Wednesday 4 October 2017

Bashing Boris


Boris has done it again - according to the media. 

The media is full of criticism of his statement that the Libyan city of Sirte could become the "next Dubai" if they "clear the dead bodies away".

Tellingly however, different media outlets report the story in different ways. 

Reading Sky's account, yes you get all the critics of Boris but you also get Boris's rejection of their criticism:
Shame people with no knowledge or understanding of Libya want to play politics with the appallingly dangerous reality in Sirte. 
The reality there is that the clearing of corpses of Daesh fighters has been made much more difficult by IEDs and booby traps. 
That's why Britain is playing a key role in reconstruction and why I have visited Libya twice this year in support.
Same with the Times's take and ITV's take

Bizarrely, the BBC's account doesn't give Boris's response to the criticism. 

(So far) this BBC take features only the flak directed at Boris but not Boris's rejection of that flak. 

What sort of media organisation would only report one side of the story? A biased one maybe?

43 comments:

  1. .... 'What sort of media organisation would only report one side of the story? A biased one maybe?'... Right in one Craig. I listened to Boris's speech live, all the way through, and found the BBC's' take' on it completely at odds with what I witnessed.

    After last week's disgracefully positive adoration of all things Labour, it is clearly the BBC's intention to keep up a negative and, they hope, damaging narrative focussed on TM's leadership' cabinet splits and depiction of Boris as poison.

    There must be some arm-twisting from somewhere to produce such bare-faced biased in their reporting. This must be a new low in the BBC's integrity. How Laura K and her like can claim to be professional reporters is just beyond comprehension.

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  2. Yes, why wouldn't they instantly report his ludicrous attempt to blame other people for things he said. It reflects so well on him.

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    1. They are happy to report Corbyn's ludicrous attempts to blame other people for things he said in favour of Venezualan economics, not shooting dead armed terrorists, not being prepared to use nuclear weapons, not being in favour of the EU and so on.

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    2. The perfect reactionary trifecta - Venezuala, terrorism, nukes. Bingo!

      I don't post on the internet much but I believe this is known as 'handwaving'.

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  3. There was nothing at all about Conservative Party policies in the BBC reporting of Boris's speech yesterday. Nor anything about his logically presented rejection of the Corbyn Mcdonnell policies - just the usual biased personality politics.

    Boris made a telling point when he said how the now ageing rock stars such as The Stones, Bowie and Led Zeppelin, so admired by the Labour Youth, all fled the UK during the 1970s when there was a high taxing Labour Government in power, and would only return here when tax rates came down as they did under a Conservative Govt.

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    1. A Labour Government under Corbyn and Mcdonnell would put at risk not only the economic well-being of the UK, but also the cultural health. Artists may in principle be of socialist leaning, but they are in general pretty mercenary, wishing to capitalise upon their creative abilities.

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  4. Theresa May's speech at the Conservative Party conference was interrupted. Therefore, straight away within minutes the BBC News website carries not one but two pictures of the interruption, allowing them once again to avoid reporting upon the content of the speech. What a coincidence that is. How convenient - a well-known comedian, they know him of course.

    Norman Smith was equally quick to suggest that TM's coughing fit was a metaphor for weakness in her leadership.

    There is only one agenda from the BBC - damage Mrs May, damage the Government and promote the idea of disunity in the Conservative party, and then pave the way for their beloved Labour Party.

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  5. Does the BBC get an credit for actually covering the comments, unlike the majority of the tory press?

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  6. From this afternoon's BBC News website:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41493370

    .... She was interrupted early on by comedian Simon Brodkin - also known as Lee Nelson - who managed to make it to the podium to hand her a P45, a redundancy notice, which he said was from the foreign secretary.....

    This is all very convenient should you as a biased broadcaster wish to divert attention away from the serious content of the Prime Minister's speech. The real question is: were the BBC complicit in the organisation of this 'prank'? It is certainly sufficiently damaging to Mrs May to have met with the biased BBC narrative.

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    1. You're seriously suggesting the BBC orchestrated it.

      I know things are bad on planet earth right now, but please consider coming back and joining us.

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    2. Complicit means to be involved with others, not necessarily to have orchestrated the event. It's not bad up here looking down. The perspective is different from that on the ground. The point I was making is that this interruption, regardless of who was responsible for smuggling the 'comic' into the hall, plays very well with the BBC's narrative over the last two weeks of the Labour and Conservative conferences.

