Friday, November 10, 2017

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Earlier today, I had a brief exchange with Nick Robinson (former Political Editor of both the BBC and ITV News, and now presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today programme) on the subject of Alex Salmond's new TV show - which is made with complete editorial control by Salmond's own production company, and will be broadcast on RT.

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This is my cue to use the immortal words "He didn't answer" (albeit with rather more accuracy than they were originally used).

I realised as I was writing those tweets that I am - somewhat to my surprise - a fan of Twitter's new 280-character limit.  Until a couple of days ago, if I had tried to make points like those I would have given up in despair after realising that it's impossible to condense them into 140 characters.

12 comments:

  1. I'm not surprised by the furore over this new show. As if folk need to be told about how biased something is especially coming from Scotland where bias in the media has become an art form!

    I utterly resent being told I shouldn't watch because I'm stupid and gullible and cannot be trusted to tell if I'm being brainwashed.

    Oh, and I can cross the road myself and am housetrained. :D

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  2. Jeremy Vine after being told by George Galloway that he had total editorial control over his show on RT said yes but they would still have the ability to slant the report to suit their agenda!
    I bow to your superior knowledge Jeremy!

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  3. I'm not fan of Russia or its previous incarnation, the Soviet Union, for many reasons. But I'm not sure whether a Westminster propaganda outfit like the BBC is any better than a Kremlin outfit like RT. They are both foreign to me, and I suppose we could have a long discussion on whether the Duma in Moscow is any more of a charade than the unelected House of Lords in London.

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    1. Yer a wee Knob. The Westminster keep the dictators oot of our lives. Grow up idiot.

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  4. If people think it's propaganda they can turn it off. That's why I never listen to Radio 4 or Radio Scotland News/current affairs/politics, because I know it's UK State Propaganda.

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  5. With the proliferation of news broadcasters now available, I am now able to check several, eg BBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera, CNN, RT, etc to see how they cover particular stories and, thereby form what I think is a reasonable approximation to the truth. Websites also help.

    Mr Robinson is a mendacious right wing propagandist, who has dropped any pretence at impartial reporting and analysis.

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  6. There's certainly a case to be made that the BBC is more likely to be critical of the UK government than RT is of the Russian government. Not sure why Robinson didn't do that, rather than hand you such an open goal.

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  7. You can see why NS might chose to advise AS not to appear on RT: because of the relentless BBC biased commentary.

    They really really don’t like that we can all have 5 or 6 different news outlets on our phones, dropping us their own versions of stories so we can get a spectrum of opinion.

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  8. Vladimir will need a lang spoon tae go suppin wae Alec.

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  9. I enjoy watching the many news channels from around the world in the full knowledge that they will have a propaganda slant towards the Country they represent. I also believe this of BBC ,ITV & Sky (Anglo British) and their Branch outlets in Scotland STV,& BBC Scotland . I understand that these will Always have a Slant toward Anglo British rule in Scotland. The British just don't like the fact that they no longer Rule the (Air) Waves.

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    1. You made the argument in your first sentence that the UK needs its propoganda as others do.

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  10. Excellent James, as they say "Revenge is a dish best served cold" ..... and in the case of Nick "he didn't answer" Robinson ... I hope it was 0 Degrees Kelvin !!!

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