tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post2965122219089165387..comments2024-01-01T17:21:52.555+00:00Comments on Is the BBC biased?: Open ThreadCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-39263142745749664772018-08-23T21:43:28.917+01:002018-08-23T21:43:28.917+01:00All in all I enjoyed the programme but, yes, you&#...All in all I enjoyed the programme but, yes, you're completely right about it. <br /><br />I was actually getting irritated at Evan Davis for misquoting Michael Gove on experts (i.e. only quoting the "I think people in this country have had enough of experts" bit and not completing the quote and pointing out that he was specifically talking about "experts with organisations from acronyms...saying they know what is best and getting it consistently wrong") but, thankfully, David Spiegelhalter stepped in, made that very point, and forced Evan to concede "Like we did". <br /><br />That made me smile but the serious point is that Evan Davis knows what Michael Gove actually said - and actually meant - yet was still prepared to give the 'fake news' version of it here, even after playing the Channel 4 clip of the actual interview! <br /><br />Maybe the moral for Evan here is: If you're a prominent BBC journalist and you know something is a famous misquote don't keep misquoting it or people might think you're deliberately smearing the person you're misquoting (unless you ARE deliberately smearing the person you're misquoting and are prepared to take that risk). <br /><br />I remember Danny Blanchflower's endless partisan predictions of massively rising unemployment under the Tories that never came to pass. I even tracked them myself for fun once (off-blog). They so so way off that I can't believe anyone still takes him seriously. There's a flavour of them here: <br /><br />https://order-order.com/2012/10/18/david-blanchflowers-terrible-tipsCraighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-52356411329465652452018-08-23T10:44:17.124+01:002018-08-23T10:44:17.124+01:00Also, just remembered there was a really annoying ...Also, just remembered there was a really annoying bit where Davis was extolling the value of seeing issues "from all sides", and exercising "humility". Is that really the BBC MO? I think what Davis means is giving them an airing before dismissing them - the old West formula of "We're going to give you a fair trial before we hang you." Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-25864807525552788702018-08-23T10:41:42.421+01:002018-08-23T10:41:42.421+01:00Evan Davis today on Radio 4 "Sweet Reason&quo...Evan Davis today on Radio 4 "Sweet Reason"...The programme today was focussed on "experts". Evan decided to start with three examples of "experts" getting it wrong. He chose three very BBC examples:<br /><br />1. Some US "terror expert" making the false claim that the whole of Birmingham UK was a "no go" zone. <br /><br />2. Nigel Lawson making allegedly false claims about climate change (myh attention may have wandered there, not sure was supposed to be false about the claims). <br /><br />3. Alan Greenspan of the US Fed failing to realise the importance of government oversight before the banking collapse of 2008. <br /><br />As I say, how very BBC when he could have chosen say (a) the considered view of "experts" that only 13,000 migrants would come to the UK from Poland, or (b) the failure of polling experts to see the Brexit Referendum victory coming or (c) the completely wrong prediction by Mark Carney of what would happen to the UK economy immediately after a Brexit vote (that it would go into recession). <br /><br />Instead he chose his three PC-BBC examples, two of which, oddly, relate expert predictions from the USA (the BBC Americocentred as always). <br /><br />Also the part of the programme I heard managed to make left wing economist Danny Blanchflower sound like a great economic seer whereas I recall him year after year predicting a double dip recession that never came. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-76422943971083961902018-08-23T01:30:17.726+01:002018-08-23T01:30:17.726+01:00Newsnight never told us Lanny Davis "served a...Newsnight never told us Lanny Davis "served as special counsel to the President from 1996 to 1998, during which time he also was the spokesman for Clinton in issues regarding campaign finance investigations and other legal issues, including President Clinton's impeachment trial" or that he has represented the government of Pakistan. An all-round good guy, it seems. :) Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-24169737846758682812018-08-22T23:35:27.317+01:002018-08-22T23:35:27.317+01:00It's on You Tube if you want to see how fair m...It's on You Tube if you want to see how fair my "as it happened" coverage went...<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKxyDTlfHsMonkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-57219273561554889962018-08-22T23:30:35.833+01:002018-08-22T23:30:35.833+01:00A story involving Trump, Russian collusion, CIA, F...A story involving Trump, Russian collusion, CIA, FBI, MI5, and an ex-British spy. Talk about mysterious "firewalls"...<br />What's not to like as far as the UK MSM are concerned? Hmmm..."something" because there is nothing at all about it on the BBC website...<br /><br />Anyway, for those who are interested here's the background:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGRlnhVLJQ4 Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-533109552295140552018-08-22T23:15:26.624+01:002018-08-22T23:15:26.624+01:00Correction: Allah loved the "country" no...Correction: Allah loved the "country" not the question.Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-76543796596598296342018-08-22T23:14:04.381+01:002018-08-22T23:14:04.381+01:00Sweden item now on Newsnight. Gabriel Gatehouse re...Sweden item now on Newsnight. Gabriel Gatehouse report - he can be good, but sometimes bad. "We often go in search of a narrative..." he says. How true! Now, it's all gone a bit post-modernist (what is truth?)