Mark Thompson asks for help to get liars out of the BBC
Lord Reith | 16.07.2007 01:11 | Iraq | Palestine | Terror War | World
Can we have a bit more of the old educate, inform and entertain please and less of the lies? Read the following memo from Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC, to all BBC employees very carefully. Everyone who has evidence of BBC inaccuracy should contact him in the next 24 hours to make him aware of any programs which have mislead the general public. I believe his email address is: 
mark.thompson@bbc.co.uk and the BBC's tel. no. at Television Centre is 0208 743 8000.
mark.thompson@bbc.co.uk and the BBC's tel. no. at Television Centre is 0208 743 8000.
Please act in the next 24 hours to make sure he acts to put right the damage done by any dishonest pieces of garbage journalism - Tim Sparke of Mercury Media has already written to him but we need many more of us to write and ring in to make our voice heard.
Action this day!!
Memo from Mark Thompson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear colleagues,
This is an email which is particularly addressed to everyone who works in programme and content parts of the BBC, but I thought it was important that everyone who works in the organisation should see it.
As you will know, there have been a number of incidents - recent problems related to phone use including the controversy over Blue Peter and, in the last few days, the incorrect and misleading edit of Her Majesty the Queen in the BBC One seasonal launch tape - which defy our values and threaten the precious relationship of trust between the BBC and our audiences. We cannot take that trust for granted.
The vast majority of you ensure our TV, radio and interactive content is accurate, fair and complies with our own clear editorial guidelines and Ofcom's code. We cannot allow even a small number of lapses, whether intentional or as a result of sloppiness, to undermine our reputation and the confidence of the public.
Even before the most recent issue involving the Queen, I had asked the Directors of Vision, Journalism and Audio & Music to work with their senior editorial and creative teams to identify any further issues or incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience.
I am writing to you today to ask you to help and support this process in any way you can. If you know of any further incident, please let us know.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering a full report to the BBC Trust. After that, I will write to you again to set out the action that I and the Executive Board intend to take to minimise the risk of anything like these totally unacceptable incidents ever happening again. The vital first step is to ensure that we know about every problem that's out there.
Nothing matters more for us than honesty, accuracy and fair dealing with the audience. We must now put our house in order. We need your help to enable us to do that as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible. I know I can count on your support.
The vast majority of you ensure our TV, radio and interactive content is accurate, fair and complies with our own clear editorial guidelines and Ofcom's code. We cannot allow even a small number of lapses, whether intentional or as a result of sloppiness, to undermine our reputation and the confidence of the public.
Even before the most recent issue involving the Queen, I had asked the Directors of Vision, Journalism and Audio & Music to work with their senior editorial and creative teams to identify any further issues or incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience.
I am writing to you today to ask you to help and support this process in any way you can. If you know of any further incident, please let us know.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering a full report to the BBC Trust. After that, I will write to you again to set out the action that I and the Executive Board intend to take to minimise the risk of anything like these totally unacceptable incidents ever happening again. The vital first step is to ensure that we know about every problem that's out there.
Nothing matters more for us than honesty, accuracy and fair dealing with the audience. We must now put our house in order. We need your help to enable us to do that as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible. I know I can count on your support.
Yours sincerely
Mark Thompson
Director-General BBC
Action this day!!
Memo from Mark Thompson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear colleagues,
This is an email which is particularly addressed to everyone who works in programme and content parts of the BBC, but I thought it was important that everyone who works in the organisation should see it.
As you will know, there have been a number of incidents - recent problems related to phone use including the controversy over Blue Peter and, in the last few days, the incorrect and misleading edit of Her Majesty the Queen in the BBC One seasonal launch tape - which defy our values and threaten the precious relationship of trust between the BBC and our audiences. We cannot take that trust for granted.
The vast majority of you ensure our TV, radio and interactive content is accurate, fair and complies with our own clear editorial guidelines and Ofcom's code. We cannot allow even a small number of lapses, whether intentional or as a result of sloppiness, to undermine our reputation and the confidence of the public.
Even before the most recent issue involving the Queen, I had asked the Directors of Vision, Journalism and Audio & Music to work with their senior editorial and creative teams to identify any further issues or incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience.
I am writing to you today to ask you to help and support this process in any way you can. If you know of any further incident, please let us know.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering a full report to the BBC Trust. After that, I will write to you again to set out the action that I and the Executive Board intend to take to minimise the risk of anything like these totally unacceptable incidents ever happening again. The vital first step is to ensure that we know about every problem that's out there.
