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« 'Daring to Doubt' Tony Abbot GWPF Annual Lecture 2017 - Cartoon notes by Josh | Main | Biofuels in the 2050 calculator »
Sunday
Oct082017

Media blackout

A couple of weeks back, the BBC's Nick Robinson was bemoaning the fact that the general public is increasingly shunning the corporation, favouring instead the multitude of alternative news sites that have sprung up in recent years.

I couldn't help but think of this today, when I learned of a peaceful demonstration in London yesterday, which had attracted a crowd in the tens of thousands - some have suggested as many as 70,000. It was an anti-extremism march organised by a group calling itself the Football Lads Alliance. Shamefullly, there has not been a word about the march from the corporation (or indeed from any other part of the mainstream media). In fact, the Football Lads Alliance is not mentioned on the BBC website at all.

Yet the BBC is quite happy to report a protest by 150 people demanding changes to disability benefits and a protest by "hundreds" about the Grenfell Tower fire. 

It's fair to say that this will not encourage greater use of the BBC or the mainstream media.

 

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Reader Comments (49)

It is mentioned in the Independent (who do not seem to be fans of the FLA), the Standard, and the Mail, but tumbleweed at the BBC, Times, Telegraph, Guardian.

Oct 8, 2017 at 10:44 AM | Registered CommenterJonathan Jones

(Deleting repeated comment)

Oct 8, 2017 at 10:44 AM | Registered CommenterJonathan Jones

Simple: it does not fit in with their narrative. However, I have little doubt that there will be many behind the scenes of al Beeb, et al, beavering away to dig up any dirt they can possibly find on any of those involved. When (if?) it does get reported, it will not be in any favourable light.

Such is now the inherent dishonesty of what was once held as the beacon of truth in a corrupt and dishonest world. Perhaps the rationale is, “If you can’t beat them, join them…” Their timing is so bad on this, choosing to do it as the openness of the internet allows real facts to be exposed; one reason, of course, why so many politicians want to have control of the internet.

Oct 8, 2017 at 11:00 AM | Registered CommenterRadical Rodent

ermm... if they can't report it honestly.....and they can't think of a line that won't collapse under the weight of its own bias they they don't report it is one reason they deliberately pull coverage. It's also the BBC(and others) exercising their gatekeeper to public discourse function.

The question in this case is did they do it of their own accord - or were they (not) acting after a few words were exchanged? (adjusts foil headgear)

Oct 8, 2017 at 11:05 AM | Registered Commentertomo

Maybe the BBC's Pidgin service has reported on the matter? - they seem to have a bit more umm... discretion in what they deem to be news?

Oct 8, 2017 at 12:29 PM | Registered Commentertomo

Auntie Beeb is a monolith. Their credibility on climate is nil.

Oct 8, 2017 at 12:47 PM | Unregistered CommenterDiogenes

I ask myself the simple question - why should the BBC deliberately censor the march, especially when opponents of the FLA accuse it of being anti-Islamic. The BBC is constantly being criticised on BH for being biased in favour of pro-Islamic stories, so I would have thought that yesterday's march story would have been right up its street. Yet here it is being blamed for ignoring such a story. I am confused.

Oct 8, 2017 at 1:24 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Well no doubt the group will be ineffective.
England cannot have a peasant revolt as almost all are serfs wether rich or poor.
The parallel between Irish 19th & 20th migration and terrorism and today's migration is obvious.
Irish or Muslims are blamed for the flux in society while the guild navigators responsible for this globalisation mess step deeper into the shadows.
I can guarantee this potential right wing mob will never hold up a banner entitled " Return the nations credit to its people ,starve the monopoly"

Oct 8, 2017 at 1:24 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Supertroll

It looks like it's not just the BBC.

There are a number of issues that are viewed as incendiary and corrosive in the sense that public order becomes an issue. What's peculiar here is that rent-a-mob BLM / Antifa / SWP crew seem to have swerved what would have been a prominent chance to gad about in the limelight...

The pandering to the multiculti agenda continues apace - the cowardice of our establishment runs, it seems - pretty deep.

