Mandela Death - MAJOR BBC News

[dance2drop]

Yes, Nelson Mandela was an icon and of course you would expect a tribute. However, there has been nothing but this on the news since last night until today. Even question time was delayed by almost 2 hours.

There are other important things to report on. Floods for instance that have plagued the Kent, Norfolk and Sussex areas

[Teddy Bear]

One galling memory for me about Mandela is when he went to the prison in Glasgow a few years ago and pleaded for an appeal on behalf of the Lockerbie bomber. Also urging that he be allowed to serve out his sentence in a Muslim country:

"Megrahi is all alone," Mr Mandela told a packed press conference in the prison's visitors' room.

"He has nobody he can talk to. It is a psychological persecution that a man must stay for the length of his long sentence all alone."

Mr Mandela added: "It would be fair if he transferred to a Muslim country - and there are Muslim countries which are trusted by the West.

"It will make it easier for his family to visit him if he is in a place like the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia or Egypt."

Mr Mandela said he also hoped to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush to discuss the case.

The former president, who himself spent more than 20 years as a prisoner, said Megrahi was being "harassed" by other inmates at Barlinnie.

"He says he is being treated well by the officials but when he takes exercise he has been harassed by a number of prisoners," said Mr Mandela.

"He cannot identify them because they shout at him from their cells through the windows and sometimes it is difficult even for the officials to know from which quarter the shouting occurs."

Let's just remind ourselves that Megrahi was convicted of killing 270 people as a result of his blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie. Did he really give a thought about all those who had lost loved ones because of this murderer might be feeling?

Mandela lived to 95, a fair old age. No doubt he did many good things in his life for what he believed. I don't however see him as a saint, as do the BBC.

This morning around 08:30 on Radio 4 there appeared to be nothing else going on in the world except tributes following his death. Contrast this with 'Ding Dong the witch is dead' that the BBC ran quite a few times following Thatcher's death. One might have thought that the worst tidal surges and high winds that hit the country yesterday might have received some attention too.

But for the BBC - it's their agenda and interest first - sod the licence fee payer.

Rod Liddle at the Spectator has noticed this overdone 'reverence' from the BBC about Mandela, and has commented on it below. Needless to say his criticism brought on all the lefties to slag him off, which has also been picked up by other media sources.

I agree with him.

Nelson Mandela dies, aged 95

Rod Liddle

Look; I’m sorry Nelson Mandela is dead. It happens quite often to people in their 90s who have been very ill, even famous people, but I’m sure that doesn’t lessen the sadness for many of us. I never met the man but, on balance, I came to the conclusion that he was a force for good rather than ill. I think I came to that rather banal and broad brush conclusion twenty years ago, or maybe fifteen. So, I’m sorry he’s dead, I wish it were otherwise.

But for Christ’s sake BBC, give it a bloody break for five minutes, will you? It’s as if the poor bugger now has to bear your entire self-flagellating white post-colonial bien pensant guilt; look! Famous nice black man dies! Let’s re-run the entire history of South Africa. That’s better than watching the country we’re in being flattened by a storm.

[Teddy Bear]

We both were writing about this subject at the same time Dance, so I joined them here.

[steevo]

I would be sick of it too. On balance I believe he's a good man but sainthood, no. He didn't condemn Mugabe either and along with sympathies for the Lockerbie bomber it seems a strange contradictory indifference, maybe even leftover callous disregard? But he's an icon with the Left because he embodies the ideal overcoming white imperialism. Untouchable, but only because it is race and racism. In America if you take away the r word, the Left have little to claim (albeit symbolic delusion).

[Teddy Bear]

Judging by the eulogies that are emanating from Obama about Mandea, I would have guessed that you were also getting more of your fair share of coverage on the topic.

