Post by Teddy Bear on Dec 14, 2014 20:26:58 GMT
Those who have tried to discuss or debate with BBC supporters on the issue of BBC bias will soon encounter a blinkard dismissal of facts and reason. That's the only way the left wing mindset can maintain their view in the light of reality.
So it's always important when a figure within the BBC acknowledges this bias as this gives an easy tool to counter this left wing blindness.
In this case John Humphrys admits that the BBC ignored mass immigration. I dispute his reasoning though as he claims the cause is 'the fear of appearing racist.
Since it is the BBC that helps creates this element, it is therefore not what they fear, but what they use to promote their agenda.
Also, he comes to this 'realisation' and admits the failings of the BBC rather too late in the day. The horse has bolted!
So it's always important when a figure within the BBC acknowledges this bias as this gives an easy tool to counter this left wing blindness.
In this case John Humphrys admits that the BBC ignored mass immigration. I dispute his reasoning though as he claims the cause is 'the fear of appearing racist.
Since it is the BBC that helps creates this element, it is therefore not what they fear, but what they use to promote their agenda.
Also, he comes to this 'realisation' and admits the failings of the BBC rather too late in the day. The horse has bolted!
Radio 4's John Humphrys admits BBC ignored mass immigration fearing it would be branded racist by critics
By Alasdair Glennie, Tv Correspondent for the Daily Mail
One of the BBC’s top presenters has admitted the corporation ignored mass immigration because it feared critics would say it was racist.
Radio 4 Today programme interviewer John Humphrys accused his employer of being ‘soft’, ‘complacent’ and ‘institutionally nervous’ about tackling the story or questioning multiculturalism.
And he said BBC employees are unable to understand the concerns of ordinary people because they typically have ‘sheltered’ middle-class lives and are overwhelmingly ‘liberal Oxbridge males’.
It is the latest in a string of admissions by BBC figures that it has been guilty of left-wing bias, and comes weeks after the Government accused the Today programme of misrepresenting its spending cuts.
Mr Humphrys, 71, told the Sunday Times magazine that the corporation is now facing an ‘existential crisis greater than it’s ever seen’ because ‘people, serious, thoughtful people, talk seriously and thoughtfully about the future of the BBC in a way that they haven’t before.’
The veteran presenter said the last Labour government’s controversial immigration policy was not sufficiently ‘interrogated’ by the BBC, adding: ‘The Labour government underestimated by a factor of 10 the number of people who were going to move from Poland.’
He said the BBC was ‘frightened of appearing racist’, adding: ‘We were too institutionally nervous of saying, isn’t immigration getting a little bit out of hand? And can we be critical of multiculturalism?
‘We didn’t interrogate immigration rigorously enough. We failed to look at what our job was.’
Mr Humphrys said he was partly responsible for the BBC’s ‘complacent’ approach towards immigration, because he failed to challenge Labour’s decision to allow migrants from Poland and Hungary to work in Britain from 2004, and the flawed prediction that only 13,000 would arrive.
After a more than a million Eastern European immigrants arrived, senior Labour figures later admitted the policy had been a huge mistake.
Mr Humphrys said: ‘I do remember, vaguely, interviews with ministers at the time and saying, “Are you sure that’s all there’ll be?” And when they said “yeah”, accepting it.'
The veteran star said too many BBC staff are ‘arrogant’ and thought they ‘knew what was best for the country’.
He added: ‘It was and still is relentlessly middle class. Unfortunately. There was a predominant voice and that was the liberal Oxbridge male.’
He is not the first senior BBC figure to criticise the corporation’s failure to challenge left-wing assumptions.
Earlier this year, former Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman, 64, accused the BBC of being ‘smug’.
He has also said the BBC’s coverage of climate change ‘abandoned the pretence of impartiality long ago.’
Last year, the BBC’s former head of TV news Roger Mosey criticised the corporation for shutting out critics of the European Union, adding: ‘On the BBC’ s own admission, in recent years, it did not, with the virtue of hindsight, give enough space to anti-immigration views or to EU-withdrawalists.’
Another senior executive, the current radio chief Helen Boaden, claimed the BBC had a ‘deep liberal bias’ when she took over as head of news in 2004.
