." This surprised one of the soldiers. "They say we are aggressors," he told us. "We are not aggressors, we are just standing here," he said." This seems to me the classic bully pose, saying, "who, me? I didn't do nuffink", with a little of the "yes, we can" Russian imperial spirit thrown in. But actually the above is just an aside :-). The main problem here is that although Fawkes reports this Russian handover, the BBC fail to report the Russian prisoner taking. While 15 are handed over, 20 prisoners were taken in the Georgian port of Poti. In addition the Russians confiscated US-made Humvees. Since Paul Reynolds has been so concerned for the BBC to examine the propaganda war, let's look at this for a moment. The West hears about prisoner releases, the Russian army and populace hears about net Russian gains (the Russian army needs propagandising too). The Russians benefit from media exposure of conciliatory gestures, and get no penalty for additional intimidatory aggression on the ground. I bet those Humvees have made for some good glancing shots too --- as Uncle Joe's nephews take on the "world's biggest polluter" Actually this is no joking matter- if one day (gd forbid) we need to take on Russia in a serious conflict, we can be sure the "peace" brigade will have been banking away every "good deed" of [bad, mad] Vlad as a way of painting us the unreasonable parties. Comments: 4 - Biased BBC Home David Vance # AND THE GOLD MEDAL FOR CLASS WAR GOES TO....Radio 5 live! I happened to catch this snivelling cabal of lefties led by Peter Allen on "Olympic Drive Time" debate whether we should be funding "elitist" rowing, sailing equestrianism since this disenfranchises third world nations. There were further sarcastic comments about "Eton" winning more gold medals than third world nations. Gosh, it's SO unfair that British sport succeeds in all the wrong areas! Comments: 20 - Biased BBC Home