BBC bias analysed

Biased BBC have a poll that asks "Of the various form of Bias on the BBC, which concerns you most - Bias by omission, Bias by misrepresentation, Bias through prejudice, Bias through manipulation?

Here are my posted thoughts:

Unlike in elections, I would prefer an "all of the above" option in your poll.

The BBC's bias is characterised by all of the four options and they all have their place in the "master plan".

Bias by omission ensures that "the proles" are not informed about certain stories, so as to keep "the narrative" believable - this is how the BBC try to protect Barack Obama by not reporting his addiction to teleprompters, his many stupid mistakes (58 states, insulting the mentally disabled and not knowing who the President of France is). It is also one of the ways that "the proles" are kept following "the narrative" that Man Made Climate Change is decided science, by omitting any coverage of the many climate scientists who do not follow the set line to take.

Bias by misrepresentation is used to create friction within opponents of "the Party" by exaggerating or misreporting the words of Tories so as to bring discord and dispute where there is "harmony". Meanwhile any splits within "the Party" are either not reported (bias by omission) or are represented as other than splits.

Bias through prejudice is widespread and of course completely counter to the BBC's Charter and to what the BBC believe is the case. Their anti-racism agenda means that the BNP view becomes verbotten whilst the view of the extreme left is acceptable and worthy of positive coverage. Their pro-multiculturalism agenda means that they try not to report the misdeeds of "minority groups" because that would be racist, preferring to report the lesser misdeeds of the majority population. Their pro-non-selective education view means that a "failing" grammar school becomes headline news rather than the hundreds of failing Comprehensive schools (or indeed the whole failing UK education system). Their instinctive feeling that as George Bush declared war on terror then Islamic terrorists must be in the right, means that they have no parity in coverage between what Israel is claimed to have done in Gaza and what is happening in Darfur or Sri Lanka.

Bias through manipulation may seem to encompass different strands of the above; maybe that is indeed the "all of the above" option although it could also be the more subtle way that the BBC report the news so that what is important is not the story but how "the proles" feel about the story. This could involve reporting unwelcome news as drily as possible to make it unmemorable, or reporting it with jokey captions or music to make it seem inane, or introducing undesirable views with negative back stories (John Redwood for example). Whilst reporting on message views in a manner more likely to make the views be seen positively, the interviewee be seen as reliable and the story be more memorable.


The BBC's bias is so multi layered and so omnipresent that to even try and separate it into different techniques is both difficult and pointless.

What is important is to recognise, record and report the BBC's bias; maybe that way the bias could be removed (not that that is likely).