BBC STILL DEFENDS 'CONSENSUS' - Biased BBC

BBC STILL DEFENDS 'CONSENSUS': "Here's a letter a colleague has just received from the BBC's complaints unit. I reproduce it in all its glory so it can be fully savoured:

I understand you're unhappy with the BBC's reporting of climate change as you feel we've been biased towards the AGW's point of view. The BBC is committed to impartial and balanced coverage when it comes to this issue. There is broad scientific agreement on the issue of climate change and we reflect this accordingly; however, we do aim to ensure that we also offer time to the dissenting voices.

Flagship BBC programmes such as Newsnight, Today and our network news bulletins on BBC One have all included contributions from those who challenge the general scientific consensus recently and we will continue to offer time to such views on occasion. You might be interested in the views of former Newsnight editor, Peter Barron, who explored this issue in an online posting at our Editors' Blog and explained some of the editorial issues it throws up.

I can assure you that we're committed to honest, unbiased reporting and are determined to remain free from influence by outside parties, whether political or lobbyists. Our Charter and Agreement allows us independence from political pressure and the licence fee gives us independence from advertising, shareholder or other commercial interests. Impartiality forms the cornerstone of BBC News and Current Affairs and we've nothing to gain by weighting our coverage in political terms or by allowing influence from any other outside body.

I appreciate you may still believe the BBC is biased with regards the climate change argument and so I've registered your comment on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers. The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content. Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

Regards

Joe O'Brien
BBC Complaints

Thrown up yet? Note that the official line is still that there is a consensus. Laughable, if it wasn't so serious a subject. Meanwhile, the Spectator has a cracking piece which shows how totally cuplable the MSM have been in not reporting 'climate change' - and ends on a note that the BBC should be responding to.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

"

MPs accuse BBC of promoting euthanasia in 'biased' coverage - Daily Mail

MPs accuse BBC of promoting euthanasia in 'biased' coverage: "
The MPs said the broadcaster had 'misused public funds', highlighting the high profile it gave to Sir Terry Pratchett's speech in favour of assisted suicide."

Excuses - Biased BBC

Excuses: "In Roger Harrabin's latest article about what he calls the 'hue and cry' surrounding the Rajendra Pachauri 'manhunt' (not betraying your feelings much there, Roger) the BBC's environment analyst says that he's been having difficulty getting in touch with one of the co-chairs of the IPCC working group which oversaw the inclusion of the discredited Himalayan glacier info:

Professor Parry has repeatedly refused to answer my questions about the genesis of the errors, and his out-of-office assistant now says he is travelling for a month.

A lame excuse by Parry, and the fact that Harrabin mentions it suggests he's not convinced.

When Andrew Montford of Bishop Hill fame tried to find out some fairly straightforward information about the BBC's involvement in Harrabin's Cambridge Media and Environment Programme, here's how the BBC explained its tardy response to his FOI request:

I am writing to advise that unfortunately we are not in a position to provide you with a response to your requests for information made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is due to the fact that Roger Harrabin has been abroad and then on leave for much of the last six weeks and is now tied up with pressing stories.

Well, it's just so difficult keeping in touch these days isn't it?

UPDATE. It's unrelated to the above post but I can't resist sharing this headline: Hackers Steal Millions in Carbon Credits

The madness of it all in six words.

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"

BROKEN TRUST... - Biased BBC

BROKEN TRUST...: "The BBC World Service Trust is an arm of the BBC that receives £17.9m a year - mainly from the Department for International Development and the EU (52%)- to train broadcasters to spread messages about development. Some of what it does is vital and laudable; for example helping to spread knowledge about HIV/Aids through the development of soap operas that are actually listened to. However, and as in everything the BBC does, it is a big caveat, there is a sinister side to its mission. It campaigns loudly about 'the environment', and inevitably, where BBC folk are involved, that actually means about 'climate change'. Take, for example, Africa Talks Climate (do you notice the missing word?)about which the organiser says:

The drive to help people understand issues such as climate change and to have the opportunity to speak and act is at the heart of our work...In a partnership project funded by the British Council, ten countries have been identified in which BBC WST researchers will be conducting research: DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The major objective of Africa Talks Climate is to identify the entry points to engage, inform and empower Africans in local, national and international conversations about climate change. To achieve this, the initiative will collate opinions and then amplify the voices of people at all levels of society.

