Britannia Radio

Biased BBC

Sunday, September 28, 2008 Hugh # General BBC-related comment thread! Please use this for comments about current BBC programming and activities. N.B. This is not an invitation for off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Suggestions for stories would be appreciated! Comments may be moderated. Comments: 90 (unread) - Biased BBC Home ed thomas # MardyMarr's casual smear It was so noticeable in his interview today with the Conservative leader how much less friendly Andy Marr is to David Cameron than he is with Gordon Brown. At 19.30 in the Cameron interview here Marr starts from nowhere by asking DC if he agrees that mass immigration has done something terrible to Britain. If it were a Labour man Marr was interviewing, he would gently quote the source before accepting serenely the response that it was an attempt to make a wider point. Well, what happens when he interviews a Conservative? A misquote, hauled from nowhere, planted in hostile fashion following another attack on Cameron's "broken society" theme. The misquote was the standard one: immigration confused with multiculturalism. But what followed was more telling still. When Cameron leapt lightly up and quoted the source (Dominic Grieve, Shadow Home Secretary in the Observer) and explained it thoroughly, the sour Marr culminated in the bitter throwaway line that Grieve "talks about the long-term inhabitants of Britain, by which he presumably means white people". Cameron had no chance to reply to that particular smear and theconversation cross-examination moved on. Yet why did the BBC journalist feel free to put words in the mouth of the Opposition? Standard BBC smear in what was evidently a premeditated atmosphere of hostility. Comments: 5 (unread) - Biased BBC Home Saturday, September 27, 2008 David Vance # TOOTHLESS TIGERS.