An investigation by the Indy has caught the BBC red-handed selling airtime for millions of pounds. They are trying to spin it as “nominal fees”, but a look at the numbers and content involved is pretty shocking:

“FBC produced programmes for the BBC about Malaysia without declaring that it had been allocated £17m by the Malaysian government to carry out a global strategic communications campaign. The BBC also found that FBC had breached programme guidelines on a programme it made on the subject of Egypt this March during the Arab Spring uprisings. The Independent has established that FBC has worked for the regime of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.”

Perhaps most damning is the fact that a BBC World documentary about climate change was sponsored by green crusaders Envirotrade. And of course “Envirotrade was featured in a positive light in the programme but viewers were unaware that there was a funding arrangement in place.” The BBC have ruled “that commercial, financial or other interests may have influenced the editorial judgments in these programmes.”

So remember that next time you swallow the Beeb’s “the debate is over” climate change line…

See also: Green Flatlining, CRU Boss Stands Aside, Queens University Blocking Data FOI, Time to Defund CRU’s Global Cooling Deniers, Climate Change Alarmism is Snow Joke

It’s hard being Nick Robinson. Instead of queueing with the rest of the  media for Murdoch’s 11am appearance in front of the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee, he had a proxy waiting outside the committee room. It seems your licence money is now paying for Soviet Union style proxy queuers.

Cut…

Following our story yesterday about the BBC’s “Creative Director” Alan Yentob auctioning an internship for £4,100 a  BBC spokesperson claimed:

“Alan made this commitment in order to raise money for the charity Kids Company.  He is well aware of the guidelines around access to the BBC for work experience which is why the day does not involve spending any time there.  It will instead involve shadowing him on other arts and culture projects that he is involved in.”

If this were true the auction bidder could make a claim under the Trade Descriptions Act because the auction was for the chance to ”Shadow the BBC creative director for a week”.

So either the BBC press office has been mislead by Mr Yentob or the auction was run under a false description. Since we have documentation which describes the auction item as ”Shadow the BBC creative director for a week” Guido suggests there should be a proper inquiry. It is always the cover-up that gets you…

With youth unemployment approaching a million the idea that rich parents can buy their children access to the top jobs is seen as particularly unfair. When the Tories were caught red-handed flogging internships for cash Tom Watson was quick out of the blocks:

“This is a crass example of rich Tories buying privilege. Most young people could only dream of this opportunity. The Conservatives flog them like baubles and fill their coffers with the profits. It is obscene.”

The BBC’s Andrew Marr joined in the kicking, “This money is going to be used by the Conservative Party, presumably, to tell us we’re all in it together.” So Guido is looking forward to similar outrage over the fact that the BBC’s Alan Yentob is at the centre of an intern-auctioning scandal. The charity “Kid’s Company” had a fundraising event on Wednesday 5 October attended by Clive Anderson and Rowan Atkinson plus the great and good of the liberal-luvvie media world. The auction was quite a hit with plenty of opportunity to “buy privilege”. Lot Number 9, “a week shadowing the BBC creative director” was particuarly popular – going for a total of £4,100. Guido would probably pay a similar amount not to spend a week with Alan Yentob…

So just how did the charity get such rare and much sought after access to the cut-throat world of BBC internships? When we asked the Beeb’s press office what Auntie’s policy was on internships, the Beeb’s line was that officially all “work experience placements” have to be advertised publicly and are overseen by the HR department. Except it seems if you are Alan Yentob who was clearly in breach of BBC policy. As chairman of “Kids Company” he just went round the rules and sold an opportunity “most young people could only dream of…” to the richest parents…

The announcements coming out today about the re-jigging of the Beeb have confirmed Guido’s scoop that Andrew Neil would be taking over The Politics Show on Sundays, bringing the Daily Politics up to a six-day, ninety-minute episode operation. As Guido said on August 2nd: “You read it here first…”

It seems the BBC are at least beginning to wake up to reality. 2,000 jobs are to go and White City could be completely abandoned. You have to chuckle at the mindset though. In justifying the cuts, Director General Mark Thompson told the 25,000 staff that the Beeb is “still the biggest employer of journalists, outside of China.”

As if that isn’t the problem…

Closer than the mood would reflect…

A newbie MP talking to a young blonde lady. The MP says “it was nice to meet you, but I’ve got to go and show my face at the British Venture Capital Association reception”. The young lady immediately says “wow, that sounds like a very right-wing group.”  The MP looks bemused, replying “I wouldn’t say that. It’s business, it’s not left-wing or right-wing. So what do you do?” The lady suddenly looks embarrassed: “I work for the BBC.” “Oh? Doing what exactly?” “I’m public affairs – it’s my job to persuade all of you lot that we’re not a bunch of raving left wingers.”  “You’re not doing a very good job so far…” came the reply.

The Question Time audience is often derided for being out of touch with mainstream public opinion and clapping contradictory arguments, but sometimes they cross the line. Back in 2001, just four days after the attacks on the Pentagon and the Twin Towers, the BBC was hit by one mighty PR disaster when their carefully selected, and oh so balanced, audience almost reduced a former US Ambassador to tears by repeatedly blaming America for the attacks, while the ruins were still smouldering. Director General Greg Dyke said at the time:

“…despite the best efforts of David Dimbleby and the panel, there were times in the programme when the tone was not appropriate, given the terrible events of this week. I have today spoken to Phillip Lader, the former US Ambassador to the UK who was on the panel, and apologised for any distress the programme may have caused him.”

Well we are ten years on and Guido hears that the BBC’s paranoia around tonight’s anniversary episode is intense. Producers are said to be particularly worried about the audience reaction to Reagan and Bush defence advisor, and the spiritual godfather of neo-conservatism, Richard Perle. Insiders say the audience has been “softened”. The programme’s production-company Mentorn declined to comment when Guido put it to them that there had been a significant re-jigging of audience members today…

The BBC press office are looking into the matter…

UPDATE Friday 09:00: The BBC got in touch over night to say usual practice applied to audience selection last night.

Another interesting snippet from Wikileaks’ State Department cables proves that Andrew Marr’s reputation as a patsy is global. In preparation for Hilary Clinton’s UK visit in 2010, the US Embassy in London noted that the Secretary of State should take time out of her schedule to do a pre-record with Marr. The reasons why are hardly a ringing endorsement for the BBC’s flagship interviewer:

“On the public diplomacy side, I hope you can take some time out to tape an interview with leading British journalist Andrew Marr, to be broadcast on his Sunday morning BBC TV talk show. The program, which reaches 1.5 million live and millions more on the web, is essential weekend viewing for Britain, often setting the week’s news and political agenda for the nation. The program could be taped at your hotel, at my residence or at the BBC studios in West London. It would be a powerful way for you to set out our priorities for Afghanistan/Pakistan, and underline our premier partnership with the United Kingdom. Marr is a congenial and knowledgeable interviewer who will offer maximum impact for your investment of time.”

Congenial? In other words a walkover…

Via News UnSpun