Britannia Radio

Biased BBC

Thursday, October 30, 2008 Peter # Russell Brand writes for the Guardian No surprise there, of course. They've had some oddball columnists in their time, Myra Hindley, Osama Bin Laden, David Cameron, and they still employ George Moonbat. But the last time one of their sports columnists got in trouble for over the top plain-speaking was Big Ron Atkinson, and he got the red card from both ITV and the Guardian. Will the same happen to Our Russell? Comments: 12 (unread) - Biased BBC Home Peter # A Diversity of Opinion So I'm sitting there with my Horlicks, and a couple of digestive biscuits, watching Newsnight. The lovely Emily Maitis has convened a panel of three witty, cutting edge humorists to discuss the complex issues surrounding BrandRossSachsGate. First up, Jan Raven: "They were out of order, but they are very funny and the BBC must not give in to the Daily Mail tendency". ( I'm paraphrasing btw ). Second, John O'Farrell: "They were out of order, but they are very funny and the BBC must not give in to the Daily Mail tendency". ( I'm still paraphrasing btw ). I start to yawn. Where are those matchsticks that Tom used to use in the Tom and Jerry cartoons? Third, and finally. We have Stephen K Amos. Great, someone to break the consensus. What do you think, Stephen? "They were out of order, but they are very funny and the BBC must not give in to the Daily Mail tendency". ( Yes, I'm still paraphrasing btw, but I was almost catatonic by then, and I don't sit there with a notepad anyway ). Gee. Thanks for that. Thankfully Virgin One were just about to start Sexcetera so at least I had something intellectually stimulating to go to sleep on. Comments: 36 (unread) - Biased BBC Home Hugh # Joining the dots Following Brand's resignation, a couple of the papers are now tentatively drawing the connection between this affair and the wider problem of the Beeb's bias. Trevor Kavanagh in the Sun hits out again this morning: BBC chiefs still don’t get it, do they? While Director-General Mark Thompson was reluctantly grovelling last night, senior Beeb executives were still trying to blame everyone else but themselves, he begins, and goes onto discuss the corporation's arrogance and its "lofty contempt" for its viewers. Instead of reflecting their opinions it exudes a smug corporate view on the major issues affecting Britain. The Telegraph also sees a connection: The depressing aspect of this grubby affair is that it is all of a piece with its arrogant belief that it cannot possibly be wrong on anything. Accountable to no one, and with a guaranteed income of £3.2?billion a year, its own Andrew Marr has described its mindset thus: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias." In short, it has become dangerously divorced from the majority of people in this country. UPDATE: Incidentally, the Beeb story almost manages a clean sweep of the front pages today.