John Simpson takes issue with Ofcom over Russia Today

Russia Today's UK licence has been revoked by Ofcom. Ofcom says RT isn't "fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence".

Intriguingly, the BBC's opinionated world affairs editor John Simpson disagrees with the decision:

John Simpson: I’ve got contempt for Russia Today — the ultimate fake news station. But is it right for a democracy to try to silence it? This makes me feel really uneasy.

The responses are intriguing too:

Joe and the Scot: Yes it is. The disinformation is killing people.

John Simpson: If you start blocking disinformation, you wouldn’t have many newspapers left. And precious few politicians.

Roast Dinners In London: Should have been done 10 years ago. Democracy and freedom is too important. RT is actively against both.

John Simpson: So democracy and freedom are too important to allow freedom of speech?

Such replies provoked a further tweet on the subject:

John Simpson: Orwell wrote ‘If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.’ The irreflective answers here to my question are troubling. Essentially people are saying ‘If I don’t like something, it should be blocked.’

The discussion continues: 

The Bullingdon Club (twits): That rather depends upon whether what you have to say is the truth or lies.

John Simpson: And who makes the judgement?

Kamran: This is exactly what every government that practises censorship says.

John Simpson: Exactly my feelings, Kamran.

And mine too, Kamran. 

Looking for angles?

In response to an Ofcom ruling against RT and the possibility that the broadcaster's licence might be revoked in the UK, Russia says it will now carry out checks to determine if the BBC World News channel and BBC News website are compliant with Russian law. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the BBC was being targeted for its “biased” and “unfair” coverage of events in Russia and Syria. The BBC says it is fully compliant with Russian laws "to deliver independent news and information to its audiences". 

Meanwhile, the Guardian's reporting of this story brings another angle to the story:

RT last week published online messages it said were sent by a BBC Russian reporter to a local freelance journalist in France looking for a Russian “angle” to the “gilets jaunes” protests, such as Russian businesses benefiting from the protests or far-right Russians traveling to stir up violence. BBC Russian did not publish an article on the topic. The story has received ample coverage on Russian state television.

I was intrigued by this and read the RT report, written in French, via Google Translate (with the usual allowances for its foibles). It claims that BBC correspondent Olga Ivshina talked with a freelance journalist who was covering the protests of the 'yellow vests' and that she first asked the freelancer if there are "members of the National Front in the streets of Paris", and then added, "And if we find these ultra-right, will they talk about Putin and their links with Moscow?" The RT piece continues:

In the face of what appears to be a negative answer of the freelancer, Olga Ivshina asks if "Russians" participate in the demonstrations. Visibly faced with new denials, the BBC journalist does not give up and asks the freelancer about a possible presence of "Russian companies" on the spot, who would do "their headache during the riots". "But perhaps there is at least the ultra-right? And they can already be linked to Putin ... ", she asks again, determined. Still according to the conversation that RIA Novosti had access to, the BBC reporter explains her approach to the freelancer: "Yes, I'm looking for angles. Editorial wants blood."

It then says: 

Contacted by RT, the BBC - confirming the conversation highlighted by RIA Novosti - replied in these terms: "Inasmuch as the French Foreign Minister has publicly spoken about media reports about a possible Russian influence on demonstrations, it was perfectly reasonable for our correspondent to raise the subject. However, in their final state, her reports made no mention of a possible connection with Russia. We stick to impartial and independent journalism."

Now that does sound like a genuine BBC statement, so the RT story could be true. 

The BBC's response (as cited by RT) is a reasonable one, especially as they didn't run with suggestions of a connection anyhow. But, if true, it's still interesting that the BBC appears to have been focusing in so keenly on the far-right and Putin in connection to the “gilets jaunes” phenomenon. That would be a 'very BBC' thing to do. 

Oh 'Eck!

Intriguing tweet from Andrew Neil this morning about RT host Alex Salmond:

So did the BBC give in to that pressure? Did they stop using the phrase "break up the UK" during the Scottish referendum? 

But Whatabout the BBC?

Payments to guests and alleged Kremlin influence on @RTUKnews in #bbcdp debate with @afshinrattansi @Andrew_Adonis https://t.co/xlVAD2fCyx

— Daily&SundayPolitics (@daily_politics) October 19, 2017

Afshin Rattansi was invited to defend “Putin’s mouthpiece” (RT) on Daily Politics with Jo Coburn and Andrew Adonis. Should politicians be allowed to appear on RT? Should they be paid for doing so? 

There used to be a playground saying: “It takes one to know one”.  

It was quite funny listening Jo Coburn complaining of RT’s bias, “ a propaganda arm of Putin’s government”,  and the oleaginous Afshin Rattansi firing back a few lethal barbs at the Beeb during his “whataboutery” defence. 

What fun.

“Just as people are sent to jail if they don’t pay Jo Coburn’s salary” 

An unfolding story

"Allahu akbar" strikes again, leaving one dead and six wounded in Hamburg supermarket knife attack. 

Using the invaluable TV Eyes monitoring tool, it's possible to track how the news broke across several broadcast outlets. 

The story broke mid afternoon yesterday when the BBC News Channel began reporting it. BBC One's News at Six featured it as a 'news in brief' item: 

One person has been killed and four others injured in a knife attack in a Hamburg supermarket. Police said a man was arrested after being overpowered by members of the public and that his motives are so far unclear.

The BBC News Channel continued reporting it like that for several hours, but didn't report it for around two-and-a-half hours from 9.30pm till shortly after midnight and the story didn't feature at all on BBC One's flagship News at Ten. 

ITV's News at Ten, in contrast, did report it (as they had during their early evening news bulletin) and gave more detail than the BBC had given us so far (as did Sky News at the same time):

A man armed with a knife has killed one person, and injured four others, at a supermarket in Hamburg. A 26-year-old man born in United Arab Emirates has been arrested by German police. Germany has been on high alert in recent months following a number of attacks on civilians last year, including the December attack on a Berlin Christmas market. 

The BBC caught up just after midnight: 

Police in Germany say a man armed with a knife has attacked people in a supermarket in the northern city of Hamburg. Police say one person was killed and four others injured. The suspect is now in detention, is a 26-year-old man born in the United Arab Emirates, though his nationality is unclear. The police say they have no clear idea of the motive and are not ruling anything out. 

...and that's how they've been reporting it throughout the night. 

RT (Russia Today), in sharp contrast to the BBC (and Sky and ITV), began reporting eyewitness statements that the man shouted "Allahu Akbar" before carrying out his attack as early as 5.00pm yesterday evening and has continued doing so ever since, for example at 10.00pm:

Police have spoken about any motive behind the attack. They have said that they're investigating all possible motives, including terror. Some eyewitnesses at the scene said that the man shouted "Allahu akbar", 'God is great' in Arabic, before carrying out his attack, however the police spokesperson did not comment further on that.

Whether the story makes it to BBC Breakfast in any shape or form remains to be seen.

Update: And then, after hanging around the lower reaches of the BBC News website, the story now suddenly rises to become the BBC's 'third story' under the headline Hamburg supermarket attacker 'was known Islamist'. A failed asylum seeker from the UAE, he "was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist," and "suffered from 'psychological' issues". "It is not yet clear what the suspect's motivations were", says the BBC.

Vote Shave!

Oh dear.

The Spectator has created a caption competition about it, The Telegraph has written an article about it and it has got its own Twitter thread.

Nigel Farage's new 'tache.

Is that R.T. interviewer actually 'comedian Al Murray, independent' who stood against Nigel at Thanet South ? The thot plickens.

Al?

Al and Nige