Tag: bbc

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New BBC Scotland tactic – ‘numbing the senses of the nation with trivia’

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By stewartb The contributions to life in Scotland by the public service broadcaster, BBC Scotland are well known to TuS readers. Most readily analysed is its output appearing daily on the BBC News website: context-free, perspective-free news on economic and political matters; politicisation of public service issues to a degree unknown in the output of BBC Wales; an evident preference for negativity – candidly, gaslighting; and to reinforce this, a practice of bias by omission. All the foregoing is consistent with exerting influence in support for the Union. However, today on the Corporation’s News website we may be seeing a … Continue reading New BBC Scotland tactic – ‘numbing the senses of the nation with trivia’

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Andrew Neil, right-wing domination of the media, bullying, women, Epstein and Trump

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Andrew Neil in Lord of the Rings IV (?) Andrew Neil and his new wife in 2015. The above, being shared with no attribution on social media. This from 2018: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/nov/16/bbc-women-complain-andrew-neil-tweet-observer-journalist-carole-cadwalladr And the above: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/11/bbc-andrew-neil-media-politics And in 2020 TuS had: Andrew Neil breached broadcasting rules with false Scottish illiteracy claim The presenter was discussing education in Scotland with former SNP leader Alex Salmond. The BBC’s Sunday Politics breached broadcasting rules with misleading claims made by presenter Andrew Neil, a watchdog has found. The host claimed during an interview with former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond that “after a decade … Continue reading Andrew Neil, right-wing domination of the media, bullying, women, Epstein and Trump

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So I have a master plan – Instead of the BBC having to have a Verify Unit and BBC Corrections…..how about just employing people who can actually do the job?

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By NMRN Guess what I found in BBC Corrections & Clarifications page.. BBC Scotland Radio and online, 2 & 3 April 2024 “In BBC Scotland’s coverage of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, reference was made in some of our output to the Act making it a criminal offence in Scotland to make “derogatory comments” based on the protected characteristics of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. This was inaccurate and we should have referred to the Act creating a new crime where it is an offence if someone communicates material or behaves … Continue reading So I have a master plan – Instead of the BBC having to have a Verify Unit and BBC Corrections…..how about just employing people who can actually do the job?

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BBC reporting of County Lines drug gangs getting closer as BBC Cumbria carries story – When will BBC Scotland face this dark shadow on the Union?

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Cumbria becomes the latest of BBC regions to report on the devastating plague of County Lines gangs spreading drug death, extreme violence, people trafficking and child abuse, across the UK and now from Manchester to small towns in Cumbria. Imagine if these gangs were based in Scottish cities and crossing into England? BBC Scotland’s last and only report on County Lines gangs in Scotland, estimated at 55 groups, from Dumfries to Dingwall, more than three years ago. the report is careful not to mention the word ‘England’ nor even name the all-English cities where the … Continue reading BBC reporting of County Lines drug gangs getting closer as BBC Cumbria carries story – When will BBC Scotland face this dark shadow on the Union?

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Chickens uncaged but your news still trapped in one

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Scotland’s website above still milking the non-story of an attention-seeking celeb and serial whinger about anything the SNP might do to better the circumstances of the rest of us. This morning, BBC UK had an extended piece on Scotland becoming the first part of the UK to ban the caging of laying hens. As you would hope they let the Scottish Government minister have some credit for the actions. Minutes later BBC Reporting Scotland managed to push the story back, behind a tale of a flooded cemetery in Ayr without telling us the council responsible … Continue reading Chickens uncaged but your news still trapped in one

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Official UK Parliament evidence that SNP management of the economy after Covid has meant far more recovery than in England or Wales

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The above data table is from People claiming unemployment benefits by constituency, a Research Briefing, Published Tuesday, 12 March, 2024, a UK Parliament publication at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8748/ The Guardian has been digging in the data for evidence of the soaring number unavailable for work due to mental health problems. The BBC UK’s Economy team are on it with More than a fifth of UK adults not looking for work, but BBC Scotland is full of Michael Matheson and Hate Crime. BBC Scotland Business just has a link to the BBC UK Economy report. A quick look at the extreme right hand column … Continue reading Official UK Parliament evidence that SNP management of the economy after Covid has meant far more recovery than in England or Wales

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English drug gang travels 600 miles to Aberdeen to enslave vulnerable locals but still no main news coverage after 5 years of abuse

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A County Lines gang arrested in Aberdeen last year. Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to the Scots Independent newspaper in which I have a column, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ BBC Scotland and the Scottish newspaper front pages have nothing on this dramatic story today of a Southampton based ‘County Lines‘ drug gang moving into Aberdeen, significantly increasing the supply of proscribed drugs and the level of ‘Modern Slavery’ whereby vulnerable locals have their homes occupied by extremely violent criminals as bases from which to deal the drugs. Sexual abuse of women and children often … Continue reading English drug gang travels 600 miles to Aberdeen to enslave vulnerable locals but still no main news coverage after 5 years of abuse

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Ofgem rules against Baillie and Foulkes

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Jackie Baillie MSP (Labour) and Lord George Foulkes (Labour) succeeded in sabotaging the First Minister’s Covid updates. Foulkes bragged about stopping folk from hearing important information because that was bad for the image of his dud party, Labour. 4 people, presumably including Baillie and Foulkes or their staff/pals, wrote to Ofcom accusing BBC Scotland of bias in favour of the Scottish Government. Friend of TuS, Brenda Robb wrote to BBC Scotland, under Freedom of Information, asking to see the communication around the above decision: I have listened … Continue reading Ofgem rules against Baillie and Foulkes

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Does BBC refuse to release viewing figures for Reporting Scotland because they’re even worse than we’d guess?

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The response to my FoI requesting the viewing figures for Reporting Scotland, below. Note that they freely tell us the tiny figures for the Seven and the Nine, broadcast only in Scotland, on the BBC Scotland channel. What are they hiding? I think we know. British Broadcasting Corporation Information RightsWogan House, 99 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 7NY bbc.co.uk/foifoi@bbc.co.uk John Robertson10 January 2024 Dear John,Freedom of Information Request – RFI20231614 Thank you for your request to the BBC dated 16 December 2023 seeking thefollowing information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’):“Please provide me with the annual viewing … Continue reading Does BBC refuse to release viewing figures for Reporting Scotland because they’re even worse than we’d guess?

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Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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On the Today programme, a BBC Radio 4 interviewer enthuses about the reduction in knife crime and homicide in Scotland over nearly two decades, as he interviews Will Linden Depute Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit You can hear the whole interview, around 53 mins in, at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v3bj BBC R4’s interests comes against the background of high levels of knife-related deaths in England and, today, the actor Idris Elba’s call for a ban on sales which he says the Conservative Government has neglected: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67903124 BBC Scotland and the newspapers are not interested in this but, rather, focus on two … Continue reading Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes