Thursday, September 21, 2006
E-Mails Prove It: The BBC's "News" is "Littered With Errors"
Anyone with an IQ higher than 5 can see that the BBC's reports are riddled with anti-American, anti-George W. Bush, and anti-Semitic slander of the worst kind. But new e-mails sent from the BBC's watchdog to The Telegraph of London proves something else: that the stories on the BBC are "littered with errors."
Call us shocked. Not.
BBC reports 'littered with errors'
Oh - but wait! The BBC is "fixing" all this!
So, the "errors" have been fixed, have they?
The BBC has just gone back to being a disgusting anti-American and anti-Semitic organization instead of a disgusting anti-American and anti-Semitic organization which tells wholesale lies.
How quaint!
Anyone with an IQ higher than 5 can see that the BBC's reports are riddled with anti-American, anti-George W. Bush, and anti-Semitic slander of the worst kind. But new e-mails sent from the BBC's watchdog to The Telegraph of London proves something else: that the stories on the BBC are "littered with errors."
Call us shocked. Not.
BBC reports 'littered with errors'
A significant number of BBC news reports are untrustworthy and littered with errors because the corporation's journalists fail to check their facts, according to e-mails sent by one of the BBC's most senior news managers. His messages reveal that the credibility of the news service is "on the line" because of a climate of sloppiness.
The internal memos, which have been obtained by The Telegraph, highlight concerns about the standard of journalism on local BBC television and radio, as well as on the BBC's flagship News Online service. They suggest that the corporation is struggling to keep its promise to improve the standards of its news services following damning criticisms levelled against it by the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly.
The BBC was criticised by Lord Hutton after it emerged that Andrew Gilligan, the Radio 4 Today programme journalist - whose flawed story about the background to the Government's claims on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was at the centre of the inquiry - had filed his report without it being checked by station managers.
The leaked e-mails sent by Hugh Berlyn, an assistant editor of BBC News Online, show that despite the furore surrounding the Gilligan report, dozens of "unvetted" stories appear on the internet every day. The result is a string of stories that are, at best, littered with errors and, at worst, inaccurate and potentially libellous.
In an e-mail last October, Mr Berlyn said journalists were not showing their reports to managers, who are supposed to check them in accordance with BBC rules. He wrote: "Yesterday we carried out a study of how many of your stories were being properly checked by a second pair of eyes before publication. To my surprise and concern, more than 60 stories around the country were apparently published without being second-checked."
Another e-mail, sent in February, said that the number of "justified complaints" about the lack of accuracy in spelling, names, grammar or simple detail was growing. Mr Berlyn told staff that he received dozens of complaints a day. "I really think the level of complaints is such that our credibility is on the line and that cannot be allowed to continue."
Oh - but wait! The BBC is "fixing" all this!
A BBC spokesman insisted last night that it had confidence in its journalists. "Since these e-mails were written, tighter procedures for checking copy have been put in place." The BBC has committed itself to implementing measures recommended by Ron Neil, the former head of news. Mr Neil, who was asked to investigate news services following the Hutton Inquiry, has recommended the establishment of a journalism college and expansion of local news services.
So, the "errors" have been fixed, have they?
The BBC has just gone back to being a disgusting anti-American and anti-Semitic organization instead of a disgusting anti-American and anti-Semitic organization which tells wholesale lies.
How quaint!
