[Bones McCoy]

36 hours in the life of the BBC

Yesterday morning, the successful launch of the Peregrine lander moonshot was being trumpeted as BA-WITTISH!!11!

Today, as it nears its destiny with certain oblivion, it has become exclusively American. Funny that ...

Like a spacefaring Andy Murray.

[satnav]

On BBC Breakfast this morning a reporter was trying to create something of a false narrative prior to Nicola Sturgeon's appearance at the COVID inquiry. The reporter showed a graph which suggested that excess deaths in England were only slightly higher than in Scotland despite the fact that lockdowns in Scotland were tougher. The problem with such a crude comparison is that the population in Scotland is older than the population of England and rates of poverty in Scotland are higher than in England so you would expect excess death rates in Scotland to be higher than in England.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Are you sure the measure wasn't excess deaths? According to this, England and Scotland very similar, Wales and NI were lower.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67981188

[Oboogie]

On BBC Breakfast this morning a reporter was trying to create something of a false narrative prior to Nicola Sturgeon's appearance at the COVID inquiry. The reporter showed a graph which suggested that excess deaths in England were only slightly higher than in Scotland despite the fact that lockdowns in Scotland were tougher. The problem with such a crude comparison is that the population in Scotland is older than the population of England and rates of poverty in Scotland are higher than in England so you would expect excess death rates in Scotland to be higher than in England.

It was age-adjusted (see Tubby's post).

[The Weeping Angel]

This person worked at the BBC.

https://deadline.com/2024/02/bbc-antise ... 235810858/

EXCLUSIVE: A senior BBC schedule co-ordinator has been called out for a string of antisemitic Facebook posts in which she referred to the “holohoax” and peddled extreme conspiracy theories.

Deadline understands that the BBC has been notified of the posts made by Dawn Queva, a Senior Scheduling Co-ordinator & Playout Planner at BBC Three, and her line manager has been informed. While not commenting on individual staff members, the BBC said it “does not tolerate anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, or any form of abuse, and we take any such allegations seriously and take appropriate disciplinary action wherever necessary.”

Queva’s posts, which have still not been taken down, are of a rambling and vitriolic nature, and she refers to the “holohoax” and “AshkeNazis,” the latter of which is a play on the word ‘ashkenazi,’ meaning Jews who descend from those who lived in Central or Eastern Europe.

One refers to “a bunch of subcontinental European melanin recessive CaucAsian japhetic AshkeNazi who have no None zero zilch blood connection to the land of Palestine or Israel historically.”

Another brands Jewish people a “subcontinental Caucasian invader coloniser species with zero indigenous/blood.” A third brings up the conspiracy of the Rothschilds and refers to the Holocaust as the “holohoax,” accusing the Jews of “buying and selling those who kidnap from Africa,” amongst other wide-ranging accusations.

“The Zionist genocidal land squatting so called Jew’ irrespective of the fact that The UKKK and Amerikkka gave away land they had no god given right to a people who have no god given right to,” adds another post. Read screenshots below.

[Bones McCoy]

Because, sometimes you can just try too hard.

[Yug]

We need the "Declining Standards" thread back for the BBC. Look at this bloody headline.

Unexploded WW2 found and detonated on Jersey's east coast

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe ... 703591.amp

That's right, ladies and germs. A whole world war was found on a beach in Jersey.

[Bones McCoy]

Thoughts and prayers for Laura.

[kreuzberger]

I think that is was Supertanskii who first turned our thoughts to tory tears at 3am in leisure centres.

I remain eternally grateful.

[Abernathy]

I'm still not buying the absurd notion that Kuenssberg is a Tory party stooge. She was a professional and thorough BBC politics editor . Nick Robinson, her predecessor, actually was a Tory, but was scrupulously and faultlessly impartial and professional in the job.

[RedSparrows]

I'm still not buying the absurd notion that Kuenssberg is a Tory party stooge. She was a professional and thorough BBC politics editor . Nick Robinson, her predecessor, actually was a Tory, but was scrupulously and faultlessly impartial and professional in the job.

My gut feeling is essentially she's a lightning rod for disaffection not so much about active Tory stoogeing, but rather the conceit that sustains Toryism: the innate assumption that Toryism is the default path, and everyone else has to clear hurdles ten times the height.

