The Puppeteers at the BBC : (More Dishonesty, Disharmony and Broken Strings from the BBC)

More Dishonesty, Disharmony and Broken Strings from the BBC

Challenging the false consciousness, in which much of the public are suspended has long been the greatest hurdle of the Left.

Even those who are cynical or sceptical of the lies and spin presented by politicians and the media are left uninformed. The break-up of trade unions by Margaret Thatcher made it more difficult to challenge the status quo, to question the propaganda, the pre-written scripts which led to demands for materialism and a rejection for socialism. The impression endured because of a faith in the BBC. There endured a respect for an institution, which they felt must be unbiased and truthful because it was publicly funded. The public looked to the BBC, expecting it would serve the public interests, inform, educate and entertain.

If it wasn’t on the BBC’s News, then as far as many were concerned it didn’t happen or was of little importance. Or in any case, anyone disagreeing was in a minority and could do little about it.

Whether that was ever true is questionable. But it is true that the BBC is publicly funded, and there is a moral responsibility for presentation of facts backed by sound evidence and a balance of opinions, as well as quality broadcasting.

WELFARE REFORM :

Since the 2010 general election, the BBC has presented the “News” in such a biased way, and this has been discussed by many including Think Left .

Last week the BBC (Oct 3^{rd, 2012}) the BBC reported on a case of benefit fraud (1), a typical report from the right wing media. There is no balance here of argument, of context or of relevant statistics. It is, without doubt an inflammatory report and intended to be so. It is just an example of the Coalition’s plan to harden support (2) for its welfare cuts.

The public would be better informed by the DWP’s own figures which show very low figures for fraud. 3) Better still , considering the fraud of non- tax payers or tax avoidance might be far more informative and educational.

Additionally, a Freedom of Information document (4) from the DWP has revealed that rather than an average of 32 deaths per week as a result of Welfare Reform that figure has now risen to an average of 73 deaths per week.

FINANCIAL CRISIS AND FOREIGN POLICY

The coverage of the financial crisis in Europe by the BBC (5) was in the least woefully inadequate. It seems more likely that the BBC had been informed what it should and should not be releasing.

We asked, “Who was pulling the strings at the BBC?” ( 6 ) Why, we might have asked, have we been constantly bombarded with ‘news ‘from the Middle East, if not to obtain broad support for a future war in Iran, even though the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have now been widely discredited ? The media and the BBC maintain their status as puppeteers of the same oil-speculating corporations, who look to manufacture consent for a war in Iran. (7)

HEALTH

Privatisation of the NHS was cynically planned by the Conservatives prior to coming to power. Manufacturing consent for the privatization of the NHS was never going to be straightforward for the Conservatives. After all, not only was the NHS, Labour’s finest policy, it is loved and valued by the British people. It was no accident that Cameron faced the electorate with this promise. “The NHS will be safe in our hands.” (8)

David Cameron launched a presidential-style election campaign yesterday with a focus on what party strategists believe is their greatest asset: himself.

A close-up photo of the Tory leader’s face will feature on hundreds of 15ft-wide posters as part of a £500,000 nationwide advertising campaign.

The posters – targeted at marginal seats the party must win to take power – were rolled out across the country to promote Tory health policies.

Think Left’s article The NHS will be shown No Mercy (9) shows clearly that the plan to privatize the NHS was in place well before the election. Yet, Cameron denied any knowledge of Mark Britnell, yet he had been invited to several very high profile meetings about the future of the NHS before coming to power. Mark Britnell was advisor to David Cameron, also has connections to the then Health minister, Andrew Lansley.

That the billionaires who own the media will exert influence over their editorials is hardly surprising, but we should demand more transparency and balance from the BBC. Without orchestrated support for the government’s policy on the NHS, it is doubtful that the Conservatives would have nudged into power, albeit without a majority, as they did so on the back on Liberal Democrat voters who would never have supported NHS privatization.

And still it goes on.

