Tag: bbc

BBC presenter says ‘overwhelmingly white’ workplace affects his mental health

BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake has said an “overwhelmingly white” working environment is affecting his mental health.

The presenter told a journalism diversity conference on Wednesday: “It’s really affecting me that I walk in and all I see is white people.”

His colleagues’ response when he told them this was to reply defensively that they were not being racist, he claimed as he said that was missing the point.

Speaking at the Journalism Diversity Fund (JDF) conference at BBC Media City in Salford, he said: “I’ve seen a lot of people leave this building because they couldn’t deal with the culture.”

He also said others found they had to try to be a certain type of person to progress with the broadcaster, adding: “If you want journalists to progress, they have to be who they are.

“I don’t think there’s a single Muslim involved in the senior editorial processes” at BBC Radio 5 Live, he added.

He went on: “The hardest thing is to walk into a room, look around and nobody looks like you.”

The presenter made the comments in an on-stage interview with Jo Adetunji, editor of The Conversation, at the JDF’s annual equality, diversity and inclusion conference organised by the NCTJ, which trains new journalists.

The JDF awards bursaries to aspiring journalists from diverse backgrounds who do not have the financial means to support themselves through their training.

Mr Arthanayake added that he has noticed a difference since moving north after living in London for 20 years.

He said: “Since moving up here, being called the P-word – that didn’t happen in London.

“You’d get a slap for that in London, not even from me.”

Following the interview, Cheryl Varley, a BBC Radio 5 Live producer, said the organisation is committed to tackling the lack of diversity in its newsrooms.

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BBC Editor Speaks Out After False Gaza Hospital Reporting, Says He ‘Doesn’t Regret One Thing’

BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen was pressed on his initial reporting of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Saturday and said he didn’t regret his mistakes during an interview on the network on Saturday.

Several media outlets initially reported that Israel was responsibile for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Bowen claimed during his initial reports that the Al-Ahli hospital was flattened.

“The missile hit the hospital not long after dark. You can hear the impact. The explosion destroyed Al-Ahli Hospital. It was already damaged from a smaller attack at the weekend. The building was flattened,” Bowen said.

Bowen, during an appearance on BBC News channel’s “Behind The Stories,” said he didn’t regret his reporting and that he “didn’t race to judgment.”

“So it broke in, I suppose, mid-evening. And to answer your question, no, I don’t regret one thing in my reporting, because I think I was measured throughout. I didn’t race to judgment,” he said.

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BBC Cancels Event Of Singer Who Criticized Puberty-Blocking Drugs

The Telegraph is reporting that the BBC has removed Irish singer Róisín Murphy from a prepared feature radio broadcast.

The reason is a comment opposing puberty-blocking drugs. While I understand why such criticism is deeply hurtful to some, it is also political speech. Artists should be able to hold opposing views. I would feel the same way if BBC blocked an artist for supporting puberty-blocking drugs. However, these controversies evidence an orthodoxy that seems to only run against those on one side in this and other issues.

Murphy’s comment on social media was reportedly leaked by a friend last month. In the posting, she wrote “Puberty blockers are f—ing, absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true.”

She added:

“Please don’t call me a TERF, please don’t keep using that word against women.”

We have seen cancel campaigns launched against figures like J.K. Rowling as TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) for criticizing transgender policies.

The same inexorable pattern emerged for Murphy. They have targeted her new album for boycotts simply because they disagree on the issue. The Guardian declared that the album was now “compromised” and “for many fans, particularly queer fans, this album is DOA [dead on arrival].”

BBC insists that the cancellation was due to other factors, but many have their doubts.  What is clear is that a full boycott campaign is now being launched despite Murphy offering a full-throated apology for uttering opposing views:

“I have been thrown into a very public discourse in an arena I’m uncomfortable in and deeply unsuitable for. I cannot apologise enough for being the reason for this eruption of damaging and potentially dangerous social-media fire and brimstone. To witness the ramifications of my actions and the divisions it has caused is heartbreaking.

I will now completely bow out of this conversation within the public domain. I’m not in the slightest bit interested in turning it into ANY kind of ‘campaign’, because campaigning is not what I do… My true calling is music and music will never exclude any of us.”

What is alarming is that artists must now repeat approved positions on political and social issues or, as here, pledge to remain silent in order to be artists.