Interestingly, this was all done with the British Council, which as EU Referendum has pointed out today, is another government-funded body which has been infested with 'climate change fervour.

Back with WST, their efforts extend to the eastern Caribbean and South America, but also to India. Here, the trust's aim was again to train journalists:

An extensive training programme for journalists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was carried out in nine Indian states to improve the quality and quantity of information published in the media and to create a better flow of information between environmental NGOs and the media.

Their partner in part of the enterprise was TERI (The Resources and Energy Institute) set up by none other than Ravendra Pachauri, the boss of the IPCC. TERI itself is not without controversy (to put in mildly), but, eh, this is 'climate change', so for WST, it's simply 'our non-profit partner'.

Now I'm all for Indians and Africans (and anyone else) becoming more aware of the need to treat the environment properly. But this, folks, as we well know, is not really about that. It's about the BBC pushing their 'climate change' lies and propaganda, and nothing will get in their way. The truth is that the World Service Trust, funded by our taxes, is busily at work persuading journalists round the developing world to spread lies and to hate the West for the injustices they have heaped upon them through CO2 emissions. The BBC, whose motto is 'Nation Shall Speak Peace unto Nation' is frantically stoking up hatred instead.

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"

DV AND NEWSNIGHT - Biased BBC

DV AND NEWSNIGHT: "Well now, did YOU catch my fleeting appearance on Newsnight on Monday evening perchance? It's about half ways through. I've been away for the past few days so first chance to catch up and update you on my close encounter with Michael Crick and the guys.



The background is that the political party to which I now belong - Traditional Unionist Voice - held a public meeting at the heart of the constituency of Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson. This was our way of making it clear we will challenge his seat at the looming Westminster election. I was one of three speakers on the evening and Newsnight carried a few words. Crick was there and in fairness he did an interview with our Party Leader and then stayed for the duration. He then went off, obviously did some other interviews, labelled me and my colleagues "backwoodsmen" and ensured that the Newsnight item was on message i.e doing deals with terrorists is the right thing to do. Michael said it had been some time since he was in Belfast, I hope he will not leave it so long until the next time he comes back, I want a word with him.

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"

FAT CAT CREAM - Biased BBC

FAT CAT CREAM: "The big oil companies, once the greenies' villains of the peace, are now in bed with them. They are the cats that truly have the cream, because on top of their massive oil and gas reserves - which of course the world still needs - they are now also benefiting massively from the lunatic government subsidies for building wind farms and other so-called renewables. Their grasping greed is part of the sinister conspiracy that, as Ofgem pointed out yesterday, will lead to energy bills soaring to £5,000 a year by 2020 and regular power cuts well before then. So when Dr Anthony Hayward, the BP boss, comes down from his subsidy-fuelled castle to give - as fawning Evan Davis put it this morning on Today 'a rare interview' - how is he treated? With sickening deference. Our chain-wearing Evan's first question was, he obviously thought, quite a toughie (and designed to be a sop to all those anti-warming 'deniers' he clearly sneers at); whether the great doctor actually believed in 'climate change', despite all the recent controversy. The answer was 'yes', so naturally, this was treated as the gospel truth, and the rest of the exchange followed entirely predictable lines. It revealed nothing other than that BP is fat, complacent, and chillingly opportunistic.

What Davis should have asked the good doctor is how much he and his company stands to make from government subsidies in the massive 'renewables' scam. That is precisely the qestion that the BBC will never ask.

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"

BBC Asian Network under threat - Guardian

BBC Asian Network under threat: "

Radio station's concept of catering for several groups simultaneously is 'under review', says BBC chief operating officer

The BBC's Asian Network digital radio station could become a victim of the corporation's strategic review, with a senior executive admitting today that the whole concept of the service was being looked at.

Caroline Thomson, the BBC's chief operating officer, said the difficult concept of trying to 'cater for many disparate groups simultaneously' with the Asian Network was under review.

