Over on the Biased BBC blogsite DB and John Anderson point bias watchers towards an important article in today's Telegraph.
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/2010/04/stomach-turning.html#comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7549570/BBC-plunged-into-BNP-election-row.html
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That is infuriating, isn't it?A new directive issued by corporation executives forces the editors of flagship news programmes to give airtime to minority parties, including the BNP, immediately after the live debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Insiders have revealed they are deeply unhappy and believe that the edict – overseen by the BBC's deputy director general and head of journalism Mark Byford – could wreck proper reporting of the debates.
The editors and presenters on Radio 4's Today programme have been told they must interview representatives of the BNP, Ukip, the Green party, SNP and Plaid Cymru on the same show, the morning after the debates.
Sources said this will leave almost no room for serious discussion of how the mainstream leaders performed.
One source said:
"We're all spitting feathers here. This is further proof that the BBC's obsession with 'compliance' is destroying its news coverage and journalism.
"The only result of this directive from Mark Byford and the rest of the overpaid detached senior management is that listeners will simply switch off in droves.
"The idea of having to interview the Ukip leader Nigel Farage – let alone Nick Griffin – is turning people's stomachs."
Another senior source added: "People are very angry indeed. The Today programme has an audience of 6.5 million people and everybody knows it is easily the most important of the BBC's morning news programmes.
"And yet it is being treated like the man at the Lord Mayor's Show who has to walk behind the main parade sweeping up the muck with a bucket and a shovel.
"The Today programme is being used to assuage the minority parties rather than doing what it is meant to which is analysing the performance of the three main party leaders."
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DB's comment is spot on:
No Alka Seltzer needed for the leaders of the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru, just the BNP and UKIP. So even the party that came second in the European elections is beyond the pale as far as sophisticated metropolitan BBC journalists are concerned. Too stupid to know that UKIP's leader is Lord Pearson, not Nigel Farage, though.
As is this comment by Hippiepooter:
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Yes, I noticed this BBC guy casting UKIP beyond the pale together with the Nazi BNP. Shows just what a far-left agitprop mindset exists in BBC newsrooms when a legitimate party like UKIP is gratuitously insulted in this way.
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And this from Phil:
Some of these BBC types simply don't get it do they? They choose to work for a state funded broadcaster which is charged with the responsibility of producing balanced, fair news and then they moan that doing exactly that turns peoples stomachs.
Well, if doing the job you chose to do and which you are paid to do turns your stomach then tough! Either get on with it or quit. These BBC staff seem amazed that they can't just pick and choose the parts of their jobs which they find amenable. How arrogant can you get?
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My sentiments precisely!
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All of which reminds me of something from last September and deepens the strong suspicions I had then that Sarah Montague was sniggering at Nigel Farage throughout the interview that followed his announcement that he was stepping down as UKIP leader:
http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/2009/09/sniggering-at-nigel-farage.html
The Independent called the Toady Programme "the bbc's prestigious Today Programme" when mentioning the other parties being "interviewed".
ReplyDeleteObviously they appreciate the loony left diatribe, bias and bile that the programme constantly produces.