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BBC defends airing a song which encourages listeners to ‘kick’ women with gender-critical views as 6 Music is accused of ‘blatantly’ refusing to play Roisin Murphy’s songs after the singer criticised puberty blockers

BBC bosses have defended airing a song encouraging listeners to ‘kick’ women with gender-critical views.

Listeners complained after 6 Music played They/Them by Dream Nails, which includes the line ‘Kick terfs all day, don’t break a sweat’.

Terf – trans-exclusionary radical feminist – is a term used as a pejorative against those who advocate for women but oppose transgender people using female-only spaces.

But dismissing the objections, a member of the BBC’s complaints team said: ‘People will interpret songs with any element of nuance or ambiguity differently.’

One furious complainant told the Mail: ‘It endorses an explicit violent threat on the grounds of sex and political belief yet the BBC would not remove it from their playlist.’

It comes as 6 Music was accused of ‘blatantly’ refusing to play Roisin Murphy’s songs after the singer publicly criticised puberty blockers.

The channel has played only a single track by the former Moloko frontwoman since she made the widely-criticised comments online.

The Irish singer was last featured on the channel on September 1, three days after her social media post.

Before that, her songs were played regularly and her album Hit Parade has remained at number two in the charts.

A BBC insider told the Mail: ‘It’s so blatant what they have done.’

Earlier this week 6 Music cancelled ten hours of shows celebrating Ms Murphy, with staff telling the Mail her comments were the reason behind her axing.

The programmes, part of a series called the 6 Music Artist Collection, were due to be aired between midnight and 5am next Monday and Tuesday before they were pulled.

Instead, new shows have been made, featuring rapper Little Simz.

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BBC’s disinformation correspondent and chief fact-checker Marianna Spring is accused of lying on her CV by falsely claiming to have worked with a Beeb journalist when applying for a job in Moscow

The BBC‘s disinformation correspondent is facing claims that she lied about her experience on her CV.

Marianna Spring, 27, shot to prominence with her reporting on the way social media has been used to peddle false information.

But she is now facing the embarrassing allegation that she gave misleading information herself –  one claim of working with a respected BBC correspondent – to try to secure work.

According to a report, about five years ago Ms Spring was trying to get work as a freelancer in Moscow for US-based news site Coda Story.

An article in The New European said when she applied to the website’s editor-in-chief Natalia Antelava in 2018, she said she had worked alongside BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford on covering the ‘perception of Russia’ during the 2018 football World Cup.

Her CV reportedly bragged: ‘June 2018: Reported on International News during the World Cup, specifically the perception of Russia, with BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford.’

According to The New European, Ms Antelava, a former BBC journalist herself, is said to have rebuked Ms Spring after checking out the claim.

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BBC Publishes Pedo Report, Then EDITS to Remove Pride, Drag History.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been caught repeatedly doctoring a report about a man convicted for attempting to have sex with a 14-year-old boy, scrubbing it of references to the fact the suspect is a Pride organizer and drag queen.

Sixty-one-year-old Andrew Way of Clwyd Wen in Wrexham, Wales, was described as an “ex-drag queen” in the original post from the publicly-funded broadcaster. The National Pulse confirmed, however, that when readers clicked through to the article, the headline changed from ‘Ex-drag queen caught in paedophile hunters’ sting operation’ to ‘Man caught in paedophile hunters’ sting operation’.

The text of the article also no longer contained any reference to Way being a drag queen, although it did confirm the pedophile “had also been organising the first-ever gay Pride event for Welshpool, Powys.” Hours later, The National Pulse observed that this, too, had been “stealth-edited” out of the article, with no editor’s notes informing readers of the changes.

The BBC press office has been asked who ordered the article to be doctored to remove these details, and why, but had issued no response as of the time of publication.

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Feverish BBC Reporting On European ‘Heatwaves’ Debunked By Actual Temperature Readings

Last week’s heatwaves in southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible” without humans altering the climate, reports the BBC, quoting model-produced work rushed to press by World Weather Attribution (WWA). Humans caused the spell of Mediterranean summer heat to be 2.5°C higher, it was said. This latest study confirms what we knew before, says frequent BBC contributor and WWA founder Dr. Friederike Otto. More to the point, last week’s coverage of these heatwaves confirmed what we knew before – the BBC will pull out all the stops to promote weather fear in the cause of the collectivist Net Zero project.