The corporation is assessing all its digital TV and radio operations as part of a wide-ranging strategic review of all activities and output by director general Mark Thompson. It is expected to lead to cuts in content and some kinds of programmes.

Caroline Thomson told the House of Lords communications committee inquiry into digital TV and radio switchover that 'one of the difficulties of the Asian service is its concept. It broadcasts in a number of different languages to an audience that varies from younger to older [listeners].

She added: 'It is trying to cater for many disparate groups simultaneously. We are wrestling with how to best serve this audience and whether one whole network is the right way to do it. It is something we are looking at.'

Thomson said the corporation remained committed to serving an Asian radio audience, but said the idea of a single station aimed at all Asian people in the UK reflected a 'rather British' view that if you 'come from the sub-continent ... you must somehow be the same'.

Launched eight years ago, the Asian Network's audience fell 15% to 357,000 in the third quarter of last year, the last available listener figures. The next official audience figures, for the last three months of 2009, will be published tomorrow .

Digital TV channels BBC3 and BBC4 are expected to survive Thompson's strategic review in their current form, and last week BBC Radio 5 Live controller Adrian Van Klaveren said he expected the Asian Network's digital radio sibling, 5 Live Sports Extra, to be unaffected.

The BBC's other digital radio services are also being reviewed. Music station BBC 6Music is also the subject of a separate review by the BBC Trust, along with BBC Radio 2.

The Asian Network has been relaunched in order to win a wider audience and been heavily marketed by the corporation. But its audience has failed to grow and is more than 100,000 listeners down on five years ago.

Thomson also said the BBC would not fund the rollout of its digital audio broadcasting (DAB) transmitter network to match the coverage currently provided by FM until the government had set a concrete date for digital switchover.

She said the further rollout – which would cost tens of millions of pounds – would also be 'subject to a licence-fee settlement which enabled us to do it'.

The BBC is adding extra transmitters to its DAB network to take its UK coverage to around 90% of the population. The FM signal is available universally, effectively meaning it is available to around 99% of people in the UK.

'We should be absolutely frank about this,' said Thomson. 'The whole of the radio industry is in a bit of a quandary. We have embarked on a digital route, we are committed to 90% and we will do that. Covering the final 10% – or the final 9% costs an awful lot of extra money. It will probably double – not quite double – the amount of money we will have to spend on DAB transmission.

'Our view on that is we would only do that – we would only feel it was value for money for licence-fee payers – if there was a commitment to analogue switchoff. To run FM and DAB systems in parallel is clearly very expensive.'

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly 'for publication'.

• BBC
• Digital radio
• Radio industry

John Plunkett

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BBC Trust 'living on borrowed time' as political rivals get knives out - Times

BBC Trust 'living on borrowed time' as political rivals get knives out: "“Sir Michael Lyons and Mark Thompson invite you to join them for Christmas drinks,” read the e-mail invitation from the Chairman and Director-General of the BBC that dropped into the inboxes of broadcasting executives late in 2008."

Tories plan leadership revolution at the BBC - Times

Tories plan leadership revolution at the BBC: "The Chairman of the BBC will be the first casualty in a shake-up of the corporation if the Tories win the general election, The Times has learnt."

"stretching the available facts" - Biased BBC

"stretching the available facts": "Matt Prescott, the well-connected eco-activist behind such ventures as the BBC's failed Planet Relief project (see Bishop Hill here and here for details on Prescott's connections with various BBC luminaries and for links to articles he has written for the BBC), has donned his recycled tinfoil hat to offer these observations on Climategate in the comments at the Guardian website:

Without doubt, whoever orchestrated this combined computer hacking and smear campaign was extremely sophisticated and would make a world-class PR spin doctor look amateur.
It is hard to believe that the average hacker has the PR skills required to pull of something so devastating, in terms of timing and content, single-handedly.
A large pool of people and organisations, much larger than just the UEA, will almost certainly have had to be hacked in order to provide the most juicy morsels and divert attention in particular directions.
Surely, it would have taken a long time and thus substantial resources to read thousands of emails and to pick out the key conversational threads, scientists and issues?
Again this feels like a very large project which would have need to be funded by individuals or organisations with extremely deep pockets and the ability to maintain absolute secrecy.
Given the size, wealth and skills found within the intelligence community the idea that the CIA, NSA or some other shadowy organisation has been up to something naughty, which would suit their national interest, is not a bad guess, but it should probably have been labelled as a guess, if this is all it was.