The Guardian (Oct 4^th) last week reported of cuts to NHS services for cancer patients and heart and stroke patients. 10) This is not reported on the BBC, but you will reference to a new drug preventing strokes which referred to a small trial by the pharmaceutical company NoNO and Arbor Vita. (11)

Open Democracy have recently completed a in-depth investigation: and published its results.

HOW THE BBC betrayed the NHS: Two years of censorship and distortion. (12)

In the two years building up to the government’s NHS reform bill, the BBC appears to have categorically failed to uphold its remit of impartiality, parroting government spin as uncontested fact, whilst reporting only a narrow, shallow view of opposition to the bill. In addition, key news appears to have been censored. The following in-depth investigation provides a shocking testimony of the extent to which the BBC abandoned the NHS.

Reading of the article is recommended.

Download the PDF of this article.

An extract:

Considering the enormity of reactions against the bill, from the public , the press and the medical profession, and considering the NHS is the most highly regarded institution in the country, it would be reasonable to expect the BBC to inform the public that it was being “reformed” without a democratic mandate. Indeed, it was being broken up in direct violation of explicit election commitments. How did the Beeb cover it?

The broken pledge of no more “Top down re-organisations” was mentioned in online articles (analysis and reporting) just six times in nearly two years: twice in 2010, three times in 2011 and just once in 2012 – the year of the bill’s climactic passing. Of those six, half appeared when quoting critics of the bill. Only three times did the BBC independently raise the broken agreement themselves.

In news and analysis articles, the issue was in fact raised just twice in nearly two years, and only once directly on the NHS. Neither example is the BBC’s own analysis; it only ever appears in two quotes. It was cited directly here [13], on an obscure blog as part of a resignation speech. The only other mention was in a general article on critics of the coalition, with their broad “mandate” to govern questioned by both Rowan Williams and Andy Burnham – who mentioned the NHS within that context.

In an unprecedented move, a UK court effectively ruled on the bill’s lack of a democratic mandate, in its judgement on government attempts to withhold the infamous ‘risk register’. The court’s judgement included the following comments:

“From the evidence it is clear that the NHS reforms were introduced in an exceptional way. There was no indication prior to the White Paper that such wide-ranging reforms were being considered. The White Paper was published without prior consultation. It was published within a very short period after the Coalition Government came into power… Even more significantly the Government decided to press ahead with some of the policies even before laying a Bill before Parliament.”

EDUCATION:

As with privatization plans for the health service , the Coalition’s plan to break up local school networks, the stripping of assets and the of forcing schools to become Academies, seemed almost to pass unnoticed. The lack of, or false reporting by the BBC has muted the dialogue, for the Coalition to pursue their plot.

The Anti Academy Alliance reports: 13)

Anyone who doubts that free schools and academies are about privatisation and will ultimately lead to ‘for profit’ schooling should read this report from the ATL’s Martin Johnson . It tells how IES – a company that has a contract to run a school in Suffolk has seen its parent company sold to a huge US private equity firm. This is the corporate takeover of education!

The stark reality behind Free schools is summed neatly is this publication from the NASUWT  

So, who does pull the strings at the BBC? The close links between the Conservative led coalition and the BBC are revealed in the Open Democracy document, explaining why the BBC chose to represent the government on the NHS.

A number of senior BBC staff have links with the healthcare industry. As Media Lens note , Dr Mike Lynch OBE, a member of the BBC’s executive board, has links to a number of firms in the health sector, including Apax Partners, “one of the leading global investors in the Healthcare sector”. BBC Chairman, Lord Patten, is on the board of Bridgepoint, a private equity firm with substantial healthcare interests. Bridgepoint also employed the Labour health secretary, Alan Milburn.

“One company acquired by Bridgepoint for £414 million in July 2010 is the residential care company Care UK”

That’s the same Care UK who donated £21,000 to the personal office of Andrew Lansley. On BBC links with government, David Cameron’s Director of Communications is in fact Craig Oliver, whose prior job was as a senior news editor at the BBC.