Nothing matters more for us than honesty, accuracy and fair dealing with the audience. We must now put our house in order. We need your help to enable us to do that as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible. I know I can count on your support.
The vast majority of you ensure our TV, radio and interactive content is accurate, fair and complies with our own clear editorial guidelines and Ofcom's code. We cannot allow even a small number of lapses, whether intentional or as a result of sloppiness, to undermine our reputation and the confidence of the public.
Even before the most recent issue involving the Queen, I had asked the Directors of Vision, Journalism and Audio & Music to work with their senior editorial and creative teams to identify any further issues or incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience.
I am writing to you today to ask you to help and support this process in any way you can. If you know of any further incident, please let us know.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering a full report to the BBC Trust. After that, I will write to you again to set out the action that I and the Executive Board intend to take to minimise the risk of anything like these totally unacceptable incidents ever happening again. The vital first step is to ensure that we know about every problem that's out there.
Nothing matters more for us than honesty, accuracy and fair dealing with the audience. We must now put our house in order. We need your help to enable us to do that as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible. I know I can count on your support.
Yours sincerely
Mark Thompson
Director-General BBC
Lord Reith
Homepage:
http://www.bbc.co.uk
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Repeat after me ...
16.07.2007 06:29
"The vast majority of you ensure our TV, radio and interactive content is accurate, fair and complies with our own clear editorial guidelines and Ofcom's code. We cannot allow even a small number of lapses, whether intentional or as a result of sloppiness, to undermine our reputation and the confidence of the public.
Even before the most recent issue involving the Queen, I had asked the Directors of Vision, Journalism and Audio & Music to work with their senior editorial and creative teams to identify any further issues or incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience.
I am writing to you today to ask you to help and support this process in any way you can. If you know of any further incident, please let us know.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering a full report to the BBC Trust. After that, I will write to you again to set out the action that I and the Executive Board intend to take to minimise the risk of anything like these totally unacceptable incidents ever happening again. The vital first step is to ensure that we know about every problem that's out there.
Nothing matters more for us than honesty, accuracy and fair dealing with the audience. We must now put our house in order. We need your help to enable us to do that as swiftly and as comprehensively as possible. I know I can count on your support."
re- re- repetition
Two examples: Iran and Tony Blair's 'popularity'
16.07.2007 08:54
I understand from a letter posted here:
that you are seeking examples of "incidents of serious intentional or unintentional deception of the audience".
Here are two incidents which demonstrate deliberate attempts to deceive the audience:
IEDs: Iraq's deadly roadside bombs
Your news report says:
"The US says sophisticated bomb-making material from Iran has been found in IEDs in Iraq."
However, the alleged IED link to Iran was proven to be untrue in this October 2005 Independent article:
"Revealed: IRA bombs killed eight British soldiers in Iraq"
Despite this, the BBC has continued to parrot the lie that Iran is involved in making IEDs used in Iraq.
Here is another example:
On 27 June 2007, Nick Assinder's fawning article misled the audience about Tony Blair's alleged popularity:
"Why is Tony Blair stepping down?"
He said:
"And the end result is that Tony Blair becomes an ex-prime minister at the relatively young age of 54, despite having won three large election victories and with opinion polls still suggesting the party was well set to head towards a fourth term in office."
However, this is not true. The opinion poll at the time showed Tories at 37% and Labour at 32%:
Please confirm that this e-mail has been received safely and that you will be documenting and remedying these two abuses in your report.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks & regards
Marcus Williamson
Marcus Williamson
e-mail:
-
Homepage:
http://-
Start with the Panorama team!!
16.07.2007 11:01
Jim
BBCs Israel/Palestine bias to remains secret
16.07.2007 11:06
By PAUL REVOIR - More by this author » Last updated at 17:55pm on 27th April 2007
The BBC has won its legal battle to block the publication of a report into alleged bias in its reporting of Middle East affairs.
A ruling obtained under freedom of information legislation had obliged the corporation to make the internal audit public.
But that decision was overturned by the High Court.
The BBC's decision to spend an estimated £200,000 of licence feepayers' money to keep the Balen Report secret has been widely condemned.
The corporation was accused of hypocrisy because it has regularly used freedom of information legislation to break news stories.
The attempt to force the BBC to publish the report - compiled in 2004 by its editorial adviser Malcolm Balen - was led by lawyer Steven Sugar, who represented himself in court.
The ruling will disappoint the Jewish community which would have wanted to know whether the 20,000-word document had found any evidence of anti-Israeli bias in news programming.
Mr Justice Davis, sitting at the High Court in London, said last August's decision by the Information Tribunal for the report to be published was flawed.
