More Twitterings [featuring talk of BBC editorial guidelines]

I know that political Twitter is often a blood sport, and that only a surprisingly small minority of the public ever bothers with Twitter at all, but it a favourite haunt of many of my least favourite BBC journalists. 

And do you get delightful cat videos and opportunities to vote on whether the 3-voice, 4-voice or 5-voice mass settings by your favourite Tudor composer you prefer.

One quirk of my Twitter feed is that, over the years, I've 'followed' the following four people: James Delingpole, Maajid Nawaz, Sunder Katwala and Shayan Sardarizadeh. 

You may know them all already [especially as they've all featured on the blog before], but I'll introduce them nonetheless: 

James is a conservative who thinks nearly everything being done in the name of Covid and climate change is a scam. Maajid is an ex-Muslim extremist turned Lib Dem broadcaster who shares some of James's takes. Sunder is a left-liberal think tanker who really doesn't like Maajid. And Shayan is an impartial BBC journalist from  Mike Wendling's BBC Trending/BBC Disinformation Unit with a strong interest in QAnon who works alongside the famous Marianna Spring and often 'likes' in tandem with her on Twitter. 

I'm happy to follow all of them, being broad-minded, even though all four of them irritate me from time to time. I like to hear what interesting people like this are saying. So this today is like a rare astronomical conjunction of planets as it features all four of them together:

There's James doing his thing, and jumping more sharks than Evel Knievel doubling for The Fonz in a David Attenborough documentary about sharks. 

And there's Sunder doing his thing and bullying Maajid for being guilty by association. 

And there's Shayan, the impartial BBC guy, doing his thing and impartially taking sides on the same side he always takes by 'liking' Sunder's attack on Maajid and James.

What are they like!

Of course, James Delingpole, Maajid Nawaz and Sunder Katwala aren't bound by the BBC's guidelines on impartiality. They can 'like' what they want, unlike Shayan Sardarizadeh. 

Those pesky BBC editorial guidelines don't stop Shayan though!

Tim Davie can 'talk the talk' as much as he likes about BBC staff's impartiality-busting on social media because the BBC's been promising to clean it up its act on that front for years now, and yet here we are again. 

QAnon, Cuties and the BBC

 

The BBC's disinformation unit might have to be renamed its QAnon unit, given how intensely they cover that conspiracy theory. It even led to this tweet from the BBC's disinformation reporter Shayan Sardarizadeh: 

He soon had second thoughts and deleted it. 

This resulted in the following exchange, which I thought I might share with you:

Simon Dolan: I thought he might delete it. Do you want to clarify @Shayan86?

Shayan Sardarizadeh: Happy to clarify. The tweet lacked context about the film, so I deleted it. Here's a tweet with clear context about what critics and those behind the film say about it: The film "Cuties" on Netflix has caused huge controversy in the US. There's a #CancelNetflix campaign against the film as critics say it "normalises paedophilia" and is vile. The director and Netflix say it's "a commentary and criticism of the hypersexualisation of young girls".

Simon Dolan: Thanks. Interesting you offer no personal opinion 'one way or the other'.

Shayan Sardarizadeh: Yes. That's because: a) I haven't seen the film, b) I'm not a film critic, c) I'm not a columnist or opinion writer, d) I'm not allowed to post personal opinion under BBC guidelines. If you have seen the film and think it's offensive, you should complain to Netfilx.

Simon Dolan: So why bring it up? You initially said it was "Xmas for the Q followers". How do you know if you haven't seen it? 

Shayan Sardarizadeh: Because I follow the QAnon community very closely and can see many QAnon followers are sharing their views about the film on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube; suggesting it validates their view about the entertainment industry being part of the deep state cabal.

Simon Dolan: This was your original tweet from less than an hour ago. Doesn't really square with your latest comments does it? You made a clear inference, and now look a little ridiculous in your back peddling.

Shayan Sardarizadeh: No, it wasn't an inference. It's a fact that many QAnon followers are seeing the film as a validation of their long-held view about the entertainment industry. I've politely answered your questions. Let me know when you have a question that hasn't been answered.

The Eric Gill statue outside Broadcasting House is attacked

 

The Eric Gill One

Following the Colston Four's acquittal for pulling down the Edward Colston statue in Bristol, someone this afternoon might have high hopes of also being acquitted after taking a hammer/sledgehammer to the Eric Gill Prospero and Ariel statue at Broadcasting House - a sculpture that shows an aging Prospero and a naked, child-like Ariel fiddling on his flute.  

As many of you will know, Eric Gill was a paedophile who slept with his two daughters and the family dog. 

