Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Auntie Turning Tricks

Say what you like about the BBC - they can always find new ways to appall. The Beeb has a new advertiser on BBC World: Iran. Strangely, some are unconvinced by the Islamonazis cover story that they're trying to attract tourists.

RP calls it perfectly - this is an obvious attempt to pump out Ismlamofascist propaganda and influence the Beeb's line (final confirmation that the mullahs are nuts - they think they need to bribe the BBC to get it to take an anti-western line). I believe the journalistic cliche that applies is 'I don't mind my reporters ******* the elephants, but if they do, they're not covering the circus'. I've long been convinced that the BBC's preferred mode of recruitment is to send someone to stubble around Oxford colleges asking the students if they've ever thought of a career in broadcasting. But no matter how sketchy your knowledge of journalism is, this deal should raise some ethical questions, but, no. The BBC, ever anxious to detect Tory sleaze and conflicts of interest in industry, can't see anything wrong in accepting brown envelopes from one of the world's worst regimes. Just some background to bear in mind when considering the Beeb's hand-wringing over Tesco's profits.

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