[steevo]

Yup but we don't have the BBC

[dance2drop]

Hubby recalled many years ago that Nelson Mandela visited a murderer who was due to be executed by electric chair. The victim's father commented at the time that his son was a good man, so why did Mandela not visit him and his grieving family, instead of visiting the scumbag (my words, not his ")

[Teddy Bear]

This is where I think the left wing mindset 'loses the plot'. They're more concerned about showing themselves as extra caring and concerned to the 'lowest among us', they lose sight of the real victims and the damage that has been done to them.

We see it in so many areas, and this is why they need to resort to the tactics they do to avoid really confronting their logic.

Just after I wrote the above I saw this article in the Commentator which perfectly highlights this:
"Liberal" Sweden allows paedophile to adopt a child
Sweden has a reputation for being very "liberal". But whose liberty are they protecting in allowing a child rapist to adopt? Political correctness goes madder than usual. And it's all a bit sick, no?

'Political Correctness' is one of their tactics used to avoid having their logic questioned.

[steevo]

'Political Correctness' is one of their tactics used to avoid having their logic questioned.

Right, it essentially deludes the moral fabric of society and the ability to discern right from wrong. It's like the Left's portrayal of Islam and I'll qualify that for America. By claiming a virtue of diversity with emphasis on prejudice and persecution against Muslims the rug is pulled out from judgment not only about the threat of terrorism but repression and extreme bigotry against womans rights, gays, non believers etc. Since the Left are against individual liberty and representative democracy they have no problem with this blatant hypocrisy. If they were honest in their portrayal, then public conscience would be truly enlightened reinforcing and confirming historic tradition and democratic values. And that's what our Left fear above all.

[Teddy Bear]

Dec 7, 2013 21:56:13 GMT steevo said:

If they were honest in their portrayal, then public conscience would be truly enlightened reinforcing and confirming historic tradition and democratic values. And that's what our Left fear above all.

'The Emperor has no clothes' comes to mind. Someday an innocent response is going to show their dire insecurities and inferiority. It's just the damage they will do in the meantime.

[Teddy Bear]

1350 Complaints about the over-extent of BBC coverage on Mandela's death, but do the BBC consider that they might have overdone it?
Like hell!
You think the BBC would let the British public get in the way of their agenda?

BBC receives 1,350 complaints about 'excessive' coverage of Mandela's death after viewers are angered by decision to interrupt Mrs Brown's Boys and lack of time on storm

• BBC has defended extent to which it featured death of Nelson Mandela
  
• The corporation had by today received 1,350 complaints about coverage
  
• Some viewers said emphasis reduced coverage of severe weather in UK

By James Rush

More than 1,000 viewers have complained about 'excessive' coverage of Nelson Mandela's death on BBC services, including some who grumbled about a repeat of Mrs Brown's Boys being interrupted.

The BBC has defended the extent to which it featured the death of the former South African president, a major news item which led bulletins around the world.

By today the corporation had received 1,350 complaints about too much coverage across its news services, with some saying the emphasis had reduced the coverage of severe weather across the UK that day.

Programme chiefs broke into a repeat of BBC1 sitcom Mrs Brown's Boys to break the news.

The BBC has defended its coverage and said Mandela's death was of 'considerable interest' to audiences in the UK and across the rest of the world.

A BBC spokeswoman said the corporation had also continued to cover other major stories.

The spokeswoman today said: 'Nelson Mandela was a hugely significant world leader with an enormous political and cultural influence across the world.

'His death is of considerable interest to our audiences at home and across the globe.

'We know that people turn to the BBC for authoritative coverage of breaking news and we will continue to provide comprehensive coverage for a wide range of BBC News outlets, across TV, radio and online, as the world reacts to his passing, reflects on his legacy, and prepares for his funeral.

'After the initial announcement we have, of course, continued to cover other major stories as they have developed.'

The news of Mandela's death dominated news coverage throughout the weekend, while Parliament today cleared its agenda for eight hours of tributes to the former South African president.