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    3. I think Anonymous makes an excellent point.

      (Now, sort that one out).

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    4. There is a comparison to be made between this interruption by the 'comic' at the Conservative Party conference, and the recent EU flag-waving episodes at the live One Show when the Irish band Cranberries were performing, and again at the Last Night of the Proms last month, when a mass of EU flags were evident inside the RAH, but significantly absent in the Hyde Park crowd over which the BBC had less control. The BBC may not have organised the flag-waving, but they were complicit in allowing it to be shown live on TV.

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    5. Mission accomplished - all the BBC News Channel coverage is about the 'comic', with clips of him being chased by hoards or reporters outside the conference venue. This is just what the doctor ordered - No need for any discussion about Conservative policies.

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    6. Why would it benefit the BBC to have one of the most risible political performances of the past 100 years overshadowed by a feeble attention-seeking prank?

      I don't know if any of you saw, but the lettering was literally falling off and May could hardly get a word out.

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    7. I know what complicit means.

      You yourself said 'complicit in the organisation of this prank.'

      Now it just means 'to be involved', whatever that applies to. Involved in the sense of being entirely passive as it unfolded in front of them?

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    8. Sure enough, with a little digging we find that Simon Brodkin has been in the pay of the BBC off and on for many years. They have commissioned comedy writing from him. Simon Brodkin is very well-known to the BBC.

      I don't suppose that Simon Brodkin is a Conservative voter, and therefore his intent was to cause damage. His cunning plan certainly worked. I hadn't noticed that TM was nervous or had been coughing before his intervention. If the coughing was brought on by TM sensing impending danger, I have some sympathy for her.

      I just don't believe Anon2's assertion that the BBC had a passive role in this. Just look at the mocking headlines, clips of TM coughing set to music, and most importantly, the lack of reporting of the content of her speech. The BBC are delighted with the way this turned out. Shame on them.

      Sorry Craig, if this is bordering on a rant.

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    9. There are no fewer than six photographs of Mrs May coughing on the BBC News website. I see this as BBC's triumphalism at having achieved a complete rout of the Conservatives at their conference.

      Is the BBC Biased? You bet it is.

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    10. I very much doubt the BBC were complicit, not least because it requires silence of all involved forever and a day. A risky strategy, I'm sure you'll agree.

      I imagine it's far more likely to do with Simon Brodkin AKA Lee Nelson being on tour right now and looking for a publicity boost.

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  7. Mark Mardell’s interview with Amber Rudd today was one of the worst examples of BBC bias I have ever heard. The whole interview was carried out with the kind of belligerent rudeness usually only reserved for interviews with Israeli politicians. He tried to put words into her mouth, constantly forced his own opinions into the discussion and made all kinds of unsubstantiated speculations about future Tory policies. He only stopped short of telling the listeners to vote Labour. Wait a moment, at one stage he did suggest that the listeners should vote Labour.

    Imagine if a Labour politician had been subjected to this during the Labour Party conference?

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    1. Are you getting mixed up with Eddie Mair? I heard Eddie Mair badger Amber Rudd and the obnoxious tone was off the scale.

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    3. Yes of course, Eddie Mair!

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  8. The BBC's hatred of Boris (shared with most of the MSM) is something to behold. I genuinely believe it is because they hold him responsible for the Brexit vote and also consider him the man most likely to ensure Brexit actually happens. Hence the unprecedented levels of character assassination, ridicule and bile blasted in his direction. Nothing else can explain it I think. Of course he has his defects but in contrast to those of other potential leaders they seem quite small.

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  9. Boris is the person that BBC Labour fear, as he has the ability to get his message across in a way that appeals to the youth - now apparently Labour's stronghold. It's a well-recognised tactic to take on the opposition's strongest player. I have no doubt that if Boris starts to exert more influence, then the ridicule will be stepped up bringing back the tired old arguments. As the youth seem only to deal in short soundbites, Boris is perfectly placed to continually renew his appeal with them.

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    1. I think that's right. Yes, it's the equivalent of trying to shoot or otherwise eradicate the most competent general on the battlefield. He showed in London of all places that he had appeal across ethnic, class and age groups. That marks him out as dangerous as far as the liberal-left are concerned. But I think it is the Brexit thing that has propelled him to the top of the league of venom production. Accusing him of ambition is of course an absurd charge since virtually every poltician who claws their way into Cabinet thinks they are prime-ministerial material (May being a classic example of one with such delusions of grandeur). Few have the all round ability, but Boris does.

