Robbie Gibb in his natural habitat
This revelation of what was already widely suspected came during this year’s MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, given by now former BBC presenter Emily Maitlis. Moving right along from the obvious criticism that her intervention would have been significantly braver had she still been at the Beeb, her comments were nonetheless damning.
As the Guardian has reported, “Reflecting on her time at the BBC, Maitlis said the corporation often slipped into a ‘both-sides-ism’ approach to impartiality that gave a platform to individuals that did not deserve airtime. She recalled how during the 2016 EU referendum the BBC would create a false equivalence by putting one pro-Brexit economist on air to debate with one anti-Brexit economist, even though the overwhelming majority of economists felt Brexit was a bad idea”. See also under climate change.
But it was when discussing the carpeting she received for righty calling out former chief Downing Street polecat Dominic Cummings that she made her accusation against Gibb: “Put this in the context of the BBC Board, where another active agent of the Conservative party - former Downing Street spin doctor, and former adviser to BBC rival GB News - now sits, acting as the arbiter of BBC impartiality”. And that is a serious problem for the BBC.
Gibb’s idea of impartiality looks like another way of saying “what Gibb finds acceptable”, what might accord with his opinion. And opinion does not necessarily equal fact. The “both sides” obsession used during the Covid pandemic has merely confused viewers and given an opening to conspiracy pushers and other no-marks who should never have been platformed.
Emily Maitlis - better late than never
The story was later amended, but the internet never forgets, and the original was there for all to see. So how would the right leaning part of our free and fearless press react to the revelations, and left leaning pundits like Owen Jones observing “it's just very unfortunate that those of us who said the BBC's political coverage was rigged in favour of the Tories were long treated as wild conspiracy theorists”. We did not have to wait long to find out.
The odious flannelled fool Master Harry Cole, still pretending to be a real journalist at the Murdoch Sun, sneered “Funny how there were no posh telly crowd speeches decrying the fact the entire BBC strategy was for many years set by a Gordon Brown-era Labour Cabinet Minister who sat on this hallowed BBC Board”. So deflecting and lying - and no sign of a denial.
But what was way more revealing than Master Cole’s whinge was the array of front pages offered up by today’s papers. The Guardian, alone among them, mentions the story. The Mirror, campaigning for a freeze in energy price increases, had good reason to devote more space to that story. The others, more prosaically, merely had good reason to keep quiet.
And that is because most of them have been fully invested in the premiership of alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, which has included bullying the Beeb into submission. They are part of the misinformation machine that brought us the act of national self-harm that is Brexit, and the continuing efforts to deflect from an increasingly grim reality.
Perhaps the real world should be allowed back in. And that process can be shown to have begun with one act - the sacking of Robbie Gibb.
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5 comments:
As if we didn't know.
Kuentssberg, Neil, Wark, Paxman, Gardner and assorted "news" glove puppets and propaganda clerks are par for the BBC course over the years.
The same goes for the rest of corporate media, lying cowardly gobshites all.
Maitlis?.....Who gives a toss? She's a nothingburger now.
The BBC has recently announced relocation of its "international news" to Washington, USA, and a loss of 70 jobs in London. But the "creation" of 20 jobs in Washington. Thus demonstrating where the real centre of far right propaganda lies. Probably getting ready for the next war.
Maitlis is inconsequential. Media cowardice and lies will continue.....worsen, if anything.
The Earth: is it flat or round? An unbiased BBC report
https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/the-earth-is-it-flat-or-round-an-unbiased-bbc-report-20190808188058
Lord Lawson invited onto BBC to argue that the Earth is ‘flat’
https://newsthump.com/2017/08/11/lord-lawson-invited-onto-bbc-to-argue-that-the-earth-is-flat/
@ Arnold … the earth is especially flat if you dupe the plebs into voting for Brexit and then hop of the first ferry to reside in France.
On maitless … I’m glad she’s spoken up, but have far from trusted her impartiality since Finding out she was a regular dinner guest at chez Gove. Three in the bed and Sarah said … “go fetch the sniffy stuff Michael. There’s a good boy”
“Both sidesism?” I recall Emily Maitliss or her colleagues very firmly reporting only one side of domestic politics from 2015 to 2019.
The Guardian reports Maitliss complaining about being “doorstepped” after her broadcast criticism of Dominic Cummings. After years of introducing footage of her immediate colleagues doorstepping certain other figures.
Journalist outraged at other journalists turning up outside their house.
Still, at least someone is now permitted to question the BBC’s output without this being treated as the attempted murder of Laura Kuenssberg
Robbie Gibb had plenty of opportunity to 'influence news coverage' at the BBC well before working for Theresa May and recently being appointed to the BBC Board. He'd been the boss of Newsnight and other BBC news and political programmes for many years before that. See Wikipedia extract:
"Gibb is a former editor of the BBC's Sunday Politics and Daily Politics programmes. He was head of BBC Westminster, in overall charge of the BBC's political programme output – Daily and Sunday Politics, The Andrew Marr Show, This Week and Radio 4's Westminster Hour. Prior to joining the political team at Westminster he was deputy editor of BBC Two's Newsnight.
During the 2016 EU referendum campaign Gibb was editor of The Great Debate at Wembley Arena. He also edited the BBC's 2017 general election debate."
..in other words, well placed to influence BBC political content for years.
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