Biased BBC?

[Solly]

This seems to have quietened down a bit, but a thought provoking letter I saw in the Times from an ex-RAF pilot deserves discussion here.

During the Second World War, the BBC wasn't asked to be neutral between Churchill and Hitler, and no-one could really have expected them to.

So why do people expect the BBC to be neutral between Tony Blair and the mass-murderer that is dictator Saddam Hussein?

[Victor Galis]

Because the world has evolved since the 1940s, and because this time the mass-murdering dictator wasn't the aggressor.

[Sava]

The BBC only seems biased when they are compared to the ultra-right American media.

Having said that... everyone has a bias. But the BBC is a competent and reputable international news source that puts little or no spin on their stories. The people that don't like the truth hate the people that tell it.

[Dauphin]

I don't see how that is thought provoking.

[Imran Siddiqui]

So Sava, you believe the people that are against the BBC don't like the truth?

Funny, because Bodds is defending the BBC's reporting here, and you know his political views .

[Sava]

Imran: huh? You're apparantly drawing some other conclusions on what I said... don't do that. I'm not speaking of Bodd's or anyone else on 'Poly... if I want to direct posts at people, I have no bones about doing so.

[Solly]

I'm not defending the BBC's reporting.. it's quite obvious they have a centre-left bias.

Example..look at any story about Guatenamo Bay and you'll have barbed wire and the worst possible looking images possible present.

"I don't see how that is thought provoking."

The fact that people in this country consider someone like Hussein as an individual who should be treated with the same level of respect and neutrality by the media as a peacefully and democratically elected leader such as Blair.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You're apparantly drawing some other conclusions on what I said

Well Bodds said that the BBC should be demeaning Saddam as they currently are (like they did with Hitler in WW2). You said that those opposed to the BBC are opposed to truth. Put those two together .

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

BBC Television was shut down during WW2.

BBC radio reported very little news at all, and only war news sanctioned by the government. War correspondents were few, far between, and not selected for their tendency to make inconvenient critical analysis.

Most news came from newspapers and cinema newsreels. Not the BBC.

Read a history book, just for once, before you make an arse of yourself.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
Because the world has evolved since the 1940s, and because this time the mass-murdering dictator wasn't the aggressor.

Youv'e summed up in one sentence what I'd just given up trying to express in a paragraph

[Solly]

How old are you Laz?

And how old do you think this pilot that fought in the war is?

[Japher]

because the BBC doesn't want to fall victum to his suicide bombers or other terroist acts...

Hitler's words weren't backed with nuclear weapons or cowardly people.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I take it all back, Spink. BBC TV news was actually broadcasting 24 hours a day during the WW2, featuring legions of war correspondents linked via satellite to the BBC's state of the art newsrooms.

That nasty David Attenborough must have been lying.

[Sava]

Well Bodds said that the BBC should be demeaning Saddam

They shouldn't... they should report the facts and leave the vilification to the TV talking heads and op-ed writers.

You said that those opposed to the BBC are opposed to truth.

not exactly... but if you didn't understand what I wrote the first time, I'm not about to give you more ammunition with which to make another silly conclusion.

[gsmoove23]

Originally posted by Boddington's
The fact that people in this country consider someone like Hussein as an individual who should be treated with the same level of respect and neutrality by the media as a peacefully and democratically elected leader such as Blair.

How dumb are you? You WANT your news organizations to start giving you biased reports on people you feel are not worthy of fair and unbiased media? You'll be the loser once you realize your not the one in charge of deciding who doesn't deserve fair coverage.