tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post5016651792649444774..comments2023-05-23T11:07:08.243+01:00Comments on Beeb Bias Craig: GOVING AS GOOD AS HE GETSCraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post-62439886157178116752010-04-27T09:49:48.021+01:002010-04-27T09:49:48.021+01:00James Naughtie is the obvious winnner of the award...James Naughtie is the obvious winnner of the award.<br />Invariably his questions are so long they can be described as diatribes, and then he cuts of the answers with further comment or questions, or "we are now running out of time"<br />In reply to one of my many complaints of him to the bbc they heaped praise on Naughty as a professional of long standing - long winded more likely.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post-756037226253424942010-04-27T06:17:01.100+01:002010-04-27T06:17:01.100+01:00Now that you mention it Hippiepooter...
There was...Now that you mention it Hippiepooter...<br /><br />There was a terrible interview once between Jim Naughtie and Tory Theresa Villiers which made me count up exactly how long the interviewer and the interviewee spoke for, with these results:<br /><br />James Naughtie - 2m 31s<br />Theresa Villiers - 2m 38s<br /><br />http://beebbiascraig.blogspot.com/2010/02/no-gentleman-jim.html<br /><br />It's certainly time-consuming but it can be very revealing.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08741318067991857821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post-77307665194726971142010-04-26T23:14:05.631+01:002010-04-26T23:14:05.631+01:00A separate post for this observation. Does anyone...A separate post for this observation. Does anyone remember a BBC late night election programme on Radio 4 called 'The Hustings' that ran for a at least a couple of elections in the early 80's if memory serves? It was great. I think it lasted a couple of hours (it was the days - if they no longer exist - when you could tune in to R4 on long wave or medium wave to choose your programme) and it would feature 10, 15, 20 minute excerpts of the most important speeches of the day. It felt like living in a free country where the BBC was there to let people make there own minds up. The presenter was completely unbiased, which was a joy to listen to in itself. He just said what was necessary to take the listener from one speech to the next and left the politicians to set out their stall. Of course, this programme was when the Conservatives won elections, so it was obviously decided unfettered free speech was far to dangerous a concept to expose the poor public to, they might make the wrong decisions! I mean, letting the public hear politicians speak without a BBC intermediary to 'filter things in the right direction'. A 'mission to explain' as I think John Birt called it, while he maintained his Labour Party membership while Director General at the BBC. Now, instead of having the joys of listening to oratory and knowing what vision politicians have for the country and the direction they wish to take it and being able to compare, we have to endure opinionated correspondents chopping people up and trying to shape public perception of what a politician is saying to serve the correspondents agenda.<br /><br />If Cameron wanted to do something popular he would pledge bring back 'The Hustings'. I have seen the past, and it works!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post-57071004806047704212010-04-26T23:11:08.088+01:002010-04-26T23:11:08.088+01:00how good was michael gove? towards the end humphre...how good was michael gove? towards the end humphreys was really struggling with his smug patronising questioning and had to back off. more tories need to be as assertive (although i doubt whether they can be as incisive as him) and calm like him in the face of the bbc biasmeerkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11789824861427821085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5868129342202984491.post-11743146138310696652010-04-26T22:48:02.398+01:002010-04-26T22:48:02.398+01:00First of all Craig 'attaboy' to you for su...First of all Craig 'attaboy' to you for such a concise, comprehensive piece.<br /><br />Listening to John Humphrys is like listening to someone having an on air love affair with themselves. One interesting statistic to glean from interviews would be how long the interviewer speaks and how long the interviewee speaks. No. Not looking to further burden you Craig, just ‘throwing it out there’. I’m sure Humphrys would win the Award for ‘Interviewer Who Most Loves the Sound of His own Voice’. Strewth, why not just call it ‘The John Humphrys’ Award’? I can see the prize now, a love heart with Humphrys face both sides looking lovingly at himself. I wonder if he’d come to a ‘Biased BBC Awards Ceremony’ to collect it?<br /><br />As per usual with Conservative interviewees, Humphrys wasn’t at all interested in hearing the answers he was getting, he just wanted to rubbish anything that came out of Michael Gove’s mouth and prevent the listener from hearing the end of what he had to say, which is of course all so crucial in someone being able to get their point across.<br /><br />I thought Michael Gove did well, and at points very well under the circumstances. The times when he was doing very well were the times Humphrys moved quickly to cut him off. I thought though that Gove was too ingratiating with Humphrys at one point when he said something on the lines of ‘I expect better than that from someone like you’, it really went against the grain of what he was inferring previously about Humphrys and the BBC and undermined it. But then, when you know you have a leader like Cameron who is so craven towards the BBC and you can have no expectation he’ll back you if you stand-up to it, it must leave you with the sensation of standing in mid-air.<br /><br />No, all in all, way to go MG – ‘Gove’s the Guv!’.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com