After all that, he concludes without any sense of irony:

If there is one lesson from 'climate gate' it is that scientists need to be crystal clear about when they are discussing a view backed up by hard, empirical evidence and when they are speculating or stretching the available facts.

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BBC1 show Repossessed reprimanded over comments on judge - Guardian

BBC1 show Repossessed reprimanded over comments on judge: "

Show mishandled interview with couple after unseen court hearing, rules BBC Trust editorial standards committee

A BBC1 programme called Repossessed has been reprimanded by the BBC Trust's editorial standards committee.

The committee upheld a complaint about how Betty, the independent production company that made Repossessed, handled an interview with a couple whose house was under threat of repossession.

In the programme, shown on 6 January last year, an unnamed couple were seen having emerged from court having been given a possession order.

The distressed pair – known as Mr and Mrs A – vented their feelings about the judge involved to the show's production crew, which was not allowed to film the court proceedings.

After the episode was aired, the Judicial Communications Office complained to the BBC on behalf of the judge involved complained, alleging it was a 'one-sided view of the hearing'.

The complainant also argued that the judge had not been given a right to reply and 'the depiction of the judge presented a damaging and unfair representation of the judiciary'.

Although the committee upheld the complaints about fairness and accuracy and asked for the couple's strongest comments about the judge to be removed from repeats of Repossessed, it did not uphold the argument that the programme had unfairly represented the judiciary.

But it found that nobody from the production crew had sat in on the hearing to see if the couple's comments were fair and in context. It also found that the judge had not been offered a right to reply.

'As the production team were not there and had not researched what had occurred, the option open to them to achieve fairness was to put the couple's comment to the judge,' the committee concluded.

'The committee was concerned that because there was no production team member present in court, an appropriate context had not been given to Mr A's comments.

'There had been a failure to observe the guidelines on accuracy which require that output must be well-sourced, based on sound evidence, tested and presented in clear precise language. Facts had not been checked and allegations had not been corroborated … the production team had not witnessed events and gathered information at first hand.'

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.

• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly 'for publication'.

• BBC Trust
• BBC
• Television industry
• Independent production companies

Tara Conlan

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BBC criticised for scientific 'cheap sensationalism' - Telegraph

BBC criticised for scientific 'cheap sensationalism': "The BBC has been accused of 'exaggerating' the threat of global
warming to the oceans in a documentary."

Ash Sends Incendiary Message - Biased BBC

Ash Sends Incendiary Message: "“Hello and welcome to Outlook from the BBC world service.
I’m Lucy Ash.”
A heart-sinking announcement for anyone familiar with Ms. Ash

“In Today’s Programme: The aid worker inside the Gaza strip helping traumatised children there to rebuild their shattered lives.”

Lucy Ash is about to deliver rather more than an interview with the aid worker.
In her introduction she milks the latest revelations by Israel about their own misconduct in Gaza down to the very last drop.

“Now Israel has revealed that it’s disciplined two senior officers for endangering civilians by firing white phosphorus shells during last years attack on the Gaza strip,” she announces with palpable relish. “The officers, a brigadier general and a colonel, were found to have exceeded their authority in ordering the use of the weapons, which were fired in the direction of the main United Nations warehouse in Gaza City,” she continues, emphasising their ranks lest we might think lesser beings were responsible. “Use of such munitions near populated areas violates international law. White phosphorus sticks to flesh and burns for many hours causing appalling injuries.”

But what has this got to do with the aid worker? Does white phosphorus relate to the forthcoming tale of psychological healing she promised us?

“ More than 1100 Palestinians were killed during operation cast lead,” (We’ve got the white phosphorus now, so we'll stop bothering to exaggerate the body count) “and the devastation wrought by the 22 day conflict in Gaza is still everywhere to be seen. Large areas of the strip were reduced to rubble, leaving thousands homeless. Children are amongst the worst affected.'

