We should scrap the BBC poll tax (euphemistically called Television Licence) immediately.

Posted by: Celsius at March 23, 2007 11:33 AM

Uncovering the Malpractice http://www.biased-bbc.blogspot.com/

Posted by: BornInfidel at March 23, 2007 12:04 PM

There is that sometime correspondent from Israel, Barbara Plett, the one who could not hold back her tears when Chairman Arafat died. Finally the BBC had to send her to Afghanistan, and now to Pakistan, where she can weep, if she still wishes, over the Taliban and all those splendid and colorful tribesmen. There is (or was) Orla Guerin, married to a "Palestinian," and herself married to the PLO cause, the cause of the Lesser Jihad, whose every phrase dripped with contempt and hatred for the Jews of Israel, from her safe position in Jerusalem. There is Frank "Help me. I'm a Muslim. Help me, I'm a Muslim" Gardner,for years the Cairo correspondent, who always offered the Arab anti-Israel line, but on 9/11/2001 did manage, with evident reluctance (listen to the tape, if you can get it) on the enormous pleasure Cairenes were displaying - honking of horns, excited Muslim equivalents of high-fives, just what was going on in Riyadh, and JIddah, and in Ramallah -- over the news of the mass-murders in New York and Washington. Remember when Frank Gardner was shot in Saudi Arabia, and he betrayed his own understanding of Islam, for he said, a he lay there, "Help me. I'm a Muslim. Help me. I'm a Muslim." Not: "Help me." Not: "Help me. I've been shot." Not: "Help me. I've been shot and I'm a man." No: he said, and this should be the monument engraved in stone on Frank Gardner's career: "Help me, I'm a Muslim."

There is Robin Lustig, with his estuary English, and the shrill-voiced former American Judy Swallow, so hideous to hear. There are so many others, of lesser or greater nastiness about Israel. And behind them all is John Simpson, so viciously anti-Israel that he has endorsed the conspiracy-theorist book of his good friend Peter Hounam (the one who worked so hard to get Mordecai Vanunu to reveal secrets of Israel's nuclear program, the same Hounam who, when last heard from, had been arrested by the Israelis for more of his malevolent mischief-making in Israel). Hounam wrote "The Cyanide Conspiracy" -- it's the kind of thing, about Zionists-in-high-places, that is merely an updated version of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." But John Simpson, head of the BBC World Service, thought it was swell -- thought it was more than swell, thought it was quite a book.

Here is something about Simpson and the BBC I put up last year, but it does not date:

"Fitzgerald: Publicly funded dhimmitude

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald examines the dhimmitude of the BBC and PBS:

What will it take for the BBC's coverage of Islam, the Middle East, and Israel, which are of a piece, to be investigated? A number of powerful people at the BBC effectively have an Islamic agenda. John Simpson, who is deeply anti-American and anti-Israeli, runs the BBC World Service and in turn reports to the Foreign Office –- for the World Service is under its control. Does John Simpson's introduction to Operaton Cyanide, the anti-Israel conspiracy-theory book by Peter Hounam (a one-man anti-Israel investigative unit, who when last heard from had been arrested in Israel as a security risk), the anti-Israel and anti-American head of BBC World Service, continue to get a pass, or to pass unnoticed? Why?
What about the hectoring and sneering that is so palpable a feature of BBC interviews with Israeli guests, or with those defending Israel, or which for that matter is a feature of interviews with those defending American policy in Iraq? And what about the BBC’s use of the Hamas supporter and promoter Azzam Tamimi as an "expert"? His views are frequently aired on the BBC. Or what about the loaded language -- "insurgents" in Iraq, "militants" in Israel, never "terrorists"; "occupied Arab lands" for what are "disputed lands" which are legally unallocated portions of the Mandate for Palestine, set up for the express and sole purpose of establishing the Jewish National Home.