The former argument, of course, often comes from people so beholden to their own conceits it all feels rather tiresome.

[Andy McDandy]

There's also the criticism that she was/is rather lightweight, with a reporting style more suited to an entertainment or gossip columnist.

Stealth sexism aside, it's certainly true that she is not an "interrogator" in the manner of Paxman, but interviewing styles come and go. She has had a habit of being so keen to break a big story that she has missed the fact checking and due diligence. But again, she's working in a different environment to those political correspondents we remember from our youth.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

My gut feeling is essentially she's a lightning rod for disaffection not so much about active Tory stoogeing, but rather the conceit that sustains Toryism: the innate assumption that Toryism is the default path, and everyone else has to clear hurdles ten times the height.

See also Beth Rigby on Sky, in her attempts to steal Kay Burley's 'gotcha' schtick.

[kreuzberger]

I'm still not buying the absurd notion that Kuenssberg is a Tory party stooge. She was a professional and thorough BBC politics editor . Nick Robinson, her predecessor, actually was a Tory, but was scrupulously and faultlessly impartial and professional in the job.

Before we even get on to the matchless patio-laying skills of Fred West, let's not forget that Harold Shipman was a professional and thorough GP.

What is absurd is believing that the tories have stuffed BBC News to the gunwales with placemen because of their scrupulously and faultlessly impartial professionalism.

Hitherto good journalists and broadcasters have been poisoned and bought off (with tons of cash) to relentlessly tip the scales in the tories' favour and to further their agenda du jour.

To be in denial of this is to traduce those of the current crop who baulked - O'brien, Sopel, Maitless and co.

[safe_timber_man]

I'm still not buying the absurd notion that Kuenssberg is a Tory party stooge. She was a professional and thorough BBC politics editor . Nick Robinson, her predecessor, actually was a Tory, but was scrupulously and faultlessly impartial and professional in the job.

Come on, man!

It's not whether she's on some secret Tory party payroll conspiracy, she just clearly tries to skew the narrative to defend the Tories more often than not. It's clear as day. She's 100%, in some way or another, shilling for them and has been for a long time.

[Bones McCoy]

I'm still not buying the absurd notion that Kuenssberg is a Tory party stooge. She was a professional and thorough BBC politics editor . Nick Robinson, her predecessor, actually was a Tory, but was scrupulously and faultlessly impartial and professional in the job.

There is an argument that Laura's worst gaffes have come from rushing to break a scoop before performing due diligence.

It's a shaky argument when the right-leaning bias of all the gaffes is considered.
At best (and being very charitable) one might say that Laura spends a lot of time with Conservative activists, and gets her rumours form them.

Today she's repeated Bannerman's "rumours that Hall has won", before a single vote has been counted.

[satnav]

I can remember when she once put a tweet out two minutes after polls had closed stating that it had been a bad night for Corbyn. There really is no way that such a statement could be made with any confidence before a single vote had actually been counted.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I often bring up Hugo Young on here. He had off the record sources but they were reliable and informative. I always mention how surprised I was that the Tory stuff was coming from Portillo, but Young’s judgement of him was correct.

That’s not like “Dom here, tell them this obvious piece of shit”

[safe_timber_man]

A big conversation needs to be had about Kuenssberg when the dust settles. She very intentionally leaped on and amplified a social media bot campaign designed to help the Tories last night. This isn't some fringe Right wing loon engagement farming. She's literally the face of political journalism for the BBC, the last semblance of impartial main stream media. Coupled with her horrific coverage on Thursday night she has absolutely no right to hold the position she has.

[Abernathy]

I’ve just spent an evening listening to James O’Brien at the Stratford Literary Festival talking about his latest book, How They Broke Britain, and he was quite critical of Kuenssberg, largely in line with his prior criticisms of the BBC generally of false equivalence and so on, but his assessment was that Kuenssberg’s mistake has been to get too close to the politicians who have exercised power, especially over the BBC, these 14 years. This has appeared , and has been criticised, as bias. I still don’t think the criticism that Kenssberg is a paid Tory shill or card carrying Tory is accurate (and nor did J O’B).

Asked who he rated in BBC current affairs news gathering, James cited Mishal Hussein, Victoria Derbyshire, and Nick Robinson.