“Osama Damo (?), an aid worker with Save The Children has been involved in setting up centres to look after them, and to help them come to terms with the loss and insecurity overshadowing their young lives. Many of them have been severely psychologically traumatised by what they saw in the war.”

In addition to the traumatising effect of being indoctrinated with hatred of Jews then used as human shields by Islamist terrorists, which Ms. Ash omitted to mention.

The interview with the aid worker proceeded to detail psychological damage typical of that suffered by most war victims anywhere, and the incident graphically related to illustrate a particular child’s trauma had nothing to do with white phosphorus so far as I could see.

Lucy Ash’s introduction conjured up the notorious image of the napalm-burnt, running, Vietnamese child. The average listener could only have assumed that white phosphorus was routinely authorised by senior Israeli soldiers and deliberately used as a weapon against civilians, while Operation Cast Lead appeared to have been perpetrated for no other reason than baseless hatred of Palestinians, by aggressive expansionist Israel. Must we now expect the white phosphorus revelations to be added gratuitously to the fluctuating body count that accompanies all references to the Middle East conflict?

Do not assume that I approve of white phosphorus, or that I know enough about it to defend or attack its use. Do not assume that I think Israel can do no wrong. But Israel did one right thing in investigating and admitting this error, and in so doing handed ammunition to its enemies in the propaganda war, so was damned either way.
People who support Israel would rather it didn’t do anything at all that placed it in a bad light in the eyes of the world, but in the scheme of things how plausible is that?

Lucy Ash knew what she was doing, and, I assume, so did the BBC.

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Will No One Rid Me Of This Meddlesome Priest ? - Biased BBC

Will No One Rid Me Of This Meddlesome Priest ?: "The BBC take a break from the ongoing euthanasia campaign to point out in the Radio Four news headlines the dangers of 'a meddlesome pontiff interfering in British law'.

It's not often that I hear a BBC newsreader emphasising the Britishness of anything. Could it be that at last we're entering the new Elizabethan age ?

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BBC 'could learn about drama from HBO' - The Independent

BBC 'could learn about drama from HBO': "

The US pay-television channel Home Box Office (HBO) has become a global phenomenon with a Midas touch for discovering the next big series.

"

BBC World News channel revamps to give presenters higher profile - Guardian

BBC World News channel revamps to give presenters higher profile: "

BBC World News has fought a long and so far indecisive battle to prove the BBC can make a profit from current affairs

BBC World News, the international channel run from London with around 250 staff, revamps itself today by giving more focus to its big-name presenters, George Alagiah, Nik Gowing and Zeinab Badawi, who will host more heavily branded news hours from less utilitarian studios.

It is all part of the channel's long and so far indecisive battle, stretching back two decades, to prove that the BBC can make profits – or at least break even – from a mainly news and current affairs channel providing a global perspective.

The channel, whose closest rival is CNN, is now available in around 300m homes globally, 1.2m more than a year ago, and secures income from a mix of subscription and advertising from multinationals, including Shell, Intercontinental Hotels and Rolex.

Its director Sian Kevill, a former editor of Newsnight, says it will make a modest loss again in 2009/2010 after losing £3m last year, on income down a little from last year's £64.5m.

Editorially, the schedule is being shaken up to make a clearer differentiation between weekdays – when peak-time news will be given a clear priority – and weekends, when audiences prefer more general BBC factual and current affairs programming, with news on the hour.

The repackaging is based on audience research, and the tastes of the channel's relatively sophisticated English-speaking audience, whose average age is 37.

They want personalities, warmth and engagement – so, for example, Nik Gowing will be presenting his segment, The Hub, standing up. Presenters are expected to engage more, on Facebook and Twitter.

Kevill says: 'I do feel World News has come of age, it is pretty much financially stable, editorially it has come into its own.'

But it has a chequered past. After Margaret Thatcher refused to fund a television version of the World Service in 1990, the BBC went ahead with a mixed news and repeats channel. But the repeats gradually moved off as BBC Worldwide launched themed commercial channels.

BBC World News is now hived off into the BBC's Global News division, alongside BBC Monitoring, funded by the Cabinet Office, and BBC World Service, supported by grant from the Foreign Office. Its ongoing losses are met through a loan from BBC Commercial Holdings.