On Tuesday July 18th the BBC reported on its rolling news feed that the island of Sardinia was expected to see a high of 46°C in the afternoon “and there are warnings that extreme heat could continue for a further 10 days”.

Time and Date compiles comprehensive records of past temperatures, an increasingly useful tool for checking up on ‘World on Fire’ fantasists. The graph above shows the temperature in Sardinia peaking at 40°C on July 18th and then steadily falling during the week to the lower 30s.

Also on July 18th the BBC reported that the temperature in Rome could reach 40°C and remain above that level for 15 days. Over to Time and Date again.

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Veteran Huw Edwards Is the Mystery BBC Presenter Accused of Paying Underage Teen for Sexually Explicit Pictures – He Was Named by His Wife, Who Says He Is in Hospital Treating ‘Serious Mental Health Issues’

The mystery British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) presenter accused of paying a teenager for sexually explicit pictures has finally been revealed to be veteran Huw Edwards.

Variety reported:

“Edwards is one of the most senior on-air figures at the corporation and was the anchor chosen to break news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death to the world last September. He is the fourth highest paid figure at the BBC.”

Huw Edwards’ identity had not yet been reported by the media because of UK’s defamation and privacy case law, but reportedly his identity had been an open secret at the BBC all along.

But, now, the legendary BBC veteran was named by his own wife, Vicky Flind, in a statement issued on his behalf.

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BBC Engulfed In Another Child Sex Abuse Allegation Against One Of Its Hosts

The BBC has taken pride in being the world’s first national television outlet since it first took to the air in November 1936, tracing its history back even further to its founding as a radio station in 1922. Though it has earned a distinguished reputation over the years, it has done its best to throw that away in recent vintage. What once was a beacon of broadcast media has become a mouthpiece of Britain’s propaganda ministry. The distorted narratives it pushes have become so undeniably visible that the hubris of its punditry and production alike teem with a lack of self awareness that has come to boil over in embarrassing interviews showcasing the BBC’s fall from grace with regularity. From Elon Musk to Andrew Tate, the BBC has been made to look utterly foolish, leaving a reputation that was once exemplary tarnished and torn beyond repair.

Yet, those public faux pas are merely the tip of the iceberg concerning the rampant corruption coming from the BBC. While the hypocrisy of the broadcaster has been exposed in recently televised high publicity exchanges, a deeper pervasive issue that the organization has done its best to keep out of the public’s purview reared its ugly head once more. Once again, an on-air personality at the the BBC has been exposed for child sex abuse. This latest controversy has led to the network taking one of its high profile presenters off air while it investigations allegations that they paid a teenager more than £35,000 for pornographic images since 2020 when they were just 17 years old.

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Troubling questions surround BBC ‘disinformation correspondent’ Marianna Spring

Little is known about the history of Marianna Spring, the BBC’s first “disinformation correspondent.” But her record of churning out disinfo of her own in the service of British government objectives sends a bright red flag up over the new Verify project. 

The launch of BBC Verify, “a new brand to address the growing threat of disinformation and build trust with audiences by transparently showing how BBC journalists know the information they are reporting,” has raised questions about whether the British state broadcaster is ramping up plans to manufacture consent for official objectives while maligning dissent. 

The endeavor is said to be “a highly specialized team with a range of forensic and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) capabilities that enable them to go beyond conventional newsroom techniques.” In all, 60 BBC journalists are involved – including the “specialist disinformation correspondent” Marianna Spring.

The week after Verify’s rollout was announced, the 27-year-old Spring took to airwaves to acquaint BBC Breakfast viewers with her new venture. She explained its mission was to “verify video, factcheck, counter disinformation, and analyze really complex stories so we can get to the truth of what’s going on.”

Standing before three interactive video screens, Spring outlined an array of investigative projects soon to appear under the auspices of Verify. They included an initiative employing “undercover accounts” which comprise a set of fake “characters” active on social media networks. The ostensible purpose of the sock-puppets created by Spring and her BBC associates is to “really understand polarization online and what’s happening on our social media feeds and what we’re being recommended and being pushed to us [sic] can affect all of us.”

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