BBC’s take on Drag Queen Story Hour

Yes, the most charitable thing I can say about that reporter is that the laziness is quite extraordinary.

Yes it is quite notable how the journalist has completely failed to interview a protester which is a very odd omission if there's no agenda at play.

I suspect this very fact alone shows that the journalist knows the 'anti-vaxxer' conspiracy theorist line (lie) wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

If you REALLY thought it was people very divorced from reality protesting you'd be enthusiastic to interview them as it would expose them as such.

Why are we talking about anonymous Twitter conspiracy theorists? The article is about people (mainly women judging by that photo) who felt strongly enough to go and protest outside the venue and be photographed doing so.
Why did that so-called reporter write up the feature without (as far as I can see) talking to a single protestor? How can you have the brass neck to call yourself a journalist when you show so little curiosity?

I was saying I agree that these accusations are not the best way to object.

MargaritaPie· Today 21:57
"to evidence-free claims that the events are being hosted by "paedophiles" and "child groomers""

I have witnessed for myself accusations thrown around of this nature on Twitter (which I have reported) about and directly to the drag queen in question and the host. I know views differ but this isn't an appropriate manner of having a debate.
I agree that accusing the drag queen in public of this is not the best way to object to his DQST.

As for no evidence, the very fact that he is so keen to portray himself in the way he does to very young children is inappropriate at the very least.

A grown man presenting himself in a sexualised paradody of a woman in front of young children, erodes the boundaries of their normal childish worlds. It tells them, sanctioned by the library and adults who are supposed to be looking after them, that something adult and abnormal is normal and fine. That is grooming. The evidence is in the events.

Then there are the things he himself is known to have said: (my bold)

The drag queen called Sab Samuel used to post all manner of eye-opening pictures and outlandish comments on social media.

In one such post, dated April 2019, the 27-year-old from Cardiff made a crude joke about an orgy, which is definitely not repeatable in a family newspaper.

In another from July 2020, he proclaimed that 'love has no age', a phrase once adopted by the now-defunct campaigning organisation Paedophile Information Exchange in its revolting crusade to lower the age of sexual consent so that adults could have sex with children.

In a similarly unpleasant — and now-deleted — offering last November, Samuel threatened to publish the personal information of a female critic and as recently as April, he aimed an abusive threat at 'Terfs' — the unflattering slur hurled by hardcore trans-rights activists against those they believe are trying to curtail their right to identify as their chosen gender simply by declaring it out loud.

Other questionable images he has posted include a picture of a pubescent boy and an older man accompanied by a comment remarking that gay clubs are 'wild' as you can 'meet both types and be told both are 23'.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11085685/Why-councils-spending-taxpayers-cash-drag-queens-read-children-Asks-KATHRYN-KNIGHT.html

"to evidence-free claims that the events are being hosted by "paedophiles" and "child groomers""

I have witnessed for myself accusations thrown around of this nature on Twitter (which I have reported) about and directly to the drag queen in question and the host. I know views differ but this isn't an appropriate manner of having a debate.

The BBC’s standard of journalism is pretty bad. I don’t know if this is recent, but during Covid I got much more unbiased reporting from Sky News, if you can believe. They were so biased, lots of wrong scientific reporting (which as a scientist was quite fustrating!).

I’m sad about this as there are so many things I want to like about the BBC.

I emailed to say thanks and no to DQSH

oviraptor21 · Today 09:07
Came here to find this story as was equally appalled at the description. Does anyone know who the protestors were? Is it worth putting in a complaint?

It is a problem to not know for sure who all the protesters were. My guess is that they were not all from the groups described, and that the BBC monitors did nothing to properly check this out either.

Apart from this, to give a fair report, these monitors if they are worth anything, would have picked up on the number of normal parents who are objecting, on social media.

For example, a drag Queen whose show was cancelled by Rochdale Council the other day, tweeted his objection, gave the council’s comments address and called for people to write in and complain.

But a lot of people who responded said they had written to thank the council. (These comments were below the tweet I screenshotted, if they are still there.)

The Daily Mail, writing about DQST listed various agencies who objected.