The revamp suggests it is moving ever closer to BBC World Service's agenda, the original concept, and may move some of its newsgathering from London, closer to audiences.

BBC World News is on 35 mobile phone platforms, 46 airlines and 81 ships, as well as hotels.

But its business plan does require it to staunch the losses before too long.

• BBC
• BBC World Service
• BBC Worldwide
• Television industry

Maggie Brown

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BBC producer secretly filmed himself in bed with TV and radio presenters by hiding camera in smoke alarm - Daily Mail

BBC producer secretly filmed himself in bed with TV and radio presenters by hiding camera in smoke alarm: "
A womanising BBC producer faces jail for secretly taping a series of sexual liaisons with more than ten lovers using a hidden camera in his bedroom."

Axed BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly sues over ‘sexism and ageism’ - Times

Axed BBC presenter Miriam O’Reilly sues over ‘sexism and ageism’: "A BBC presenter who was dropped from the corporation’s rural affairs programme along with other women in their forties and fifties has become the first broadcaster to sue the BBC for age discrimination."

Funny Haha - Biased BBC

Funny Haha: "It looks as though the BBC is going to give lavish publicity to Chris Morris’s film, the one that lampoons incompetent suicide bombers. Morris was treated to a flattering profile on Radio 4. He’s just the sort they like, edgy, dangerous, and as unpredictable as Russell Brand. His controversial paedo programme was overrated, but I appreciated the idea. His take on the public’s groupthink attitude to Paedophilia and the media’s prurient exploitation of it is almost interchangeable with the Israel question. No changes to the format necessary. The same groupthink, and the same media obsession apply to both subjects. Just remove Paedo and insert Israel and Jew wherever appropriate. Only Morris wouldn’t be amused as he is one of the baying mob of Israel denouncers.

On the theme of lampoons and edgy humour, what about Charlie Brooker. His Newswipe holds back just when it seems to be getting somewhere, and frustratingly skirts round things in a PC manner. In his film about Anjem Choudary and the Wootton Basset publicity stunt, he has chosen an easy target. Nobody likes Islam4UK; it’s banned now anyway. The thrust of the piece is that the media is giving, and getting, publicity from Choudary’s efforts. Brooker goes for ITV. The absence of blame allocated to the equally culpable BBC leaves a deafening silence. Of course his programme is on the Beeb, and Brooker is actually another P.C. lefty.

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Early Learning - Biased BBC

Early Learning: "The BBC spokespersons that used to grace B-BBC with their presence always insisted that if one or two biased items slipped through, in the long term they would be counterbalanced, because balance was an overall concept, achieved over time. They must have had in mind a timescale of around two hundred years.

Yesterday on News 24, they featured a story that has been on the BBC website for a few days, about the discovery during a raid on a house in Manchester of a video that shows children being ‘radicalised.’
Kim Howells was shown expressing his surprise. If you’re chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, and you haven’t even heard of the Hamas Bunny, surely something’s wrong. There are hundreds of such things on Youtube, many featuring a nightmarish Mickey Mouse whose voice and appearance alone would surely traumatise any child, never mind indoctrinating it with jihad.

At least the problem was being given an airing. But the Muslim lady featured in the story said ‘the most worrying thing’ was that people might think this sort of carry-on was representative of all Muslims. The actual radicalisation and indoctrination seemed to bother her less.

The website transcript of the words in the vid included “I want to kill the infidels” but missed out the bit where he clearly said “To kill Jews.” If I remember correctly they had it on the News 24 subtitles, so someone at BBC online must have thought it was unseemly, and edited it out.

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FINGERS IN PIES... - Biased BBC

FINGERS IN PIES...: "Guess what? The man responsible for looking after the fat pensions of the boys and girls at the BBC is a climate change fanatic, and he is part of an international group of investment managers who bust a gut to invest in 'climate change' schemes. He's called Peter Dunscombe, and he runs the £8.2bn corporation pension fund, advising trustees on a day-to-day basis about their investments. Mr Dunscombe, who addresses conferences about 'ethical investments', is also chairman of the Institutional Investment Group on Climate Change(IIGCC), which has 47 members and manages four trillion euros' worth of investments; yes, four trillion. Their goal is to find as many 'climate change' investment opportunities as possible:

The IIGCC Investor Statement on Climate change was launched in October 2006. Asset owners and asset managers who signed the Statement committed to increasing their focus on climate change in their own processes and in their engagement with companies and governments.

