Category Archives: BBC

Little Britain radio review: neutered by BBC impartiality rules

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The delay to Brexit plus strict pre-election guidelines left few chances for trenchant jokes in David Walliams and Matt Lucas’s sketch show

In the many risk assessments of the possible consequences of Brexit happening on Halloween – lorry queues, drug shortages, street violence – scant attention was paid to a significant victim of its not happening: broadcasting specials timed to coincide with departure from the EU being forced to go out, even though the UK actually hadn’t.

The special Brexit edition of Little Britain, bringing David Walliams and Matt Lucas’s sketch show back to Radio 4, where it started in 2000, was at a double disadvantage. Having been denied its calendar reason for being, it also now found itself broadcast in the run-up to a general election, when the BBC’s already contorted attempts at political impartiality become even stricter.

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IRA ‘planned to knock out electricity in south-east England’

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Former gun runner claims republicans plotted to bomb London power supply in 1990s

The IRA planned to attack power stations in south-east England in the final years of its terror bombing campaign, a former member has claimed.

The plan is alleged to have been made in the mid-1990s, shortly before the Belfast Agreement peace accord.

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‘Toxic’ Telegraph made me feel ‘nauseous’, says Graham Norton

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BBC chat show presenter explains why he stopped writing advice column

Graham Norton has said he stopped writing for the Daily Telegraph because the newspaper’s recent “toxic” political stances increasingly made him feel “nauseous”.

The BBC One chat show presenter wrote the newspaper’s advice column for 12 years before stepping down without explanation at the end of 2018. Norton has now said he decided to leave the outlet after it defended the likes of US supreme court then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh and published articles by future prime minister Boris Johnson containing falsehoods.

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Naga Munchetty: BBC reverses decision to censure presenter

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Corporation director general Tony Hall emails staff to say he is overturning ruling over impartiality guidelines

The BBC has reversed its decision to discipline Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty for breaking impartiality guidelines with her comments about the US president following enormous internal and external anger about the ruling.

The U-turn came after the Guardian published leaked internal correspondence casting doubts on the public claims made by senior BBC executives about the nature of the single viewer complaint that led to the ruling.

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Prominent Britons of colour condemn BBC over Naga Munchetty complaint

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Corporation accused of racial discrimination after presenter reprimanded for Trump remarks

More than 40 prominent broadcasters, celebrities and actors of colour have condemned the BBC, demanding it reconsider a decision partially upholding a complaint against the presenter Naga Munchetty, calling it “deeply flawed, illegal and contrary to the spirit and purpose of public broadcasting”.

In a letter published in the Guardian, the actors Lenny Henry, Adrian Lester and David Harewood, and presenters Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Gillian Joseph are among signatories describing the decision as “racially discriminatory treatment”.

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Johnson offers words of praise to Egypt’s leader despite repression

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Banning of BBC and crackdown on protests seemingly not on agenda at PM’s talks with Sisi

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, lavished praise on Egypt at a bilateral meeting with its president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in New York, hours before the UK hosted a global media freedom conference with Amal Clooney, the UK’s special envoy on media freedom.

Sisi has just instigated a fresh massive crackdown on journalists following the outbreak of protests against corruption in Egypt.

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Whistleblowers to sue Labour as antisemitism row deepens

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Ex-party staff to act over ‘defamation’ as angry Jeremy Corbyn criticises BBC documentary

The Labour high command is to be sued by former employees who broke cover last week to criticise the party’s handling of cases of alleged antisemitism in a dramatic escalation of the row engulfing Jeremy Corbyn’s party.

Two of the whistleblowers who featured in last week’s explosive BBC Panorama programme entitled Is Labour Anti-Semitic? – Sam Matthews and Louise Withers Green – contacted the Observer last night to say they had instructed the prominent media lawyer Mark Lewis to act on their behalf because they believed the party had defamed them in its response to their claims. Others who spoke to Panorama are also understood to be considering contacting Lewis to represent them in libel actions.

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Corbyn decries BBC’s ‘inaccuracies’ over Labour antisemitism

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Labour leader says Panorama adopted ‘predetermined’ critical position

Jeremy Corbyn has said there were “many, many, inaccuracies” in the BBC Panorama documentary about antisemitism in the party, saying that the programme adopted a “predetermined position” before it was aired.

