Baker also points out that the US news media is no better, presenting over the summer a 'surge in European anti-semtism' despite the fact that it, well, wasn't surging.
On the subject of BBC bias, I believe it is more an instituational thing than any deliberate attempt to malign the US, yet of course that doesn't mean it doesn't exist and shouldn't be challenged (Of course if you are on the left of politics you would also find the BBC biased --it has essentially a very 'New Labour' view of the politics).
Sadly the opposition to the BBC and its ridiculously large licence fee (Surely even its supporters must acknowledge that it could fulfill its public service remit on a 50 licence fee?) is rather disparate. There's the ludicrous attempt by Jonathan Miller (at the behest, no doubt, of Rupert Murdoch) to get away with paying the licence fee in the ECHR, despite the fact that the BBC was very careful to get an exemption. Also I must say that once-good Biased BBC has rather lost its way with far too many posts describing bias which I don't think exists.
Today for example one poster links to a BBC story about the 100th birthday of Strom Thurmond, the US Senator. The story is perfectly accurate and is as without bias as a story can be without making it deadly dull (e.g 'Strom Thurmon is 100 today. The US Senator first stood for the Senate in blah blah blah). The poster even admits she knows little about the man, so why try to say the story was biased? I know rather a lot about the man and I doubt many profiles of him will say anything other that what the BBC's did.
The next post criticises the BBC for not linking to euro-sceptics in an article about the EU Commission (the story we are told is 'fine'). Now come on -- it's a story about the Commission, that's why there is a link to the European Union's website. Stories about euroscepticsants links to euro-sceptics to balance it? Which particular euro-sceptic group?
And so it goes on. A BBC drama about freedom fighting an oppressive government (in the guise of a chocolate ban) is clearly biased because...er... oh not that one must have 'slipped under the BBC radar'.
A site like this is needed to point out real examples of BBC bias. Unfortunately this scattergun approach (what next...one expects something like 'there are 17 links to pro-euro sites and only 15 to anti-euro sites') doesn't work. Some quality control please!
posted by Matthew @ 12/05/2002 11:28:00 AM
Comments: 0
