Brexited | the worst threads live the longest

[Classical Mechanic]

Meh it would of got a ton of hits anyway although yeah its completely possible that her and the beeb stupid actions and abuse of power have caused the video to get more view. None of which takes away from the arguments against Kuenssberg and the BBC.

I think its a really weak point for the Corbynites to go rabid over. Salem seems to think so too. It's a poor battle to go full force into and doesn't really help to enhance any idea of her bias towards the Tories in my opinion. It more supports the idea of an agenda against her.

 

[nickm]

There's simply no defence for Kuenssberg's actions.

You are wrong. The defence is she was reporting facts, ie doing her job.

 

[Fingeredmouse]

Kuenssberg has form in this regard. Her coverage of the Scottish Independence vote is infamous North of the border, the BBC trust actually ruled against her coverage of Corbyn and she is clearly joined at the hip to Johnson.

I have no idea if her bias is conscious or not but it is clear her independence is compromised which, as she is political editor of the BBC, is an issue. If she wrote for the Spectator then fair enough.

If the BBC is seen as the mouth piece of the Government (or of a particular political persuasion) , which it is by many in Scotland since 2014, that is a terrible shame in my mind. I do genuinely believe the BBC, in general, tries to be impartial, often resulting in laughable equating of argument positions in the interest of balance.Of course, we all have our own convictions and that influence is very hard to eliminate utterly, but LK has either lost her capacity for self reflection or has actively crossed the line to a partizan position. It is very disheartening.

 

[Fingeredmouse]

You are wrong. The defence is she was reporting facts, ie doing her job.

She is selectively reporting facts with a clear editorial spin.

 

[WensleyMU]

If what she's done is so bad, what sort of punishment are you lot thinking is warranted?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Kuenssberg has form in this regard. Her coverage of the Scottish Independence vote is infamous North of the border, the BBC trust actually ruled against her coverage of Corbyn and she is clearly joined at the hip to Johnson.

I have no idea if her bias is conscious or not but it is clear her independence is compromised which, as she is political editor of the BBC, is an issue. If she wrote for the Spectator then fair enough.

If the BBC is seen as the mouth piece of the Government (or of a particular political persuasion) , which it is by many in Scotland since 2014, that is a terrible shame in my mind. I do genuinely believe the BBC, in general, tries to be impartial, often resulting in laughable equating of argument positions in the interest of balance.Of course, we all have our own convictions and that influence is very hard to eliminate utterly, but LK has either lost her capacity for self reflection or has actively crossed the line to a partizan position. It is very disheartening.

The BBC is framed as being against all parties depending on the weather. Apparently its full of liberal elite media luvvies that are thwarting right wing agendas too.

 

[Berbasbullet]

You are wrong. The defence is she was reporting facts, ie doing her job.

So does she highlight every person who interacts with Johnson’s political background? Or is it just because they caught Johnson with his trousers down?

 

[MadMike]

Personally I think it's one of two things, possibly both:

Firstly, she has her own centre-right bias which despite her training as a journalist and the responsibility of her role to stay impartial, inevitably rears its head occasionally. That's human nature and it is incredibly difficult to avoid this, I'd argue that it's actually impossible unless you intentionally play devils advocate occasionally. She also obviously has absolute contempt for Corbyn and his politics and that kind of strong emotion will inevitably impact on her reporting.

Secondly, as a journalist she knows the value of networking and harvesting key sources. As such she is going to value her access to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, very highly. She's been cultivating that trust and access for years now hedging her bets that he will eventually get the job and she was right. She's doing all she can to retain that access and sadly that has resulted in her trading inside information for favourable reporting.

I think she generally blows a bit of smoke up the arse of the #10 Downing Street dweller, whoever the might be. She did the same with Cameron to some extent, although those were less "testy" times than these I'd argue. That's probably, as you said, to maintain access to and get scoops from the Govt.

Her time in prominent positions for both the BBC and ITV previously has coincided exclusively with Tory governments. I think that might be distorting opinion a bit as with regards to her alleged centre-right bias. She might have one, but that's hard to ascertain given the slight pro-government bias that we both kinda agree on.