He said: "I conclude that the BBC's submissions are well founded. The tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain any appeal."
The judge said the document was exempt from inspection under freedom of information laws because it was held by the BBC "for the purposes of journalism, art or literature".
After the verdict, Mr Sugar said: "It is a technical win by the BBC which has the result desired by the BBC of weighting the Freedom of Information Act in its favour.
"Perhaps the BBC Trust under its new chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, will take a different view to the BBC management and conclude that it is in the public interest for Mr Balen's report to
be published."
Mr Sugar called on ministers to review the journalistic exemption.
"The exception was drafted in general terms which has allowed its use to prevent the public gaining access to much material which I am sure the Government intended should be publicly available," he said.
"I hope Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, who is a supporter of freedom of information, will consider clarifying the journalism exception. This would not require primary legislation."
Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley and a member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said: "This seems to be outrageous. If the BBC are embarrassed about what they are doing they should not be doing it.
"If they are not embarrassed they should release the information. It is a sad day when they have spent so much money to keep it secret -people think this is a colossal waste of money."
The BBC has faced repeated claims that its reporting of the Arab-Israeli conflict has been skewed towards the Palestinian cause.
Its critics cite the revelation from Middle East correspondent Barbara Plett that she cried when Yasser Arafat was close to death in 2004.
A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has always maintained that the Balen Report is held for purposes of journalism and, therefore, outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.
"We believe that programme makers must have the space to be able to freely discuss and reflect on editorial issues in support of independent journalism.
"It was always intended as an internal review of programme content, to inform future output. It was never intended for publication.
"The BBC's action in this case had nothing to do with the fact that the Balen Report was about the Middle East - the same approach would have been taken whatever area of news output was covered.
Tony Gosling
Homepage:
http://www.public-interest.co.uk
Also rid of these
16.07.2007 14:02
Get rid of the 10-clock pro war pro Zionist(no replies please ziotrolls) pro celebrity bullshit news.( get rid of all these 3rd rate celebrities and all the site about property investment - tho that is mainly CH4 )
Get rid of the newsnight science editorial team and their bunch of greenwash arses
Get rid of any imperialist Dimbelby shite.
Abbot, Portillo and O Neil have to go - fat unfunny fascists.
Cops and Robbers propaganda programmes.
Anything by Ben Elton pretending to be a comedy.
Those fucking dancers.
War happy plaguarists Dan and John Snow
Rich Edinburgh Mafia bitch Kirsty Wark
The swingometer-who gives a monkeys.
Blue Peter indocrinating our kids.
The Weather ( crap 3d and inaccurate )
Neighbours - ( why?)
Radio 4 uber fascistic morning propaganda and their cast of US pundiuts, rich fuckwits, and dodgy soap opera and Torygraph darling slimeball John Humphries.
Keep Rome. Tell it like it is. sort of...
Bring back Blakes 7.....
More News Quiz - superior to the boring HIGNFYou and JHardy is funny.
Come to think of it- IT's ALL 'POPAGANDA.'
On second thoughts - dump your telly and spend time making and broadcasting your own stuff.Hack into Ally Pally anyone?
Square Eyes
As if a lackey of the NWO (aka Rothschild/Rockefeller money bagses) will listen?
17.07.2007 12:14
Please ask if you want A3 version:-
--
Feedback:
Mr Thompson I understand from a letter posted here and elsewhere:
Here is the central incident which demonstrates deliberate attempts to deceive your dwindling audience: Your execrable 'documentary' entitle BBC 9/11 Conspiracy Files.
Not once since airing this appallingly biased production has anyone at the BBC made an apology for the near-libelous slurs on genuine researchers and lawyers determined to expose the avalanche of discrepancies between the Official Conspiracy and Fact on the ground.
Do you fully appreciate what damage this has done to your credibility, especially now Shayler et al have broadcast their incisive repudiation of your feeble effort all over the Internet? You have become a laughing stock amongst ever increasing numbers of people now thinking for themselves. If you want to return to being a viable source of truth and knowledge to the world, surely this is the key issue to address, as there are now a conservatively estimated 300 million people worldwide calling for, and in many influential cases, demanding a new impartial, international Inquiry on 9/11?
Please confirm that this e-mail has been received safely and that you will be documenting and remedying this travesty in your report. Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks & regards
Ethel Blunt, a disgusted ex-viewer who never thought to see the day that the world-inspiring BBC would plummet to something no better than Lord Haw Haw writ large.
Under 13:
no
Name:
Mrs Ethel Blunt
Country:
Wales
Ethel Blunt