Addressing a packed House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs: ‘Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our lifetime - a pivotal figure in the history of South Africa and the world - and it is right that we meet in this Parliament to pay tribute to his character, his achievements and his legacy.’

Labour leader Ed Miliband told the Commons Mr Mandela can truly call himself the father of a nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg meanwhile said Mr Mandela's upholding of the principles of truth and reconciliation after being released from prison and becoming South Africa's first black president laid down a blueprint for other societies ridden with conflict and division to follow.

Final preparations are being made for Mandela's funeral, which is set to be the biggest in South Africa's history.

More than 70 world leaders are due to fly in to South Africa this week to attend a series of events to mark the life of one of humanity's great peacemakers.

They include Cuban leader Raul Castro and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe who could rub shoulders with Mr Cameron and Prince Charles in an unprecedented gathering.

Iran's Hassan Rouhani will also be among the heads of state flying in to commemorate Mandela, as will U.S. President Barack Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Today, South Africa's parliament begun a special session honouring the nation's former leader.

The session began in Cape Town, with an announcement that members of Mandela's family were sitting in the gallery.

Kgalema Motlanthe, South Africa's deputy president, began the proceedings with a speech. He described how Mandela's influence in South Africa and around the globe caused a 'sweeping feeling of sorrow' worldwide following his death.

[Teddy Bear]

To get an idea of the mindset that really wants this kind of coverage about Mandela, I was listening to Nick Ferrari on LBC this morning and he was talking about the coverage that the BBC had given to his life and death.

He made the point that despite 2 British people dying in the worst storms the country had seen in 25 years, with further flooding likely in the east of the country, the BBC ignored this and devoted the whole of their news to eulogising Mandela's death.

Several women came on air who were so filled with their own sense of righteousness they saw nothing wrong with this. Basically calling anybody who had a problem with it akin to racists or apartheid lovers. So filled with their own self view that they were the only good people in the country they didn't see that anybody relying on BBC news to tell them about the prospects of floods in their area mattered at all.

Let's remember that if the mindset of the civilised world wasn't against apartheid before Mandela came to fame, it wouldn't have ended and he wouldn't have been freed. There is also some question as to certain terrorist activities he was involved in that suggest he was far from being a saint.

World figures from our recent past that I would laud first would be Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Churchill, and Ben Gurion.

If there is a good side to this BBC excessive fawning over the death of this man, it is that we missed the focus on their usual climate change agenda that would have been otherwise linking it to the storms that the country suffered last week.

Clearly sending at least a 120 person crew to South Africa to cover the funeral, compared to 9 by ITV, they must feel that their carbon footprint is of little consequence to those in the future when they want to honour somebody from the past - somebody who fits their agenda.

BBC took 120 crew to cover Mandela memorial despite receiving 1,000 complaints about giving it too much coverage

• ITV has sent just nine staff to cover iconic leader's death in South Africa
  
• BBC has received 1,350 complaints that it has been sidelining local news
  
• Some viewers said emphasis reduced coverage of severe weather in UK

By Simon Tomlinson

The BBC sent 120 crew members to cover Nelson Mandela's memorial despite receiving more than 1,000 complaints over its 'excessive' coverage of his death.

The number of staff dedicated to the iconic leader's death was far greater than its rivals, including ITV which reportedly despatched just nine staff to South Africa.

News of the figures emerged as nearly 1,500 viewers complained that local news was being sidelined in favour of coverage of Mr Mandela's death, including some who grumbled about a repeat of Mrs Brown's Boys being interrupted.

The BBC has defended the extent to which it featured the death of the former South African president, a major news item which led bulletins around the world.

By yesterday, the corporation had received 1,350 complaints about too much coverage across its news services, with some saying the emphasis had reduced the coverage of severe weather across the UK that day.

The BBC has defended its coverage and said Mandela's death was of 'considerable interest' to audiences in the UK and across the rest of the world.

A spokeswoman for the BBC told the Daily Telegraph: 'Over a ten-day period, we expect to have deployed around 120 journalists, technicians and support staff to work on this huge international story.