For me, I think she's a very smart journalist who's trying to balance impartiality and scrutiny of the government with having access of information to it. And she sometimes gets the balance wrong and appears protective of the Govt. It's fecking hard job at the best of times to be honest. And the current climate has people questioning anyone and everyone's motives. Not just politicians and journalists, but even judges as we've seen.

 

[Fingeredmouse]

The BBC is framed as being against all parties depending on the weather. Apparently its full of liberal elite media luvvies that are thwarting right wing agendas too.

Yes and that sort of paranoia is bollocks. As I stated, a level of drift from complete impartiality is human and inevitable and I have no issue with that.
LK is operating in a different space here. She has consistently adopted a line in her reporting and has done for sometime.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

When did journalists both TV and print, stop just actually reporting the facts and make every single thing a bloody opinion piece? No one cares what you think you clowns, give us the facts and we will form our own opinions, we don't need you to tell us what to think.

 

[nickm]

She is selectively reporting facts with a clear editorial spin.

Prove it.

 

[nickm]

So does she highlight every person who interacts with Johnson’s political background? Or is it just because they caught Johnson with his trousers down?

I don’t know. Do you?

 

[Berbasbullet]

I don’t know. Do you?

Well I have never seen her deliberately go out of her way to identify someone’s political background and then find their Twitter and identify them before.

Why suddenly do it now?

The only reason I can think of is to minimise the person who spoke to Johnson’s contribution to dilute the point he was making, (just a bitter labour activist, nothing to see here), oh and to distract from the clear liar Johnson just got caught in.

 

[DOTA]

If what she's done is so bad, what sort of punishment are you lot thinking is warranted?

No pudding for a week.

Or she could just give some indication that she realises she made a mistake and she needs to be more careful with how she treats strangers on twitter.

 

[SteveJ]

You are wrong. The defence is she was reporting facts, ie doing her job.

Yes, and I am Marie Antoinette.

 

[JPRouve]

Yes, and I am Marie Antoinette.

"Take Laura's cake away!"

 

[WensleyMU]

No pudding for a week.

Or she could just give some indication that she realises she made a mistake and she needs to be more careful with how she treats strangers on twitter.

Yeh, an apology would probably be best. I don't think it warrants much more than that. It's hardly the crime of the century at the end of the day.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Yeh, an apology would probably be best. I don't think it warrants much more than that. It's hardly the crime of the century at the end of the day.

Yeah I agree with that.

 

[Berbasbullet]

On an unrelated note, will Liz Truss be resigning after selling arms? Or will that just be swept under the carpet?

 

[Classical Mechanic]

No pudding for a week.

Or she could just give some indication that she realises she made a mistake and she needs to be more careful with how she treats strangers on twitter.

She would have to be investigated through the appropriate bodies. Apologising for this incident would have zero currency for her and would be used against her forever by the mob that's gone after her in the first place.

 

[Honest John]

She is selectively reporting facts with a clear editorial spin.

Are you saying that the fact he is a left wing activist should not be mentioned?

 

[Ady87]

Keeping his arms clear so that he can quickly access a vein.

Alternatively it's pretty normal in hospital to have sleeves rolled up, as it allows for better hygiene. So he's probably just ensuring his unwashed shirt doesn't come into contact with the doctors and nurses hands.

Nope. Refuse to believe for one second that is what you think is going on. Not having it. WUM.

 

[WensleyMU]

On an unrelated note, will Liz Truss be resigning after selling arms? Or will that just be swept under the carpet?

Hardly important considering the big news of the day... Or it seems that way.

 

[DOTA]

She would have to be investigated through the appropriate bodies. Apologising for this incident would have zero currency for her and would be used against her forever by the mob that's gone after her in the first place.

The twitter police?

 

[WensleyMU]

Nope. Refuse to believe for one second that is what you think is going on. Not having it. WUM.

Jesus wept there's some spectacular mental gymnastics going on here...

 

[WensleyMU]

Bare elbow policy is fairly normal in many UK hospitals. It helps prevent the spreading of germs as a person's sleeves cannot be washed like their hands can. It also allows for proper hand washing, which is vital in hospital.

The ability to blow the most minor things out of proportion on here is weird.

 

[Ady87]

Jesus wept there's some spectacular mental gymnastics going on here...

I'll make it really simple. Johnson doesn't have his sleeves rolled up with absolutely any thought towards germs. It's not mental gymnastics.

