The first of Today's guest presenters, actor Michael Sheen, did 'his thing' this morning (as the young folks say).
His left-wing credentials certainly shone through, as did his interest in science and...er...acting.
Some of the left-wing Twitterati went into absolute ecstasy over his guest editorship...
...but other members of the self-same left-wing Twitterati went instead into a contrasting frenzy of 'BBC bias' accusations.
Why?
Well, partly because of "posh" Sarah Montague's laughing attempt to stop Mr Sheen's closing tirade against the present Conservative government (not that he actually explicitly named them).
That certainly got some people's goat.
That certainly got some people's goat.
But it was really Nick Robinson's emphatic closing comment that Michael Sheen's comments were just his (Michael Sheen's) opinions and that other opinions would be offered by other Today guest presenters later in the week that really infuriated the (easily-offended) Left and started the latest Twitter-storm against 'Tory' Nick Robinson and the 'Tory' BBC.
Should Nick have distanced the Today programme from guest editor Michael Sheen's left-wing opinions in such an emphatic way?
Well, why shouldn't he have done so? Isn't it his 'impartial' duty as a BBC presenter to say something like that after a guest editor has sounded off in such a (fairly) partisan way?
******
In contrast to all of this Twitter nonsense from the Left, others have wondered about the choice of lefty luvvie Michael Sheen - and, more reasonably, the choice of this year's Today guest editors in general.
The other guest presenters this year are exemplary bike-rider Sir Bradley Wiggins, ex-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's spouse Miriam González Durántez, former BP boss (and crossbench peer) Lord Browne, Tanzanian-born British architect David Adjaye, and disabled human rights campaigner (and crossbench peer) Baroness Campbell of Surbiton.
That is a very middle-of-the-road, left-liberal selection, isn't it?
It's nicely 'socially inclusive' for starters. And Lord Browne gets in by being famously gay {so to speak}.
It's nicely 'socially inclusive' for starters. And Lord Browne gets in by being famously gay {so to speak}.
That said, the absence of an obvious right-winger in that list has been partly met by having former David Cameron adviser Rohan Silva, a tech entrepreneur, assume the role of Today business editor for the entire week.
Still, we are definitely in the territory of the safe, fairly 'establishment' middle ground aren't we here?
And that's a pro-establishment bias, as well as a strongly PC bias, isn't it?
Answer: Yes,
Answer: Yes,
Are you having an end of year Award? If so, I would like to nominate:
ReplyDeleteJenny Hill for "The BBC Dhimmi of the year" with that Welcome Party Celebration at the German Railway Station.
Evan Davis for "Most Novel Use by a BBC Journo of a Children's Bear Character in an Ostensibly Serious Question Put to the Leader of a major UK Political party during a general election campaign."
Mark Mardell for "Most absurd and irrelevant argument put in support of unlimited mass migration to the UK" (for his suggestion that it is offensive to migrants and their descendants now in the UK to question such migration).
And a special award for "Sustained and Unapologetic News Burial" goes to the BBC website who managed to (a) bury the story about the "Silent Bomber" Jihadi in the "England" section, so it does not feature at all or signficantly in the Home and UK sections and (b) avoid use of the I or M word in the actual story. This is presumably on the basis that a Jihadi unit 2 days away from comitting mass murder on the underground or at a major shopping centre is of no interest to us kaffirs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35195311
Today they have some lawyer lady on. Not sure, but she too may have a slight agenda.
ReplyDeleteYes, she's apparently under operating under the delusion that she was not invited on as guest editor for being Mrs Clegg.
ReplyDeleteMrs Clooney also appears to gain access to high places and PR profile as befits a rights lawyer.
DeleteOff topic but kinda on topic...
ReplyDeleteThe guest editor scam on Today meant that African immigrant David Adjaye - who has benefited hugely from the opportunities enjoyed in this country - had a chance to put forward the usual race agenda about oppression of black people (but only in UK, USA - not in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Brazil or anywhere else).
Amongst other things this meant allowing Harry Belafonte
to call for mass protests against "the existence of Trump".
Also, the question was never asked of Harry Belafonte as to why he left a black majority country in the Caribbean to subject himself to the awful experience of American racism. Was it because - despite the awful reality of that racism in 1950s USA - the USA offered a poor black entertainer a lot more opportunities?
Once again we heard the Stephen Lawrence case being used as a kind of talisman to ward off rational debate.