I know it's all rather too late now...
...but the Daily Mail, Metro, Harry's Place, Alan at Biased BBC and many others reported (before election day) a final bid to stop Sadiq Khan from becoming what the BBC has been calling all day today {so far}"the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital": namely the release of that extraordinary video of Sadiq (from 2009) calling 'moderate Muslims' "Uncle Toms".
...but the Daily Mail, Metro, Harry's Place, Alan at Biased BBC and many others reported (before election day) a final bid to stop Sadiq Khan from becoming what the BBC has been calling all day today {so far}"the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital": namely the release of that extraordinary video of Sadiq (from 2009) calling 'moderate Muslims' "Uncle Toms".
Now, the video does suggest (to my mind) that Sadiq was trying to say the right thing but the 'Uncles Toms' bit just slipped out...which doesn't really make it much better, does it?
I didn't have time to post about it at the time but I did manage to carry out a reasonably thorough check and found that the "Uncle Toms" story had been reported pretty widely - from Guido Fawkes to the Independent, from the Sun to PoliticsHome and the Daily Telegraph. Even commenters at the Guardian kept mentioning it (though not the 'above the line' types there!).
From the BBC, however, I couldn't - and re-checking still can't - find a single thing about it.
Given how widely it was reported elsewhere, the BBC's failure to make something of Sadiq's highly questionable comment must have been a BBC editorial decision (and one that was applied across the board).
Maybe if the BBC had reported it and gone 'bigly' with it (as the BBC does with some stories) it might - just might - have had some impact on the final result of the London mayoral election (though probably not much)
If anyone can find an example of the BBC reporting the "Uncles Toms" story before the election please let me know below. It would be nice to be proved wrong here. Otherwise it's just another grim example of BBC 'bias by omission'.
I didn't have time to post about it at the time but I did manage to carry out a reasonably thorough check and found that the "Uncle Toms" story had been reported pretty widely - from Guido Fawkes to the Independent, from the Sun to PoliticsHome and the Daily Telegraph. Even commenters at the Guardian kept mentioning it (though not the 'above the line' types there!).
From the BBC, however, I couldn't - and re-checking still can't - find a single thing about it.
Given how widely it was reported elsewhere, the BBC's failure to make something of Sadiq's highly questionable comment must have been a BBC editorial decision (and one that was applied across the board).
Maybe if the BBC had reported it and gone 'bigly' with it (as the BBC does with some stories) it might - just might - have had some impact on the final result of the London mayoral election (though probably not much)
If anyone can find an example of the BBC reporting the "Uncles Toms" story before the election please let me know below. It would be nice to be proved wrong here. Otherwise it's just another grim example of BBC 'bias by omission'.
Talking of what the BBC does "bigly", they've suddenly developed an interest in Poland's domestic politics, reporting on a demonstration against the "right wing" government.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair it was quite a large demonstration.
However Radio Poland characterises it as "
"The march, under the slogan “We are and will remain in Europe”, was held ahead of the EU's 9 May Europe Day and organised jointly by KOD and the opposition Civic Platform, Nowoczesna and Polish People's Party."
No mention of that in the bit I heard. I don't suppose that plays so well for the Referendum - central Europe degenerating into civil strife over the future of the EU.
This is something that needs looking into more closely.
DeleteThe BBC (and our old friend Hugh Sykes on Twitter) started posted negative stuff about Poland's election-winning Law and Justice from pretty much the moment they were elected. Their vociferous opponents were put in the spotlight. The EU Commission also immediately took against the wicked right-wing Law and Justice.
We did something about a 'Newsnight' hit job on Law and Justice a few months back:
http://isthebbcbiased.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/more-controversy.html
(a post where I cunningly sneaked in one of my favourite pieces of obscure music).