Posted on 05/17/2005 1:01:10 PM PDT by quidnunc
In 25 years as a BBC correspondent, Robin Aitken covered terrorism in Northern Ireland, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the Monica Lewinsky scandal; he was also a specialist economics correspondent of the Today programme during the Iraq crisis.
He is a famously dogged television and radio reporter yet for many years, he kept quiet about a story he did not know how to break. I considered leaking it to newspapers, but I would have felt like a traitor, he says. The story involved political and cultural bias. There is a centre-Left consensus within the BBC which colours its entire output and undermines its solemn pact with the public to present the news impartially, says Aitken.
Only now having taken a redundancy package from the BBC, is he ready to make his case publicly. He has written a book provisionally entitled Taking Sides: Bias at the BBC, that he says will provide detailed examples of distorted coverage. It will be the first expose of bias by an ex-BBC man.
-snip-
Why did BBC journalists feel so strongly about Iraq? They cannot bear President Bush because hes a Republican and an evangelical Christian. The sight of a Labour Prime Minister going into battle alongside such a man was more than many BBC people could stomach.
Dislike of Republicans is close to being a BBC article of faith, say Aitken. I remember being in the Washington office during the Lewinsky affair and saying that I rather sympathised with the Republicans. I think it would have gone down better if Id confessed to being a paedophile.
-snip-
Aitken believes that the BBC is the most powerful cultural force in the country and, therefore, that its bias has a profound and sometime malign effect on public life.
-snip-
(Damien Thompson in The Telegraph, May 14, 2005)
To Read This Article Click Here
Biased media? I'm shocked at the suggestion sir! Shocked!
I've watched the BBC World News for fifteen years now, and all I can say is that I'm glad someone with credibility from within is bringing this to light.
All you have to do is listen to BBC or read the transcripts, and it's crystal clear that they are congenital leftists, admirers of terrorism, and viciously antisemitic.
This is Hugh! Bias at the Beeb...I'm stuned!!!!
Seriesly.
Yeah, like this is going to wake them up. The problem is leftist already know exactly what the BBC is, but in their warped vision of the world, whacky leftist ideas represent the truth and everyone who disagrees is just ignorant.
"There is a centre-Left consensus within the BBC"
There is a centre-left consensus in the country, so it would hardly be a great suprise to find that reflected in the staff of any employer. I've yet to be convinced that any of the rabid anti-BBC crowd actually desire 'unbiased' reporting, if such a thing were even possible, which it clearly isn't. My view, as I've stated before is that the BBC does a pretty good job in the main of allowing all viewpoints to be expressed.
This book looks like it might be an interesting read though. I'll keep an open mind, doubt that some others will...
Tell Aitken not to worry, a time will come when the Englishman stops trusting the MSM and starts thinking for himself, just as has happened to the common man here, in the states. (This will never happen in Canada, though.)
BBCWorldNews is moderate compared to BBC News for the home audience
they tame it a bit for the international audience
at least the Beebs has Tim Sebastien, wonder what his take is, the Hardtalk guy, Matthews don't know Hardball, he needs to take notes from Tim Sebastien of BBC Hardtalk, he's a true pitbull
Your thoughts?
Imcompetence! During the Gulf War the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment (at most 800 Marines) tore up three brigades of the Iraqi army including an armored regiment. Thats about 25 to one odds.
Their daughters couldn't do any worse.
bump
My goodness, man, are you a masochist?
My thoughts are this are the same as when this kind of nonsense has been posted before. It's no more fair to take the BBC as an example of British opinion as it is to take the Alphabet networks as an example of American opinion.
Our dear friend quidnunc is an anti-British bigot and will do anything to make Americans think more badly of Britain.
Regards, Ivan
I only think "more badly" of Brits who defend the BBC.
Their bias is indefensible, and the fact that the US "alphabet" media is biased does not exculpate the BBC. As the article points out the BBC has worldwide credibility and thus is quite dangerous. It has a lot of viewers in the Arab and Muslim world, many more than Newsweek for instance.
If you were paying attention you would notice that their is no dearth of criticism on FR of the US MSM. Why do you hold the BBC to be immune?
Now unless you have something to say on topic of the thread, instead of making the poster your topic, as is your pattern, I suggest you get off the thread.
When a thread is posted on the quidnunc topic I'll be sure to ping you.
When and where did I defend the BBC? I have never done so - I've said they're full of left wing idiots. What I'm pointing out is as follows - it's thoroughly wrong to take the BBC as an indictment of an entire country. I would be completely wrong if I took what ABC / CBS / NBC as much of an example of what America thinks. You are just as wrong by deliberately misconstruing what the BBC says and does as an example of what Britain thinks. In that respect, America and Britain are the same - there is a leftist media elite. But I don't see you calling your country all sorts of ridiculous things as a result.
As the article points out the BBC has worldwide credibility and thus is quite dangerous.
No more than CNN International. You ever seen that?
As for your comment about viewers in the Arab world, I don't take that seriously, particularly when they have Al Jazeera, and CNN Arabic (the last time I checked). Put up numbers (and believe me, it had better be a credible source) or shut up.
In any event, your post is a smear. You are lying about my opinions, and you're are persisting in defending the indefensible - deliberate, venal, anti-British bigotry.
Ivan
The BBC's power is waning. We're winning, and here we have a very popular British newspaper decrying what's left of their bias.
Mad Ivan was pinged to this thread by ELS in post # 11. He has as much right to voice his opinion here as you do. IMO, he is a top-notch conservative FReeper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.