Your golden link to keep handy for whenever you encounter a true believer in "BBC impartiality"

I'd encourage everyone to read Owen Jones' remarkable investigative piece on Drop Site News about the sources of the BBC's pro-Israel bias during the ongoing genocide in Gaza.  And then I'd invite everyone to bookmark the page and make sure you always have it handy, because I think it will prove to be invaluable in the years to come.  Although it's primarily about why the BBC cannot be trusted in its reporting of Gaza, it also has the side-benefit of powerfully demonstrating why the BBC cannot be trusted in its reporting of domestic UK or Scottish politics either.  We all have people in our lives who still think the BBC is impartial in the way it covers the Scottish constitutional debate and that anyone who suggests otherwise is a tinfoil hat zoomer, so gently encouraging people like that to read Jones' piece with an open mind might be the first step for them on the road to enlightenment.

A particularly damning section is about Robbie Gibb, who hilariously is "charged with helping to define the BBC’s commitment to impartiality", even though - 

1) He is the brother of a former Tory government minister

2) He is the former chief of staff to a Tory MP

3) He is the former Director of Communications for the Tory Prime Minister Theresa May

4) He was knighted by Theresa May

5) He was described two years ago by former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis as an "active agent of the Conservative party"

6) Until only a few months ago, he was the 100% owner of the rabidly pro-Netanyahu, pro-genocide newspaper the Jewish Chronicle

It's the revelation about the Jewish Chronicle that made my jaw drop to the floor, because if the BBC's impartiality safeguards were functioning as they're supposed to, that should have been enough to lead to Gibb's instant dismissal from his BBC role.  

During my battles a year or two back with the press regulator IPSO, which is largely a sham regulator, I read up about the small minority of complaints that IPSO have upheld over the years and discovered that the Jewish Chronicle is by far the biggest offender.  If you read comments IPSO have published about the Jewish Chronicle, you'll find that they basically regard the paper as staffed by hyper-partisan amateurs who push an agenda without even bothering with the basics of journalism.

The debate over the future of the House of Lords used to be about whether it should be composed of hereditary peers or people who win elections. Keir Starmer has devised an elegant compromise - the Lords is now composed of people who *lose* elections.

— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) December 21, 2024

Edinburgh local politics is like a remake of the Chris Tarrant quiz show "Lose A Million". You gain power by having as few councillors as possible. The Labour administration will only be truly safe when it slips to fifth place. https://t.co/ww7DSd9viK

— James Kelly (@JamesKelly) December 20, 2024

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