A Christian Eye on Politics
W e are biased, admit the stars of BBC News.
This astonishing article headline came from Simon Walters, in the Mail on Sunday, in October 2006. But that was just the start...
Simon wrote,
"...the BBC is dominated by trendy, Left-leaning liberals who are biased against Christianity and in favour of multiculturalism.
A leaked account of an 'impartiality summit' called by BBC chairman Michael Grade, is certain to lead to a new row about the BBC and its reporting on key issues, especially concerning Muslims and the war on terror.
It reveals that executives would let the Bible be thrown into a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran, and that they would broadcast an interview with Osama Bin Laden if given the opportunity. Further, it discloses that the BBC's 'diversity tsar', wants Muslim women newsreaders to be allowed to wear veils when on air.
At the secret meeting in London last month, which was hosted by veteran broadcaster Sue Lawley, BBC executives admitted the corporation is dominated by homosexuals and people from ethnic minorities, deliberately promotes multiculturalism, is anti-American, anti-countryside and more sensitive to the feelings of Muslims than Christians.
One veteran BBC executive said: 'There was widespread acknowledgement that we may have gone too far in the direction of political correctness. 'Unfortunately, much of it is so deeply embedded in the BBC's culture, that it is very hard to change it.'
In one of a series of discussions, executives were asked to rule on how they would react if the controversial comedian Sacha Baron Cohen ) known for his offensive characters Ali G and Borat - was a guest on the programme Room 101. On the show, celebrities are invited to throw their pet hates into a dustbin and it was imagined that Baron Cohen chose some kosher food, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a Bible and the Koran. Nearly everyone at the summit, including the show's actual producer and the BBC's head of drama, Alan Yentob, agreed they could all be thrown into the bin, except the Koran for fear of offending Muslims.
Political pundit Andrew Marr said: 'The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias.'
Washington correspondent Justin Webb said that the BBC is so biased against America that deputy director general Mark Byford had secretly agreed to help him to 'correct', it in his reports. Webb added that the BBC treated America with scorn and derision and gave it 'no moral weight'.
Former BBC business editor Jeff Randall said he complained to a 'very senior news executive', about the BBC's pro-multicultural stance but was given the reply: 'The BBC is not neutral in multiculturalism: it believes in it and it promotes it.' Randall also told how he once wore Union Jack cufflinks to work but was rebuked with: 'You can't do that, that's like the National Front!' Quoting a George Orwell observation, Randall said that the BBC was full of intellectuals who 'would rather steal from a poor box than stand to attention during God Save The King'.
(This astonishing 2006 report is available in its entirety here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-411846/We-biased-admit-stars-BBC-News.html).
It is important to highlight such reports because when we at UK Apologetics complain of the BBC's chronic (but almost never admitted)anti-Christian agenda (which we often do), we do sometimes wonder whether some believers out there who are not au fait with the BBC wonder whether we are exagerrating. Well, we certainly are not.
More support came in Confessions of a BBC Liberal (Times Online, August 12, 2007).
This article contained the following amazing admission from Antony Jay, a former BBC editor who wrote the comedy series, 'Yes Minister,'
"...the BBC's own report on impartiality... effectively admitted to an institutional "liberal" bias among programme makers. Previously these accusations had been dismissed as a right-wing rant, but since the report was published even the BBC's allies seem to accept it.
It has been on parade again these past few weeks on the Radio 4 programme, The Crime of Our Lives. It included (of course) the ritual demoni-sation of Margaret Thatcher...
Can you imagine a BBC staff member slanting a programme towards the case for a stricter penal policy? The growing general agreement that the culture of the BBC (and not just the BBC) is the culture of the chattering classes provokes a question that has puzzled me for 40 years. The question itself is simple – much simpler than the answer: what is behind the opinions and attitudes of this social group? They are that minority often characterised (or caricatured) by sandals and macrobiotic diets, but in a less extreme form are found in The Guardian, Channel 4, the Church of England, academia, showbusiness and BBC news and current affairs. They constitute our metropolitan liberal media consensus, although the word “liberal” would have Adam Smith rotating in his grave. Let’s call it “media liberalism”.
We were not Marxists but accepted a lot of Marxist social analysis. We also had an almost complete ignorance of market economics. That ignorance is still there. Say "Tesco" to a media liberal and the patellar reflex says, "Exploiting African farmers and driving out small shopkeepers." The achievement of providing the range of goods, the competitive prices, the food quality, the speed of service and the ease of parking that attract millions of shoppers does not register on their radar.
The third factor arises from the nature of mass media. The (old) Tonight programme had a nightly audience of about 8million. It was much easier to keep their attention by telling them they were being deceived or exploited by big institutions than by saying what a good job the government and the banks and the oil companies were doing."
This is only an excerpt, the full report can be found here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2240427.ece
Interestingly, when one reads the report in complete form, Mr Jay freely admits that he himself was once part of an overly-liberally biased BBC media machine.
But this endemic liberalism of the media (though especially prevalent in the BBC), is not confined to that organisation:
From a noted 'blog' site comes the following quote from a former Sky TV news correspondent. (it dates to September 2008):
Christianity and Mass Media
'David Blevins is a former Washington Corresponent for Sky News. I thought I would ask him some questions regarding the American presidential election.
Paul:
Some Christian commentators are saying that the treatment that Sarah Palin has recieved since becoming John McCain's running mate is evidence of a media bias against people claiming to be Christians. Do you think that this is the case?David:
Absolutely! In the last 40 years, Republicans have won the White House seven times; the Democrats four times but a survey, published last year, revealed that Democrats would have won every election in that time if journalists' ballots only had been counted. Why? Simply because journalists are far more likely to call themselves "liberal" than "conservative" and far more liberal than the public at large. Many Christian observers say it boils down to one thing: abortion. In fact, it may be more accurate to describe the US media as so pro abortion it cannot be anything other than anti Christian. I'm sorry to say reporters in the states have already dubbed Sarah Palin "Foetus Palin". Sad.Paul:
Do you think that the media in America and the U.K. understands evangelical Christians?David:
Not at all. It's important to remember that what appears in the newspapers is not an objective summary of the significant things that happened yesterday but an ideological selection based on the predjudices, agendas and assumptions of a relatively small group of people. Their ideology could be loosely defined as "progress will one day meet our needs." So as with other forms of thought that deviate from that ideological view, evangelical Christianity is either dismissed out of hand or reported in a manner that serves to reinforce the ideology! "Religion" is viewed as obscure, life-denying and regressive. Organisations like Evangelical Alliance and the Christian Institute face an uphill struggle to change that perception.Thanks David!'
Posted at 'To Whom it May Concern' (Christianity and the Mass Media) on Friday, September 05, 2008.
The Christian Hawk, October 1st, 2008.