That fact is tattooed in my brain because, like many of you, I've watched Alex Belfield's YouTube channel and he's fond of repeatedly pointing it out. He wants the statue gone. I don't. Eric Gill was a bad man who wrought some wonderful work, including at Morecambe's Midland Hotel. I prefer separating the man from the work wherever possible. If we didn't we'd lose many great works. But I respect the views of those who can't do that on moral grounds. I wouldn't just dismiss them. 

Enter Mike Wendling and Marianna Spring's colleague, Shayan Sardarizadeh. He was straight onto Twitter linking it - as the BBC Trending/BBC Disinformation Unit seem to link everything, obsessively, whenever they possibly can - to QAnon. They are somewhat like conspiracy theorists in that respect:

A man has taken a sledgehammer to the Eric Gill statue outside the BBC Broadcasting House. The statue has been an obsession for British QAnon, "save our children", "Satanic ritual abuse" and other conspiracy groups for a very long time. Police have now arrived at the scene.

He could well be right, but it's typical how some BBC Trending/BBC Disinformation Unit types ignore Marianna's repeated cautions about speculating without facts. 

I hope she'll be having a word in Shayan's shell-like about waiting till facts emerge before speculating on social media. 

That said, let me 'do a Shayan' and speculate too: 

Maybe it could just be someone following their conscience and being on the right side of history as far as paedophilia and the BBC's shameful historic links to paedophilia go, and wanting the statue removed to avoid causing grave offence to passers-by who are forced to see it, even if not actually noticing it, out of the corner of their eyes. The vandal might even eventually claim to have increased its monetary value. With that paltry hammer, however, I'm certain he won't be dragging and dropping it into the Thames any time soon, even if Dame Dick's lot all bend their knees to him while he's doing permanent damage to his hip attempting to do so. 

Update: It looks as if Mike Wendling won't be making Marianna have a word in Shayan's shell-like after. She's deployed on Twitter too this evening, making it all about herself. 

Sharing an earlier message, she's tweeted:

This message I shared mentions the Eric Gill statue currently being attacked at the BBC. Gill’s crimes are appalling - and this statue has often become a focal point for online conspiracy movements. But it raises concerns about willingness to resort to violent tactics.

I'm guessing you're all as aware as I am of the 'cognitive dissonances' over this kind of thing. There's more than a bit of it about here. 

As far as Marianna Spring goes it's less clear. As a statue outside the BBC is attacked, Marianna calls that attack “violent”, but did she ever describe the “violent tactics” used by the Colston Four as “violent tactics” too?

Whoops!

 

Shayan Sardarizadeh, a BBC journalist investigating online disinformation, who covers fake news and disinformation for BBC Monitoring, BBC World Service and BBC News alongside Marianna Spring and Mike Wendling, tweeted the following 'breaking news' overnight:

One commenter replied that this isn't actually a new video, and a moment's Googling confirms that. This very video was posted on YouTube on 18 December 2018 and is still on there, beginning with the words Shayan quotes:

Wonder if Shayan's colleagues will 'reality check' this for him, or will it be left to us online types to point out that this BBC disinformation unit guy is literally spreading fake news, presumably because he couldn't be bothered to check and wanted it to be true?

Rumours

 

This really ought to be one for the BBC's disinformation unit, but they're too busy obsessing about QAnon...

The shadow Minister for Mental Health Dr Rosena Allin-Khan had quite a night on Twitter yesterday, spreading rumours that Nadhim Zahawi "got him and his family vaccinated in Wandsworth":

I have heard rumours that Nadhim Zahawi got him and his family vaccinated in Wandsworth. Nadhim, can you please tell us if it's true? I really hope it's not, unless you meet the necessary criteria. There are millions of vulnerable people waiting patiently in the queue.

Along with "I have heard rumours...", later came "I do not know if this is true but...", along with further demands for answers from Mr Zahawi. 

She then was taken aback by the inevitable nastiness of the Twitter response. 

"Please avoid throwing unnecessary attacks at the Minister", she begged, before beginning to delete her own tweets. 

"I’ve deleted my previous tweet to Nadhim Zahawi as I understand that people were seeing it as a pile on", she wrote. 

And finally, to her great credit, she tweeted a proper apology: 

I have deleted my earlier tweets which were inappropriate and wrong. I regret sharing unsubstantiated claims about the Minister and I apologise to him and his family.

Nadhim Zahawi replied:

Thank you for apologising, the accusation was not true. It is sad you chose to act like this, we all need to work together to beat this awful disease.

What people might have missed is that two other Labour MPs ended up having to delete tweets too. Karl Turner MP deleted one defending Dr Rosena and Barbara Keeley MP withdrew a retweet of Dr Rosena.

It's a cautionary tale that you might think would be perfect for Marianna, Shayan, Mike & Co., but they seem to be far too busy checking whose QAnon videos have been removed from YouTube to be remotely interested in it. Wonder if they'll get round to it eventually?