WE LOVE GILLARD!
>> Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Oz general election is on a knife edge. There's no doubt who the BBC is supporting. Here's the profile of Labour's Gillard:
* Welsh-born former lawyer
* Taken to Australia as a child in 1966 for the warmer climate
* Known for her pragmatism and sharp tongue
* Seen as intelligent and determined
* Lives with her partner, a hairdresser
* Faced criticism from conservatives for not having children
And of Tony Abbott:
* Nick-named the "mad monk", relating to his brief training as a priest
* Renowned fitness fanatic and former student boxer
* Socially conservative on issues such as same-sex marriages and abortion
* Known for gaffes and has frequently been caught swearing on camera
* Climate change sceptic
To decode: that nice Ms Gillard is pragmatic, intelligent and determined, is not married but has a nice boyfriend, and has been unfairly attacked for not having children. In other words, a BBC role-model. Horrid Mr Abbott is a nutter, a fanatic, dares to believe in traditional family values, is gaffe-prone, and - boo,hiss, worst of all in the BBC hate stakes - dares to challenge the climate change idiocy of Ms Gillard(who wants to cripple the Oz economy by introducing eye-watering green taxes). So, for the BBC, it's we love Gillard, that lovely lady from Wales.
INTERVIEWING WITHOUT DUE CARE AND ATTENTION
Laura Kuennsberg didn't exactly cover herself in glory on Wednesday's Newsnight, when she repeatedly interrupted Republican Brad Blakeman over the issue of the Islamic centre at Ground Zero, while not interrupting Mosque-supporter Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (She even called the latter 'Nihad').
Last night's performance was if anything even worse.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/newsnight (beginning about nine minutes in).
After another completely one-sided report from Liz MacKean, which propagandized for keeping speed cameras and against 
government budget cuts, Laura interviewed speed camera enthusiast George Monbiot and speed camera naysayer Claire Armstrong of Safe Speed.
Mrs Armstrong faced constant interruptions from Monbiot. Not only did Laura Kuennsburg not even try to control Monbiot's aggressive behaviour, she joined him in interrupting Mrs Armstrong. George Monbiot was merely asked a couple of half-hearted questions and then allowed to get on with it. Claire Armstrong, however, was challenged with several tough questions, all from the same pro-speed camera position advanced by Liz MacKean's report and by George Monbiot:
"Claire Armstrong, you might be pleased that cameras are disappearing, but how can you be when the police say, quite clearly, this will result in more people being hurt and possibly killed?"
"Well Claire, isn't it the case actually that the statistics overwhelmingly do show a change? Not just the Department of Transport. There are countless studies, one from UCL that showed a 67% reduction in speeding, another from a different place showing a 7o% reduction in speeding, one from the University of Liverpool...I mean, why continue with the small amount of statistics that appear to contradict the lion's share?"
"Well Claire, where has that myth about them making money come from then, because if that was the case in these cash-strapped times, surely the government should be putting speed cameras across the land?"
"What do you say to women like that mother in the film who wanted a speed camera on her road? She believes in her heart that it could have saved lives if it was on her road."
"Claire Armstrong, why is it socially acceptable to speed? Decades ago it was socially acceptable to drink and then drive and then to not wear a seat-belt. But why do you believe it's socially acceptable to speed?" (Mrs Armstrong doesn't, of course, believe any such thing).
It should be socially unacceptable for BBC interviewers and BBC programmes to take sides on controversial political issues.
Fatah Chance
>> Friday, August 20, 2010
Watching the BBC’s blanket coverage of the announcement of forthcoming peace talks between Israel and Fatah, I noticed that requirements for a possible peace deal consisted exclusively of concessions that must be made by Israel.
What has happened to recognising Israel and renouncing violence? Without these, accomplishing any kind of peace seems a very tall order.
At least Mark Regev was given a slot, which is bound to stir up those who see the slightest peep out of him as a sign that the BBC is controlled by the Jewish lobby.
DAILY SKEW
Following on from David's post Defeated in Iraq...
Whatever your own view of the Iraq War, the BBC constantly campaigned against it. The BBC also loves Obama. So how to report the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq?
Clare Spencer, the left-winger who writes most of the Daily View pieces for the BBC website's See Also column, is back from her holiday today. Her first post is Daily View: US troops leaving Iraq.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/seealso/2010/08/daily_view_us_troops_leaving_i.html
If you were a biased right-wing reporter, who would most want to ignore on this issue? Robert Fisk of the Independent probably. If you were a biased left-wing reporter, who would you go to first? Robert Fisk of the Independent probably. Clare Spencer goes first to Robert Fisk, quoting some of his usual anti-Western, anti-(this-)war bile.
