[Dem-Village] Ofcom re NFU on BBC "Farming Today"

[Alison Banville]

Well done keeping up the pressure James; as with the BBC, Ofcom will be quite worried. Here's something interesting on Ofcom and the Today Programme on Radio 4 - isn't 'Today' a bastion of journalistic integrity?: 
 
Remember when it was announced that the Cambridge University primate lab wouldn't be built and the mainstream media went into overdrive reporting that 'animal rights extremists' ' threats were responsible? It was the headline story on every channel thay day. 
 
I watched and listened to every mainstream report and not ONE of them reported that there had been a 3-week long public enquiry at which evidence from scientists opposed to vivisection had been heard alongside that of scientists in support of it (this never happens because the govt and Big Pharma rely on the corporate media to promote the myth that all scientists support the practice) resulting in the enquiry reporting...the case for benefit to humans of primate experiments is 'not proven'. I read that report - if I could get it then why not our national journalists!?
 
Rhetorical question of course; the msm decided the public didn't need to know about the enquiry or the report because it would mean veering from their entrenched position on the subject of vivisection and animal rights. I saw starkly how they were prepared to sacrifice truth in the service of their agenda, and I grieved for a public kept in such ignorance and for the moral progress that might be made of it was allowed to have all the facts. 
 
Incidentally, the enquiry was called by John Prescott who stupidly thought it would rubber-stamp the lab, and when it didn't - he ignored its findings! Animal Aid launched a legal challenge at this point. 
 
I wrote to Ofcom re the reporting blackout of the enquiry and also quoted Mary Nightingale on the ITV News evening programme, the piece ironically called 'the truth about vivisection' during which she said 'scientists support vivisection' a statement she would have been unable to make had the enquiry been mentioned. 
 
One guy from Ofcom responded to me and he dismissed my complaint re the enquiry and went on to make some of the most ill-informed personal comments on vivisection I've ever heard, none of which could be supported by evidence. The fact that the enquiry, and its findings, went completely unreported is a scandal which illustrates clearly what is wrong with the corporate media and makes a mockery of its claims to objectivity. 
 
The Today Programme on R4 asked Andrew Tyler of Animal Aid for a pre-recorded interview on the story and he made clear he would only give one if they mentioned the enquiry - he was given this assurance! Tyler also asked them why they were not interviewing one of the experts who had appeared in support of those opposing the lab, saying he did not have as much detailed scientific knowledge as they did. He has since said it was clear they had no interest in talking to an expert. When the interview went out Today had CUT mention of the enquiry! and considerably shortened the whole thing. 
 
Tyler complained to the BBC governors and Today were forced to publish an apology in The Times (see below). Today were also found to have given a disproportionate amount of airtime to vivisectionist Dr Colin Blakemore: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/archive/ALL/831
 
This was such a blatant breach of the BBC standards by Today it could hardly be ignored, and yet the same bias is still in place in the entire msm - I see it constantly. It is recognised by animal campaigners as the norm and lamented greatly because so much suffering could be alleviated if only the public had the full picture. 
 
This is, of course, just one aspect of the pro-corporate/govt/elite agenda that operates day in, day out in our mainstream media, and pours out its sewage into millions of homes poisoning debate so that the discourse remains stiflingly narrow. What we usually get is two people arguing fiercely inside tiny boundaries which excludes a whole body of opinion  - this does not free debate make! It is merely 'the narcissism of minor difference'. And doctored interviews when that strict agenda is veered from is plain corruption. We all deserve far better than this! And by 'we' I mean all sentient life. 
 

________________________________
 From: james armstrong <james36armstrong at hotmail.com>
To: tlio at yahoogroups.com; diggers <diggers350 at yahoogroups.com>; democracyvillage at googlegroups.com 
Sent: Thursday, 3 May 2012, 8:51
Subject: [Dem-Village] Ofcom re NFU on BBC "Farming Today"
  

 
Sent this off , and await DG'sreply with interest: 


Director General                         
Ofcom 
2a Southwark Bridge Road,     London SE1 9HA                                          2 May 2012  
  
Dear Director General,                                                                                                                                                             allegation of  undeclared conflict of interest  BBC Farming Today and National Farmers Union.   

 I have not
had a reply to my letter of 15th March to    Ms Gwyneth Williams, Controller of BBC
Radio Four re the above allegations.  A
copy of my letter is enclosed. 
The allegations are 1  that BBC give undue airtime  to NFU , 
2 That NFU influence the agenda
and the content of Farming Today programmes  
3 That the personal interest of
the NFU  interviewees is not  declared and the  lobbying agenda is  not  revealed  by FT interviewers.   
4 That CAP payments which are  reported to  form  a substantial proportion of
farm incomes in UK  are not systematically explained by
Farming Today during their daily broadcasts .  A Eurobarometer poll found only 15% of UK
people had heard of CAP and thought they knew what it was.  This after some thirty odd years of  the operation of CAP in this country  and over 300  FT broadcasts  p.a., some
admittedly of short duration,     
I have over the years drawn
this to the attention of Farming Today and the  (claimed undue ) influence of NFU continues.  
Things you should know.                                                                                                                                                                     a)  Fran Barnes Producer at FT has now
joined NFU . (15March)           b)     NFU members pocket a staggering £1billion*  as CAP payments each year. Which  is never revealed on air.   c) NFU is not a trades Union but a
£multi million company with  huge
commercial interests .It does not represent the 150,000 agricultural workers.  
*This figure is my estimate and
FT are invited to ask NFU to  supply the correct
figure, and to reveal it to listeners.   Whatever
the amount is , you will see that the potential  for corruption  and the  pressure on NFU to  defend their  members’ interest is huge- Yet this is not made clear to Listeners.  
In the past my query,  How many appearances NFU make on FT?  is  unanswered by FT.    
I  enclose a leaflet  describing the background to CAP  
and hope you will address the
issues raised. 

Yours faithfully,    James Armstrong       Dorchester 
 
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