So now we really know why BBC staffers are so fanatical about 'climate change'. It's naked self-interest. In 2008, there were 18,736 contributors to the BBC pension fund; every man jack of them benefits from climate alarmism.

(h/t anonymous eagle-eyed B-BBC contributor)

Update: I've been going through the latest BBC Pensions Trust report, and it reveals that Helen Boaden, who is the overall boss of the BBC's news and current affairs operation, was appointed to the trust in 2008. So the woman who tells environment reporters such as Roger Harrabin and Richard Black that the science is settled also works to maximise the returns of the pension fund with Peter Dunscombe. I thought that needed spelling out fully, just in case any subtleties might be missed.

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MORE THOMSON BIAS - Biased BBC

MORE THOMSON BIAS: "At the beginning of January, I reported that Peter Thomson, who is a senior environment editor for the BBC, is secretary of the campaigning greenie organisation the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). Since then, I've been carefully tracking his work to see what impact his views have on his reporting.

How did he tackle the news that the IPCC had admitted that it had got it wrong about the Himalayan glaciers? Would it be to go to get a reaction from a leading 'sceptic' such as Anthony Watts, who has monitored such problems? Well no. He brought on to The World (the programme of which he is environment editor) the Washington Post reporter Juliet Eilpirin, a political reporter and Democrat supporter turned climate change fanatic who - from the list of her postings - clearly beats even the great Moonbat in her alarmist fervour. And was her reporting at all critical of the IPCC? Er,no. If you listen, you'll find the fragrant right-on Ms Eilpirin thinks it was just one itsy bitsy mistake and the rest of what the IPCC does is perfect.

I listened next to how Mr Thomson reported the election of Republican Scott Brown to replace Teddy Kennedy in the US Senate. In this report, he speaks first to an energy industry spokesman who is pleased that this could mean the end of cap and trade CO2 emissions bill. That's a cue for our Peter to spend the rest of the report exploring what must be done instead to stop what he unquestionably accepts is CO2 'pollution'. There's not a flicker of a doubt that this is vital. And finally, on to Obama's state of the union address. You may remember, the audience guffawed loudly when the great one mentioned the evidence about 'climate change'. But for Mr Thomson, that's not remotely the issue. He's very excited that his hero the Democrat President is planning to do something about green jobs (and hence'climate change'), despite the ignominious drubbing in the poll.

When I originally reported on the issue of Mr Thomson's bias, I looked mainly at what his organisation the SEJ was doing. That was alarming enough. There's now clear and abundant evidence that the brainwashing techniques the SEJ advocates are fully in play in his reporting.

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"

THE ALL POWERFUL STATE... - Biased BBC

THE ALL POWERFUL STATE...: "Wonder if you read the statistic in The Times yesterday showing the shocking statistic that almost half of all new jobs created in the past decade under Labour have been the preserve of the State. The BBC Today tackled it this morning around 6.15am and I was amused to hear them use this as a rallying cry for preserving these jobs by NOT cutting State jobs! The idea that the State dominating employment may be a tad dangerous seems to have escaped our BBC friends.

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DEATH PANELS... - Biased BBC

DEATH PANELS...: "BBC love for "mercy killings" continues this morning with the headline story that Sir Terry Pratchett is willing to test the idea that assisted suicide 'tribunals' which could give people legal permission to end their lives.

The author, who has Alzheimer's, says he wants a tribunal set up to help those with incurable diseases end their lives with help from doctors.

They love death like we love life....

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"But I stole this for you,"says the plunderer - Biased BBC

"But I stole this for you,"says the plunderer: "Further to Natalie's excellent fisk of Dr Runciman, here's King Banaian at Hot Air:

Responding to the election of Scott Brown, the BBC carries a column by David Runciman, a British academic political scientist of high birth (how else to describe someone whose Wikipedia entry notes his viscountcy?) that cannot understand why town halls are filled with people repulsed by Democrats health care reform... My friend Marty Andrade tweeted this link with the comment “But I stole this for you,” says the plunderer. “Why do you not take it? Why do you not vote for me?”

