Britannia Radio

Biased BBC

Monday, March 30, 2009 sue # SCARY ISRAEL DISPUTES GAZA DEATH RATES Total dead: 1,166 (1,434) Fighters: 710-870 (235) Non-combatants: 295-460 (960) Women: 49 (121) Children under 16: 89 (288) "SUE" COMPARES SCARE QUOTES "RATES" I divided this “article” about discrepancies in “casualty” figures into two. A = Putting Israel’s case. B = Putting Palestinians’ case. Although there were about 55 more words reporting Israel’s case, the article still seemed biased against it. How, I thought, could this be? Having separated them, (by “scientifically scrupulous” method of scrutiny by "agenda-driven bigot” ) I noticed that A was sprinkled generously with scare quotes while B had only one set which related to directly reported speech. I counted twelve sets of inverted commas altogether, a ratio of 11-1. My survey. Total words in article 630 Representing Isr (Pali) = 304 (249) Total sets quotation marks = 12 Isr /Pali quote marks = 11 (1) Direct speech = 0 (1) Reported / Indirect speech = 4 (0)* Gratuitous scare quotes = 7 (0)** *"It is generally considered incorrect to use quotation marks for paraphrased speech where they may give the impression that the paraphrasing represents the actual words used." **"to indicate or call attention to ironic or apologetic words." Comments: 10 (unread) - Biased BBC Home Peter # Who would you rather trust - the BBC or a blogger? Writing for the Observer ( yes I bought it - I wanted the Heathers DVD )Nick Cohen asks the key question. Comments: 23 (unread) - Biased BBC Home David Vance # 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: 82 (unread) - Biased BBC Home David Vance # BBC ANTI-SEMITISM. I thought that an essay by Robert Solomon Wistrich writing at the Institite for Global Jewish Affairs has a very well expressed analysis of the vicious anti-Semitism that pervades much of BBC reporting... "Since the Second Intifada, the BBC as well as some major British newspapers have reported daily on Israel in an often tendentious, biased, and one-sided fashion. Under no circumstances will the BBC refer to any act of Hamas or other Palestinian terrorist organizations as terrorism. These killers are always referred to as militants, which has trade-union connotations in Britain. It is the term used when, for instance, shop stewards advocate a factory strike. "Within the distorted BBC system, the reporting of Israeli civilian fatalities and Palestinian suicide attacks made them seem no more than minor pinpricks compared to the retaliations by Israel, the definitive rogue state.' The BBC invariably disconnects jihadi terrorism from any notion that it is part of a hate culture and the result of ideological indoctrination. The explanation is that these murderous deeds are driven by the relentless, racist actions' of the Israeli government. It is Palestinian misery and oppression that allegedly brings about suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. I believe this is a false, simplistic, and one-sided account. Terrorism is mentioned without connection to an ideology and the issue of antisemitism in the Arab or Islamic world is virtually nonexistent." He has a point, doesn't he? Comments: 17 (unread) - Biased BBC Home David Vance # HOW GREEN IS THE BBC VALLEY? It's going to be a loooong week from the looks of it as the BBC relentlessly propagandises on behalf of it's pet projects ahead of the G20 meeting in London. Did anyone else catch Roger Harrabin's "report" on the need for the G20 "stimulus" to focus on the global climate problem i.e. direct massive swathes of taxpayer monies into the hands of the ecowackos? Why does the BBC never allow an alternative voice to be heard on these kinds of reports - the sort of voice which challenges the bias that oozes from the Green movement. It's a low carbon economy uber alles for Roger who also, amusingly, portrays UN lobbyists such as as being non-political. This daily drip drip drip of eco-propaganda is an outrage, aimed at  perverting UK public opinion. It's  not a mission to inform, it's a mission to mislead. Comments: 10 (unread) - Biased BBC Home ed thomas # Picking winners Could Bono be the arch-example of the BBC's corrosive effect on Britain? The BBC recently delighted in U2's "surprise" little open air concert . Think about how the age profile of the BBC and that of Bono's boys have so many synergetic properties. Combine that with Coldplay's and you have a fait accompli. Both gangs of lads coincide wonderfully with the BBC's ideology- enviro-sappiness and redistributive politics; the air-headedness of Bono and the soft-girlyness of Martin don't harm the feminist agenda, neither. Little wonder then that for years the BBC has selected them as cultural representatives, preserving them as cultural artefacts even beyond the point where their natural pop-appeal would have waned. Since at least Band Aid and St Bob the BBC have been dabbling like this, or rather controlling like this, and today a little squeakgoes up against their cultural hegemon. Overreach? One can but hope. And get a little angrier. (I should add, I actually quite like(d) all the above-mentioned acts, but they should stand and fall- as once they did- solely on the basis of the freest possible popular vote. Which they certainly no longer do) Comments: 13 (unread) - Biased BBC Home