That tweet from LEAVE.EU yesterday saying "10 of the 13 members of the 'impartial' Ofcom board charged with regulating the BBC have strong ties to the BBC" derives from a characteristically fine piece of digging from News-watch's David Keighley.
David has posted the details of his research at The Conservative Woman today and it makes for fascinating reading. Please take a look for yourselves.
David writes that:
The Content Board has ‘BBC’ etched through it like a stick of Blackpool rock. Looking at the various affiliations of the members – for example Andrew Chitty’s membership of David Puttnam’s group or Zahera Harb’s board seat on the so-called the Ethical Journalism Network (which advocates that the Syrian war was caused in part by climate change) – it is not hard to see that they are likely to share the same biased mindset as their former BBC colleagues.
The management board of the BBC should be elected, just as we elect our building society directors. Things would change overnight once we brought that in.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly you would find BBC journos becoming less happy to refer to men as children and less likely to scratch their heads over the cause of the current housing crisis or school place shortages.
Let's try and define the BBC Mindset. It goes something like this: Anti Government, anti English white middle-class, anti Brexit, anti Tory, pro Nicola Sturgeon (because she is anti English anti Tory and anti Brexit), pro London Labour Party (because they are mostly people-like-us), pro Corbyn (but worried about him because of perceived weakness in his leadership), anti Donald Trump (because that equates to anti Tory), pro Hilary Clinton (because that equates to the nearest thing to UK left-wing), anti majority of up-north UK voters (because they are xenophobic, parochial, old-and-out-of-touch Christian etc), pro some ethnic minorities (but not others), pro inclusivity, anti big business, anti fracking, anti Thatcher, pro striking miners of the 1980s, nearly pro quaint Countyfile type out-of-London communities (they are routinely patronised), pro Labour Party of the past (pro their celebs Tony Benn Neil Kinnock etc), pro Militant (or should that be Momentum), and pro all left-wing activists (as depicted in grainy old film clips).
ReplyDeletePlease add to the list. We need to define the BBC.
That's a pretty full list. Still misses : anti Christian, anti Hindu, Buddist, etc., pro Islam, pro abortion, anti family, anti male, pro feminist, pro LGBTx, anti Israel, pro IRA, pro Palestinian/Hamas/Hezbollah/etc., anti Russia, anti USA, pro NHS, pro state education, anti Grammar schools, anti private schools, pro Government spending, pro high taxes, pro anything to do with Africa,
ReplyDeleteI get tired of listing the obvious bias of the unaccountable, out of control, over grown broadcaster that I am forced to fund. However not to worry because it's also true that BBC bias is very predictable. So it's easy to name a topic, any topic and then to predict which side the BBC will back.
Another fun game is to pick what should be a neutral topic, e.g., an expedition to Mars, and predict the spins that BBC "reporters" will put on it.
Here's more: BBC are pro Leicester City Foxes (inclusivity, a dozen or more nationalities in squad- check, multi ethnicity amongst their supporters - check, quaint EU manager - check, two successful Algerians - check), pro proper foxes, anti hunting (anti landed gentry hunting types) anti blood sports, pro badgers, anti farming practices, pro animal rights.
ReplyDeleteHere's a list of things or people it used to be be in love with but is no longer: Julian Assange, Robert Mugabe, Poland, Hungary, Paul Hollywood, Fay Weldon, Marco Pierre White, Martin Amis, the late Christopher Hitchens, Methodists.
ReplyDeleteAny more?
Talking of Julian Assange, it was interesting hearing Jeremy Hardy - you know, the guy who always claims to be more honest than politicians - indicating that Julain Assange should not tell the truth about Hillary Clinton and the Democrat machine.
Not a pro or anti point, but let’s not forget the entirely delusional idea that the BBC has of itself as representing some kind of elite, explaining the news to the ignorant masses.
ReplyDeleteYes, The BBC's self-appointed elite have managed to alienate not only their target, that is the Tory right-wing, but also the traditional Labour voter who is now labelled as white middle-class, racist, uneducated etc etc.
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