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    2. Agreed. Boris is also a proven winner (London Mayor and Brexit). They fear and detest him. It's too obvious.

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    3. Interesting. Presumably this generous appraisal of Bo Jo also applies to Ken Livingstone? No I didn't think so.

      That Bo Jo is seen as the great right hope is, from my perspective, indicative of the overall decline in quality of all our political figures from right to left.

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  10. Speaking as someone notionally 'of the left' I can assure you all with certainty that Johnson is hated because he is an utterly self-serving and duplicitious sack of racist excrement.

    I lol'd at 'most competent general'. The right is so screwed.

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    1. Ellie Fant-Indaroom5 October 2017 at 20:36

      Yeah, and Marx didn't spew racist bile about the Jews, Communist Party in South Africa didn't oppose non-white immigration into South Africa, Lenin didn't talk about the "woman problem", Trotsky didn't execute strikers, Mao didn't let millions starve, Castro didn't have gays executed, Nye Bevan didn't lie about getting drunk on a plane (so destroying a young journalist's career), Diane Abbott doesn't hypocritically get her son educated in a private school and Yvette Cooper doesn't dodge on her promise to take into her home undocumented migrants.

      Talk about self-serving and duplicitous!

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  11. To the leftie Anonymous, in all fairness much of the criticism of the BBC on here is justified. The only problem I have with this site is it's so blatantly right-wing that it's only ever likely to be preaching to the converted. All the usual terminology applies - "remaniac" (ho ho), "the liberal left" (whereby anyone with liberal/left leanings is apparently part of some group think) etc.

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    1. ... "the liberal left" (whereby anyone with liberal/left leanings is apparently part of some group think) etc.... is as bad a stereotyping phrase as is "far-right" (meaning racist, uneducated, neo-nazi) etc.

      To react to blatant BBC bias against the right-wing is not the same as being right-wing. Generally, this site will appreciate any well thought out and reasoned argument from whatever the source. It's only that we don't get any such conscientious and thorough reporting from BBC News programmes, just BBC Groupthink opinion, which in general is "liberal left" dressed up as journalism.

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    2. Typical tosh from AnonAnon. I've never seen anything here that might be called "right wing" from Craig and Sue. I also count myself as left of centre.

      What is right and left has been redefined.

      Look at Catalonia - the people there are not right wing but they value their nation and culture and don't wish to see their existence compromised.

      I have never seen more vile abuse than that delivered by Remainers to Leavers after the Brexit vote - calling them old and demented, uneducated, smelly, poor, talentless etc etc and wishing that all sort of evil might befall them. Calling people who make a religion of the EU "Remainiacs" is perfectly valid.

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    3. Thanks for your belligerent reply MB, but I'm afraid that's how I see it. Who cares if "what is right and left has been redefined" (by whom? is right now left and left now right?), but indulging in disparaging generalisations of the "liberal-left" is hardly conducive to gaining support from those who identify themselves as liberal, left or both. As I stated previously, most of their observations of BBC bias I can't disagree with (and surely that's to their credit, no?). The presentation often jars with me though.

      I also see it that this "vile abuse" you write of, predominantly indulged in on social media, is apparent on multiple shades of the political spectrum. It's folly to pretend otherwise.

      The vast majority of those who are labelled "remainiacs" are simply people who'd prefer it if we stayed in the EU. It's become a sad state of affairs that even the mildest political preference can provoke the most idiotic of labels. I voted remain because I had and have no faith in our political classes ability to improve upon life under it, not out of slavish devotion and not due to a blindness of its imperfections. Gladly be proven wrong.

      Anonymous, "To react to blatant BBC bias against the right-wing is not the same as being right-wing." I completely agree. However, my point would be that distinction is rarely as apparent as it could be.

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    4. To get 'belligerence' from 'tosh' takes some doing, but you have pulled it off, AnonAnon.

      Pretty sure you may get Police Scotland interested in prosecuting as they appear to share your 'vision'.

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    5. I go to multiple websites from all sides of the debate left, right, in, out, midway between etc - and nothing seems to compare to the hatred and general abuse levelled at both tories and leave voters by the supposedly more liberal members of our society.

