Head of BBC News: "the comments made on Fox News are beneath contempt."

[mr blur]

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1527063,00.html

Head of BBC News addressed issues raised by their coverage of loast Thursday.

-snip-
A contributor to Fox said after the London bombings that "the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hezbollah and some of the other jihadist groups". On the Fox website today there is an opinion piece, "How Jane Fonda and the BBC put you in danger". I am writing this in a building which was bombed by Irish terrorists. My colleagues and I are living in a city recovering from the wounds inflicted last week. If I may leave our customary impartiality aside for a moment, the comments made on Fox News are beneath contempt.

[Union Thug]

1. What do you expect from the hate filled, lying FOX freepers?

They're just showing their true colors. I hope people are paying attention to the kind of worthless pond-scum these people truly are.

[IndyOp]

2. Embarrassed to be an Amurikan at the moment.

My apologies to everyone at the BBC and in the UK.

:cry:

I am glad that FAUX is 'outing' itself - Hey, we're insance! We're fucking nuts! We're raging lunatics who foam at the mouth at bay at full moons. We'll lie about ANYTHING - nothing is sacred!

[shelley806]

27. Must be synchronicity! Everytime I really need to remember this

truth, the quote seems to appear! Thanks.

"Hatred never ceases by hatred, But by love alone is healed, This is an ancient and eternal law." The Buddha

[IndyOp]

35. I found it in a Pema Chodron book - it makes a great chant - :)

[autorank]

39. Faux is just awful but it is not homegrown. Murdoch is from Australia and

then England. He was, of course, given citizenship here on a fast track and he's been the gift that keeps giving.

I'm not at all embarassed at being an American.

[kick-ass-bob]

3. They should sue them out of business.

That would be fucking wonderful.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Indeed!

[Beaver Tail]

4. Looks like FAUX

Enjoys attacking the friends/allies of the US. The UK, Canada, France, Germany. At this rate FOX is going to ensure the US HAS NO ALLIES LEFT in the people of these countries.

[bribri16]

6. There should be contempt for FOX all over the world. I hope there

are boycotts of their sponsors and anyone and anything connected to Murdoch and his ilk.

[dogday]

7. Faux needs their own medal

The News with no heart medal.....

[UCSBLiberalCat53]

23. They'll get a medal alright

The Presidental Medal of Freedom or whatever the hell it's called.

[frictionlessO]

8. Another reason not to trust FAUX,

if DU does make a list of "banned sites" Faux should be high on it.

[Lucille]

9. Could Fox's hatred of the BBC have anything to do with Sky News?

Sky competes with the BBC and, like Fox, is owned by Murdoch.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Perhaps; maybe it's against NPR and PBS

Sky News itself doesn't try anything like that; it wouldn't be allowed to (news broadcasters based in Britain, like Sky, have to be genuinely 'fair and balanced'). Fox News is available of some cable networks, I think; it certainly got reprimanded in the UK when it did a slime job on the BBC (last year, I think; it was John Gibson). But Fox News's reach is so small here that it hardly seems worth it. While Murdoch's papers, particularly The Sun, slag off the BBC regularly, they have a wide readership he is trying to influence. The viewership of Fox News is tiny.

It may be more a way to get at PBS and NPR by association. There's a piece on the Fox website now, slagging off the BBC and NPR for reporting attacks against British mosques (they call it 'political correctness' - I suppose they think that we should be lynching all Muslims at this point, and keeping it quiet).

If the remarks along the lines of "they could bomb Paris, and no-one would care" were broadcast in Britain (I'm unsure if that was on Fox News, or if it was a Fox News journalist somewhere else), I would think another complaint against Fox would be upheld. The chances of getting it banned would be low; but they might force it to stop calling itself a 'news' channel in the UK (you can't advertise dishonestly).

[faithnotgreed]

22. what a concept - a free press... and to live in a free society

wow
i wish i could live there thats for sure!

[SalmonChantedEvening]

10. Faux News: Beneath contempt, wholly without merit.

:puke:

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Welcome to our nightmare.

[im10ashus]

12. Faux is the cancer of the media.

It's sad that even in tragedy, they manage to turn things into their own bit of propaganda, shilling for the Bushco and the right-wing wackos.

[etherealtruth]

13. I don't understand how conservatives could even watch FUX ...

...It is simply a "hate" outlet. I wouldn't watch/read/listen to a progressive outlet that spews hatred all the time. I understand the "preaching to the choir" thing -----but what the hell kinda choir could their audience be?

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. I'd be interested in a comparison between now and when it launched

It's possible they've gradually turned up the hatred, so that they caught viewers at first when they seemed more human. I saw it in 1997 in the USA, and then it just seemed low quality and irrelevant to me - like a local TV network out of its depth, struggling to report national and international news (so I never watched it after that).

I could believe that Fox News had played a significant part in turning up the hatred in the USA - possibly just for ratings, possibly for political purposes.

