(not satire – it’s the BBC!)
Hmm!
The BBC has admitted that a report by its political editor Nick Robinson on Alex Salmond during the Scottish independence referendum campaign “was inaccurate” and “incorrect” but claimed they “found no grounds for believing the inaccuracy to have been intentional”.
Robinson – who is a former President of the Conservative Party youth section – openly edited out an answer by Alex Salmond and told viewers the Scottish First Minister didn’t answer his question:
But Mr Salmond did answer the question. Compare Robinson’s version with this unedited footage of what really happened:
Intentional or not – there was a time when a clear case of factual inaccuracies by a senior BBC reporter like this would have been a sacking matter at the corporation.
No longer it seems.
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sdbast said:
Reblogged this on sdbast.
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Methusalada said:
I have never regarded Nick Robinson as a real reporter, more as a self indulgent propagandist servant of a the Tory Party & BBC. I discovered his biased reports for myself 3 years ago in respect to his comments in regard to Plaid Cymru of Wales and made further enquiries which then lead me to join the SNP as a paid up member .
Today’s weak decision on (accuracy) does little to change my opinion on my distrust in the arrogance of the BBC in regard to it being impartial, fair & truthful on political ,economic , social & International issues. I far rather watch & listen to RT ,The Guardian & Middle East TV & Internet for such reports & opinion.
What really annoys me is that I still have to pay for my TV licence to watch The Voice as real entertainment ,which I enjoy. This means I am also subscribing reluctantly subscribing to the wages of Nick Robinson. That’s what I call a doppelganger dilemma !
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R Wood said:
I know I’ve said it before on this site and on http://www.storyboard4.com but the BBC is not run, at least not editorially, by some peculiar small Trotskyist cell. Nick Robinson is a Thatcherite-loving former leader of the Federation of Consevative Students (FCS). His only ‘betrayal’ to his (alleged) beliefs is that he is working for a ‘public sector’ broadcasting organisation. How on earth can he sleep at night …
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Morag said:
I’m sorry, but how can you edit out an entire 7-minute reply and not intend to do it? This is Humpty-Dumpty land. If the reply means anything, it indicates that Robinson was so blinded by his own personal ideology that he was incapable of recognising how to be unbiassed.
There’s a fig-leaf excuse that Salmond only answered one half of a two-part question. However the part he didn’t answer was pretty much along the lines of “have you stopped beating your wife?” and didn’t deserve a serious answer.
Compare the pathetic excuses for Kaye Adams and her pretence of not knowing that Gordon Brown had promised “Home Rule” in return for a No vote, as discussed by Derek Bateman. http://derekbateman.co.uk/2015/01/16/scunnered/
You know, it’s really easy not to pay your TV licence and not support this shower. Just don’t pay and don’t watch the thing like it was wallpaper. You get so much more done. And you can watch the occasional item on iPlayer if you really want to (though quite honestly apart from the news report on the day of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, I haven’t bothered).
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beastrabban said:
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
This is basically damage limitation by the BBC. Too many people across the UK, not just Scotland, are aware of how biased Robinson was and how he falsified Salmond’s reply. Clearly, the Beeb cannot admit that the bias was intentional, and so has to state that it was not. I find this extremely hard to believe. You don’t get to be any kind of reporter without being aware of issues like political bias. And particularly not if you are one of the prized journos stuck in front of the camera on the Beeb’s prime time news. My guess is that the doctoring was not only intentional, but that it also goes all the way to the top. The BBC is the British Broadcasting Corporation. By definition, it represents the country’s interests, and seen by the ruling class. And the ruling class in Westminster are determined to preserve the union. He probably saw it as his patriotic duty to serve the national good and preserve the Union by falsifying Salmond’s reply. There’s also the sheer, naked self-interest of the Corporation as well. What happens to the British Broadcasting Corporation north of the border if Scotland votes ‘yes’ to independence? In my opinion, Robinson had every intention of producing a markedly biased report, and did so with the full approval and connivance of his bosses.
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PartTimer said:
Nick Robinson’s bias was very plain in many of his reports about the Scottish independence referendum. The reason is that his privileged position as a Westminster ‘insider’ and hence his media prominence depends on him being looked on favourably by the Westminster ‘elite’, all of whom were opposed to independence, which of course meant he had to also back the No campaign.
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concernedkev said:
If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it I was just about to post a comment and without me touching anything it was all selected and deleted
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bjsalba said:
From what I can see the BBC policy is to move out or not renew the contract of anyone who does not follow the Westminster party line.
According to Wiki Nick Robinson has a PPE Degree from Oxbridge just like Cameron Clegg and Milliband. Nuff said.
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Catherine Farnsworth said:
Where is the public apology from Nick Robinson or the BBC ????????
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tunefultony said:
I think that NIck-Nick Robinson should be restricted to talking about what he finds cool about Elton’s John’s songs….. He should not be permitted to interview politicians, only singers….. Talking of which, how come both Alex Salmon and Nicola Sturgeon’s names both begin with an ‘S’ and are both named after flatfish? — Is there something fishy going on here?
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redangelas said:
Claiming that any form of bias or discrimination was “unintentional” never excuses it. If anything it aggravates the offence, because it highlights what the standards of someone who could innocently make such a “mistake” must be.
