Monday, June 18, 2007

Beeb fesses up: Yep, we're liberal!

At least they're transparent about it now, so I can justify ignoring them as a credible news source henceforth. Observe:
The BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, has acknowledged the network is biased toward the left, following a report commissioned by the company.

A yearlong probe revealed the corporation especially partial in its treatment of single-issue politics such as climate change, poverty, race and religion, according to the London Times.

"It concludes that the bias has extended across drama, comedy and entertainment, with the corporation pandering to politically motivated celebrities and trendy causes," the paper said.

The report cites the danger of BBC programs being undermined by the liberal culture of its staff, who need to challenge their own assumptions more.

"There is a tendency to 'group think' with too many staff inhabiting a shared space and comfort zone," says the report.

It notes staff tend to mimic each other's common left-leaning values.

A seminar on staff impartiality held last year is documented, with officials admitting they would broadcast images of the Bible being thrown away, but not the Koran for fear of offending Muslims.

No need to fear offending the Christians, since we're not the ones who are gonna go bombing London busses or Madrid trains or anything like that. In closing:
The report also warns that celebrities must not be pandered to and allowed to hijack the BBC schedule, according to the London Telegraph.

It also offers 12 new principles for the corporation to adopt to safeguard objectivity, including:

"Impartiality is no excuse for insipid programming. It allows room for fair-minded, evidence-based judgments by senior journalists and documentary-makers, and for controversial, passionate and polemical arguments by contributors and writers."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "This report is about looking forward and how we are going to face the challenges of impartiality in the modern world."

As WND reported in October, an internal BBC memo revealed senior figures admitted the national news agency was guilty of promoting left-wing views and anti-Christian sentiment.

The admissions of bias were made at the impartiality summit. Most executives admitted the corporation's representation of homosexuals and ethnic minorities was unbalanced and disproportionate.

Who knew that impartiality could be such a "challenge" to journos, huh? Nope...no liberal media bias! Actually...yep, definitely liberal media bias.

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