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The BBC Is Biased.


noggin

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Posted
  • Location: Coalpit Heath, South Gloucestershire
  • Location: Coalpit Heath, South Gloucestershire

http://wattsupwiththat.com/

I am aware of some irony in posting this, but that is because I cannot link to a "translated into English" version from the Russian paper. :D

Yesterday, the BBC news was reporting on the weather in Russia. It showed some brown bears in a Moscow zoo who had not yet hibernated because it wasn't cold enough.

Why are they not also reporting on the record-breaking cold in Siberia?

This shows, to me, that not only are they biased, but they won't even go so far as to show both "sides" (for want of a better word).

BBC,,,,,pah.

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.

Perhaps because Moscow isn't in Siberia, Noggin...Just like a snowfall (however miniscule) in London is always on the front page, whilst a foot of the 'white stuff' on the Drumochter pass, however, goes unreported.

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Posted
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......
  • Weather Preferences: Hot & Sunny, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......

How many degrees 'C' and over what time periods are you talking here Noggin? I would guess that any 'record cold' happened in an area that gets very cold and that the records 'figure' existed for a few hours. Conversely we find the impacts of an impoverished Arctic summer ice cover (and the recorded onset-15yrs before predicted- of the 'Arctic amplification') and the synoptic impacts of the heat bleed over autumn/winters start still affecting large areas of the sub/arctic.

Without knowing all the facts I'd guess that the records tumbling because of persistent warmth (as reported throughout autumn) from the Moscow region is far more 'newsworthy' than it being cold in a cold region......

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Posted
  • Location: Evesham, Worcs, Albion
  • Location: Evesham, Worcs, Albion
Yesterday, the BBC news was reporting on the weather in Russia. It showed some brown bears in a Moscow zoo who had not yet hibernated because it wasn't cold enough.

Because Moscow is a major European capital City which everyone associates with cold weather? The fact it's had record breaking warmth is more newsworthy than some little town no-one has ever heard of having cold weather when they would normally expect to have cold weather :o The BBC also mentioned the snow in Spain and ice storms in the US. Oh, and the fact it's been the coldest start to winter in 30 years in Britain. Biased?

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I often think the BBC is biased, but it seems to have toned that down somewhat over the past half-year or so- whether this is a policy trend, or a blip, I don't know, but it must be going back to the summer since I last saw something from BBC re. climate change and thought it was particularly biased.

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Posted
  • Location: St. Albans, Herts
  • Location: St. Albans, Herts

A cynical plot to undermine the world as we know it or because fluffy bears look better on telly than barren wastes?

Hmmmm..... :o

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Posted
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Frosty & Sunny
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level

The BBC is bias and its rhetoric on global warming is relentless with no balance in there argument what so ever. I defy anyone to find a recent report from the BBC giving news space to the opposite side of the argument that the recent warming is natural climate change and the trend is now towards cooling.

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Posted
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......
  • Weather Preferences: Hot & Sunny, Cold & Snowy
  • Location: Mytholmroyd, West Yorks.......
The BBC is bias and its rhetoric on global warming is relentless with no balance in there argument what so ever. I defy anyone to find a recent report from the BBC giving news space to the opposite side of the argument that the recent warming is natural climate change and the trend is now towards cooling.

Could it be that the Beeb is just reflecting the majority scientific view in a way the majority of the public wish to see it displayed???? nooooo surely not, why the past two months have only been witihn the top 10 'warm months' globally and not atop of the list....the wheels are comin' off I tell you........anyone sayin' different is a liar and a buffoon and in the pay of a global consortium of warmists........

EDIT: now how does Pottyproff word it??? t'was but a jest.......or some such.....

Edited by Gray-Wolf
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Posted
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral
  • Weather Preferences: Summer: warm, humid, thundery. Winter: mild, stormy, some snow.
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral
The BBC is bias and its rhetoric on global warming is relentless with no balance in there argument what so ever. I defy anyone to find a recent report from the BBC giving news space to the opposite side of the argument that the recent warming is natural climate change and the trend is now towards cooling.

hmmm not sure whether I 100% agree with that. I'm sure the BBC have given the 'opposite' side of the argument and no ones spotted because theyre often too busy picking holes and trying to find wrong doings in the press. As far as I know, unlike some press media of course, the BBC inform, break the news, and that's what they're doing. They dont as such have opinions, news is news at the end of the day, but if people pick holes in it then it's bound to come under fire.

I'm not entirely sure there's a trend towards cooling either. A trend must be much longer than a few years. 20-30 years of cooling and I'll agree there's a trend - a long way to go yet. :o

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Posted
  • Location: Dorset
  • Location: Dorset

Because the warming trend isn't natural and there isn't a trend towards cooling :o .

They don't run stories on the flat earth thoery nor that nanoclorians are on the increase.....