Trevor Asserson has published a number of reports on the BBC. Vladimir Bukovsky has that Russian smell-sense (chootyo) for the loaded language and lies in which the BBC, like Pravda of yore, specializes -- not about all things, but specifically about anything remotely to do with Islam, Israel, or the Middle East. Bukovsky has started a campaign to end the mandatory payment, the license fee, that is exacted to support the BBC, even from those who cannot stand its coverage. A more sinister thing than this forced tribute, this jizya, which is used to pay for the very coverage one may find deceptive and dangerous, is hard to imagine.
Huw Weldon and Hugh Greene, and many other powerful figures from the BBC’s intelligent past are missed. And even among the Guardian-reading, left-leaning staff, there are those who -- outside of the powerful, tight little group of Arab and Muslim staff and their non-Muslim supporters, hirelings, and hangers-on (some motivated by antisemitic animus, a pathology not to be overlooked or poohpoohed) -- are aware of this BBC slant and cannot bear it. Do any of them care to reveal what they know, in some tell-it-all revelations about the Islamic equivalent of the Comintern, and its infiltration of the BBC, as of so many other organizations?

It is not up to Blair or Straw to call for a BBC investigation. But others should do it. Donald Watt, Kenneth Minogue, J. B. Kelly, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Bukovsky himself, and others might form a committee, something like the American Committee on the Present Danger, to demand that the BBC’s coverage be investigated -- and without the usual "both sides complain, so we must be doing it right" excuse that is so idiotically offered up by both the BBC and by PBS when its only slightly less biased coverage is under attack.

Lord Haw-haws and Tokyo Roses now broadcast conveniently right from Bush House and PBS, untouched and seemingly untouchable. And what is even more maddening, they are being paid by British and American taxpayers, respectively. Sentimentality about a free press misses the point. These organizations are self-contained, immune to criticism or oversight. Who appointed the smarmy Dick Gordon (now moved on to fresh fields and pastures new, thank god), or the self-assured ahd comically ignorant Tom Ashbrook, to their PBS news programs? Was there a poll? Was any audience consulted? Or was it a decision by the very well paid czarette of WBUR, Jane Christo?

Now Christo is gone, forced to resign (see "under a cloud"), but while she ruled the roost at the NPR station in a major American city, who or what gave her the right to decide who will cover the news for the taxpayer-supported, tax-exempt PBS? And what makes John Simpson exempt from investigation? What makes him permanently immune to being called to account for the outrageous coverage he not only permits but encourages at the BBC? Both the BBC and PBS, these "publicly-funded" institutions (the BBC by fiat, the PBS by tax-exempt status, grants, and constant handouts from unwary or innocent listeners), keep pretending that the very fact of this public funding makes them somehow "unbiased." WBUR keeps telling everyone that it offers a genuine "diversity" of views -- sure, it runs all the way from Kerry to Dean and back. And then they keep telling us that all those other, crazy right-wing stations are the ones that are full of lies.

Spare us."

Posted by: Hugh at March 23, 2007 12:05 PM

Hugh, You said it so much better than I ever could. Thank you for putting it into more succinct while less 'vitriolic' terms.

The song remains the same.

PS. There are two guvmint-run propaganda outlets in Germany called ADR and ZDF. They are contemplating a 'moslem hour' every Friday now. As if their current programming wasn't biased enough against Israel and the United States in particular and the West in general.

It is disgusting.

The Left has successfully marched through our institutions and now they are running roughshod over us.

The question remains: How do we [and sanity] regain control of our countries and their institutions again?

I am sure everyone has heard of the German judge who based her divorce decision in favor of the husband on the KKKoran.

That shows how far we have fallen.

Posted by: Allahfanculo at March 23, 2007 12:34 PM

The BBC is a natural result of the socialist agenda of England (a mandatory tax for supposedly unbiased tv programing -best of luck w/that fantasy). A free market economy would help create choice in GB, but the people will have to want it enough to create it .. which they seem not even slightly interested in doing; the Brits instead seem to strongly prefer 'tasteful' (but stultifying) bureaucracy over real free market choices.

Anyway, the nature of TV seems to be that it mainly produces crap .. and the BBC is no exception to the rule. It's the news source of choice for all the USA hating Americans I know.