Edit: I don't really care if he does or doesn't, but it's PR driven and that's that.

 

[SteveJ]

Jesus wept there's some spectacular mental gymnastics going on here...

Indeed...particularly from people who give the benefit of the doubt to a political editor who the BBC Trust found guilty of breaking the channel's impartiality and accuracy guidelines.

 

[Hammerfell]

Indeed...particularly from people who give the benefit of the doubt to a political editor who the BBC Trust found guilty of breaking the channel's impartiality and accuracy guidelines.

All this is just a part of the anti-Laura conspiracy, mate.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

The twitter police?

BBC trust investigated her last time.

 

[WensleyMU]

Indeed...particularly from people who give the benefit of the doubt to a political editor who the BBC Trust found guilty of breaking the channel's impartiality and accuracy guidelines.

Anything wrong with looking at something in isolation?

And if she's done it again, then we can be sure the BBC trust will find her guilty again.

 

[DOTA]

BBC trust investigated her last time.

You think if she admitted she shouldn't have tweeted linking to the bloke's account she would be investigated by the BBC trust?

EDIT - I mean, if she made an apology confessing how her undying lust for access to stories caused her to spend several hours a day skyping Dominic Cummings for instructions, I can see there'd be problems, but confessing to not thinking before crudely bringing attention to the guy's tweet doesn't strike me as requiring impartiality investigation.

 

[WensleyMU]

I'll make it really simple. Johnson doesn't have his sleeves rolled up with absolutely any thought towards germs. It's not mental gymnastics.

Edit: I don't really care if he does or doesn't, but it's PR driven and that's that.

Honestly, the chances are he was asked to wash his hands, as is common practice in a hospital for the most obvious of reasons. He probably rolled his sleeves up to do so.

It really isn't a big deal.

 

[BobbyManc]

I'll make it really simple. Johnson doesn't have his sleeves rolled up with absolutely any thought towards germs. It's not mental gymnastics.

Edit: I don't really care if he does or doesn't, but it's PR driven and that's that.

I hate to have to take the side of Johnson but you may recall an incident where a doctor got angry with Cameron and his media team during a hospital visit for not having their sleeves rolled up a few years back.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

You think if she admitted she shouldn't have tweeted linking to the bloke's account she would be investigated by the BBC trust?

EDIT - I mean, if she made an apology confessing how her undying lust for access to stories caused her to spend several hours a day skyping Dominic Cummings for instructions, I can see there'd be problems, but confessing to not thinking before crudely bringing attention to the guy's tweet doesn't strike me as requiring impartiality investigation.

I'm not seeing why she should apologise for linking his account at all. His account is used specifically to influence political narrative on a public platform.

 

[711]

She said countless times that the only way to avoid no deal was to vote for a deal. There was only one deal on the table and it wasn't that far away from Labour's ideas, well at least what sense you could make of them. All 27 other EU countries had signed. It was the shortest and I reckon the most painless way to leave. Forget the headbangers sitting at the extremes in Parliament. They were always going to vote against it. This thing was only going to get through if voted for by the more moderate majority of which a fair chunk of the Labour party is. Corbyn therefore had it in his gift to get it through but whipped his party to vote it down for no other reason than gaining political advantage. His ambivalence has served to prolong this debacle and put working class and poor people even more at risk of further decline and job losses. In that sense May showed more inclination for the good of the country than he did.

This won't go down well on here, but just for the record I agree with most of it.

 

[DOTA]

I'm not seeing why she should apologise for linking his account at all. His account is used specifically to influence political narrative on a public platform.

Cause it was reckless in the circumstances.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Cause it was reckless in the circumstances.

I don't really agree. Salem himself has come out and defended her on the matter. I can see the issue with some of the semantics, although I think its far too slight and nuanced to amount to anywhere close to the reaction there has been from the Corbynites that are desperate to take her down.

 

[nickm]

Indeed...particularly from people who give the benefit of the doubt to a political editor who the BBC Trust found guilty of breaking the channel's impartiality and accuracy guidelines.

"In its finding the Trust also said that there was no evidence of bias or of intent on the part of the senior BBC journalist, however."

 

[SteveJ]

"In its finding the Trust also said that there was no evidence of bias or of intent on the part of the senior BBC journalist, however."

How surprising.