Monday, August 22, 2005

"You ****** Up - You Trusted Us"

As a matter of interest, how long has the BBC been basing it's philosophy on the teachings of John Belushi ? At least, that's the impression I get reading the latest installment of the BBC's 'Weblog Watch'. The title of the Beeb's latest effusion is 'Blog in haste, repent at leisure?'. Yep - it's another refrence to St Jean the Martyr, and Auntie's crowing about those bloggers who reacted with satisfaction to the news that Police had shot a suicide bomber caught in the act. But who exactly planted that idea in people's minds in the first place ?

Let's take a moment for the full humbuggery of the charge to sink in. The MSM is sneering at the fact that bloggers allowed themselves to be caught out because they believed reports from the MSM. Well, OK. I guess even the BBC admits it's full of it these days. The closest we get to self-awareness is an anodyne admission near the end that the unreliable witness evidence was 'relied on by the media including the BBC.'

Of course, this is partially a continuation of the line that was being pushed last week, namely that bloggers should spend their time producing posts relating the Menezes shooting to burial practices in ancient Rome, or whatever. Auntie tells us that 'There's a temptation to comment on an event straight away, but it sometimes takes a while for all the facts to emerge', so I guess that wraps it up for News 24 then ?

No - it's just bloggers that need to wait for the facts to emerge. Funnily enough though, even where bloggers do have specific knowledge of the subject under discussion, that isn't enough to protect them from Beeboid sneering. We're told that 'Despite a flurry of posts in June, the police blogs are - perhaps understandably - quiet for the moment'. Well, yes: police officers refusing to comment on an ongoing investigation, who'd have thunk it ? This kind of patheitc innuendo wouldn't make the grade in a student paper.

No, the line the Beeb is pushing is as obvious as an elephant in a biscuit tin. Pro-Police bloggers are easily manipulated fools, while the cop haters are thoughtful intellectuals. Really ? Unfortunatly, that dog won't hunt. Liberal face card blogger Tim Worstall let's the cat out of the bag in this post when he admits he just plain doesn't like armed police. Saying the cop haters have been vindicated is like saying the BNP would be vindicated if Sol Campbell gives away the penalty that puts us out the next World Cup.

Incidentally, any organisation which carries a comment calling a police officer an assassin has officially lost the right ever again to use the phrase 'right-wing extremist'.

Needless to say, with all the room taken up by thoughtful Lefties reluctantly coming to the conclusion that cops are scum, there's no space to cover the many investigations into the background of members of the Menezes campaign, for example the Rotty Pup's investigation of 'concerned citizen' Asad Rehman.

Here we have citizen journalists going behind the headlines to shed new light on who exactly is behind the Menezes Machine. There's no instant reactions here, no mindless abuse, just lots of good honest research. But no - this work raises questions about how exactly the Beeb goes about its business and that would never do. Bloggers reacting to false MSM reports ? Bad. BBC presenting activist loonies as concerned citizens ? Same ol', same ol'. There you have the BBC's worldview: accountability is for the leetle peeple.

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