Posted by: Daisytoo at March 23, 2007 4:42 PM

To Hugh's detailed but not exhaustive list of BBC Jew-hating, Israel-hating polemicists and propagandists, we would be remiss to not add Lyce Doucett, the correspondent who stood before a group of Palestinian officials and adroitly coached them on how to massage the media so as to promote the "Palestinian narrative".

We can only hope that the BBC fails in its efforts to suppress this report (preferably after spending another million pounds or so of taxpayer money). That should wilt a few stiff upper lips in the UK.

Posted by: Charles Martel at March 23, 2007 4:52 PM

How could I have left out the hard and nasty voice of Lyse Doucet? Good of you to fill in the gaps. But there are so many, aren't there?

Posted by: Hugh at March 23, 2007 6:52 PM

"The BBC is a natural result of the socialist agenda of England (a mandatory tax for supposedly unbiased tv programing -best of luck w/that fantasy). A free market economy would help create choice in GB, but the people will have to want it enough to create it .. which they seem not even slightly interested in doing; the Brits instead seem to strongly prefer 'tasteful' (but stultifying) bureaucracy over real free market choices."

You seem to think that Britain is not a "free market economy". Where's the evidence? The BBC is not a monopoly -- you know, we do have commercial TV and radio. The BBC was relatively impartial for a very long time, hence its still-lingering reputation throughout the world, even, dare I say it, in the USA, where, as in many other aspects of life, ruthless commercialism seems to rule, and hence garbage TV. Public-service broadcasting is not in itself a bad thing, or a hallmark of "socialism".

Posted by: JFGR at March 23, 2007 8:52 PM

P.S. to the last post:

I wonder if Lord Reith thought he was following a "socialist agenda"?

Posted by: JFGR at March 23, 2007 8:55 PM

Absolutely brilliant expose, John (sorry Hugh)!
Should be sent to those brave folk at Biased BBC who struggle on a daily basis to chronicle the mountains of BBC omissions, distortions and disguised ineptitude in their struggle to establish Anti Israeli and anti Americanism as mainstream thinking in the UK and Now alas in America too.
A website to be visited every time prior to plunging into the BBC websites or current affairs programs. it is a refresher course in spotting BBC's litany of veiled propaganda.

The classic BBC bias technique of reporting "Half a story" where the part of the story which runs against official BBC ideology is deliberately omitted is one of the most rampant misuses of journalistic integrity it practises.
It is a scandal of massive proportion and i believe no British Government however well intentioned can effectively deal with it.
Only privatisation would eradicate this cancer and such moves would be instantly pounced upon by the BBC to demonise the government in Power.

Posted by: chevalier de st george at March 23, 2007 11:00 PM

Even the glorious win by Ireland's cricket team who produced an awesome performance in beating Pakistan is now being "spun By the BBC.
They forage all the Way to Islamabad to push the point that the team is being victimised by the Jamaican police.
"It makes me extremely angry to know that the Pakistani team has been asked to delay its return to the country," says Hina Hameed, an airline ticketing officer in Islamabad.
The fingerprinting of the team is akin to the profiling of Muslim airline passengers in the USA.

Only the BBC will have the spinning skills to pin this murder on the Americans and GWB! who have never even heard of the game! And thank goodness this Infidel who brought shame was not beheaded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6486427.stm

Posted by: chevalier de st george at March 23, 2007 11:25 PM

chevalier de st george

As soon as I heard about Bob Woolmers death I thought it was an "honour" killing.
The poor infidel got snuffed out for bringing shame on the Pakistani nation.
Of course no one will state the blindingly obvious least of all the BBC.

I hammer it home to anyone who will listen
DO NOT pay your T.V. licence fee.
Rebel,vote with your feet,risk the pathetic draconian fines and penalties...this isn't North Korea.
Simple rules to follow to avoid paying the T.V. licence fee(window tax)
NEVER respond to any letters from the T.V. licensing agency.
A policy of "incommunicado" has worked for me for several years.

We've know for decades that the BBC has a bias..George Orwell told us in the 50's.