'They are providing coverage of events from a number of different locations across TV, radio and online. We will begin to scale back our deployment on Wednesday.'

Hundreds of world leaders including President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro were joined by thousands of ordinary South Africans and Mr Mandela's family to pay tribute to the anti-apartheid hero at the FNB football stadium today.

Mr Obama led the tributes by calling Mr Mandela a 'giant of history'.

Mr Obama opened his speech by thanking Mandela's family, then continued: 'To the people of South Africa - people of every race and walk of life - the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us.

'His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph. Your dignity and hope found expression in his life, and your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.'

The U.S. President compared Mr Mandela’s actions to those of Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and US civil rights leader Martin Luther King but also warned against viewing Mr Mandela as detached from normal life.

'He was not a bust made of marble, he was a man made of flesh and blood,' he told the crowds in the stadium including leaders from more than 90 countries gathered at the stadium.

[steevo]

They also have a fetish for the O right? Here's the man at Mandela's funeral... and look at his wife Michelle...



pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/12/10/photo-of-the-day-obamas-selfie-michelles-reaction/

I doubt the Beeb will show these.

[Teddy Bear]

She definitely doesn't look amused.

Obama's probably convinced himself that this is what Mandela would have wanted.

Liked this picture too from that page


Obama at Memorial Service: Mandela ‘Makes Me Want to Be a Better Man’

[Teddy Bear]

The BBC WILL NOT understand that most people, especially those with their own mind are not as interested in the death of Mandela as they are.

BBC World Service apparently sent 20 personnel. The BBC sent 120 for what they say is: The BBC has defended its coverage and said Mandela's death was of 'considerable interest' to audiences in the UK and across the rest of the world.

Besides the fact that the rest of the UK media COMBINED sent only 40, we are to believe that the UK audience NEEDS 120 BBC staff to the rest of the world's BBC audience of 20?
Though the World Service is not supposed to be funded from the licence fee, it sure looks like some diversion of funds with stunts like this is happening.

Corrupt and Stupid!

BBC sent THREE TIMES as many staff to cover Mandela death than all rival British broadcasters combined

• ITV has sent just nine staff to cover iconic leader's death in South Africa
  
• BBC has received 1,695 complaints about its 'excessive' coverage
  
• Some viewers said emphasis reduced coverage of severe weather in UK

Nearly three times as many BBC staff have been sent to cover Nelson Mandela's death than all of its rival British broadcasters put together, it has been revealed.

The corporation sent a total of 140 presenters and crew members to South Africa, while Sky News had the second highest number of the British broadcasters with 15.

The BBC said it expected to have deployed about 120 journalists, technicians and support staff to work on the story over a ten-day period. The BBC World Service is also reported to have sent a further 20 staff, whose expenses will not be paid for by licence-fee payers.

According to The Times, ITV and Channel 4 sent nine people to cover the event in South Africa, while Channel 5 sent four.

A BBC spokesman told MailOnline: 'Over ten days we’ve deployed around 120 journalists, technicians and support staff for this huge international story.

'We started scaling back significantly following Tuesday’s memorial service.

'Unlike other UK networks, we’ve been providing coverage across numerous domestic and global outlets from a number of different locations for TV, radio and online, including live broadcasts on BBC Two, rolling news on the News Channel and World News, BBC Breakfast, three daily news bulletins, coverage across a number of radio programmes and bulletins on 5live, Radio 4 and Radio 2.

'As always we sought to ensure maximum value for money.'

The BBC has defended its coverage and said Mandela's death was of 'considerable interest' to audiences in the UK and across the rest of the world.

By yesterday the corporation had received 1,695 complaints about too much coverage across its news services, with some saying the emphasis had reduced the coverage of severe weather across the UK last week.

James Harding, the BBC's head of news, apologised to viewers last week.