In light of evidence uncovered by the Open Democracy, the British people are entitled to feel betrayed, and to ask what further strings are being pulled at the BBC Barclays chairman Marcus Agius was a BBC director. 14) He resigned in July.

It is quite clear that there are procedures in place ensuring that is in the interests of those with influence in the BBC to support the government’s policies. The corruption is not confined to the NHS. The BBC is attempting to keep its employees on strings too. It seems the BBC has actively been supporting people who work for the BBC to avoid paying tax. The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was “shocked” to discover how many off-payroll contracts, under which individuals must make their own tax and national insurance payments, were provided by the BBC.

According to the committee, that number includes 13,000 people who appear on television and radio – so-called on-air “talent” – and another 12,000 off-air staff. Some 3,000 are paid via private companies, potentially allowing them to limit their tax liabilities.

This is also reported in the Independent

A study by Think Left revealed that one third of BBC newsreaders went to Oxbridge, A Think Left investigation into the profiles of News presenters from BBC 24, Newsnight, Radio 4 Today/News at Ten has unsurprising outcomes. Where information was known, it was discovered that there is inherent sexism. There is and under-representation of women, and where there are women the age profile contrasts sharply with that of men.

Almost exactly two thirds of newsreaders went to private, independent or public schools, hardly representative of the general public.

This pie-chart shows the tertiary education of newsreaders, furthermore, exactly one third have had an Oxbridge education, much in line with MPs, as shown below.

Perhaps ordinary people might have more confidence in the message from the BBC if its newsreaders were paid realistic salaries in line with the majority of other public sector workers. The Director General earns £838,000. Other directors as of March 2011 had salaries of £488,000, £517,000, £467,000 and £452,000.

The personnel employed by the BBC, can hardly be regarded as representative of the people. They are very similar in their range of backgrounds to the MPs, and the same criticisms can be levelled at the news presenters who interrogate the politicians, and issues of the day. For the most part, they can have little personal experience of the lives of a majority of the population, and consequently do not ask the questions or single out the issues which would be of significance for that majority. For example, why would privatisation of the NHS be a priority for a presenter who has always used private medicine? Why would tuition fees of 9K/y seem enormous to a privately educated interviewer when top public school fees are 29K?

It might be forgiven if they showed an understanding of ordinary people’s lives. That was certainly not the case here – this filmed during the riots, and since removed from the BBC website. Darcus Howe , a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster with a voice about the riots. Here is speaking about the mistreatment of youths by police.

This was filmed during the riots, and since removed from the BBC website.

Corrupt politicians, media employees pull the strings in government and at the BBC. They attempt influence people’s understanding of reality. They have snapped the strings of democracy and it is a discordant tune they play.

People, quite rightly expect public servants to be accountable, and freedom of information is designed to ensure that. We ask it of our teachers, of our civil servants and our doctors and nurses. Isn’t it about time that we had accountability, transparency and honesty from our politicians and our publicly owned and funded BBC? It is at the very heart of our democracy. The people did not vote to sell of our NHS and schools. The TV licence is not a Licence for Lies.

On re-election we look to a new Labour government to reverse the privatization of our public services, and to ensure we have a BBC to provide a quality broadcasting service to entertain, educate and inform as expected in a democratic society.

Let’s have a fair society. We deserve it. Every one of us.

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-19818773

2. https://think-left.org/2012/10/02/reframing-the-welfare-debate-winning-the-argument-2/

3. http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2012/02/official-figures-show-the-low-level-of-benefit-fraud/

4) Freedom of Information document query http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/claimants_with_serious_illnessdi?unfold=1#incoming-311613

5) Think Left: Inadequecies of BBC’s coverage of the financial crisis.

6) Think Left: Who pulls the strings at the BBC?

7) Manufacturing Consent for an Invasion of Iran

8) Daily Mail report pre -election poster Cameron and the NHS is ‘safe in our hands”

9) Think Left: Who said, “The NHS will be shown no Mercy?”

10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/04/cancer-heart-stroke-nhs-axe

11. BBC: Drug may prevent stroke damage