To be fair Moscow has been way above average nearly 6C above the norm for the last 30 days which is rather remarkable. Siberia certainly isn't running 6C below for the last 30 days.

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Posted
  • Location: Portlethen - Aberdeenshire
  • Location: Portlethen - Aberdeenshire
Perhaps because Moscow isn't in Siberia, Noggin...Just like a snowfall (however miniscule) in London is always on the front page, whilst a foot of the 'white stuff' on the Drumochter pass, however, goes unreported.

Your so right, however, its not just a media problem. I think society in general has become very 'soft', it snows a lot in Aberdeenshire and always has done in winter, we can have 12" of snow covering the whole regions with the main trunk roads closed and rail disrupted yet in the south they will have a dusting and it will be all over the national news. Fair enough there is a larger population down there and more people affeted, however, it should be televised on the local news which is broadcast to that specific area. I'm sure the BBC have already been rapped about their news coverage being a 'London' only thing anyways...my decision is that it will never change...

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Posted
  • Location: Swallownest, Sheffield 83m ASL
  • Location: Swallownest, Sheffield 83m ASL

I've got to be honest and say that the Beeb has a job to do.. They are reporting current events.. Just because that news story is about a snowless Moscow, doesn't make them biased. They have reported on the ice storms and such in the states.

What's the point of making a news story about something that cannot be seen to be happening?

The warm V's cold doesn't come into it...

Now, what would be interesting to see on there is what is currently happening on youtube, where scientists on both sides are currently uploading presentations. If they only focused on one side, then you could claim a bias...?

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Posted
  • Location: Putney, SW London. A miserable 14m asl....but nevertheless the lucky recipient of c 20cm of snow in 12 hours 1-2 Feb 2009!
  • Location: Putney, SW London. A miserable 14m asl....but nevertheless the lucky recipient of c 20cm of snow in 12 hours 1-2 Feb 2009!
Why are they not also reporting on the record-breaking cold in Siberia?

This shows, to me, that not only are they biased, but they won't even go so far as to show both "sides" (for want of a better word).

Well, for all the reasons others have described - most particularly because although severe, the cold in Siberia is, um, not record-breaking according to the story you link to - so far around 10C above the record, and with no expectation of it being broken. If the record were to fall or be approached I have no doubt the BBC would report it.

Oh, and on the general accusation about the Beeb's climate bias, have a look at this I found by chance yesterday....read the "In Context" box: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/4380415.stm

Note particularly the last two sentences, "Scientists have identified a general trend of climate change, although there is disagreement over what exactly is causing it. Reports suggest it is a combination of human activity, solar activity and warmer oceans."

About as balanced a statement as you could hope to find.

Ossie

EDIT: I now see that all these extreme weather stories have a similar "In Context" box, here's another: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/2527311.stm

The same bending-over-backwards-to-be-balanced comment is attached to that one. Is this bias? Or perhaps you suspect the editor who OK'd it has by now lost their job? Actually, out of interest I will stick one of the links in my "favourites" and see if it still reads the same in 3 months' time. If it's been changed towards the 'orthodoxy' I will completely concede your complaint, Noggin!

Edited by osmposm
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Posted
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Frosty & Sunny
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level
Could it be that the Beeb is just reflecting the majority scientific view in a way the majority of the public wish to see it displayed???? nooooo surely not, why the past two months have only been witihn the top 10 'warm months' globally and not atop of the list....the wheels are comin' off I tell you........anyone sayin' different is a liar and a buffoon and in the pay of a global consortium of warmists........

EDIT: now how does Pottyproff word it??? t'was but a jest.......or some such.....

Just because the majority of the scientific community hold this view doesn't make it correct. A good scientist will keep an open mind until something can be proved without doubt. Scientific reporting should follow the same principle. I think you'll find this majority you talk of is now becoming very narrow.

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Hi Guys,

Just to address a point of order. Whilst I don't agree with the overall tone of the thread, the idea that extremes of the expected weather aren't as important/news worthy as unexpected weather, and thus unreported is not true. The BBC have run countless stories about larger hurricanes in the hurricane season, or hotter than expected summers in summer, and their apparent link to global warming; however what they never do is show how these extremes in themselves help to prove global warming. It is an easier image to transfer into a viewers mind with regards global warming, when a hot time of year is even hotter than expected or a windy time of year is even windier than expected, than if a cold time of the year is even colder. Lets not forget the record breaking cold that Moscow experienced a few years ago when the lowest ever recorded temperature was equalled for a sustained period of time, or indeed the fact that the Alps are experiencing one of the best starts to the Ski season in recent time. Extremes of expected/seasonal weather are used all the time by the media to furthur the understanding of global warming/climate change.