Oct 8, 2017 at 1:45 PM | Registered Commentertomo

not directly related to the demo - but I see / hear more and more like this

Oct 8, 2017 at 2:35 PM | Registered Commentertomo

Even more perplexing Tomo (Oct 8, 2017 at 2:35 PM) woman complaining that BBC cut her contribution to a discussion that UNFAVOURABLY compared the EU's treatment of women with that of the UK. I thought the BBC bias that people here complain about was being too pro-EU. I'm getting really confused. Tectonic plates are shifting beneath my feet. Certainties crumble. I await criticism of Trump.

Oct 8, 2017 at 3:29 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

This reminds me of a demonstration of some 10,000 people who marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square perhaps 17 years ago.

There were BBC cameras amongst us but not a mention appeared on BBC nationally although the local London stations reported it.

There were also small groups with EU flags with which we had good natured repartee.

Nationally the BBC reported a group of ( maybe) 100, demonstrating about some racial grievance outside Downing Street.

When my friend George West, then chairman of UKIP Leicester branch, complained to the BBC, he was told
"Well, nothing happened" .

They had obviously been hoping for some punch-ups which did not happen.

Locally the main parties continued to accuse independence campaigners of racism, although George was married to a black lady.
Y

Oct 8, 2017 at 3:59 PM | Unregistered CommenterEdward Spalton

A side issue Edward, how was the crowd size measured? You say the BBC did not report the march. Was it reported by the press? If the crowd size was reported by the march organizers then I would be suspicious, these estimates are notoriously difficult to make and commonly are out by up to an order of magnitude (compared with police estimates).
Did anything newsworthy occur at the smaller Downing Street protest or were celebs involved which might explain why the BBC chose to report it?
Mostly, however, I suspect what your colleague was told was the reason. It's the old "dog bites man, man bites dog" explanation. What was special about a small political party's march where "nothing happened"? The media report news, perhaps the march was just not considered news (but it could have been if considerably larger or if "incidents" had occurred).

Oct 8, 2017 at 4:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Supertroll

There is the "to be expected" dissatisfaction with coverage ... all part of the knockabout of media exposure - but a large demo in London of tens of thousands... it is not unreasonable to expect it to be nationally covered.

That it ostensibly comes from the "Tommy Robinson" part of the population rather than from historically established activist groups would be reason enough for many in the MSM to swerve covering it....

Oct 8, 2017 at 5:43 PM | Registered Commentertomo

That we are discussing it, should be a reminder to us all of the power that the traditional MSM still holds, despite not getting the election results they want.

Their loss of advertising revenue to 'new' media is large, but the empire still wields some very heavy sticks, and will frequently strike back.

Oct 9, 2017 at 1:09 AM | Unregistered Commentermichael hart

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been pictured holding a gun atop an Israeli tank in a war-torn region of the Middle East.

The former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) posted the photo on Wednesday from the Golan Heights, an area of Syria occupied by Israel since 1967.

He added the caption: “All those people telling me to be careful in Israel, I think I’ll be okay.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/former-edl-leader-tommy-robinson-pictured-holding-gun-on-israeli-tank-near-syrian-border-a3393256.html

Oct 9, 2017 at 1:37 AM | Unregistered Commenterbouncer

"Conceived by conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart during a visit to Israel in mid-2007 as a website "that would be unapologetically pro-freedom and pro-Israel",

"Co-founder and owner of Breitbart, Larry Solov—who, like Andrew Breitbart, is Jewish—writes:

One night in Jerusalem, when we were getting ready for dinner, Andrew turned to me and asked if I would de-partner from the 800-person law firm where I was practicing and become business partners with him. He said he needed my help to create a media company. He needed my help to "change the world".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitbart_News

Oct 9, 2017 at 1:38 AM | Unregistered Commenterbouncer

Here's Andrew Breitbart with Bibi Netanyahu


https://twitter.com/NeoconWatson/status/765937131332243456


So, crazy Islamophobes Breitbart are actually a front for Israel. Who would have believed it ?