The BBC has no excuse. Imagine the DM being more reliable than the BBC!

I think it is worth putting in a complaint.

So what’s so terrible about being anti lockdown, anyway? There is plenty of evidence showing how dreadful the enforced isolation and lack of socialisation has been for children and young people, especially those from more deprived and vulnerable backgrounds. There is also evidence that lockdown only postpones the inevitable spread of the disease ( see NZ) rather than wiping it from The face of the earth. The economic price has been, as anyone with two functioning brain cells could predict, has been crippling.

I was not anti lockdown for the first few months, while we got the vaccine rollout going ( though how effective that has really been is moot). After that, we should have protected the vulnerable, and allowed society to at least try to function.

The progressive linking anti lockdown with anti grooming just shows how desperate they are to achieve their morally dubious aims by any means .

Context Just when I thought Academia couldn't sink any lower. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4607207-just-when-i-thought-academia-couldnt-sink-any-lower

It would be inaccurate to imply that all opposition to queer theory is a conspiracy-theory-based pushback by antivaxxers though. With men doing phds in wanking over drawings of children for instance.

Marianna Spring has been the BBC's Disinformation and Social Media Reporter for a couple of years and has now been promoted to Correspondent. I've heard her on that fact-checking programme 'More or Less' and no doubt she's not been confined to that. Online conspiracy groups are very much part of her beat.

This issue HAS been indeed picked up by anti-vaxxers /conspiracy theorists. I have a parent that is deep deep into chem trails, illuminati, covid conspiracy, bill gates is dead type stuff and she has been banging on about drag queen story time and it's all come through these channels. I was a bit confused and still am but there is DEFINITELY a link. Think it's all part of some kind of pedophile conspiracy thing, like pizzagate stuff.

I was so cross when I read that article. I'm definitely putting in a complaint (yet another) to the BBC. Pure propaganda. How can we believe anything else they report?

I keep thinking that “disinformation correspondent” sounds way too on-the-nose!

The BBC ought to question whether they still have enough institutional credibility to tell people what “disinformation” is. I hope they don’t choose to squander their credibility further by taking this “disinformation” reporting in the direction of the American “fact checker” sites.

A handmaiden no doubt

twitter.com/mariannaspring/status/1556911930090180608?s=21&t=NXDJ9A99dz9EIiODffag_g

They've just appointed some new Head of Disinformation so I'm concerned that she has an agenda to push.

I just saw yesterday there was a JK Rowling themed 'drag artise' performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year

ugh. Did he make a latex mask to resemble her face? At least stuff like that is a useful way of exposing the lie that drag is a “tribute” rather than hostile mockery.

Ask then what their propose learning outcomes are. Have they ‘lesson plans’? Are they trained in child development and/or education?

Or do they just want to sprinkle sunshine?

Here's an idea BBC reporters, why not talk to the protestors yourselves and ask them who they are and why they're there?
You seem to have spoken to Sab / Aida and to parents who supported the event so why didn't you seek out an opposing perspective too? Isn't that your job?

I just saw yesterday there was a JK Rowling themed 'drag artise' performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year 🤮

Came here also after reading the article this morning. Creepy BBC Monitoring. Weird insistence on bringing a bunch of 'groups' together under one umbrella. It's almost a paranoid world conspiracy thing going on reminiscent of the Red Scare. Anything in the news that doesn't conform to the Beeb's notion of right-think is undeniably due to an underground network consisting of murky altRight teens, skin heads and hippy 5G nutjobs slinking around the dark web. Hilarious when the real demographic protesting is so obviously not that. But then - are UK mums and feminists being brainwashed by the forces of darkness and just too stupid to understand...

When it comes to safeguarding, we can't accept the 'these people are always good, these people are always bad' approach. This approach is the opposite of safeguarding and creates scandals like Savile.

People cannot be above scrutiny.

Actual drag queens have come out and said it's a sexualised form of entertainment and not suitable for children. Are they anti-vaxx and therefore to be ignored too?!

What about gay Dad story time? If you want a positive gay male role model, that seems like it might be great?