..."Rate of crime is going down in Malmo" says the Police officer...hmmm...Might be true...Police officer explains it's nothing to with migration because they are 2nd or 3rd generation within migrant communities!! QED eh?...<br /><br />Talking to a Sweden Democrat voter...Gatehouse slips in it has "roots" in neoNarzi movement...hmmm...<br /><br />"Public discourse is catching up with private thought..." <br /><br />Comic moment at the end as Marty Feldman lookalike, a Syrian refugee, in a headscarf came up to praise Sweden, declaring that Allah loved the question. <br /><br />"Political correctness failed that guy (murder victim)?" GG puts question in form of statement: "So political correctness is killing people..." <br /><br />GG gets in the ritual anti-Trump and anti-Farage notes towards the end. <br /><br />He ends with: <br /><br />"Beware the simple narrative...don't believe everything you see on TV."<br /><br />As usual with GG you get the impression he is thoughtful and not really a virtue signaller like most younger reporters. But (referring to an earlier post of mine) he seems to be coming from a previous BBC generation, the post-modernist period, when talk was of "narratives" rather than quotas and virtue. He'll probably be marked down in his annual report. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-63751701012348016712018-08-22T22:52:06.468+01:002018-08-22T22:52:06.468+01:00Indeed...the BBC exist in a parallel world, a Guar...Indeed...the BBC exist in a parallel world, a Guardian-Fabian-1968-lefty think tank world, where such basics have no resonance at all. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-14911773985455470422018-08-22T22:46:07.189+01:002018-08-22T22:46:07.189+01:00Evan Davis referring to "Russian collusion&qu...Evan Davis referring to "Russian collusion" as an established fact in his interview with Lanny Davis...makes him look devious, or sloppy...especially as Lanny Davis goes on to state that the allegation Cohen had been in Prague was completely false (contradicting the heavy hints from BBC's Paul Wood, who seems to be relying on UK intelligence).Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-66627804658651784062018-08-22T22:45:21.736+01:002018-08-22T22:45:21.736+01:00Nope, something's going on. CH4 news tonight r...Nope, something's going on. CH4 news tonight ran video footage of the migrant break-through at the Morocco / Spain border. <br />The editorial visual message was definitely skewed to threat. I think there's a populist push back on the cards. The media need to introduce reasons that will facilitate action to undermine the rise of 'the far right' in Europe. Everything else has failed. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-10771495722169844702018-08-22T21:46:55.444+01:002018-08-22T21:46:55.444+01:00From Pugnazious on BBBC: ... 'We did hear an ...From Pugnazious on BBBC: ... 'We did hear an astonishing comment this morning from a BBC presenter that ‘nobody cares that the government has reduced the deficit’ as news that the government has an extra £2bn in the kitty over and above its spending requirements.' ...<br /><br />Do we know whose pearl of wisdom this was? It's deplorable. It shows a total disconnect between the BBC and the real world in which we the licence payers live.Loondon Callinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456571827087248842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-14799214280795591612018-08-22T21:22:46.060+01:002018-08-22T21:22:46.060+01:00Hmmm, interesting and a good spot MB. Maybe it’s t...Hmmm, interesting and a good spot MB. Maybe it’s thrown in for balance, hidden on the Europe page. <br />Or an enthusiastic reporter doing their job properly. They’ll soon be slapped down and put right by the old hands.Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07341313534441507081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-8190557017551974852018-08-22T21:16:21.569+01:002018-08-22T21:16:21.569+01:00Mmm...thinking about it, I suppose the BBC do need...Mmm...thinking about it, I suppose the BBC do need to start addressing the issue of what happens when the people who have always thought of themselves as culturally British, English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish, have to be told they are now a collective minority in their own country. It will be a great day for the BBC, a day of celebration, but it will have to be managed. The sooner they start preparing the populace, the better. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-32262868212948701332018-08-22T21:12:35.511+01:002018-08-22T21:12:35.511+01:00Not particularly - well not in relation to UK poli...Not particularly - well not in relation to UK politics. I recall spotting an "identarian"...think Evan was flying a kite. Bit of a difficult one for the BBC...I think they prefer the Easton approach of suggesting that English people don't exist, and British people certainly don't exist, so "nativism" is simply impossible. Personally I prefer populism and perhaps the BBC realise that populism isn't that unpopular any more, so are casting around for something a bit more negative and demeaning. It's a dangerous gambit for the BBC since they would have to acknowledge that native populations are protected under UN Treaties. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-64265605278549997772018-08-22T21:02:15.827+01:002018-08-22T21:02:15.827+01:00Bit of a rum one this...what's their game?...t...Bit of a rum one this...what's their game?...the BBC doesn't normally run stories on links between crime and migration, unless they are studies from left wing think tanks disproving any such links...