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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed about BBC bias regarding the Hungary refugee/migrant situation?

150 replies

TheNewStatesman · 17/09/2015 00:12

www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-117161.html

Here is the original footage; apparently, when this was shown on the BBC and some other news outlets, the men's cries of "Allahu Akhbar" as they threw rocks were edited out.

I don't know exactly what the solution to the migrant/refugee crisis is; the west will certainly have to accept some, like it or not. But can we please see unbiased news footage so we can make up our minds for ourselves? This is blatant manipulation.

OP posts:
Leelu6 · 22/09/2015 22:12

YABU. There seem to be human beings lying dead on the floor and you're worried about desperate people throwing a few rocks?

Hungary's demonisation of refugees is disgusting.

clam · 22/09/2015 22:15

No, Leelu, the OP is asking for some unbiased footage so we can make up our own minds. I think that's fair enough.

AbeSaidYes · 22/09/2015 22:16

Not sure I understand why this is bias?

Ubik1 · 22/09/2015 22:17

Make up your own minds about what?

BitOfFun · 22/09/2015 22:18

There was a very informative discussion on the issues here on the BBC today- I caught some of it in the car, towards the end, I think.

comingintomyown · 22/09/2015 22:20

I agree with clam I too would like to see some footage that isn't doctored but there's no chance of that.

Totally frustrating the way policy and public opinion is so dominated by selected images and reporting, in either direction

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/09/2015 22:26

Someone on my FB was defriended for this type of bollocks. ABSOLUTELY if the BBC have been photo-shopping or changing footage, they should be hauled over the coals. However, if this tiny bit of footage is all there is, then it isn't representative of a massive 'cover-up' or problem with reporting.

It reminds me of this John Oliver about climate change. Just because there are two 'sides' doesn't mean they should be given equal weight.

Some migrants will be cunts, because some people are cunts. Some will be violent, some liars, some will hate cats. It doesn't matter as long as the majority are fleeing, in terror for their lives.

BackforGood · 22/09/2015 22:34

It's not just this story, though is it?
Whenever I see something on the news that I know a little about (before it is on the news, IYSWIM), the coverage is generally very poor. Either ignorance or bias. Often just over simplifying. Fed up of hearing the "opinions" of some reporters rather than the facts of what have just occurred.

clam · 22/09/2015 22:40

What "kind of bollocks," Terry? Wanting to see (available, as in other countries) news footage that has not been doctored?

ender · 22/09/2015 22:44

I don't know about bias, but the coverage is very limited and repetitive. The individual "refugee interviews" appear choreographed and bordering on soap opera. Seems like lazy journalism to me. Very little information about the big picture.

Scremersford · 22/09/2015 22:48

I agree OP, its always presented from a certain viewpoint of bias and not a neutral perspective. Like so much journalism in the UK. I suspect actually living in Hungary close to one of the areas where this is happening might give rather a different impression. True, Hungary is rather right wing at the moment with the ruling Fidensz party, but it is still following European law (the EU Commission keeps a very close watch upon it and other Eastern European recent admissions). I agree some of the interviewees seem very selected to give a very good impression.

I would like to see some unadulterated clips from Hungarian news actually, not the sanitised BBC version portraying one message.

Moreshabbythanchic · 22/09/2015 22:49

The majority of the media is biased, they treat us like fools but most of us can judge for ourselves what is really going on.

Baconyum · 22/09/2015 22:58

Yabu to think there's such a thing as an unbiased media. Never has been never will be. It's all edited (time limited anyway). Sometimes for political reasons, sometimes financial, sometimes to protect people's safety.

So don't get all your information from a Ltd set of resources. That's why despite the villification of the DM/telegraph on here its still worth knowing what they're printing (if only to know thine enemy).

What is generally accepted on mn is that the press is certainly biased as its mainly owned by only one or two people.

Brings to mind something a lecturer of mine at uni said,

'Why do newspapers exist?'

Students give variety of answers

'You're all wrong, they exist to sell advertising its how they make their money'

ConferencePear · 22/09/2015 23:01

Leelu, I've looked at that footage twice and I can't see any obvious bodies. Where exactly are they please ?

Autumnnights1 · 22/09/2015 23:05

More bougeuar middle class arguments going on i see.

Scremersford · 22/09/2015 23:09

Autumnights1 More bougeuar middle class arguments going on i see.

More authoritarian masking as liberal leftie cliché?

Baconyum · 23/09/2015 01:58

Me bourgeois mc? Ha! Couldn't be if I tried!

Mistigri · 23/09/2015 05:42

What the fuck's "bougeuar"?

Anyway ... the media is always selective about what they show, and this is true for both sides of any story.

For example, far as I can tell, the French police's decision to tear gas and bulldoze part of a migrant camp in Calais the day before yesterday has had little or no coverage outside social media (and this definitely happened because I know people who were delivering aid to local volunteer organisations at the time).

WildStallions · 23/09/2015 05:59

The BBC is so biased. On lots of things. And it IS really annoying. Because people don't expect it to be biased. It's meant to be 'quality'

If I've bothered to watch the BBC news I expect to come away informed. And I don't.

There is no excuse for the BBC to be so blatantly biased. That's not what people want from their licensing fee.

DoctorTwo · 23/09/2015 06:25

Standards of reporting are poor at the BBC, and the range of subjects they don't cover compared to other mainstream channels (France24, RT, Aljazeera) is depressing. Especially when it concerns what is happening in the UK.

AuntieStella · 23/09/2015 06:41

What we don't know is whether they have doctored it to make it more representative. Assumption here seems to be that it is making it less so.

EarlyNewDawn · 23/09/2015 07:44

I think the bias is more than accidental. I think it plays us if we are not careful. The 'media'/ someone decides what public opinion should be and the media reports on this way.

How many times are we told 'public opinion is...', yet it's not my opinion.

OP YANBU.

I don't think we are as free as we think we are.

hackmum · 23/09/2015 07:57

BackforGood: "Whenever I see something on the news that I know a little about (before it is on the news, IYSWIM), the coverage is generally very poor."

You'd be better off getting your news coverage from the radio. Radio 4's PM is very good at giving in-depth explanation and analysis of issues in the news.

HumphreyCobblers · 23/09/2015 08:00

yy to radio coverage generally being superior.

Verypissedoffwife · 23/09/2015 08:04

A couple of years ago I was watching Russia Today in Barcelona (as it was one of a few English speaking channels ). The main story (and i can't for the life of me think what is was) gave a totally different version of events to the British media.

I'm very cynical of the media now. I didn't know about the French police using tear gas in Calais although I had read that they'd dismantled a Syrian camp. That's a really important detail.