Haaretz certainly would

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.737622

Oct 9, 2017 at 1:43 AM | Unregistered Commenterbouncer

Good old Beeb.
Censoring news that doesn't agree with its neomarxist-liberal view, or actively propagandizing fake news.

Oct 9, 2017 at 8:48 AM | Unregistered CommenterBitter&twisted

It happens everywhere, all the time.

For example, Spanish and international media was very happy and active in spreading fake news about freedom of choice, police violence, etc., but nearly no one divulged that more than million catalonias were yesterday on the streets, defending the unity of Spain against the secessional madness.

Oct 9, 2017 at 10:27 AM | Unregistered CommenterHeber Rizzo

News is about entertainment
It is not a textbook of truth

Guardian/BBC heartland like to have their own bigoted view of the world confirmed.
Thus ONE polar bear is news
.. And 30,000 football lads having a peaceful march is not news.

The Indy did report but tried to twist its report to be a hit piece against the lads.

A Few weeks ago media reported a failed EDL march in Chelmsford making headlines like "March abandoned cos only 2, 4, 6 protesters turn up"
BBC staff happily retweeted the stories and mocking photos.

Oct 9, 2017 at 11:42 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

BBC R5 right now is doing emotional blackmail by playing the tweeting child talking about Allepo bombing.

Oct 9, 2017 at 11:46 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

I often say that with the BBC, half the news is biased and the other half is not reported.

The BBC has an agenda on most controversial subjects. It matters not whether this is managed by the editors, formulated informally or simply the manifestation of Group Think, not reporting inconvenient news is part of the bias. Visitors to this site must be aware that the BBC is quick to give publicity to global warming alarmism but not to the other side of the argument.

We hear about Arctic warming, not Antarctic cooling. We heard all about the Karl et al. "pause busting" paper but not the whistle blower from NOAA who claimed it was flawed. We hear plenty of experts attributing the recent hurricanes to global warming but not those who point out that the evidence does not support this.

The BBC often launches campaigns to influence or even to correct public opinion. Common campaigns feature immigration, Brexit, gender identity and the like. I thought I spotted the start of one this morning. James Naughty was asking the SNP leader if she supported a separate Brexit referendum. She didn't, but Naughty pushed the possibility again and again until Sturgeon eventually agreed it was a possibility. It sounded very much like advocacy to me rather than just journalism. I have no idea at this point whether it is a one off or the start of another BBC campaign. We should know in the coming two weeks which it is.

Oct 9, 2017 at 12:29 PM | Unregistered CommenterSchrodinger's Cat

If Nick Robinson wants to be seen as an impartial journalist, he should reflect on his past performance:

https://order-order.com/people/nick-robinson/
"Data Guido has been hidden away in a dark room, crunching the numbers to see whether our top broadcast journalists really are impartial on Brexit. Yesterday we analysed Robert Peston’s relentlessly negative Twitter feed, categorising his tweets as having either a positive sentiment about Brexit (not many), a negative sentiment about Brexit (82%), or being neutral. Today it’s the turn of the BBC’s Nick Robinson…

Robbo has sent 157 tweets about Brexit since 24 June 2016.3 tweets had a positive sentiment, that’s just 2% of his total tweets.89 tweets were negative, that is 57% of his total Brexit tweets having a negative sentiment."

Oct 9, 2017 at 1:31 PM | Unregistered Commentergolf charlie

A classic example of the BBC seeing what it wants to see and not what's actually there.

Oct 9, 2017 at 3:04 PM | Unregistered CommenterEllie Fant-Indaroom

The Ctrl-left were ranting on Twitter last night
' Country file has broken a great rule by daring to air a fracking guy'
See how they want the media controlled/censored.

Self censorship due to intimidation is the worst kind of censorship.

Oct 9, 2017 at 3:58 PM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

.

Oct 9, 2017 at 4:03 PM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Stewgreen has the completely unbiased blog management here completely censored your post to a single punctum?

Oct 9, 2017 at 5:35 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

Oct 9, 2017 at 5:35 PM | Supertroll

A single punctum cannot breed and multiply. Add it to the list of rare species made extinct by Climate Science.

