BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Twits

8 comments on Twits

Twits

: FoxNews’ John Gibson responds to the British version of the FCC slapping him for slapping the BBC. Background here. John says:

Twenty-four out of 60 million got mad enough to write letters and launch an investigation, and now the Brit government says I expressed opinions not buttressed by the truth.

This is not so. My opinions about this major Brit media outfit are entirely buttressed by the truth, and they know it… which is what makes them so mad.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain now says this particular “My Word” from last January was so incendiary it “shocked many in the U.K.”

I can’t imagine that’s accurate. I shocked many in the U.K.? How is that possible if they listen to and believe their major media outlet, which routinely trashes Americans, the American president, the American military and American policy?

That is what is truly shocking, and I suspect that even though 24 Brits complained, the vast majority knows that all the nasty things the major media outlet says about us cannot be true.

8 responses to “Twits”

  1. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Still doesn’t recognise that complaints were upheld because he failed to provide satisfactory evidence to support his claims when asked and was demonstrated to have misrepresented the truth. Even if these two points were not the case, the fact also remains that with such harsh allegations, the BBC was entitled to right of reply – an opportunity that was not offered to them.

  2. Cooper Avatar
    Cooper

    Trust me – people in the UK were shocked by the report – it was just so ridiculous to claim that the BBC was SO hostile to the US and the war. The video clip was circulating via email and everyone had a good laugh at it in the office – tinged with concern that this is what passes for analysis on Fox news.
    In any case, we dont need the BBC to tell us that Bush and Co are a deeply messed up and dangerous government. It’s obvious.

  3. DSmith Avatar
    DSmith

    Gibson was 100% correct. I remember watching all that stuff on BBC America at the time.
    The BBC did, and does, have:
    “a frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Americanism that was obsessive, irrational and dishonest

  4. Rob Read Avatar
    Rob Read

    The unique way the BBC is funded by the threat of prison!

  5. Cooper Avatar
    Cooper

    If the BBC’s coverage counts as “frothing at the mouth” what the hell does that make Fox News!
    Double standards from Gibson methinks.

  6. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Maybe I wasn’t clear enough earlier:
    Whether or not the allegations Gibson made were true is irrelevant. What is relevant is that Gibson failed to support his claims when asked by Ofcom. The fact that one piece of evidence was that typing BBC anti-american into a search engine returned x thousand results is laughable, and as pointed out by Ofcom’s report – web searches do not discriminate between context and merely return results where those words appear within a webpage.
    Where Gibson and Fox returned a defence of their allegations to Ofcom, this defence was easily discredited or unaccepted. For instance, they tried to claim he had paraphrased Andrew Gilligan’s report whereas Ofcom judged that the broadcast gave the distinct impression Gibson was quoting directly. Fox also cited the Hutton report as supporting the accusation that the BBC as an organisation was guilty of lying. Ofcom found that the Hutton report at no point accused BBC management of lying, and so this evidence had not been used with the required ‘respect for the truth’.
    Even if the above weren’t the case, My Word was still breaking the programme code by broadcasting such harsh allegations without offering the BBC the right to reply.
    Fox News’ My Word segment was found to have broken not one, not two, but three clauses of the programme code. This was not a trivial finding.
    Finally, it is worth pointing out that people seem to have the idea that the BBC has pursued this investigation. It hasn’t. Complaints came from members of the public, and in contrast to Gibson’s whinging response to Ofcom’s findings the BBC’s only comment was that they had ‘noted Ofcom’s findings’. Had the criticisms not been upheld, I would not have expected Gibson to show such dignity and instead have gloated as much as possible.

  7. HH Avatar
    HH

    “Trust me – people in the UK were shocked by the report – it was just so ridiculous to claim that the BBC was SO hostile to the US and the war.”
    “The video clip was circulating via email and everyone had a good laugh”… and now I’ve had a good laugh.

  8. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    Who came up with the bright idea of a mandatory taxpayer funded “news” organ anyhow? That is the singularly stupidest government action I can think of, from a Government with a long history of stupid actions.
    Hey if you don’t like FOX turn the channel. Haw haw, can’t stop tithing to the Beeb, or the OFCOM will stick you in the toll booth.
    You should check out the true image of Islam that the Beeb presents for us in the person of Nsheila Ahmed. Oops can’t see any face.