"I think there is a bias towards saying Israel is a democracy in the Middle East"

Here's (apparently) newly-found footage of Jeremy Corbyn on Iran's Press TV (naturally) talking about BBC bias and Israel: 

"I think there is a bias towards saying Israel is a democracy in the Middle East. That Israel has a right to exist. That Israel has its security concerns."
For many Jewish people, this is the real Jeremy Corbyn. And many wish he'd just admit these are his real views. https://t.co/tUUActGj0Q

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) November 29, 2019

Huffington Post editor Paul Waugh's thread continued:

• His supporters may say Corbyn was clumsily trying to say BBC spent too much time referring to Israel as a democracy with security concerns and as a state with a right to exist, but neglects *Palestine*'s democracy, right to exist + security concerns. But that's not how it sounds.  
• Of course the real point of his remarks is to claim the BBC is 'biased' towards Israel (a charge it would vigorously deny and demand he showed evidence) *because* of pressure from the Israeli govt. Itself feeding the old trope of global Jewish manipulation of the media.

Selective hearing?

Rob Burley

Rob Burley, the editor of The Andrew Marr Show, has been interviewed by The Huffington Post, mainly about his weekly engagement with Twitter critics over allegations of BBC bias - an engagement with licence-fee payers we've praised here before (and long before the Huff Post jumped on the bandwagon!).

Something that stood out for me from this interview is the following:

, 

The treatment of supporters of Jeremy Corbyn is one of the very few areas where BBC editors seem willing to admit to bias and to try to make amends. If you recall, Katy Searle, Editor of BBC Political News, went out of her way to concede their points on Feedback last year. Plus Newsnight's Ian Katz, in that Spectator article, has also been saying that the BBC (explicitly including himself) got Jeremy wrong and that they must learn lessons from that and broaden the range of voices featured. 

And the BBC does seem to be trying to show that its guest selection is being opened to more voices from the far-Left. 

And not just Ellie Mae O'Hagan and Faiza Shaheen. Kerry-Anne Mendoza of The Canary (the BBC's main 'alt-left' critic), for example, has been on Question Time, Start the Week, Today and Newsnight, all within the last month.

Whether as much attention will be paid to broadening the range of voices featured at the other end of the political spectrum will be interesting to watch.


Update: Rob Burley is fully engaged in a Twitter fight-to-the-death this sunny afternoon with Dan Hodges. It's going on and on and on, like one of those gruelling marathon matches at Wimbledon.

Dan is accusing Rob of "caving in" to complaints from former Corbyn spokesman Matt Zarb-Cousin and changing his editorial policy as a result. ("Yep. Total coincidence you had two Corbynites on in the two weeks following Matt's criticism..."). Rob says that the accusation of "caving in" is "silly" and that all he and his show are doing is "listening to people" and allowing what they hear to "feed into what we do".

After about four hours I think they're calling it a day. It ended:

Dan Hodges: "No. But yes...". I think we can probably leave it there...
Rob Burley‏: Ok, Dan, you can have the last word.

The great divide

Two of our regular commenters have mentioned this on separate threads. H/T David Preiser and Sue Sims

and see R. Emmett Tyrrell’s reaction here https://www.creators.com/read/r-emmett-tyrrell  "A Quiet Afternoon with the BBC"

“…………a Nigerian lady of supposedly great gifts named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, though it soon became apparent that she was in an impenetrable fog about the recent election. She gave a highly emotional rendering of the election, saying something about how it left her feeling very much alone, and I guess bereft. Why on Earth she was appearing before a British audience to discuss an American election I have no idea. If the BBC wanted to explore creative writing, I suppose she was their gal. But then what was I doing there?

“The conversation's downward spiral continued. A memorable moment was when Adichie notified me: "If you're a white man, you don't get to define what racism is. You really don't." I responded, "Do you know that the false consciousness, which is the theory you're talking about, is a Marxist concept?" She had not a clue as to what false consciousness meant, but you might think about its consequences for intelligent debate the next time you hear it employed by a lazy mind. Then la Adichie came up with more evidence of the president-elect's alleged racism. When Trump says that a judge "is unable to judge him fairly because he is Mexican, that is racist," she said. I supplied her with the judge's name, Judge Gonzalo Curiel, and suggested he is as white as me. We are both white men. Race was not at issue between us. My correction had no impact on her. She continued in her invincible ignorance.

On the other hand, for balance, here’s another take on it. “Watch Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Shut Down White Dude On What Racism Is”  (Huffington Puffington)

"White Dude!"

If nothing else, this is a small example of the media’s divisive political meddling.