BBC: Don't call al-Qaeda 'extremist', they are only 'radical'

The BBC has instructed it's journalists to not call al-Qaeda 'extremist' or use pictures that make them look fat.

(Telegraph) — The BBC has told its journalists not to call Abu Qatada, the al-Qaeda preacher, an “extremist”.

In order to avoid making a “value judgment”, the corporation’s managers have ruled that he can only be described as “radical”.

Journalists were also cautioned against using images suggesting the preacher is overweight.
A judge ruled this week that the Muslim preacher, once described as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, should be released from a British jail, angering ministers and MPs.
A British court has called Qatada a “truly dangerous individual” and even his defence team has suggested he poses a “grave risk” to national security.

Despite that background, BBC journalists were told they should not describe Qatada as an extremist. The guidance was issued at the BBC newsroom’s 9.00am editorial meeting yesterday, chaired by a senior manager, Andrew Roy.

According to notes of the meeting, seen by The Daily Telegraph, journalists were told: “Do not call him an extremist – we must call him a radical. Extremist implies a value judgment.”

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BBC to Censor Anthropogenic Climate Change Skeptics

The global warming true believer crowd is losing the climate change argument. Their back up plan is to silence the other half of the argument and censor anthropogenic climate change skeptics.

(MailOnline)- Opponents of global warming should be given less coverage by the BBC than the climate change lobby, the corporation will rule.

The BBC is set to publish a report tomorrow on its science output announcing changes to rules on impartiality.

Following the overhaul, programme makers and broadcasters will be compelled to give less prominence to those who oppose the scientific community's majority view.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the report draws heavily on an independent review of BBC coverage by Steve Jones, a professor of genetics at University College London.

Professor Jones is understood to have cleared the BBC of any suggestion of bias in its programming.

BBC Outed as Al Qaeda Propaganda Arm

Why am I not surprised? WikiLeaks has revealed several Al Qaeda members had a BBC phone number on their phones.

(Telegraph) — The BBC is accused of being part of a “possible propaganda media network” for Al Qaeda, according to the leaked US files on the Guantanamo detainees.

The files, obtained by the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph, disclose that a phone number of someone at the BBC was found in the phone books and phones of a number of extremists seized by US forces.

A detainee assessment, dated 21 April 2007, states: “The London, United Kingdom (UK), phone number 0044 207 XXX XXXX was discovered in numerous seized phone books and phones associated with extremist-linked individuals.

BBC: What happened to global warming?

Even the BBC is now questioning global warming. The climate model used by the global warming fear-mongers predicted temperatures would keep rising as the CO2 level increased. That hasn't happened. Global warming pretty much stopped early in this century.

The BBC reported:

This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

So what on Earth is going on?...

BBC staff protest failure to air pro-Palestinian video

Many have wondered if the BBC had a pro-Palestinian bias in their reporting. This has now been confirmed. Over 400 of their staff have signed a protest petition because they failed to air a video that the corporation deemed to be too biased in favor of Palestinians. That must have been one very biased news video. Hat tip to Axis of Right.

BBC staff to deliver 400-strong petition over Gaza appeal decision

More than 400 BBC staff have signed a petition in protest at the corporation' decision not to broadcast the Gaza humanitarian aid appeal after the BBC Trust yesterday backed director general Mark Thompson's handling of the issue.

Broadcasting union Bectu said the petition would be handed to Thompson's office today while a copy would also be delivered to the BBC Trust.

Signatories to the petition expressed their "deep disappointment" with Thompson's decision to block the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal last month and urged him to reverse his stance. The decision led to 40,000 complaints to the corporation and nationwide protests outside its offices. (excerpted) read more at guardian.co.uk