After Fisk comes Steve Benen, a JournOLista at the Washington Monthly (Clare is fond of quoting JournOListas), who 'balances' Fisk by taking "some satisfaction" in this milestone being achieved. Bad war yes, but well done Obama!
After the left-wing Fisk and the left-wing Benen comes left-wing blogger Juan Cole of Informed Comment who synthesizes the two views to get the perfect BBC opinion:What Obama has done is stay true to US commitment to get combat units out by September 1. That should reassure Iraqis - and Arabs and Muslims in general - about US intentions. It is a symbol of a turnaround in US policy, a repudiation of the Bush administration doctrine of preemptive war.
Fourth comes Roula Khalaf of the Financial Times who "argues...that the Iraqis have little to celebrate about the US withdrawal". (This could be read as a criticism of Obama's move, but isn't.)
An article in Foreign Policy by John Negroponte, ex-ambassador to Iraq, is quoted next. His quote offers advice for the future, so it doesn't really counteract the one-sided appraisal of the war of the article so far.
Clare then quotes the Daily Mail. That's odd. But when you read the quote you find that the Mail article attacks Bush and Blair and calls the war "shameful, without any winners" - which is exactly what beeboids wants to hear!
The one bit (out of seven) that genuinely does provide balance comes from the Daily Mirror, where "the director of the Iraqi Association, a charity for Iraqi refugees in Britain Jabbar Hasan" argues "that the Iraq war was worth it".
However, it's back to the far-Left anti-war campaigner Rose Gentle (who lost her son in the war and then joined Galloway's Respect Party) to finish the article in the same Fiskian spirit as it began:
Life in Iraq hasn't got any better. It's got worse. Nothing has been achieved there which is very disappointing. There is still no stability despite thousands of innocent Iraqis being killed during the war."
OPEN THREAD...
Phew - it's Friday and time for the launch of our latest open thread which should take us across the weekend. Please detail here your observations concerning BBC bias. We know they read these pages so don't hold back, I am sure they appreciate the feedback.
BBC PEACE VIGIL FOR TRANSGENERATIONAL THUGGERY
Today's been a big day for Today doing it's very best to "understand" terrorism.
At 7.12am BBC ace reporter Andy Martin went to Lurgan - a nexus for "I can't believe it's not the IRA" violence in Northern Ireland and but a few miles from where I live. He met with community workers to try and "understand" what makes young kids take to the streets, throw fire bombs at Police and wreck property. Guess what? Yes, it's lack of social facilities. leisure activities.Mmm, and there was me thinking it was the fact that they are vicious little thugs who come from a generation of thugs in that area.
Then, in the prime morning slot at 8.10am, Andy was back with his tales of the terrible social woes that lead to young thuggery.(He forgot to mention all the local lesiure facilities about 3 minutes walk from the area concerned for some reason)
Coalition Sec of State Owen Paterson was on to assure us that violence does not pay! How he kept a straight face when claiming this is a testament to his powers of political delusion. He then causally pointed out that Policing is now under local control, with a Policing Board containing a convicted IRA bomber and a convicted bank robber. As Owen says, violence does not pay.
Owen also asserted, without contradiction, that "everyone" agrees N Ireland is in a much better economic position than it ever has. Odd how the interviewer did not point out how unemployment is at a ten year high and that it is the only part of the UK still mired in economic decline?
Isn't it peculiar how BBC antipathy towards the BBC dissolves when discussing the "peace process" here in Northern Ireland. Love of appeasement trumps hatred of Conservatism?
MISREMEMBERING THE FEW...
You can always rely on the rancid BBC to try and undermine the glorious achievements of our past - and the Battle of Britain was always going to be in their sights. On Today at 8.31am (no link yet)
"It is the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill's speech praising "the few" of the Battle of Britain. History professor Norman Davies and author James Holland discuss whether we in fact mis-remember this hugely significant moment in the nation's history."
UPDATE.
The BBC used the 1pm news programme on Radio 4 to interview lady who had played a key part in the preparations for the Battle of Britain and beyond. It finished by her deep regret that Hiroshima was bombed and the assertion "Never Again". So, even on this day, BBC advanced pacifist agenda.
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