Posted by: ovinesongs at March 24, 2007 6:14 PM

I'd rather have the BBC and pay a license, than put up with the relentless commercial pap that is American television. Known the world over for its witless, stupid, lowest common denominator slush.
That being said, I have to agree. The BBC is completely ignoring its remit, to at least strive to be unbiased, and is basically a multi-cultural propoganda device. But then again, so is thw whole British establishment.
The left, while spending 18 years out of government, obviously had nothing better to do than infiltrate everywhere, but then again, this is a country that now gives a Bsc in quack medicines at university. The last years of Rome must have been like this.
Still Channel 4 have produced some documentaries showing Islam's adherents true nature. A private broadcaster with a public service remit, doing what the BBC should be doing. Strange but true.

Posted by: Ian at March 24, 2007 6:19 PM

I wonder when The Jooz are going to be blamed for Woolmer's death! Agree with the poster above - the BBC basically reflects the relentless multi-culti anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda that comes out of every public office throughout the land, funded by taxpayers. It is a bloated corporation whose CEOs are paid more than the Prime Minister and whose so called top stars such as Jonathan Ross are paid multi-million salaries. It is accountable to nobody. Not paying a license fee can land one in prison and I have heard accounts of people who don't even possess a TV having "officers" turn up at their homes,demanding to be let into their house to check that this is indeed the case. It is effectively, a compulsory tax. It's hardly surprising that as this is a completely undemocratic tax to provide a "service" that many of us don't want, the BBC itself is a deeply undemocratic institution. The BBC news is so bad I never watch it.

Posted by: londongirl at March 25, 2007 8:38 AM

londongirl:
"I have heard accounts of people who don't even possess a TV having "officers" turn up at their homes,demanding to be let into their house to check that this is indeed the case."

This is indeed the case..coercian,extortion,call it what you will it's deeply un-democratic and I believe it to be a breach of my human rights.

My brother is an acute manic-depressive and during one of his episodes where he could barely feed and clothe himself the T.V licensing junta tricked their way into his flat and found he had a T.V. and prosecuted him...mentally ill and deeply confused he was dragged before a magistrates court and fined £500.
For this alone I will NEVER give them a penny.
If any of them dares show there face at my door they had better be armed or at least trained in self defence..usually they are chinless weasly shibags and one slap is all it takes.

If say a mail order book company sends you books you never ordered your not legally obliged to pay for them.
The BBC transmits content through the airwaves just because I have an electronic device capable of recieving it doesn't mean I want it.
Make it unavaiable,make it subscription only,force it into the open market.Most of the good content is outsourced to independent documentary and filmakers anyway.I have friends in the buisness and they have to compete and submit material hoping to get some crumbs from the BBC table.
It's archaic,unaccountable and deeply biased and I believe it should not only be closed and sold off but it's news and current affairs departments investigated and brought before the Hague on charges of war crimes.

Posted by: ovinesongs at March 25, 2007 12:28 PM

Top be fair, the general liberal, anti-American and anti-Israel bias is pervasive throughout much of the media and journalism, not just the BBC. Channel 4 is publically funded but commercial and their main anchorman is Jon Snow who has spent many years in the Middle East and openly admits to bias against Israel. All the same, the current system permits all kinds of jamborees and bean feasts at taxpers expense with no accountability. At least, councillors or politicians who live it up at our expense can be booted out. Not so, the shadowy mandarins at the BBC.

Posted by: londongirl at March 26, 2007 4:11 AM

I agree it's a pandemic across the board.
The reasons can be explained in many ways but the easiest one is the gene pool most journalist students hail from.
Liberal/leftist,middle class,misinformed,always after the easy life and a media degree at university is a complete doss.
Legions of spineless drones are churned out of U.K. universities with pisspot degrees gained with minimal effort and zero enquiry.
They enter the media food chain and get gobble up and absorbed into the braindead mass of hack journo's and pundits.
Real thinkers and mavericks wouldn't be seen dead poncing about in front of the cameras.
There no better than stage school kids at least stage schoolers are honest in their desire for fame.

Thank heaven for the blogosphere.

Posted by: ovinesongs at March 26, 2007 7:47 PM