The Labour leader made the comments during a visit to the Durham Miners’ Gala. He said: “I watched the programme and I felt there were many, many inaccuracies in the programme. The programme adopted a predetermined position on its own website before it was broadcast. We’ve made very clear what our processes are.

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Third of Britons say they avoid news out of Brexit frustration

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Claims in YouGov poll come as news websites report record numbers of visitors

A growing number of Britons claim they are actively avoiding the news out of frustration at coverage of Brexit, research has found, even as news websites report record numbers of visitors wanting to read about major developments.

The discrepancy suggests that while many people publicly insist they are avoiding news about the UK’s ongoing political crisis, some may be unable to stop themselves secretly gorging themselves on updates about Britain leaving the EU.

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Russian broadcaster hits out at BBC show parodying Putin

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Tonight With Vladimir Putin portrays Russian president as a talkshow host

Russia’s government-owned news service RT has denounced a BBC comedy chatshow featuring a 3D animation of Vladimir Putin interviewing the likes of Alastair Campbell.

The BBC described Tonight With Vladimir Putin, which has yet to air, as a “television first” with new technology enabling a “3D digital cartoon of Putin to walk around and sit behind the desk, interviewing real human guests in front of a studio audience, all in real time.”

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What’s the next Game of Thrones? All the contenders for fantasy TV’s crown

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The saga of the Seven Kingdoms may be bowing out, but it has opened the floodgates. Here’s your guide to the next big heroes

Rand al’Thor was found as a baby on the slopes of Dragonmount and taken to Two Rivers, where he grew into a broad-shouldered shepherd boy. But Rand is possessed of immense power, a power as yet untapped, for he is also The Dragon Reborn, destined to be hunted by Darkhounds and Darkfriends as he bids to prove himself a mighty warrior leader. Among other things, Rand’s existence shows that you should always believe ancient prophesies, that even the low-born can save the world – and that characters in TV fantasy series must always have two names.

Rand is just one of the 2,782 characters who appear in Wheel of Time, the bestselling saga of fantasy novels by Robert Jordan. We can only hope the forthcoming adaptation on Amazon will hone the cast down a little, as we follow Rand and his forces towards Tarmon Gai’don, or the final battle between good and evil.

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Use forecast to talk about climate change, urges ex-BBC presenter

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Bill Giles calls on broadcasters to add slot explaining humans’ impact on climate

The veteran weatherman Bill Giles is calling on the BBC and other major broadcasters to radically overhaul their forecasts to incorporate information about climate change.

The former head of BBC weather presenters has said more needs to be done by broadcasters to highlight climate change to face the “reality more squarely and openly”.

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‘Unbelievable’: Alan Sugar irate over not owning a Bafta award

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The Apprentice host says his wife is upset he has never been allowed to keep a statuette

Awards season is in full swing but one man feels particularly hard done by: Alan Sugar.

The host of The Apprentice has called for himself to be given his own special award in recognition of the reality show’s success, after revealing that his wife is upset that he has never been allowed to keep a Bafta statuette.

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UK foreign secretary condemns attack on BBC cameraman at Trump rally

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A man was seen shoving BBC cameraman Ron Skeans before being pulled away, according to a BBC video

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has condemned an attack on a BBC cameraman by a supporter of Donald Trump at a campaign rally in El Paso, Texas.

Asked whether it was acceptable for Trump to whip up his fans to the point that a cameraman was attacked, Hunt told Sky News: “It is never acceptable when journalists and cameramen are attacked just for doing their job.“

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When Angela Merkel upset Donald Tusk over immigration

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New BBC documentary reveals European Council president’s anger when German chancellor had private talks with Turkey

Donald Tusk was enraged when Angela Merkel held private talks with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees and migrants into the European Union, warning the plan would be “a catastrophe”, a new documentary reveals.

“I couldn’t believe it was true. These were my closest partners,” Tusk tells a BBC2 documentary, Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil, about the migration crisis to be aired on Monday.

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British PM Theresa May To Talk Post-Brexit Trade Deal With President Trump At White House

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Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves the BBC's Broadcasting House in London, Britain, January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Neil Hall PHILADELPHIA-British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in Philadelphia Thursday and will be the first world leader to have face to face talks with President Donald Trump after she delivers remarks to Republican members of Congress at their annual retreat.