Britannia Radio

Biased BBC

Thursday, September 11, 2008 Natalie # Let's not be hasty. In this BBC article, US marks seventh 9/11 anniversary, it says: Mr Obama said in a statement "the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice," in a reference to the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, who the US believes masterminded the attacks. (Emphasis added.) Damned if I can see any reason for that phrasing other than to cast doubt on whether it was Osama Bin Laden who masterminded the attacks. Wasn't Bin Laden's own video claiming responsibility good enough for the BBC? We've had this despicable pandering to conspiracy theorists before. There was something of a flare-up a year ago today, as it happened. It ended with worldwide hostile interest courtesy of a link from the Drudge Reportand condemnation of the BBC from a former head of the Joint Intelligence Committee and BBC governor. See this roundup post. I'll finish with some further observations from commenters. From "George R": In its report on 9/11 anniversary, the BBC presents the events of that day passively and anonymously: "..four hijacked planes hit the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvanian field." From "Pat": On today of all days a topic on the BBC HYS page is 'Should the US review its war on terror?' From "Martin": ... I keep wanting to know where the 'unsubscribe' button is on the BBC's website. (Added later.) I do find it depressing to reflect how I came to write the above post. Before going to bed last night I scanned the BBC website and, remembering what happened last year, I thought, "At least they wouldn't dare peddle that line agai-- oh. They would." Finally, just to lay to rest any doubts: the title was intended as sarcasm. Comments: 14 (unread) - Biased BBC Home David Vance # LAUGH, I NEARLY PAID MY LICENSE FEE. I was watching the BBC2 Comedy programme "Mock the Week" and was struck yet again by the venom spat out dressed up as "humourous topical comment"in the direction of John McCain and Sarah Palin. "Lightning-fast" Russell Howard and "one of Britain's most insightful and cutting comedians"Andy Parsons in particular were letting their bias show, with comments about Palin being "stupid" because she did not "believe" in AGW and McCain dying. Naturally there were no jokes about Obama. The thing about these hard left comedians is they lack the guts to laugh at their own political icons. Instead they remain fixed in 6th form student grant aspic - and we fund them via the license tax. Comments: 26 (unread) - Biased BBC Home Hugh # Competition time (again)! This time it's spot the missing word (or phrase) from this BBC reportabout "an Australian politician", who has been forced to resign because he likes techno (fair enough, I say). For a clue check these reports from theStandard, Mail and Metro - or this one from the Independent. Or, er, this one from the Guardian, courtesy of the AP; or this one from Reuters; or this from the Times... Thanks to our anonymous commenter who picked up on this. UPDATE: Thanks to the prompting of "Anon" in the comments, it seems we have reason to be grateful for the BBC's report on this after all. For when Morris Iemma, the Labor New South Wales State Premier, was forced to resign last week it appears the Beeb's website didn't report it at all. Readers relying on the BBC were left puzzling over a single line referring to it in this blog entry a few days later. There was, of course, no mention of his political affiliation. Comments: 33 (unread) - Biased BBC Home