Oct 9, 2017 at 6:06 PM | Unregistered Commentergolf charlie

But golfCharlie you are mistaken. I can definitely see two puncti (?) in your post alone. But wait they are all female. Oh no - , - there's a male.

Oct 9, 2017 at 6:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterSupertroll

BBC bias is legendary, and not by any means new. They have honed the 'bias by omission' skill to a fine art.

Oct 9, 2017 at 8:03 PM | Registered CommenterPharos

I do hot think the Beeb is too worried about the local serfs.
What little I read about this pathetic performance is that many bus loads came from Bristol rather then the poorer and less lodge like North of England.
So we can assume this is not a very organic development.

I should think Whitehall is more worried about losing the American again after regaining it in the 19th century via monetary means.
If Jay Dyer and the new set of anti Austrian state sceptics is anything to go by
As Trumps failure becomes obvious the original gun holding script waving rednecks will start destroying the 1776 /1789 artifice created around a revolution which had much simpler roots.

Oct 9, 2017 at 9:20 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

In the Speccie by Brendan O'Neill
The Football Lads Alliance is a working-class movement – and the political class wants to ignore it

There is also the TR video where at minute 4 he makes the BBC crew covering the march look like wallies
..basically admitting : see discussion

There is also the demo against BBC Bias : Good video

Oct 9, 2017 at 11:55 PM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Consider the other banned reports
- Rotherham marches against grooming gangs ..portrayed as racist and therefore suppressed
(And yes there were a handful of racist bad uns, but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and suppress grooming gang investigations)
- basically any march like that one in support of a Teeside gang rape victim etc. that Tommy Robinson does where there is no violence
- The Manchester post terrorist attack march which was deliberately multi-ethnic and non EDL organised but which was labelled EDL by the Mayor and BBC
- The way every time there is a march organised by non lefties and against terrorism etc. the antifa turn up with masks, black clothes, smoke bombs etc "to stop fascism" /irony
they then get arrested as they try to provoke the other side into violence.
And the press then report that as "4 arrested at right wing march" ... even tho the only people arrested were antifa.

The origin of this a NUJ set of reporting rules

So they only have to twist that an event so it can be labelled with the boo word "far right" and then they have an excuse for dropping fairness in reportingRacist attitudes and the growth of far-right parties pose a threat to democracy, the rights of trade union organisations, a free media and racial equality.
Its members have a responsibility to stop racism being expressed in the media.

... You do not have to report on racist organisations. "

Oct 10, 2017 at 12:01 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

UKIP's Patrick O'Flynn with a concise summary

https://twitter.com/oflynnmep/status/917267324968763393

Oct 10, 2017 at 12:23 AM | Registered CommenterPharos

Jay Dyers 8year utube trajectory is interesting.
From a Alex Jones groupie to todays incarnation.

1. A disinterest in founding fathers mythology
2. A philosophical rather then scientific objection to Darwinism with a particular dislike to Dawkins simplistic materialism.
3. A deep understanding of the Rhodes set, its total supremacy and association with classical liberalism thus avoiding John Birch society animal traps.
4.Accepting with little discomfort the special position of the Jewish capitalist management class in Hollywood and finance while remaining nuanced - that is understanding both protestant & Catholic state usury also.

I could go on but if these views become widespread in white middle-class America then London may loose its favoured colony yet again.
Hence Mrs Mays haste in closing down free speech on the net.

Oct 10, 2017 at 2:22 AM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

If only there was a word for the type of people that DENY proven events took place :-)

Oct 10, 2017 at 9:07 AM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Utube
Bertrand Russell, genocidal maniac : The scientific method

A wonderful attack on scientific dogma and not the scientific method.
Jay Dyer

Oct 10, 2017 at 1:06 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Rednecks are demolishing books such as The Scientific Outlook because the views of the current set of science high priests is so impoverished.
I imagine Dyer(A very angry young man) would totally destroy Dawkins in debate, it would be almost too easy.

Oct 10, 2017 at 1:27 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Is Dwyers view a example of what a sort of synthetic agrarian revolt looks like.

Instead of a direct assault on the castle he decides to undermine its very foundations.

