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[Nickbat]

I know Lizzie and others on here hold the BBC in high regards as a public service broadcaster and have always derided my view that it is biased. Would this piece by Peter Sissons make them question their stance, perchance? 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349506/Left-wing-bias-Its-written-BBCs-DNA-says-Peter-Sissons.html

 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

As soon as I see the words "Daily Mail".......I know objectivity is in short supply Nick...

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Well it is an interesting, and in depth, viewpoint

However, the cynical side of me asks why it has taken 22 years of working for the BBC for him to criticize when he is a journalist?  Because he is just about to launch his book?

[Nickbat]

As soon as I see the words "Daily Mail".......I know objectivity is in short supply Nick...

Newsflash: Opti's unshakable bias confirmed. 

[albitz]

The Director General, Mark Thompson admitted last year that there was left wing bias at the BBC. He claimed that it had now stopped and now presents a balanced viewpoint.
He made this statement just after the election, I would imagine in the hope of persuading the new Govt. of allowing generous increases in the licence fee. Thankfully he failed.

P.S. The fact that Sissons words are reported in the Mail are irrelevant. They have reported his words.

http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/bnp/87346-bbcs-left-wing-bias-peter-sissons-excellent-frank.html

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=158149

http://www.tvlicenceresistance.info/forum/news/left-wing-bias-it's-written-through-the-bbc's-very-dna/?PHPSESSID=4f29b318c221c4b8ea8d2608896121f6

 

[Chris_H]

As soon as I see the words "Daily Mail".......I know objectivity is in short supply Nick...

Newsflash: Opti's unshakable bias confirmed. 

I would invite you to name one OOF member who can be proven to not be biased.

As far as I know there is no clearly defined norm so "bias" presumably means "having a different opinion to mine", possibly with the addition of "..and refuses to correct him/her self despite my repeated attempts to assist".

As Lizzie says, he appears to have happily taken a wage from this august organisation for quite some time before his "principles" got the better of him and he went to the source of all things balanced to spill the beans. :-? :-?

[Nickbat]

As soon as I see the words "Daily Mail".......I know objectivity is in short supply Nick...

Newsflash: Opti's unshakable bias confirmed. 

I would invite you to name one OOF member who can be proven to not be biased.

As far as I know there is no clearly defined norm so "bias" presumably means "having a different opinion to mine", possibly with the addition of "..and refuses to correct him/her self despite my repeated attempts to assist".

As Lizzie says, he appears to have happily taken a wage from this august organisation for quite some time before his "principles" got the better of him and he went to the source of all things balanced to spill the beans. :-? :-?

If you read the article you'll see that it was not until the 2009 Election that he decided that "enough was enough". I would imagine that many people currently work, or have worked, for organisations whose policies/practices they are not entirely happy with; but to rock the boat would not solve the problem and would cause the "rocker" great hardship. You only need to see the way David Bellamy has been treated by the BBC to see how people not in favour can be treated. This is not a case of "spilling the beans" as you put it. Sissons is merely voicing an opinion as he looks back on his life as a broadcaster.

As far as bias is concerned, there is a fine line between having a tendency to favour a viewpoint initially, to "blind bias" which is an automatic and ignorant prejudice towards something. This article may well have been published in the Daily Mail, but that fact should not nullify the content unless you have blind bias. I have often quoted from The Guardian, and would continue to do so, if the stories were of interest. I am not blind, however, to the role The Guardian played in the downfall of Neil Hamilton (it lied) nor to its prominent role in the Wikileaks affair.
 

[Lizzie_Zoom]

As soon as I see the words "Daily Mail".......I know objectivity is in short supply Nick...

Newsflash: Opti's unshakable bias confirmed. 

I would invite you to name one OOF member who can be proven to not be biased.

As far as I know there is no clearly defined norm so "bias" presumably means "having a different opinion to mine", possibly with the addition of "..and refuses to correct him/her self despite my repeated attempts to assist".

As Lizzie says, he appears to have happily taken a wage from this august organisation for quite some time before his "principles" got the better of him and he went to the source of all things balanced to spill the beans. :-? :-?

Absolutely spot on Chris!

[Banjax]

i've never seen a more fair and balanced news channel 

[Dishevelled Den]

i've never seen a more fair and balanced news channel 

A-ha!!  I knew you were a closet Fox News disciple.

[Nickbat]

The Sissons' piece has prompted someone to unearth this, from 2005:

"...it is painfully obvious that the corporation is saturated with left-wing values. It disparages competition and worships consensus. Views prevalent in liberal universities percolate through every aspect of policy. Political correctness and cultural relativism are holy writ. Democracy is usually good, but not in America where it produces the wrong result."

Who wrote this? Some Daily Mail hack? Nope. It was the Labour-supporting former editor of Today, Tim Luckhurst, the founding professor of Kent University’s School of Journalism.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/thunderer/article378573.ece

Methinks the case is proven. 

[Amigo]

The Beeb are anal & insular...that's news?
  Only a suitable establishment broadsheet could take that many paragraphs to say so.
    I hope Dull & Duller are happy together!

[Banjax]

i've never seen a more fair and balanced news channel 

A-ha!!  I knew you were a closet Fox News disciple.

I watch do Fox news a lot Z - its one of the most consistently funny comedies on telly - completely unrealistic of course, but more than makes up for it in laughs per minute 

[Banjax]

actually to address Nickbats point the BBC has a duty to reflect fairly, the attitudes of people in the UK. Now, going by the last General Election, discount the 35% of idiots who couldn't be arsed to vote and therefore have no say in our democracy, you've got a fair and free electorate (albeit influenced by every national newspaper to vote Tory - with 3 exceptions) despite it all, UK voters said that around 55% would rather a left of centre agenda than anything else. Like it or not Nickbat, if the beeb is "leftist" (and it isn't) its only reflecting what we all want as a democracy  8-)

[Amigo]

actually to address Nickbats point the BBC has a duty to reflect fairly, the attitudes of people in the UK. Now, going by the last General Election, discount the 35% of idiots who couldn't be arsed to vote and therefore have no say in our democracy, you've got a fair and free electorate (albeit influenced by every national newspaper to vote Tory - with 3 exceptions) despite it all, UK voters said that around 55% would rather a left of centre agenda than anything else. Like it or not Nickbat, if the beeb is "leftist" (and it isn't) its only reflecting what we all want as a democracy  8-)

You are starting to get right up my nose now old kiddie. Firstly on a previous thread you decide not to in your words "educate me". Please excuse me while i pick myself up from the floor in your presence (doffs cap) Now if we choose not to vote for a slapstick so called government because despite our peasant mentality we can see politics & politicians are a complete farce you now deem us idiots?