He told the BBC's Newsnight programme last Friday: 'Firstly, I'm sorry if there are people who felt as though we didn't inform them fully of what was happening in the weather.'

He went on to say Mandela was probably 'the most significant statesman of the last 100 years' and the importance of 'marking his death seems extremely clear to us'.

Hundreds of world leaders including President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro were joined by thousands of ordinary South Africans and Mr Ma

[Teddy Bear]

More statistics showing how the BBC have gone way overboard - even for them, on the death of Mandela.

BBC accused of 'losing all proportion' over Mandela's death after dedicating 100 programmes about him in just one week

• 1,834 viewers and listeners complained over 'excessive' coverage
  
• Thousands spent sending staff to Johannesburg for edition of Question Time
  
• One panellist, Labour MP Peter Hain, was flown out in business class

By Alasdair Glennie

The BBC has been accused of ‘losing all proportion’ in its coverage of Nelson Mandela’s death after it emerged more than 100 programmes have been broadcast about him in the past week.

A total of 1,834 viewers and listeners have complained as the airwaves continue to be flooded with tributes disrupting radio and TV schedules.

MPs castigated the corporation for wasting money as it was revealed bosses spent thousands of pounds sending eight staff to Johannesburg for a special edition of Question Time.

They even admitted splashing out on business class flights for one panellist, Labour MP Peter Hain.

Last night, Tory MP Conor Burns, who sits on the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said the programme added ‘precisely nothing’ to viewers’ knowledge of South African affairs, adding: ‘There is no doubt that Mandela’s death was an international event.

‘This was a man who was one of the great leaders of the 20th and 21st centuries. He taught us all about peace and recognition.

But the BBC could have told us about these things without going to the huge expense they have.

‘They have simply got carried away with the emotional importance of the event. Question Time might have been fascinating for a South African audience.

Good use of resources? The number of staff sent to South Africa was far greater than its rivals, including ITV which reportedly despatched just nine crew to cover proceedings

Complaints: A total of 1,834 viewers and listeners complained about the BBC's extensive coverage of Nelson Mandela's death

We knew everything they told us without having to pay for Peter Hain to fly business class.’

Earlier this week, it was revealed the BBC has flown a total of 140 journalists and production staff to South Africa since Mr Mandela died aged 95 last Thursday, nearly three times as many as all its rival British broadcasters put together.

Sky News sent 15 staff, ITV and Channel 4 each sent nine, and Channel 5 sent four.

According to an analysis by the Daily Mail, a total of 104 special programmes devoted to Mandela will have been aired on the BBC’s main radio and TV channels by the time of his funeral tomorrow.

The news of his death has also topped almost every news bulletin for a week, dominated current affairs shows such as Newsnight, and has been screened almost continuously on BBC News 24.

Mr Burns said: ‘It has got to the stage where we are being told “Breaking News – Mandela is still dead”. They are losing all sense of proportion.’

Over the past week, BBC1 and BBC2 have carried a series of live programmes – totalling more than 21 hours of screen time, covering every moment of every ceremony.

On Tuesday, five hours were devoted to his memorial service, a further four hours was allocated to coverage of his coffin being laid in state the following day, and today BBC2 will report on the transfer of his coffin to his childhood village.

Another extended programme will cover his funeral tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Radio 5 Live commissioned more than 48 hours of programming, there was another ten hours on Radio 4, and 27 hours on the World Service.

Thursday’s Question Time – hosted by David Dimbleby – was originally scheduled to be filmed in Swansea, but was moved to Johannesburg instead. The BBC refused to reveal the cost of flights for him and eight staff.

Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘It just proves how overfunded the BBC is if they can spend money on this kind of largesse. The BBC is spending other people’s money and that is why it doesn’t matter to them.

‘They are spending the money of many people who are struggling to pay their licence fee.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘Nelson Mandela was a hugely significant world leader. His death has been of considerable interest to millions of people watching and listening to the BBC at home and across the globe.’

