Post by Teddy Bear on Aug 19, 2012 20:32:40 GMT
The only time I actually listen to BBC output on Radio4, other than Question Time, is when I'm in my car, and usually that's a local drive and doesn't last too long. Whenever it's a news related programme, even in the few minutes I listen to it, I can pick up whatever particular bias highlighted by the subject.
Last Friday about 12:30pm, I heard a BBC presenter questioning somebody from Liverpool Council on some policy or other. One thing I was sure of, without the councillor's political party being identified during the time I was listening to it, was that she was a Labour politician. Whenever a Labourite is being interviewed, regardless of subject, it is more like a party political broadcast. The questions enable the interviewee to wax lyrical on how brilliant their proposals are, without interruption. Whatever questions asked that suggest any kind of doubts, are merely a stepping stone for the politician to put cream on their argument, although if you actually listen to their claims, they are completely unsubstantiated by evidence or experience. Any facts from the past that would actually show how dismal and miserable their policies were are conveniently 'forgotten' by the BBC presenter.
Contrast this with a Tory politician and the hostility you hear from the presenter is clear as day. Little time is given for the politician to properly elaborate or even explain their thoughts without a barrage of negativity thrust on them.
Try listening to any news programme yourself and you'll see you'll have no problem identifying 'who's who', without knowing their political background.
Seems Iain Duncan Smith has gotten 'pissed off' with BBC editor Stefanie Flanders about her 'peeing' all over British Industry.
There's so much the Tories should be getting 'pissed off' about in relation to BBC output. Really these kind of reactions should be happening far more often.
Last Friday about 12:30pm, I heard a BBC presenter questioning somebody from Liverpool Council on some policy or other. One thing I was sure of, without the councillor's political party being identified during the time I was listening to it, was that she was a Labour politician. Whenever a Labourite is being interviewed, regardless of subject, it is more like a party political broadcast. The questions enable the interviewee to wax lyrical on how brilliant their proposals are, without interruption. Whatever questions asked that suggest any kind of doubts, are merely a stepping stone for the politician to put cream on their argument, although if you actually listen to their claims, they are completely unsubstantiated by evidence or experience. Any facts from the past that would actually show how dismal and miserable their policies were are conveniently 'forgotten' by the BBC presenter.
Contrast this with a Tory politician and the hostility you hear from the presenter is clear as day. Little time is given for the politician to properly elaborate or even explain their thoughts without a barrage of negativity thrust on them.
Try listening to any news programme yourself and you'll see you'll have no problem identifying 'who's who', without knowing their political background.
Seems Iain Duncan Smith has gotten 'pissed off' with BBC editor Stefanie Flanders about her 'peeing' all over British Industry.
There's so much the Tories should be getting 'pissed off' about in relation to BBC output. Really these kind of reactions should be happening far more often.
'BBC host accused of 'peeing all over British industry': IDS fury at 'carping and moaning' broadcaster as report casts doubt on jobs boost
By Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 22:32, 18 August 2012 | UPDATED: 14:41, 19 August 2012
A major row erupted after a Cabinet Minister accused BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders of showing a pro-Labour bias by undermining the Government’s jobs claims.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has made a formal complaint to the BBC about its ‘carping and moaning’.
He singled out Ms Flanders over her coverage of figures that showed unemployment and welfare handouts are falling in spite of the slump. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, he claimed that the BBC backs the economic stance of Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and seizes every chance to ‘dump on the Government’.
And he accused influential Ms Flanders of ‘pouring cold water’ over the rise in employment and ‘peeing all over’ British business.
He said the BBC had ‘set up’ an interview with a self-employed nurse who agreed when Ms Flanders suggested that she was among the ‘hidden unemployed’.
Last week’s recession-defying leap in jobs in the three months to June surprised experts.
Mr Duncan Smith claimed it was evidence that Government policies are working.
He was furious when Ms Flanders questioned the figures in the BBC Six O’Clock and Ten O’Clock TV news on Wednesday – and did not screen an interview with him proclaiming the Coalition’s success.
On screen, she said: ‘Britain’s jobs numbers are a puzzle which keeps getting harder to solve. Of course it’s good news . . . but it is not necessarily good news for us or the Chancellor if we are needing more people as a country to make less stuff.’
Ms Flanders claimed ‘hidden unemployment’ could be ‘lurking behind the statistics’. She interviewed nurse Jacqui Connell, who was made redundant last year and is now self-employed, taking her off the dole register. Ms Connell agreed: ‘I do think I’m a hidden figure.’
Ms Flanders added that ‘many in the City’ expected dole queues to rise over the coming months.