Oct 10, 2017 at 1:40 PM | Unregistered CommenterThe Dork of Cork

Craig Murray has a useful piece on the Catalonia business. HERE

Interestingly (or perhaps not if you're as jaundiced about the Guardian as I am) they are indulging in a bit of studied omission. The BBC hasn't been terribly consistent about the Catalans vs. Madrid - a World Service "World This Week" did a cautious and factual segment a week or so back - essentially laying out Carles Puigdemont's rational position before he nailed it in the speech that the Guardian won't translate...

Oct 10, 2017 at 8:07 PM | Registered Commentertomo

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4968064/Conservationists-average-nine-flights-year.html

A bit of reasearch by real Cambridge scientists you won't heat at the BBC. People who worry about the planet don't live up to their own ideals.

Oct 11, 2017 at 12:15 AM | Unregistered CommenterTinyCO2

Somewhat related:

It might be that I ignore the BBC news coverage for the same reason that I avoid anything with David Attenborough in it - both harp on about global warming as if it's a given, and it's all my fault (and never David's of course, because he's so virtuous).

If he gets on the £20 note I shall ask the bank for £50s in future.

Oct 11, 2017 at 3:10 PM | Unregistered CommenterCapell

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41567471

Trump team kicks the Clean Power Plan into the long grass

""The war on coal is over," EPA administrator Scott Pruitt told an audience in Kentucky yesterday, as he announced his intention to sign a rule rolling back the Clean Power Plan (CPP).
So is this just another angry white man, lashing out at the "global climate conspiracy", determined to turn the clock back to the golden age of anthracite?"

"...just another angry white man...". Blatant racism and sexism from the BBC. You can't begin to imagine (I'm pleased to say) them referring to "just another black man" (or woman, or coloured man/woman, or (wo)man of colour). Lazy journalism from Matt McGrath (surprise, surprise) and the bias is evident.

I oppose racism whatever it looks like. It's a huge pity the BBC doesn't.

Oct 12, 2017 at 8:52 AM | Unregistered CommenterMark Hodgson

Via B-bbc New press release from the football lads :
"Thursday 12 October 2017
Football Lads Alliance March
A march against extremism was undertaken by members of the FLA, the Veterans Against Terrorism and joined by the Ghurkhas at Trafalgar Square. Over 40,000 people including fans from nearly every football club in Britain as well as some from Europe marched from Park Lane to Westminster Bridge where wreaths were laid in honour of people killed from recent extremist acts.

The FLA would like to thank each and every person who turned up for Saturdays march. They also would like to thank all of the people behind the scenes that made it possible, and the Metropolitan and City of London police for their co-operation. "
...it continues

Oct 12, 2017 at 10:19 PM | Registered Commenterstewgreen

Besides their biases the BBC news dept is obsessed with emotion, so maybe this march simply failed to exceed the emotion threshold. I despair when the BBC reports that someone was heckled at a meeting or during a speech, no mention of what the meeting or speech was about, but just one person being angry or upset is enough to trigger a full outrage response.

Could this obsession with emotion be something to do with the laydees?

Oct 14, 2017 at 9:13 PM | Unregistered CommenterMikky

After several years of turning off the BBC - what I'm now finding is that when I do happen to catch something (because the wife left it on) - and EVEN WHEN I AGREE - it's usually a subject that I used to feel passionately about but I've had zero interest in since I stopped listening.

And then it twigs - the ONLY REASON FOR MY VIEW, was the continual indoctrination from the BBC. Indeed, to be frank, I'm not sure I had many of my own views - instead a lot of what I used to think was just regurgitating the rubbish that was continually poured into our ears by the vile BBC.

So, even when people disagree with me - I've got a lot of sympathy, because it's almost certain that if I had continued listening to the biased propaganda of the BBC I too would still be thinking like the zombies who continue listening.

Nov 9, 2017 at 11:05 PM | Unregistered CommenterMike Haseler

Sorry, Your Grace, but I refuse to Twitter.

Apr 10, 2018 at 2:34 AM | Unregistered CommenterDiogenes

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May 2, 2023 at 4:06 PM | Unregistered Commentermukalmla

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