<br /><br />https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45269764<br /><br />Maybe it's just a case of democratitis - an allergic reaction to forthcoming democratic elections that can unseat or discomfort globalist PC liberal powers. <br /><br />After all, they do refer to the issue as "potentially inflammatory" - as if the interests of the people of Sweden are of no account, as if people should be required to vote without access to accurate information about crime in their country. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-11678398356635381612018-08-22T20:45:20.487+01:002018-08-22T20:45:20.487+01:00Has anyone else noticed nativism creeping into the...Has anyone else noticed nativism creeping into the BBC vocabulary as a derogatory term?<br /><br />I looked up the definition: the political policy of promoting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants.<br /><br />But the BBC has hijacked the term and uses it as a substitute for xenophobic nationalism for anyone who opposes mass immigration.<br />Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07341313534441507081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-51729396814141524002018-08-22T20:05:05.448+01:002018-08-22T20:05:05.448+01:00The BBC are guilty of wishful thinking. It not ill...The BBC are guilty of wishful thinking. It not illegal to pay hush money to women you had sex with or direct your lawyer to pay them off. Its also not illegal to lie about it. Not nice perhaps, but against the law? No. <br /><br />I doubt whether it will damage him with the US electorate either. <br /><br />The BBC continue to make Trump their main story but this is the UK not the US.Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07341313534441507081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-46025460483130881712018-08-22T15:57:15.497+01:002018-08-22T15:57:15.497+01:00The BBC invariably refer to NHS workers as heroes....The BBC invariably refer to NHS workers as heroes. There are 1.5 million of them - that's a heck of a lot of heroism.Loondon Callinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456571827087248842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-47250025398290973812018-08-22T13:06:04.218+01:002018-08-22T13:06:04.218+01:00"This is the BBC and here is the Six O'Cl..."This is the BBC and here is the Six O'Clock Lies: <br /><br />WE GOT TRUMP!!! "Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-17905560042477705992018-08-22T13:04:00.873+01:002018-08-22T13:04:00.873+01:00Indeed, I don't think one wants a return to th...Indeed, I don't think one wants a return to the dull conformity of the 1930s. You can still have a regional accent - Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Geordie, West Country (John Arlott's old fashioned Hampshire accent was a joy to behold), whatever, without having a particularised accent that makes you pretty incomprehensible to your fellow citizens elsewhere in the country. The equivalents of the extreme London accent, from places like Liverpool (I mean extreme Scouser with its very hard, guttural, k sound and soft squelchy s sound) don't ever get a look in on BBC Radio for the very good reason that BBC producers probably find it, unlike London Jamaican to which they are often exposed, completely incomprehensible. Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-83022926821602210282018-08-22T11:28:28.324+01:002018-08-22T11:28:28.324+01:00Have you heard Trevor Nelson when he stands in for...Have you heard Trevor Nelson when he stands in for Ken Bruce? He takes pronouncing f’s instead of ‘th’ to a new level. There was a time when you wouldn’t even get on the radio but now it’s embraced and encouraged. It’s so infuriating I can’t listen to it anymore and I hate missing popmaster ; )<br /><br />It’s further evidence that the BBC hates tradition and small c conservative Britain and is trying to reshape our culture to its own left liberal values. Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07341313534441507081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-38632881886250516912018-08-22T11:27:34.123+01:002018-08-22T11:27:34.123+01:00I think the technical term now is "London Jam...I think the technical term now is "London Jamaican". <br />I, a Londoner, often find myself perplexed by radio presenters speaking in that accent...(did he just say we have "three books under review" or "free books under review"?) - can't image what's it's like for someone from the Outer Hebrides or Ulster of Newcastle...must be completely incomprehensible. <br />Monkey Brainsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-19906508189869057242018-08-22T09:30:02.081+01:002018-08-22T09:30:02.081+01:00This is the BBC's attempt to shoehorn their pe...This is the BBC's attempt to shoehorn their perceived diversity into the Cockney dialect - in their world of make believe, probably hoping for a response from the listeners such as 'Blimey, he's a true Londoner'. It just doesn't work, the effected dialect sounds slovenly.Loondon Callinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456571827087248842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3272054900018746845.post-27761270661513293612018-08-22T07:57:32.899+01:002018-08-22T07:57:32.899+01:00There was a time when, if your neighbour set fire ...There was a time when, if your neighbour set fire to a pile of leaves on a summer's evening, you chose between going round and punching him on the nose or 'tolerating' him by closing the windows and complaining to the wife.<br /><br />Now the former action is only acceptable if the neighbour voted Conservative, UKIP or 'Leave', making him a 'nazi' and fair game, while 'tolerance' now requires you to open all windows wide and to wear a T-shirt decaring "This Is What A Leaf-Burner Looks Like!".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com