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hossmackintosh said:
here is a link the real BBC report – the news gazette link to it above was very poorly written. I could not make out what it was on about? Scottish Traditionalists(?) and it omitted to say it was partially upheld?
Real link…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/comp-reports/ecu/news6pm10pm11sept14
It is interesting that only 42 complaints were received. What have you all been doing?
Or has the BBC miscounted – I put an FOI to get the numbers and they rejected my request so interesting to see the small number for one of the worst bias incidents of Indy ref.
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Joan Edington said:
They may have only had 42 actual complaints letters through their official procedures. They don’t count the thousands of signatures on a petition at the time or the hundreds of people whose protest outside their Scottish HQ were totally ignored.
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Joan Edington said:
@tunefultony. For Private Eye’s pedants’ corner; neither salmon nor sturgeon are flat fish.
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jaypot2012 said:
Nick Robinson is biased, a liar and a conservative! He should have been sacked over this but his “chums” have smoothed it out.
Not with the Scottish they haven’t – we want rid of the BBC and are in the planning stages of setting up our own Scottish Broadcasting channel/company/etc.
Not only did the people of Scotland have to put up with biased programmes from all channels, especially the BBC, but we had to put up with lies and stories from the newspapers and a lot of radio stations. We ended up not voting for independence in the end (or did we?) but there is no doubt in my mind that another referendum will be sooner rather than later, and that this time the vote will be a resounding YES!
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jaypot2012 said:
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal and commented:
Sack Nick Robinson…
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Bugger (the Panda) said:
Clearly Salmond did answer Nick Robinson’s question but not the rhetorical part which any politician of experience would have walked around.
I have seen better denials from a certain Church about the behaviour of some of their employees than the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit dismissal of the accusation that Nick Robinson did not report the truth.
If Robinson’s accuations against Salmond was “duly objective account” then somewhere either I or the BBC have slipped into a parallel World.
I thought 1984 was supposed to be a warning not a bloody blueprint.
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tunefultony said:
@Joan Edington: Thank you for your acuity and perception and it’s good to know you have eyes small enough to read Private Eye magazine, Britain’s answer to Charlie Hebdomadaire: You are right, of course, Alex Salmon(d) is actually from the very fishy family Salmonidae (which includes the species trout, char and MP Chris Grayling), and Nicola Sturgeon is from the very fishy family Acipenseridae (25 species of fishy people)… but at the end of the day, it’s all Chubb or Grubb to feed the masses with 🙂
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Bugger (the Panda) said:
Oh yes, I do think that Nick Robinson should be sacked for that transgression alone, and that chum club who examined and awarded him his get of jail card, the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit, should be hoofed out too. If the BBC Trust have touched this as well, they should go and if they haven’t they should go for dereliction of duty.
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Jim Palmer said:
As I see it, the BBC and Nick have two choices – intentional bias (although I don’t regard “bias” as a strong enough term for something as blatant as this!) or unintentional gross incompetence.
Either one should be grounds for an apology and, from anyone with a modicum of self respect, a resignation.
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Bugger (the Panda) said:
BJSALBA
Was he in the Bullingdon Club, by and chance, like Cameron Osbourn, Boris and David Dimbleby, as well as assorted convicted criminals?
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cybernat said:
how dare he do that to the great leader execute him.
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The Philosopher said:
I hold no brief for either party, but Alex Salmond REPLIED; he did not ANSWER;
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The Philosopher said:
The full version :
I hold no brief for either party, but Alex Salmond REPLIED at length; he did not ANSWER the question which had been asked.
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Billy Thomson said:
Not just biased but quite obviously blatant liars. The BBC chose not to represent the Scottish electorate.
Rather than reporting balanced accurate news throughout the run-up to the countries referendum, it chose instead to misrepresent.
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A6er said:
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
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loobitzh said:
In reply to Methusalada about being peed off about having to pay for a TV license
may I suggest the following YouTube vid. which is extremely informative and helpful…
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loobitzh said:
Reblogged this on Lindas Blog.
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Mark Catlin said:
Reblogged this on markcatlin3695's Blog and commented:
Same old shit, somebody “misspoke” “didn’t intend to mislead” They treat us like we’re stupid and expect us to be grateful.
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PartTimer said:
The Philosopher said: “Alex Salmond REPLIED at length; he did not ANSWER the question which had been asked.”
When you find a politician who does actually answer questions, please let everybody know …but I think you’ll die before you find one!
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rainbowwarriorlizzie said:
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & THE SIEGE OF BRITAIN POLITICAL JOURNAL and commented:
Of course it was intentional is owned by Murdock!
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rainbowwarriorlizzie said:
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & THE SIEGE OF BRITAIN POLITICAL JOURNAL.
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PartTimer said:
rainbowwarriorlizzie – Are you saying that the BBC is owned by Murdoch?
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Rangjan said:
If Nick Robinson unintentionally made this ‘mistake’, surely this means that he genuinely thought Salmond hadn’t answered the question. The poor man is deluded.
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alice moore said:
There was a mass demonstration outside BBC headquarters in Glasgow during the referendum protesting against the bias (deliberate deception) propagated by the BBC.
The BBC`s first response was to misreport the event by saying there were a handful of protesters. It was live-streamed on Youtube which exposed the BBC as liars.
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Chris said:
Sack him…… Simple……
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