Leadership Debate
>> THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011
Two of the Today guest editors bucked a familiar BBC trend. Two in a row. Yesterday Tracey Emin courageously admitted that she Voted Tory, (gasp) and our Thursday, Jewish guest editor chose to explore leadership with special reference to the Middle East, whereupon Sarah Montague, the BBC’s premier advocate of the “talk to Hamas strategy’ was dispatched to interview Tony Blair. Tony Blair may not be everyone’s favourite person, but having settled into his post as Middle East Peace Envoy it started to look, to some people, as if he was gradually discovering what was going on. One wonders whether he felt, like Tracey Emin, that it was difficult to bare his soul openly to the Today audience without obsequiously justifying himself, because some of his answers seemed designed to pre-emptively appease a cynical reception. For example:
“There will always be incidents that go, ...it might be acts of terrorism.... it might be raids that go wrong. There will always be reasons why people retreat to their comfort zone and say “I’m not dealing with these people”Which sounded as though he too was contemplating the inevitability of the Talk to Hamas strategy. Then again, on Israel’s security problem. Because, thanks in no small measure to the BBC, the separation wall has acquired notoriety as a disingenuous excuse for land grab, rather than what it really is, a lifesaving protective barrier against terrorism.
SPEAKING THEIR MINDS...
Wonder if you heard Sarah Montague interview Tony Blair this morninghere? I was struck by her clear assertion that the Muslim Brotherhood is "moderate" and that Hamas is a legitimate government that we must do business with. It's an interesting time of the year when the BBC Illuminati seem more bold in declaring their bias.
DEATH ON OXFORD STREET
>> WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2011
The BBC coverage of the murder of a youth in Oxford Street has already proven less than complete, leaving out the pesky detail that Seydou Diarrassouba was himself a member of the notorious London street gangABM, which stands for ‘All ’Bout Money’and was facing charges of robbery and assault, Notwithstanding that, the BBC carries on with the meme that jail doesn't work. They wallow in a slough of liberal cluelessness, never once confronting the fact that black gang crime is a major problem in the UK, and in London in particular.
BIASED MOMENT OF THE YEAR
Well, it's been an interesting year here on Biased BBC. I wonder have you an outstanding moment of bias that still outrages you from the past year? If so, let's be hearing from you!
COMPARE AND CONTRAST...
Excellent post here showing how the BBC manipulates situations to ensure they conform to the narrative and of course the narrative means the Jews are always baaaaad. Do you think Palestinians sign off the BBC script?
O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM....
Interesting bit of analysis here from the fiercely neutral BBC; It concerns the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and a fight that broke out between the Priest in charge of it. Luckily (sic0 the Palestinian police were on hand to save the day but it was this that caught my eye...
The 1,700-year-old church, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, is in a bad state of repair, largely because the priests cannot agree on who should pay for its upkeep. Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, has also seen similar incidents.Not quite the full picture. For starters, ever since Palestinians gained control of Bethlehem they have relentlessly cleansed it of the Christian community and made access much more difficult. From 60% in 1990 to a mere 15% in 2011, but not worth a mention for the BBC. Try this for the perspective that the BBC carefully avoids giving you.
OK, this is the last Open Thread of 2011 so say what you see....
BBC PENSION FUND HIRES GREEN ADVISERS
The greening of the BBC accelerates unchecked. I hope the 18,000 BBC staff who are in the pension fund are happy how their £9bn of funds are being managed; during the course of the past year, the trustees - who incude eco-nut head of news Helen Boaden - decided to entrust a major strand of the fund management to an outfit called Hermes EOS. This is what the fund annual report says (p15):
Hermes EOS is expected to develop policies on socially,ethically and environmentally responsible investing and to encourage these practices in the course of engagementswhere these will enhance or protect companies’ long-term prospects.Now I do not claim to be an expert on pension funds, but that strikes me as a declaration that henceforward, management of the trust will be dominated by green principles. The impression is reinforced by the fact thatHermes EOS is listed as a member affiliate of an outfit called Eurosif, which desrcribes itself as 'a pan-European network and think-tank whose mission is to Develop Sustainability through European Financial Markets'. In my book, that's corporate speak for EU-related eco-loonery. The boss in the UK is Will Oulton:
Will joined Mercer in May 2010 as Head of Responsible Investment for Investment Consulting across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Previous to Mercer, Will was the Director of Responsible Investment at FTSE Group where he led the development of FTSE's global sustainability indices and services including the FTSE4Good, Environmental Markets and Carbon Strategy indices. In June 2009, he edited the book "Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World" and in February 2010 was appointed as Vice President of the European Sustainable Investment Forum - EUROSIF.And there we have it. The BBC has placed its pension fund into the grasping hands of a load of green zealots. Hermes EOS campaigners will be there are every relevant board meeting trying to force companies to adopt green policies, come what may. The latest balance sheet shows that over the past five years, the fund has grown by just 3.7% against an industry average of 5%. I've reported before that the pension fund has become - like everything else at the corporation - a greenie enterprise. What's beyond belief is that the whole of the BBC has slowly but surely also morphed into an integrated campaigning machine for the eco cause, and Hermes EOS is now another arm of that effort. If I were a BBC pensioner, I would be afraid, very afraid.
INFANTALIZED...
