BBC Gets ‘F’: Questionable coverage conducted by broadcaster
Most of us think of fake news as a recent development or as the product of President Donald Trump’s reaction to events. I’m here to tell you, however, that fake news has existed as long as our republic.
Many years ago, when I was attending the University of Maryland, I bought a bottle of “Gold Water” and started volunteering for the Barry Goldwater for President campaign. Then one day I and a few other student volunteers received an invitation we couldn’t refuse. We were invited to (for free) attend a thousand dollar a plate dinner for Barry in Baltimore.
We were gobsmacked.
Obviously none of us had ever attended anything like that before. We all piled into a car and headed for the dinner. When we arrived, however, we were quickly herded onto the rear of the auditorium. We were handed a sandwich and bottle of Pepsi and told that our job was to chant “We want Barry”. So much for the thousand dollar food. We were all somewhat upset, particulary since the CEO of Pepsi Cola had just endorsed Goldwater’s opponent. We did, however, chant the requested words and were able to listen to Goldwater give a passionate speech attacking Lyndon Johnson for allegedly selling non-existent fertilizer tanks.
The speech concluded to thunderous applause, and we listened to the radio news account of the event as we drove home. That news account, however, never mentioned fertilizer tanks. Instead it focused on a couple of short lines which Barry had supposedly said during that speech. We spent most of the remaining trip home trying to remember if Goldwater had ever said those lines attributed to him. They certainly had nothing to do with the central purpose of his speech. It was during that trip home that I first came to understand the concept of “fake news.”
The BBC, a number of years later, perfected the art of “fake news” in its coverage of President Trump’s speech to the crowd preceding its demonstration protesting the conclusion that Biden had won the presidential election.
Those who watched the speech may deem that President Trump extorted the crowd to keep its demonstration peaceful and respectful. However, there may be some viewers who may think otherwise. The BBC, however, did a nifty little videotape splice cutting a sentence in half and adding a word spoken twenty minutes later which made it seem like the Donald was ordering the crowd to go commit violence. Other conservatives in the UK would later relate that this kind of unfair and creative editing is often used by the left-leaning BBC to deal with speakers on the right.
Now, that he has been reelected, President Trump has instructed his lawyer to take steps to sue the BBC for damages. As a result, a couple of individuals leading its news division have been fired. Tousi TV quotes a number of conservatives as applauding Trump’s move because of their hope that the action might restrain future actions by the BBC.
The BBC has now responded to Trump with an apology. It has, however, refused to consider money damages. Trump has replied to the BBC with the observation that a simple apology is not enough. An apology after the election is a day late and a whole lot of dollars short.
Trump has stated he’s going through with the lawsuit. He had originally mentioned a number of at least a billion dollars. Now he’s being more specific and sees the suit demanding up to five billion dollars. The concern is that a suit of that magnitude would bankrupt the BBC.
The BBC is funded by the government, but in an unusual way. Everyone in the UK that is able to watch the news on any device including I phones is deemed to have to pay to support the network because it is assumed they will watch it. It is, however, happening more and more that taxpayers are claiming they never watch the network and therefore refuse to pay for it. If the BBC is forced by the courts to pay Trump a few billion dollars, the number of those people is going to skyrocket. This could well be the end of the BBC unless the government begins supporting the network with general tax revenue.
The BBC has earned a well-deserved failing grade as the Free World’s leader in fake news.