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Anti-abortion campaigner Veronica Connolly launches licence fee test case against BBC - Telegraph

Anti-abortion campaigner Veronica Connolly launches licence fee test case against BBC: "A pro-life campaigner has launched a test case against the BBC by refusing to
pay her licence fee because of what she sees as the corporation's support
for abortion."

BBC bosses forced to call security after blazing row with Stephen Poliakoff after writer is told scripts will be vetted - Daily Mail

BBC bosses forced to call security after blazing row with Stephen Poliakoff after writer is told scripts will be vetted: "
The veteran dramatist was told by the Corporation's drama commissioning controller that in future he would have to submit his projects for approval."

BBC plans big cuts to blunt Conservative knife - Times

BBC plans big cuts to blunt Conservative knife: "THE BBC is poised to announce cost savings, job losses and a slimming down of its digital radio and television channels in a bid to head off Tory proposals to cut the licence fee.

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HARRABIN OBN - WITH BARS AND STARS! - Biased BBC

HARRABIN OBN - WITH BARS AND STARS!: "Harrabin's at it again. Damage limitation. The Sunday Times today contains another damning indictment of the IPCC, this one hinged on that it used WWF hype to reference claims that 40% of the Amazon rainforest will become savannah thanks to decreased rainfall caused by 'climate change'. But our Roger is not phased. His view is that the IPCC referencing might be wrong, but the 'science' is correct:

My guess is that NGO reports often offer an easy synthesis of already-published evidence. In my experience, NGO papers are often both accessible and accurate - though clearly written from a point of view.

Read it carefully. What I think he means - astonishingly even by his standards - is that no matter what greenie fanatic NGOs say about decisions that involve billions of pounds, it's OK, because they mean well and they know what they are doing. Equally, that it's fine if the IPCC lifts such material to pressure governments into panicking about non-existent climate threats. Now we see what the whole lying BBC edifice aound 'climate change' is built upon. The 'experience' of a dough-brained BBC reporter (who doesn't even have a a science degree) and who admires greenie activists so much that in his book, whatever they publish is probably correct. For that, I think he deserves Private Eye's OBN - with double bars and stars.

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Baying For Blood - Biased BBC

Baying For Blood: "The groundswell of hatred and resentment against Tony Blair is at fever pitch, so that anyone who dares to raise their head in support of him or his performance at the Chilcot inquiry will be pelted with dogshit and disemboweled.
The BBC had a queue of talking heads lined up, eager to add their bit. “He showed no remorse, no contrition, no respect for the families,” they bleated. “He took us to war on a lie, he disregarded the legality, he ignored Robin Cook and Clare Short, he promised undying loyalty to Bush, he switched the justification for war from WMDs in 24 hours to regime change” etc etc.
Suddenly Robin Cook and Clare Short are reinvented as heroic martyrs. If only they’d been listened to, albeit resigning making that a little difficult, everything would have been fine and Saddam and Iraq would have lived happily ever after. No one would have needed to be radicalized, no one would have insurged, and Uday and the other one would have mellowed and given out posies of roses.
The BBC’s disproportionate fascination with the new-age under-age protesters ratcheted up the ante; various interviews and analyses consolidated the consensus that Blair was an insensitive self-obsessed delusional war criminal, and an Oscar-deserving actor to boot.

Today ran an interview with the former ambassador to Iran, Sir Richard Dalton. You can guess what he had to say about Blair’s allusion to confronting Iran. It caused James Naughtie to remark, “The Devil Incarnate would like that” - sorry, that should be, “Benjamin Netanyahu would like that” - to which Dalton replied, “That’s not in the UK’s interest.”
Naughtie referred to rogue states with access to nuclear weapons, but was assured that Iran having nuclear capabilities doesn’t necessarily mean it would 'hand secrets to terrorists.' After all, Iran has chemical weapons and hasn’t done such a thing and never would. Not counting Hamas and Hezbollah of course. If the former ambassador to Iran says they don’t arm terrorists, well, he would know. Or did he mean to say they don’t harm terrorists?

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