Tuesday 21 July 2009

I’m Confused…

…how could they possibly be any more ‘left-of-centre’?
A senior BBC executive has claimed that the corporation should foster "left-of-centre thinking", leading to accusations of political bias from the Conservatives.

Ben Stephenson, the controller of BBC drama commissioning, said that the corporation should encourage "peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking."
Which will come as a surprise to the people who follow ‘Biased BBC’, as there’s plenty of evidence that it already does…
Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said: "What Ben Stephenson said was a clear breach of the BBC's impartiality obligations.

"No journalist or editor should be following a political agenda, let alone someone as senior as a controller."
Stephenson was quick to claim that he didn’t mean what he obviously said:
He later denied that he had meant the comment to have a political meaning.

"Like 'left-field', it is a phrase that I use with frequency when talking to the creative community to encourage them to develop and approach their ideas from a completely new perspective," he said.
There’ll be some hollow laughter at the idea that ‘left of centre thinking’ would be considered a new perspective for many from the creative community…

Certainly, they appear to be having difficulty with the concept:
A BBC source said that executives believed that their casting of Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, in an episode of EastEnders, proved that they did not have a left-wing bias.
Eh…? Seriously?

Doesn’t that just sum up the disconnect between ‘creative types’ and everyone else perfectly?

Ross, Iain Dale and Stan all have fun with this one too...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"…how could they possibly be any more ‘left-of-centre’?"

hmm, your a little naive aren't you?

This stuff ends in megadeaths.

Class extermination. Death camps. High schools used as (insane) torture centres. Mass drownings of the upper classes as an art form (Noyades, during the Terror). The bitter harvest (USSR), the great leap backwards (CHINA), the holocaust (Germany).

Really, you think this is the worst the left have to offer?

It hasn't even started.

Socialism kills people in large numbers. End stage socialism tends to kill about 10% of the population. What will you do?

Anonymous said...

This "senior" bbc beeboid is only 32 years old and in charge of bbc drama commissioning. So Thompson and his ilk have let the kids have charge of the school.
This boy is a danger to us and himself.

JuliaM said...

"Really, you think this is the worst the left have to offer?"

No, I think they can probably still wildly exceed my expectations, sadly...

"This "senior" bbc beeboid is only 32 years old and in charge of bbc drama commissioning. So Thompson and his ilk have let the kids have charge of the school."

And unlike children in the sweet shop, WE'RE getting the belly ache too!