Britannia Radio

 Radio Five Live Guests

>> SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009

In a column from last November titled "BBC must end its smug comedy consensus" the Guardian's Martin Kelner said he was helping produce some pilots of a talkshow for Radio Five Live; he explained that he was keen to avoid the "cosy broadly leftwing" consensus found on shows such as Richard Bacon and Gabby Logan. I was reminded of this when, flicking through the stations this morning, I heard Mrs Logan chatting with her studio guests - Mark Steel, the old school leftie comedian, and Mark Thomas, the old school leftie comedian.

I can only assume that Kelner's proposals were rejected as I've heard nothing from Radio Five Live to suggest anything has changed, consensus-wise, since he wrote that column. Perhaps the controller thought that a Guardian columnist would be too tentative in addressing the obvious problem of bias and has asked Richard Littlejohn to make a programme instead. Or maybe the BBC is simply happy with things as they are, thank you very much.

(Gabby Logan on this morning's show: "What did you make of Obama holding hands with Sarah Brown then? There's a lot of women in the world would've liked to be in THAT position!")

Pushing the Boundaries

>> SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

Will the BBC put the brakes on the incremental nudging, step by step, of the acceptable limit of on-air condemnation of Israel before the momentum takes us over the top and tumbling down the other side to hell in a handcart?

The boundaries are being pushed further and further towards outright antisemitic hostility, in casual and formal BBC output.
This consensus-creep defies logic and reason. It deliberately airbrushes out most of the terrifying characteristics of our mutual ideological enemy and constantly allows biased narrative to remain unchallenged.

John Simpson thinks ‘Obama hasn’t put enough pressure on Israel, and “on the other hand” hasn’t offered the Palestinians enough.’
BBC world service features a group of bereaved parents from both sides working together for peace. A good news story? No, an anti Israel one. An Israeli daughter, murdered by a suicide bomber, a Palestinian daughter shot by an Israeli soldier. Leading questions by the interviewer have the Israeli allege they are ‘brainwashed into hating Palestinians,’ and that, for his peacemaking efforts, other Israelis regard him as a traitor. The Palestinian father says that Israeli soldiers shoot Palestinians with impunity, and that Jews never punish their own. Both interviewees express resentment against Israel. Economical with the actuality? Inversion of the actuality.

“Israel's refusal to stop building in the Jewish settlements - all of which are illegal under international law - despite repeated American requests, means that the Palestinians will not renew negotiations.” opines Jeremy Bowen.

Israelis are required to live side by side with a Palestinian state, while the Palestinians still refuse to even recognise the Jewish state, let alone renounce violence. Such obligations have simply been airbrushed out of the equation and now the settlements are deemed the only obstacle to peace.

So the BBC disapproves of brainwashing, yet embraces Islam. It disapproves of harming civilians, yet calls terrorists and suicide bombers freedom fighters or militants, and describes their atrocities as audacious. The BBC admires peacemaking, yet ignores Koranic-based antisemitism and hatred.

Netanyahu’s admirable speech to the UN General Assembly was ignored by the BBC and the British walkout during Ahmadinejad’s was disguised as something else. So. Criticism of Israel ratchets up till all-out condemnation of Israel becomes overt antisemitism which bit by bit loses its stigma.

There’s a lively discussion going on at Harry’s Place right now about the BBC. It’s taken as read that the BBC is institutionally biased against Israel, but there is disagreement over whether it is due to ignorance, laziness, a conspiracy or a multi faceted combi of all three and more.

They do know about the subject, and don’t just 'think they do' from listening to the BBC.

Compare And Contrast

Looks like the Men Of No Appearance have struck again in Croydon, comparing the BBC descriptions of the robbery suspects with that of the local paper.



UPDATE - and (possibly for similar reasons) this goes unreported. Sixty years back it would have been all over the media. That's two rape/torture convictions in Greater London (we covered the other here) in the last three weeks that the BBC have failed to report. Is a pattern developing ? We know that, like pretty much everyone else, the BBC is against rape and torture. Do they just feel more comfortable reporting torture where MI6 are allegedly involved, and rape allegations that fit an existing BBC narrative ?

NEVER MIND THE FACTS

Have you heard of Anna Coote or Aleski Knuutila? No? Well, neither had I until today. But these are the luminaries of a body called the New Economics Foundation. I hadn't heard of that until this morning, either, but it turns out that they are self-appointed "experts" on economics and the welfare of our planet. And immediately, in the eyes of the BBC, that makes them very important gurus who can spout the most arrant nonsense but still be givenendless, unbalanced publicity. In this case, this body of eco-loons has spent lots of time working out that planet earth has reached a point in the year where we have used more resources than are available. There's no way of checking their methodology, but to those at the BBC, it's an important pronouncement that doesn't need qualification or challenge. All that matters is that their creed agrees with that of our Corporation friends. And it does, as the Foundation's "about us" page clearly shows:

The international economic system creates damaging inequalities between rich and poor, and fuels climate change and environmental degradation.

It's a mantra that's probably on every BBC office wall and computer screen. They chant it every morning. The more guilt they instil in us about living at all, the better.

Anti Obama Violence Erupting in Kentucky?

>> FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2009

Pelosi might be right about those anti Obama wingnuts, according to the BBC

US police are investigating the death of a man who was found hanged from a tree in rural Kentucky with the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest. 
Bill Sparkman, 51, had been going door-to-door in Clay County collecting census data. 
The FBI is investigating whether Mr Sparkman was victim of anti-government sentiment.

Earlier this morning it was on the front page but has now been moved to “Americas”...maybe because of this?

But the motivation behind the killing -- if indeed it was a killing -- is not clear at this point.
A spokesman for the Kentucky police told TPMmuckraker last night that police were still looking into death, that an autopsy has been scheduled, and no cause of death has yet been listed.

And notice that the BBC “forgot” this from ABC

Investigators are saying little about the crime, but some people wonder if his death in the remote part of southeastern Kentucky known for its meth labs and hidden marijuana fields had less to do with his job than simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And another strange factoid emerges, courtesy of TPM

Late Update: An FBI spokesman, ratcheting back speculation that Sparkman's death was an act of anti-government violence, tells us that he was found with his feet on the ground, not hanging from a tree as previously reported.

mmmm...that little titbit about anti-government sentiment – was it so tempting that the BBC should couldn’t hold back? And would they have even bothered if it had happened before January 2009?

Just asking.......

OPEN THREAD...

Friday arrives and so does this open thread......!

MORE TORIES?

Best laughs of the day.

The shadow culture secretary has called for the BBC to "actively" recruit more Conservatives to its news team. Jeremy Hunt said the BBC had "made huge strides" on diversity issues but should "not forget the core audience"

Well, that's the warm up line. What are these "huge strides" that so impress Mr Hunt? Not good to hear Conservatives talk in this way. Anyway, here's the punch-line.

The BBC said it would never recruit people for their politics and Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw described it as "unacceptable political interference".

That's former BBC employee Ben Bradshaw.

Comments?