      If it was said by a white person to a black person or vice versa it would be considered racism and rightly shouted down. But no it seems to be perfectly acceptable to wish someone be raped, murdered, hung etc based on their right of centre political views.

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    6. Anon,
      I occasionally contribute to this site and would not consider myself to be “of the right”. Nor am I part of any groupthink. I agree with many of the comments posted here, but by no means all. I can think of at least one oft-discussed topic on here in which I would be very much at odds with the prevailing opinion. “Is the BBC biased?” is a question, not a statement. If you think it is biased in whatever direction then present an argument.
      I agree with you that the term liberal/left as a blanket description does perhaps tarnish all liberal-minded and centre left people in a way that is unjust. However, much of contemporary academia has been sucked into an incongruous and contradictory alliance of Neo Marxism and moral relativism that reveals the disingenuousness of the former and the absurdity of the latter. This does represent a form of groupthink. The BBC is riddled with it.

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  12. Throughout the last two weeks the BBC have shown us that their only interest in two-party politics is to promote personality politics. It has been evident in their coverage of the Labour Party conference that they 'back' Jeremy Corbyn and John Mcdonnell. Compare that with their coverage of the Conservative Party conference, when they attacked Theresa May and Boris Johnson, mercilessly, hounding them personally, not politically. The BBC position seems to be: 'Never mind the political issues of policy - they're not important any more'.

    Instead of engaging in this shallow social media 'likes' mentality, why did the BBC not ask Corbyn and Mcdonnell a few basic questions, the answers to which would be of great interest to their audience, such as:

    In the event of nationalisation of the railways and utility companies, how many working people, and ultimately their pensions, would be added to the public sector wage bill?

    And following that: In the event that inward investment into the UK is curtailed due to Labour Government policy, how is the increased cost of the public wage bill going to be covered by a shrinking economy?

    There is an air of mischief about the BBC's conduct recently: 'Let's upset the apple cart!'.

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    1. I think "personality politics" as you call it, has been the BBC's default position for many years when it wants to deflect attention from the real issues. I'm so aware of it now that whenever I hear it, I am asking myself "what are they trying to hide here"?

      What first alerted me to it was the "torysplitzovereurope" narrative which went on for years without ever explaining what were the policy issues that were the root of these "splitz".

      Another deflection technique used is to attack "the language" being used by someone rather than engage the issues.

      It's really poor that a state broadcaster is so unaccountable that it is allowed to get away with being so uninformative.

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  13. Yes, Corbyn and Mcdonnell's answer seems to be: 'It'll be alright on the night!'.

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  14. The really shocking part of this is the appalling breach of security that occurred in the lead-up and during Mrs May's speech. That an idiot was allowed to approach the PM unchallenged was bad enough, but then, the swarm of photographers, apparently choreographed to encircle and follow the intruder, produced a dangerous set of circumstances acted out within a few feet of the lectern. Were detailed checks carried out on every one of those photographers' bags - looking for concealed weapon in amongst their tackle?

    And the BBC's coverage?- that is was all a huge joke at the PM and Conservative Party's expense, and that TM's coughing fir was a 'metaphor for weakness in leadership and government' (Norman Smith said).

    This week has shown a new depth to which BBC reporting standards have sunk. In my opinion they completely missed the important story - the security breach - in their haste to pour vitriol over Theresa May and the Conservative party.

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  15. The BBC News website is still whining on about Theresa May's interrupted speech:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-41527880/sketchy-speeches-and-conference-calamity

    They are milking the negative PR for the Conservatives until every last drop.

    If the BBC want another story to look at, try asking the EU for their opinion on the USA's tariff against NI Bombardier plane production.

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    1. There is an article about these tariffs on the NI page of the BBC News website:

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-41532309

      Right down there in the last paragraph:

      ....The US trade commission is due to rule on the Department of Commerce's 220% tax proposal next year, but the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise (ISME) Association said the EU should not wait for the final decision.

      Its chief executive, Neil McDonnell, said the EU "should signal right now that it will unconditionally, unequivocally and aggressively oppose protectionist measures by the US with tariffs of like effect"....

      The BBC have just about acknowledged that the EU has offered no support to Bombardier NI, but we shouldn't hold our breath waiting for a BBC onslaught against the EU for not serving the interests of NI here.

      The irony is that outside the EU, the UK might stand a much better chance of resolving the issue. Via the EU route any positive outcome seems doomed.

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