BBC Lie Machine Exposed

The BBC is merely the media wing of the Frankfurt School in British societ.

It cannot be reformed without sacking the entire top level of politically correct cronies that infest the institution.




Stand up for Britain's silent majority, Patten tells BBC as director-general admits: We failed to address immigration
By Paul Revoir and Kirsty Walker

Last updated at 10:11 AM on 7th July 2011

Lord Patten said the BBC should listen to accusations from viewers

The BBC should avoid pandering to 'metropolitan prejudices' or a 'tasteless common denominator' by standing up for the silent majority, its new chairman has declared.

Lord Patten said the corporation should listen to accusations that it is 'drowning' viewers and listeners with 'prejudices' and 'stereotypes' from the urban elite.
In a plea for the broadcaster to become more representative of the licence fee payer, he said the ideas of the wider public 'deserve to be considered and reflected'.

His comments will be seen as an attempt to address the long-standing claim that the BBC is guilty of a London-centric, Left-leaning bias which alienates large sections of the public.

On the issue of standards, Lord Patten added it would be an 'act of treason' if the BBC reduced quality to chase ratings.

Last night, giving the Royal Television Society's Fleming Memorial Lecture 2011 – his maiden speech as chairman – Lord Patten also said criticism that the corporation was 'not impartial' should 'keep us on our toes'.

Lord Patten has heralded an end to ‘waste, self-indulgence and inefficiency’ at the BBC by cutting senior management posts, introducing pay caps and ending bonuses and private health perks.

In an attempt to call time on the era of inflated pay, perks and privileges, the new BBC chairman announced measures aimed at addressing the ‘toxic’ issue of pay.

Director-general Mark Thompson and his executive board will have their salaries capped – meaning they will not be able to earn more than a designated multiple of the middle or ‘median’ salary at the corporation, currently £39,668.

Under the measure, Mr Thompson will never be able to earn more than 17 times the staff ‘median’, although at £674,000 that still works out at higher than his current salary of £619,000.

Likewise members of his executive board will not be able to exceed nine times that median figure, or £357,000. Average board pay is currently £352,000.

Speaking last night, Lord Patten said public trust ‘suffers’ when corporate behaviour ‘doesn’t fit the ideal’ and the organisation needed to ‘distance itself from the market’.

His measures will also see the number of senior management roles reduced by almost two thirds from about 550 to 200.

A freeze on bonuses for the board will be made permanent and private health insurance will be phased out for top bosses.

He said: ‘Waste, self-indulgence and inefficiency at the BBC are inexcusable, as they are anywhere else in the public sector ... that’s why, watching from the outside, the issue of senior executive pay has looked so toxic for the institution as a whole.’

He insisted the broadcaster should reflect 'the full breadth of opinion that exists on most controversial topics'.

And he said any mistakes in its reporting were an 'assault on our own values', warning that episodes like these risked undermining its 'brave journalism'.

Referring to 19th-century French writer Gustave Flaubert, he said: 'We should also listen hard to those who accuse us of drowning our viewers and listeners in a small metropolitan pond of stereotypes and prejudices, what Flaubert called “received ideas”.


'The customarily “unreceived” deserve to be considered and reflected too. And audiences in every different part of the UK should feel the BBC is relevant to their everyday lives.'

The corporation has previously been accused of failing to represent views and lifestyles of rural viewers, often making them figures of fun, as in comedies such as The Vicar of Dibley.

BBC executives have also in the past conceded the corporation was guilty of promoting Left-wing views.

Lord Patten's comments come after a BBC report in 2007 suggested the corporation was out of touch with large swathes of the public and guilty of self-censoring on subjects it found unpalatable. It warned that such behaviour would cause people to lose faith in the broadcaster.

Lord Patten said last night: 'Public support is central to the BBC's on-going success.'

The new chairman also issued a clarion call on high standards in the BBC's output.

'Above all, we should pay greatest heed to any justified assertion that we are guilty of descending to a tasteless common denominator,' he stressed.

'Were that to be true, it would be a real act of treason to all that we are supposed to stand for.'

Lord Patten's comments will be seen as an attempt to address the long-standing claim that the BBC is London-centric and left-leaning

The BBC has come under fire from viewers for derivative programmes and apparent attempts to chase ratings. Lord Patten said 'political bias' had been 'the charge of almost every government since the BBC was founded', but added that some criticism 'should be taken very seriously'.

On its journalism he warned: 'We should also take any mistakes in reporting, let alone the use of dubious evidence, as an assault on our own values.

'The brave journalism that uncovers cruelty in a welfare home is devalued when we fall short of our own highest standards in other programmes.

'Criticism that we are not impartial should keep us on our toes, determined to tell things as we see them while taking account of the full breadth of opinion that exists on most controversial topics.'

Director-general admits BBC steers clear of sensitive or 'taboo' topics Director General, Mark Thompson, admitted 'taboo' subjects were avoided

Sensitive or 'taboo' subjects such as immigration were avoided by the BBC, the corporation's director-general admitted yesterday.

Mark Thompson conceded that the broadcaster had been 'anxious' in the past about playing into what it may have perceived to be a Right-wing political agenda.
But he claimed it had now changed its position and was responsible for raising the topic of immigration during last year's general election.

Mr Thompson added that the BBC had a duty to address 'sensitive and difficult' issues a 'significant proportion' of the public wanted to hear about.

In an article for the New Statesman magazine, he admitted: 'There have been occasions, I believe, in the past, when the BBC has had limitations.

'For example, I think there were some years when the BBC, like the rest of the UK media, was very reticent about talking about immigration.

'There was an anxiety whether or not you might be playing into a political agenda if you did items about immigration.' Mr Thompson went on to insist that he did not like the idea that certain subjects were 'taboo'.

He said: 'In the 2010 election campaign, none of the parties was talking about immigration.

'We believed we should deal with it, because the public – not everyone, but a significant proportion – was saying to us that it was a real issue.

'We've got a duty, even if issues are sensitive and difficult to get right, to confront what the public want. I don't like the idea of topics that are taboo.'
Last year, Mr Thompson accepted that the BBC had been guilty of 'massive' Left-wing bias.

And in 2007, a BBC Trust report criticised the corporation for coming late to several important stories, including Euroscepticism and immigration, which it described as 'off limits' in terms of a liberal-minded comfort zone.

Mr Thompson also defended the large numbers of journalists the BBC sends to events such as Glastonbury and the Olympics.

And he insisted that staff were low paid compared with other broadcasting organisations.

The BBC was criticised last month for sending 407 people to the Glastonbury festival – at a cost of £1.5million.

But the director-general said: 'In the British press, the BBC sending a few hundred people to the Beijing Olympics was a national scandal. We sent about a tenth of the number sent by NBC, the U.S. broadcaster.

'We're known internationally for the small numbers of people we send, but in a newspaper 100 sounds like a lot, in the way £7million for taxis does. It depends on the context. We should make sure we're doing these things with as few people as we can and I think we do.'



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