He added: ‘Peter Hain was an integral part of the panel, bringing the UK government’s involvement into the wider story. We felt his inclusion was important and so we did pay for his flights but we kept costs as low as we could.’

[Teddy Bear]

Mandela's dead, and the BBC are overkilling him.
This Daily Mail Comment examines this behaviour, and the hypocrisy and the gross distortion of the BBC over Thatcher.

COMMENT: Nelson Mandela, and one colossus the BBC refuses to recognise

By Daily Mail Comment

Like newspapers around the world, the Mail has devoted extensive coverage to Nelson Mandela’s death and his considerable significance in 20th century history.

Having weighed his human and political failings against his extraordinary virtues and successes, we stand four-square by our conclusion that he was a colossus.

Indeed, nothing can diminish his achievement of ensuring a peaceful transition between the white apartheid regime in South Africa and black majority rule, when a bloodbath had seemed all but inevitable.

But giving due credit to his massive achievement is one thing. Offering blind, besotted adulation is another. Which is why this paper is increasingly concerned about the BBC’s unrelenting obsession with the late president’s death.

The truth is that since Thursday last week, as Mandela himself would surely have been first to agree, the corporation’s hagiographic worship of his memory has become, frankly, more than a little unsettling.

Presenters dressed in deep mourning… schedules torn up, and favourite programmes shelved, to make way for 104 special reports (excluding rolling news coverage)... 140 staff despatched to South Africa to cover the story (compared with ITV’s nine)…

On the World Service alone, 34 dedicated programmes… On BBC1’s Question Time, a surreal debate from Johannesburg, utterly incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the minutiae of the region’s politics…

But what worries us most is that such mawkish reverence actually does a disservice to Mandela, by portraying him almost as a caricature of a saint.

Indeed, it is hard to see how any mortal’s reputation – and, believe it or not, great man that he was, Mandela did have faults – could survive the bucketloads of syrup poured over his memory by a BBC determined to elevate him to the pantheon of the gods.

But then doesn’t this overkill reveal as much about the corporation’s own world view as about the man it purports to celebrate?

Throughout the week, the BBC has appeared to treat Mandela as a mere peg on which to hang its own liberal conscience and prejudices: Left-wing, good; Right-wing, bad; black Africa, noble; British empire, evil.

Apart from misrepresenting a highly complex politician (who fervently admired British institutions), this risibly simplistic approach also has an ugly side.

For in deifying Mandela, the BBC has glossed over and belittled another great statesman, with her own claim to have played a pivotal role in South Africa’s peaceful transition to majority rule.

Since the statesman in question was the BBC’s pet bugbear, Margaret ‘ding dong, the witch is dead’ Thatcher, all is perhaps explained.

Don’t take the Mail’s word for it that she played a crucial part in securing Mandela’s release and preventing a catastrophe. Read yesterday’s words from former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner F.W. de Klerk, who credited her with averting a ‘devastating racial war’.

Or listen to Mandela himself, who lauded her as an ‘enemy of apartheid’ and flew to Britain to thank her for her ceaseless lobbying on his behalf.

Of course, such inconvenient facts don’t fit the BBC narrative, in which the pro-sanctions campaigners of the anti-apartheid movement were the heroes (and never mind that some actively wanted the bloody Marxist revolution that Mandela and Thatcher most feared).

No, to the Corporation, the Lady was a champion of apartheid, incapable of good, who branded Mandela a ‘terrorist’.

All this is utterly false. Yet it was allowed to pass unchallenged this week.

How telling that, during the BBC strike in March, staff said they would return to work on Mandela’s death, but not Lady Thatcher’s.

And how sad that in praising one colossus, our national broadcaster couldn’t resist denigrating another, whom history may judge, after her role in the peaceful destruction of Communism, to have been even greater.

But then, on South Africa as on so much else, the BBC will never forgive Lady Thatcher for being proved right.