She was echoed by BBC2 Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason, who said Britain had ‘recoveryless jobs’ that were ‘great for those who got them’ but ‘not so great for digging ourselves out of this mess’.
The BBC returned to the issue yesterday on the Radio 4 Today programme. Presenter Sarah Montague said: ‘When the economy gets smaller, you would expect unemployment to go up. But something strange is going on.’
Mr Duncan Smith told this newspaper: ‘The BBC is locked to the reading of the economy that is run out of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls’ office. They think if only you spend and borrow more money you can create growth everywhere. This is the general tenor of everything that comes out of the BBC.
‘They expected the [employment] figures to be flatlining. They convinced themselves youth unemployment would continue to rise, but when it fell they were in a complete quandary.
‘Stephanie Flanders poured cold water over the whole thing. She said, “Of course this is good news, but it could be because we aren’t productive enough.”
‘Then she got a woman who was set up as a health worker who has gone self-employed – as though being self-employed is not legitimate – and she [Flanders] said, “This is all hidden unemployment because they are self-employed.”
‘Guess what the self-employed person said? “I could be some of the hidden unemployment figures.”
‘They had popped those words into her mouth. They had come in and said “let’s just sit on this and flatten it”. If the unemployment figures had gone up, we would have been on the BBC TV News at Six and Ten and would have got the blame.’
Mr Duncan Smith claimed the coverage was part of a pattern.
‘When the news is good, the BBC view is “get the Government out of the picture quickly, don’t allow them to say anything about it”. When the news is bad, [it’s] “let’s all dump on the Government”,’ he went on.
He also claimed the BBC ‘sought every little bit of bad news’ on jobs, adding: ‘Last month, there was a marginal rise in youth unemployment so they centred on that.
‘This time it came down so they cast doubt on the figures. [Flanders] said it could be industry is so bad they have to take on two people where one person could do the job.
‘She was peeing all over British industry and the private sector. It was terrible. Our private industry is unbelievably robust compared to much of Europe.
‘We were all told, “It’s no good, you can’t lay off these public sector workers, they’ll never find jobs, the private sector will never expand.”
‘When we got elected the public sector was squeezing the hell out of the private sector. Now it has created nearly one million new jobs.’ Mr Duncan Smith has made a formal complaint to BBC head of news Helen Boaden about its coverage of the Government’s crackdown on the workshy and benefits scroungers.
‘They are used to getting their money with no requirement to get a job and have an “I don’t have to work if I don’t want to” attitude. Yet the BBC has said nothing about that. All we get is carping and moaning.’
Defiant Mr Duncan Smith insists the Government’s rigorous new checks on people on benefits are succeeding, and says tougher measures are to come.
He added: ‘All the chasing of inactive people into work is having a big effect. The figures for work experience for young people – that the Left hate and call slave labour – show around 50 per cent are coming off benefits and getting into work.
‘The BBC doesn’t understand times have changed. As a nation we are near on bust. We have a massive deficit and no longer live in the land of milk and honey where we can solve problems by throwing money at them.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘BBC News is confident our coverage of this story was impartial, fair and balanced, reflecting a wide range of views. Indeed, Mr Duncan Smith expressed his position on several BBC outlets. Stephanie interrogated numerous aspects of the figures in her analysis. She echoed questions raised by many experts, including the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, as well as noting the rise in the number of people in work was good news.’
Ms Flanders, 44, is the daughter of British actor and comic singer Michael Flanders, of Flanders and Swann fame. She attended the fee-paying St Paul’s Girls’ School in London and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.
She lives with long-term partner John Arlidge and their two children in a £1 million West London home.
Iain Duncan Smith has made a formal complaint to the BBC over its coverage of employment figures
The Work and Pensions Secretary accused Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders of showing a pro-Labour bias
Claimed the BBC seizes every chance to 'dump on the Government'
BBC said it was confident coverage of the figures was impartial and fair
By Simon Walters, Mail on Sunday Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 22:32, 18 August 2012 | UPDATED: 14:41, 19 August 2012
A major row erupted after a Cabinet Minister accused BBC Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders of showing a pro-Labour bias by undermining the Government’s jobs claims.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has made a formal complaint to the BBC about its ‘carping and moaning’.
He singled out Ms Flanders over her coverage of figures that showed unemployment and welfare handouts are falling in spite of the slump. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, he claimed that the BBC backs the economic stance of Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and seizes every chance to ‘dump on the Government’.
And he accused influential Ms Flanders of ‘pouring cold water’ over the rise in employment and ‘peeing all over’ British business.