Last year, BBC Director of Television Danny Cohen warned its stars to stop attacking the corporation in public.
He said: ‘I’m finding a little too often that people who work for the BBC and are well rewarded for it are quick to attack or criticise the organisation.’
Earlier this month, George Osborne hit out at a Today programme report which said his austerity reforms were ‘utterly terrifying’ and claimed the cuts risk taking Britain back to the Depression-era poverty George Orwell wrote about in his 1937 book The Road To Wigan Pier.
The Chancellor said the BBC coverage was ‘hyperbolic’ and ‘nonsense’.
- John Humphrys says BBC ignored critical stories about mass immigration
- Radio 4 presenter added that the corporation feared being branded racist
- He admits he should have questioned Labour ministers more over migrants
- BBC employees are too 'sheltered' too understand the public, he also said
By Alasdair Glennie, Tv Correspondent for the Daily Mail
One of the BBC’s top presenters has admitted the corporation ignored mass immigration because it feared critics would say it was racist.
Radio 4 Today programme interviewer John Humphrys accused his employer of being ‘soft’, ‘complacent’ and ‘institutionally nervous’ about tackling the story or questioning multiculturalism.
And he said BBC employees are unable to understand the concerns of ordinary people because they typically have ‘sheltered’ middle-class lives and are overwhelmingly ‘liberal Oxbridge males’.
It is the latest in a string of admissions by BBC figures that it has been guilty of left-wing bias, and comes weeks after the Government accused the Today programme of misrepresenting its spending cuts.
Mr Humphrys, 71, told the Sunday Times magazine that the corporation is now facing an ‘existential crisis greater than it’s ever seen’ because ‘people, serious, thoughtful people, talk seriously and thoughtfully about the future of the BBC in a way that they haven’t before.’
The veteran presenter said the last Labour government’s controversial immigration policy was not sufficiently ‘interrogated’ by the BBC, adding: ‘The Labour government underestimated by a factor of 10 the number of people who were going to move from Poland.’
He said the BBC was ‘frightened of appearing racist’, adding: ‘We were too institutionally nervous of saying, isn’t immigration getting a little bit out of hand? And can we be critical of multiculturalism?
‘We didn’t interrogate immigration rigorously enough. We failed to look at what our job was.’
Mr Humphrys said he was partly responsible for the BBC’s ‘complacent’ approach towards immigration, because he failed to challenge Labour’s decision to allow migrants from Poland and Hungary to work in Britain from 2004, and the flawed prediction that only 13,000 would arrive.
After a more than a million Eastern European immigrants arrived, senior Labour figures later admitted the policy had been a huge mistake.
Mr Humphrys said: ‘I do remember, vaguely, interviews with ministers at the time and saying, “Are you sure that’s all there’ll be?” And when they said “yeah”, accepting it.'
The veteran star said too many BBC staff are ‘arrogant’ and thought they ‘knew what was best for the country’.
He added: ‘It was and still is relentlessly middle class. Unfortunately. There was a predominant voice and that was the liberal Oxbridge male.’
He is not the first senior BBC figure to criticise the corporation’s failure to challenge left-wing assumptions.
Earlier this year, former Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman, 64, accused the BBC of being ‘smug’.
He has also said the BBC’s coverage of climate change ‘abandoned the pretence of impartiality long ago.’
Last year, the BBC’s former head of TV news Roger Mosey criticised the corporation for shutting out critics of the European Union, adding: ‘On the BBC’ s own admission, in recent years, it did not, with the virtue of hindsight, give enough space to anti-immigration views or to EU-withdrawalists.’
Another senior executive, the current radio chief Helen Boaden, claimed the BBC had a ‘deep liberal bias’ when she took over as head of news in 2004.
Last year, BBC Director of Television Danny Cohen warned its stars to stop attacking the corporation in public.
He said: ‘I’m finding a little too often that people who work for the BBC and are well rewarded for it are quick to attack or criticise the organisation.’
Earlier this month, George Osborne hit out at a Today programme report which said his austerity reforms were ‘utterly terrifying’ and claimed the cuts risk taking Britain back to the Depression-era poverty George Orwell wrote about in his 1937 book The Road To Wigan Pier.
The Chancellor said the BBC coverage was ‘hyperbolic’ and ‘nonsense’.