Michael Buerk, for years one of the main BBC newsreaders, and now presenter of the R4's Moral Maze, has long been a trenchant critic of the BBC's climate reporting. Almost a year ago, he took a direct kick here at the rampant eco-loonery when Peter Sissons savaged the corporation's espousal of climate alarmism in his memoirs. This week, he's renewed his attack on the BBC Trustees - along with Harrabin, Black and their crusader colleagues - in a new blog called The Fifth Column. He points out that although he himself does believe in anthropogenic warming, the BBC's reporting of the issue is a pile of odure. He says:
What gets up my nose is being infantilized by governments, by the BBC, by the Guardian that there is no argument, that all scientists who aren’t cranks and charlatans are agreed on all this, that the consequences are uniformly negative, the issues beyond doubt and the steps to be taken beyond dispute.There's much more in his short, punchy essay (hinged on the BBC's reporting of the Durban summit), all of it brilliantly crafted to say that the corporation's stance on this topic is indefensible. The only question now is whether Mr Buerk will be ignored (as usually happens), fired, or someone is paid to ridicule him. My guess is that it will probably be Fiona Fox. She's got form. PS: I missed this pre-Christmas piece of naked agitprop from Richard Black attacking those who dare to challenge that nice EU's punitive new tax on air travel. Jaw-dropping, even by his standards.
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE...
>> TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2011
'I found myself sent there on a three-day mission to investigate a startling story: That sub-Saharan Africa is not just a region of starving children and warring dictators. The assignment was at the behest of guest editor Mo Ibrahim who strongly feels that the Western media portrays Africa in a monotonously negative light. Could that really be true? "Now I don't want to paint a ludicrously one-dimensionally optimistic view of the country. It is no paradise....We wouldn't want reporters to act as cheer leaders for a continent and we don't want them to always be seeing glasses as half full. That would perhaps stop us trying fill them to the top. But if we only ever see half empty glasses, that can be demotivating too. It can nurture a dull fatalism that assumes doing anything is a waste of effort.'http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9668000/9668347.stm Perhaps on the flight back he could have stopped off in Israel and found out if the Israelis are really all warmongering terrorists stealing Arab land? Shame to have them painted in a relentlessly negative light.
DRAWING BLOOD
Biased BBC's Alan observes; "Not content with inflaming Muslim anger towards Jews the BBC is set on creating antagonism between Christians and Jews with its creative use of the truth in Bethlehem....as noted in a previous post. The reporter, Jon Donnison, had a template to write his story around and mangled the facts to fit that narrative....the Jews killed Christ and now they are destroying the Christian communities in the West Bank....and a university graduate doesn't want to be a shepherd because of those damned Jews....sorry 'Israelis'. Whatever the Balen Report said its message has clearly been forgotten...or ignored. What was that message? Probably that BBC News kills Jews. No wonder They don't want you to see it. Naturally of course the BBC don't bother reporting much at all from Pakistan....a nation created in a similar way to Israel (and with less legitimacy) and one which supports terrorism in India and the Taliban...and of course is a Muslim state. One reason the BBC might not want to report from there......
'For the second year in a row, Reporters Without Borders has named Pakistan the most deadly country in the world for journalists. The biggest threat is not terrorists, but the intelligence service, a prominent talk show moderator alleges. The same man just received an ominous warning via text message. 'You haven't heard much about that on the BBC. Perhaps if Jews promised to vote Labour they might get a better Press from the BBC? No matter what Labour does the BBC draws a veil over it...13 years of corruption and incompetence goes unreported.
"This government in particular makes me angry....it doesn't know what it is doing....I get angrier when I think of the effect they're having on the most vulnerable in society and economic mismanagement'.Nice that the BBC doesn’t let an opportunity go to damn it’s political enemies. Even John Simpson has lowered himself to puerile, student level abuse when reporting on the death of Vaclav Havel...he told us how intellectual Havel was....unlike other leaders....cue film of George Bush with Havel and Simpson’s narration....‘In terms of intellect he was way ahead of other political leaders.’
SANTA MAYBE....
Easing my way back into this post-Christmas blogging and I am sure you will have read about the horrific mass murder in Texas carried out by a"gunman who shot dead six relatives before killing himself at a family Christmas celebration in Texas was dressed as Santa Claus." The curious thing is that the killer was also a devout Muslim and it looks like it was an honour killing with extras. Naturally the BBC choses not to update the story with this detail - after all it's not relevant...right?
Fings Aint Wot They Used To Be
The BBC is fond of the familiar. It favours the tried and tested, nay, the formulaic, all year round. But tradition and ritual are an extra special feature at Christmas. It’s what the audience wants, is it not? , “Give them more of what they liked last time round!” those innovative creative commissioning editors must have squealed as they sat round the table in the BBC’s department of inspiration and left of centre thinking. “Eureka!” They might have cried, “Here’s what we’ll do for Christmas!” “Morecambe and Wise!” “Shrek!” “And don’t forget to go up to the attic and see if you can find the one about the shepherds. I know we put it somewhere. They love that one. What we need is another good old ‘fings aint wot they used to be’ special.” Israel-bashers unite, far and wide, and the BBC is not averse to a bit of sentimentality at Christmas time, even if it means following the herd. Literally. “Ring up Carlos Sarras, our go-to Palestinian shepherd, and if he’s available again get Jon Donnison on the case. Yolande Knell can find another old geezer wistfully reminiscing about his goat, his olive tree and his donkey and she can finish with an interview with George Saadah, deputy mayor of Bethlehem, whose message of peace and goodwill to all men we’ll put under the heading “The Wise Man.” Jon Donnison gave him a lengthy spot on BBC News 24 the other day, so the audience will be liking him already.”
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