Edited by Baylor
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Posted
  • Location: Swallownest, Sheffield 83m ASL
  • Location: Swallownest, Sheffield 83m ASL
Hi Guys,

Just to address a point of order. Whilst I don't agree with the overall tone of the thread, the idea that extremes of the expected weather aren't as important/news worthy as unexpected weather, and thus unreported is not true. The BBC have run countless stories about larger hurricanes in the hurricane season, or hotter than expected summers in summer, and their apparent link to global warming; however what they never do is show how these extremes in themselves help to prove global warming.

I think we've discussed this before..

Sometimes there is a dumbing down of information as people will be put off by too much detail. Also look at the amount of time that they take covering one item. If too much time is spent on one item, people tend to switch off unless it's something they specifically want to watch.

The detail is out there on the net. This is why internet forums, like this one, do so well. A place to find and discuss the finer points if you are interested. TV these days is only the front cover of the internet so there is no real need to go any deeper than the surface of a subject as deep and complicated as climate change..

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

It is true that time, and detail, have to be reduced to some degree, but in the past I've often felt that the BBC's documentaries have reduced them in such a way as to mislead, and overstate the AGW case while understating the opposing case. For instance, saying "CO2 has been rising, which shows that CO2 is causing the recent warming", when it clearly does not. It's not just whether to do it or not, it's how you do it that is important.

A lot of BBC stuff does seem dumbed down a lot more than necessary, usually to pander to the people who have zero interest in, or understanding of, the subject area, at the expense of everyone else (this has often been an issue with the TV forecasts in the last few years for example). Going too far to this extreme is inevitably going to perpetuate further lack of understanding.

In cases like the above it only requires one sentence/a very small amount of time to complete a basic overview of the picture. For example, "CO2 has been rising as temperatures have risen, which is consistent with CO2 rises causing the recent warming" would be non-biased and factual, as opposed to the earlier quote.

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Posted
  • Location: Nr Appleby in Westmorland
  • Location: Nr Appleby in Westmorland
The BBC is bias and its rhetoric on global warming is relentless with no balance in there argument what so ever. I defy anyone to find a recent report from the BBC giving news space to the opposite side of the argument that the recent warming is natural climate change and the trend is now towards cooling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7786060.stm

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Posted
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Frosty & Sunny
  • Location: Southampton 10 meters above mean sea level

My point exactly because within a few paragraphs you get -

Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring and attribution at the UK Met Office of which the Hadley Centre is a part, suggested that in previous decades 2008 would have stood out as unusually warm. "Human influence, particularly emission of greenhouse gases, has greatly increased the chance of having such warm years," he said.

Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss), which produces its own record of atmospheric temperature, agreed that 2008 was the coolest year since the turn of the century.

But Giss still ranks it as the ninth warmest since 1880.

...back to global warming again. Edited by ghrud
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Posted
  • Location: Nr Appleby in Westmorland
  • Location: Nr Appleby in Westmorland

That wasn't your point at all. It's there for all to see. You defied anyone to find anything on the BBC which puts the case of cooling, and within an hour, someone had because they have.

Cherry picking I call it.

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Posted
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL
  • Location: Steeton, W Yorks, 270m ASL
My point exactly because within a few paragraphs you get - ...back to global warming again.

I don't see anything in that quote (as you show it) that suggests "global warming". As I see it the inference is all yours, all the quote does is state facts.

As Jane Austen might have put it, one or two of us doth protest too much!

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Posted
  • Location: Hanley, Stoke-on-trent
  • Location: Hanley, Stoke-on-trent

The BBC are definitely biased. The number of times I find myself shouting at the TV when some report or other is on the news is pretty high. Usually along the lines of "that's not actually true", "but", "yes if". I also get very tired of the justification of these "non" news stories with the continuous use of Could, might, possibly, in the worst case. I'm also incredibly tired of seeing the perfectly normal, calving of icebergs from glaciers, used to back up the twaddle being reported on.

Dave

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Posted
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral
  • Weather Preferences: Summer: warm, humid, thundery. Winter: mild, stormy, some snow.
  • Location: Heswall, Wirral

The problem is nearly everyone is biased to cold on this forum, so obviousy BBC coverage will seem like bias if it is not showing what they want. People with neutrality realise that it has nothing to do with bias, just recording what is there. So I think if there is any bias, it's those wanting to believe the BBC are bias, if it makes sense.

If you want to crawl into extremist headlines etc, then the BBC do not contribute to these, it is actually the tabloid newspapers that are doing this.

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Posted
  • Location: Putney, SW London. A miserable 14m asl....but nevertheless the lucky recipient of c 20cm of snow in 12 hours 1-2 Feb 2009!
  • Location: Putney, SW London. A miserable 14m asl....but nevertheless the lucky recipient of c 20cm of snow in 12 hours 1-2 Feb 2009!
As Jane Austen might have put it, one or two of us doth protest too much!

Plenty of characters in Austen who do it, but she didn't write the phrase (or I think even quote it) - it's Shakespeare, from Hamlet.

Ossie

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