He said the BBC had ‘set up’ an interview with a self-employed nurse who agreed when Ms Flanders suggested that she was among the ‘hidden unemployed’.
Last week’s recession-defying leap in jobs in the three months to June surprised experts.
Mr Duncan Smith claimed it was evidence that Government policies are working.
He was furious when Ms Flanders questioned the figures in the BBC Six O’Clock and Ten O’Clock TV news on Wednesday – and did not screen an interview with him proclaiming the Coalition’s success.
On screen, she said: ‘Britain’s jobs numbers are a puzzle which keeps getting harder to solve. Of course it’s good news . . . but it is not necessarily good news for us or the Chancellor if we are needing more people as a country to make less stuff.’
Ms Flanders claimed ‘hidden unemployment’ could be ‘lurking behind the statistics’. She interviewed nurse Jacqui Connell, who was made redundant last year and is now self-employed, taking her off the dole register. Ms Connell agreed: ‘I do think I’m a hidden figure.’
Ms Flanders added that ‘many in the City’ expected dole queues to rise over the coming months.
She was echoed by BBC2 Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason, who said Britain had ‘recoveryless jobs’ that were ‘great for those who got them’ but ‘not so great for digging ourselves out of this mess’.
The BBC returned to the issue yesterday on the Radio 4 Today programme. Presenter Sarah Montague said: ‘When the economy gets smaller, you would expect unemployment to go up. But something strange is going on.’
Mr Duncan Smith told this newspaper: ‘The BBC is locked to the reading of the economy that is run out of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls’ office. They think if only you spend and borrow more money you can create growth everywhere. This is the general tenor of everything that comes out of the BBC.
‘They expected the [employment] figures to be flatlining. They convinced themselves youth unemployment would continue to rise, but when it fell they were in a complete quandary.
‘Stephanie Flanders poured cold water over the whole thing. She said, “Of course this is good news, but it could be because we aren’t productive enough.”
‘Then she got a woman who was set up as a health worker who has gone self-employed – as though being self-employed is not legitimate – and she [Flanders] said, “This is all hidden unemployment because they are self-employed.”
‘Guess what the self-employed person said? “I could be some of the hidden unemployment figures.”
‘They had popped those words into her mouth. They had come in and said “let’s just sit on this and flatten it”. If the unemployment figures had gone up, we would have been on the BBC TV News at Six and Ten and would have got the blame.’
Mr Duncan Smith claimed the coverage was part of a pattern.
‘When the news is good, the BBC view is “get the Government out of the picture quickly, don’t allow them to say anything about it”. When the news is bad, [it’s] “let’s all dump on the Government”,’ he went on.
He also claimed the BBC ‘sought every little bit of bad news’ on jobs, adding: ‘Last month, there was a marginal rise in youth unemployment so they centred on that.
‘This time it came down so they cast doubt on the figures. [Flanders] said it could be industry is so bad they have to take on two people where one person could do the job.
‘She was peeing all over British industry and the private sector. It was terrible. Our private industry is unbelievably robust compared to much of Europe.
‘We were all told, “It’s no good, you can’t lay off these public sector workers, they’ll never find jobs, the private sector will never expand.”
‘When we got elected the public sector was squeezing the hell out of the private sector. Now it has created nearly one million new jobs.’ Mr Duncan Smith has made a formal complaint to BBC head of news Helen Boaden about its coverage of the Government’s crackdown on the workshy and benefits scroungers.
‘They are used to getting their money with no requirement to get a job and have an “I don’t have to work if I don’t want to” attitude. Yet the BBC has said nothing about that. All we get is carping and moaning.’
Defiant Mr Duncan Smith insists the Government’s rigorous new checks on people on benefits are succeeding, and says tougher measures are to come.
He added: ‘All the chasing of inactive people into work is having a big effect. The figures for work experience for young people – that the Left hate and call slave labour – show around 50 per cent are coming off benefits and getting into work.
‘The BBC doesn’t understand times have changed. As a nation we are near on bust. We have a massive deficit and no longer live in the land of milk and honey where we can solve problems by throwing money at them.’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘BBC News is confident our coverage of this story was impartial, fair and balanced, reflecting a wide range of views. Indeed, Mr Duncan Smith expressed his position on several BBC outlets. Stephanie interrogated numerous aspects of the figures in her analysis. She echoed questions raised by many experts, including the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, as well as noting the rise in the number of people in work was good news.’
Ms Flanders, 44, is the daughter of British actor and comic singer Michael Flanders, of Flanders and Swann fame. She attended the fee-paying St Paul’s Girls’ School in London and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.
She lives with long-term partner John Arlidge and their two children in a £1 million West London home.