[etherealtruth]

28. Your explanation is very good ...

I hadn't thought of it in that light. It heartening to think that every FOX viewer is not devoid of humanity ...

I do understand that provocative statements draw attention -----but FOX has been engaging in conversations that are nothing short of HATE speech. Yuck

[Uncle Joe]

33. Yes, I believe hatred is their food

They use the same marketing strategy as that of professional wrestling.
Full of bile and fake as a three dollar bill. But the entertainment factor for the weak of mind is not deniable and their continous onslaught of propaganda is killing our democracy such as it is.

[FizzFuzz]

40. what kind of audience? I can name two

one is a Likkudnic type and her husband, whose eyes twinkle at the mention of blown up Arabs (for the sake of her children's safety, of course), and who grins with the smugness of an NFL fan at her team's championship when she talks about FUX.

The other is an Evangelist who is always friendly and nice who was inspired by Gawd to vote for bush, and who literally genuflects at the mention of the name Sean Hannity.

The woman is pretty obviously filled with anger, but the evangelist---I think there's a powerful anger that must be repressed in order to fit the fundy expectations of meekness; so FUX satisfies the urges for power and hate and vindictiveness. He's also a big sports fan, and I think there's an aggression factor there too (imho).

:puke:

[oxbow]

14. Why must Fox attack our allies in the war on terror?

;-)

[Initech]

17. I'm surprised people still take Faux seriously

I mean come on, Faux really showed epic levels of stupidity last week.

I hope they keep on digging themselves into that hole.

[mr blur]

18. I guess Fox just hates the BBC for it freedoms?

They can fight the BBC over there because they sure couldn't fight it over here.

(edit: sp.)

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Jane Fonda??

What is that all about???? :crazy: And I've tried using BBC to show people some articles and have heard "they're anti-American" crap. :eyes:

[stanwyck]

32. Right. What is it with

conservatives? Jane Fonda? Jane was an activist DECADES ago. My brother-in-law is still telling Monica blowjob jokes.
No wonder Hollywood is liberal.
Conservatives have such moldly material. No creativity there. Except, of course, with their lies. They're really good at lying.

[ChickMagic]

20. Letter I sent to the Guardian

I quote, "A contributor to Fox said after the London bombings that "the BBC almost operates as a foreign registered agent of Hezbollah and some of the other jihadist groups".

I feel I must apologize as an American who understands that Fox News is merely the White House Propaganda Channel. They are showing their true colors and they aren't red, white and blue. Most of our other news shows are Fox Lite. I get most of my information from the Guardian and the Independent in Britain.

Continue with your free press. I fear we have lost ours.

Sincerely,

[Uncle Joe]

34. It is amazing isn't it?

Fox insults one of our most dependable allies and the Bush adminstration outs one of our CIA agents. With these kind of friends, who the hell needs any enemies?

[Bouncy Ball]

21. GOOD.

FUX news needs to QUIT EMBARRASSING those Americans, such as myself, who would NEVER fucking say anything as despicable as that.

Gawd. And their newscasters say things like "hey, buy futures, they're cheap right now!" and "Hey, wish it were Paris, because who cares if they get bombed?"

I swear to God, though, I think FUX should just let their people get batshit crazier and show it for all the world to see more and more and more. It will hasten their fall that much faster.

[cynatnite]

24. It's O'Lielly

I went to foxnews and found the piece of shit of a commentary.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162242,00.html

[mr blur]

25. "I know many of you feel that being a news reporter is a pretty soft job"

Well, it sure seems to be. Especially if you don't bother about stuff like the news. It must be hard coming up with new spin on the latest runaway bride, or whatever. And kissing all that government arse must be very wearing.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Hard To Argue With That

Of course, we already knew that about Faux. But, good to hear someone in the upper echelons of the same business say it.
The Professor

[Endangered Specie]

29. the difference in quality of the BBC and Fox news

is almost immesurable, Fox would be so small, to measure it would violate the Heisnburg principle

[spanone]

30. Too bad our citizens can't come to the same conclusion.

[bunny planet]

31. Can the BBC bring suit against Fox News or News Corp. or better yet

Rupert Murdoch or Roger Ailes? Just asking.

[mwb970]

36. I hope they don't assume all Americans are like that.

I find the Bush criminals and the Fox Liars to be fundamentally different from the people I know and allow into my life. My friends are fair and rational. These people seem to be another breed entirely, mean-spirited, nasty, greedy, un-American.

Where did these people come from? Have they been here all along?

[roguevalley]

37. anyone have a BBC link? We need to flood them with email

stating that these people don't speak for us.

[leesa]

38. This is good. I want to see the launching of media wars. The media is

just on the edge of having to decide whether whoring for the GOP is worth treason charges. This will give them an out. Remember Goebbels!

[FizzFuzz]

41. oh how I want to see Fux publicly denounced and taken of the air. n/t