A quite remarkable tale of BBC and Guardian duplicity uncovered byAutonomous Mind. Obviously over the last few days the great and the good at the BBC have become rather unsettled as control over the urban mob violence and looting narrative began slipping through their fingers. Shocked by the tsunami of contempt that hit them when they tried to frame the discussion in terms of “protestors”, poverty and/or race the Beeboids and their allies in the left wing media/academic cultural elite have been desperately searching for a way of regaining control of the issue by shifting the parameters of the debate. The initial attempt was laughably unsubtle. Making much of a bevy of leading police officers, spearheaded by ACPOs big cheese Sir Hugh Orde, the aim was to portray the Cameron government as being out of touch. “Leave it to the boys in blue” became the watchword. Unfortunately the evidence of a lack of leadership and control from the higher echelons at the Met over the first 2/3 days of mob rule in parts of London was so overwhelming that the utterances of Orde and Co. had a very hollow ring. But, as David at noted yesterday, a new editorial line had been adopted by the BBC suits and programmed into the robotic Sarah Montague as she fed the appropriate cues to the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, over sentences handed out to looters. Naturally he came back with the appropriate response – “a collective loss of proportion” This triggered Sarah’s circuitry and produced the key phrase we shall be hearing over and over again at this weekend’s North London dinner parties. Moral panic. It’s all out of proportion, you see. There’s no real threat but a lot of opportunists have jumped on this bandwagon to further their own political agenda. Moral panics allegedly arise when an event is perceived as a threat to society and its values. Those who foment the panic are said to be motivated by a fear of losing control. They therefore attempt to channel potentially disruptive energy by portraying another person or group – “folk devils” - as more of a danger than they actually are. So the Sarah Montague/BBC line appears to be that Cameron is using the riots as an opportunity to demonise the disenfranchised and divert attention from his austerity drive and, strangely enough, that was the angle recently taken byThe New York Times.....surprise, surprise.... Heavy stuff, indeed... But wait a minute – “no real threat but a bandwagon to further an agenda”......”folk devils”.....that seems to ring a bell.... Rupert Murdoch, Anders Breivik, bankers, EDL, AGW deniers, Israelis – now there is a collection of folk devils for you, always presented as the symbols of dark forces ever ready to take us back to some Thatcherite nightmare away from sweetness and light. Moral panics? At the BBC it’s what we do..... I always enjoy listening to Israeli spokesman Mark Regev and he was on Today this morning. Following the deplorable attack at Eilat, I was pleased to hear Regev make several references to the terrorists from Hamastan who had carried this out. That must have given the BBC apoplexy! Jeremy Al Bowen was also on this segment to give his sage analysis - give it a listen! It's interesting to consider how the BBC frames a debate and how in doing so it carefully ensures the required conclusion. Iain Duncan Smith suggests (rightly, in my opinion!) that those thugs involved in looting, rioting and rampaging through our streets could lose their benefits if convicted of their crimes. Cue BBC outrage. So, David Blunkett and Peter Lilley are wheeled on to discuss this. Superficially you might think this is balanced, but of course it never could be. Lilley and Blunkett both made it clear that IDS could not take away benefit. Blunkett was allowed to waffle on about "restorative justice" -that oxymoron of the Left, whilst Lilley pointed out why legally benefits removal as a consequence of conviction was impossible. If the BBC wanted to have a real debate (which it didn't) could it not have found ONE politician who endorses the stance taken by IDS? Of course it could but it didn't want to since the agenda in play was to make Duncan Smith look "extreme" and his policy "ill-considered." I was particularly appalled at the way Blunkett was able to walk away from the chaos created by the Government he was such an integal part of for so many years but then again this is the BBC, the broadcasting arm of British socialism. Here's one for you: Proud to be American 
WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
>> FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2011
"It has felt like ploughing a lonely furrow, using this blog and Twitter to try to make people sit up and question how the Guardian wasgetting informationa bout the Met Police’s investigation into ‘phone hacking’ and getting unreleased details of arrests."
"Sky News is reporting that a 51-year-old detective at the Metropolitan Police has been arrested at his desk and suspended on suspicion of leaking information from the phone hacking investigation team to journalists at the Guardian."
So, how does the BBC cover this. Well, it manages to entirely avoid the Guardian connection! Further Update: Despite the story of the Met Police detective being arrested for allegedly leaking information to the Guardian being all over Sky News and various news media outlets and blogs, the BBC’s update of their story, 34 mins after the last version was published, doggedly continues to omit the name ‘Guardian’. In fact, they are even trying to focus attention on the arrest of another News of the World journalist and unashamedly are even using the NotW logo as their story image, which could give the impression the police leaks were to the NotW and not the Guardian! Utterly incredible.
Moral Panics? At The BBC It’s What We Do…..
OPEN THREAD
Never mind Celebrity Big Brother, with the BBC operating 24/7 across the globe, we have a much more dangerous broadcasting big brother to worry about. Please detail your observations here as I declare this thread...OPEN!EILAT ATTACK
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
Your License Fee Hard At Work: BBC Arabic and Persian Edition
>> THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2011
With a sister who wears the hijab and a cowboymad Muslim father who dresses like John Wayne, Seema Jilani enjoys a diverse family life. The Texas-based paediatrician, who has worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan and written extensively on health and social issues, is an engaging contributor to a new BBC documentary, American Muslim: Freedom, Faith and Fear.
Sure, why not? The whole family is Muslim, but their clothing is diverse, so that counts as "a diverse family life" when seen through the agenda-tinted glasses. Other participants include a fashion designer, an imam, a comedian, a Marine, a Republican congressman and a forthright newspaper columnist - all with something to say about Muslims who live in the Land of the Free. The illuminating 60 minute tv programme, to be accompanied by a World Service radio documentary, emerged from a competition that invited proposals for a collaborative project between BBC Arabic and BBC Persian.
Which means it's meant to be targeted at Mohammedans in those regions, and not for your consumption. It's nice, though, that the BBC is actually presenting these people with a positive image of the US, for a change. 'The original idea was to concentrate on the Bible Belt where there are fascinating similarities between devout Christians and devout Muslims,' explains BBC Persian reporter Karen Zarindast.
You mean like how they think of women as childbearers first and foremost, subject to the absolute rule of the husband, and their feelings about homosexuality, for example? I won't hold my breath.
Friday, 19 August 2011
To set the scene;
But now....
Hat-tip to the excellent Autonomous Mind. The BBC/Guardian axis of hypocrisy revealed for all to see.
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