BBC's heartbreaking victim of "Tory cuts" exposed as a total scrounger

[longfingernails]

Benefits scrounger James Van-Cliff, who the BBC tried valiantly to make a sob story out of, has been exposed for what he really is - a layabout who quit his job because he was better off on the dole.

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3205439/Scrounger-cons-BBC-viewers.html

Well done the Sun! And shame, shame and shame on the BBC!

Or The Sun has paid him to say that he chosen not to work again and in reality he would love a job that pays enough for him to live on but lacks the experience and education to be able to go and get one. Just a thought.

I can't believe you'd actually believe anything The Sun "quotes"

Surely no-one in their right mind, that has any proper interest in the news believes what they say?

If he refuses to go on a training course they still STOP his benefits.

exH was told he had to go on a 2 hour course to help me write a CV last year.

He tried to turn it down (as he alrady had a CV) and they told him in no uncertain terms if he refused to go his benefits would be stopped.

So.....he took his CV along, and came back with an unchanged CV [confused)

Oh, it's in The Sun.

Must be true then.

Longfingernails, you still haven't commented on him being paid for the story. If I were on benefits and being paid for my story I probably wouldn't be overly concerned about it's accuracy.

Bah! Work's kept me away from this thread - and how things have moved on!

So, LFN, you admit that the central tenet underpinning this thread may be inaccurate ie the Sun is biased and talks bullshite.

But you still think the BBC is Dave Spart's media outlet.
Many people see Nick Robinson (BBC political editor) as right wing. I guess it all depends on your own political views, doesn't it?

And this still doesn't take away from the fact that much of the media slinging mud at the BBC(and I'm thinking of New International particularly - but not exclusively - here) have far lower standards of scrutiny and exhibit far greater political bias than the BBC - and are far more undemocratic as a result (Aren't you at all concerned about the implications of the Andy Coulson affair?Or -as you don't have to pay for the Sun, is that all alright then?)

Imo, it's a case of pot and kettle in discussions of this type. I'd take it far more seriously if the BBC-beaters were paragons of journalistic practice and politically unmotivated in their attacks.

Which they are not. And I find it hard to believe that you honestly think they are. Or that a 16% cut for the BBC is something to be applauded. Really? Do you honestly think Dave or Bravo (let alone Babe Station...) are going to step up to the public broadcasting mark? Because whatever you think of BBC politics, they do a bloody sight more than just news programming...

the BBC has strict editorial guidelines. It's bollox to suggest bias.

As many people complain to the BBC about right wing bias as they do Left wing.

Longfingernails, yes the BBC reporting of the growth figures was unbelievable!

I was watching News 24 when they announced the Breaking News of the figures. I was thinking "This is strange, thought they had predicted a much bigger fall" Then turned over to Sky and ITV news which were saying how good the figures were!

The BBC changed their initial interpretation of their figures, in later programmes.

Maybe they had only just found out that they were in fact better than predicted. Pretty poor research if that is the case. Thou I tend to think it was disgraceful bias.

"Many people see Nick Robinson (BBC political editor) as right wing. I guess it all depends on your own political views, doesn't it?"

I would go as far as saying MOST people believe Nick Robinson is fairly right wing! In a totally professional way of course.

There was a cartoon on this very subject in private eye this week. It was a still from the story about Nick Robinson whacking a cuts protester over the head with his own placard after his broadcast was interrupted.

The Eye ran a shot of Nick R waving the placard (reading "Cut the War not Benefits" or summat similar) under the caption "Proof at last - BBC's Nick Robinson's left wing leanings"!

Maybe the Sun would like to add that to the charge sheet?

LFN - poor attempt thread

So, let me get this right, Quick, you're unhappy that a rolling news channel updated its news output?

No madam, I'm unhappy that they chose not to report the facts straight away.

I knew the figures had been predicted to be a very very small rise. I had read it in a news paper the day before. ITV and SKY knew what the figures had been predicted. So when in fact the figures were better than predicted, did the BBC initially ignore this fact and had numerous reporters stating how awful the figures were?

As I said earlier,they either didnt know what I, newspapers, ITV and SKY knew, or they decided to make a conscious decision to ignore the facts That is biased.

The flat is a council flat so it wouldn't come under the LHA allowances. I'm not clear why he has to pay anything towards his rent for a council flat, usually those on benefits get full HB in a council flat, regardless of how big it is. It might be related to his age though, I don't know anyone that young in a council flat.

Or, Quick, they simply used a different source for their 'original' statistics? Even if you accept that they differed in their original figures - and again, I'd trust the BBC here more ? by your own account, they rectified this soon afterwards, didn't they?

Which sounds like responsible journalism to me.

Unlike many newspapers who regularly run with 'Council cancels Christmas not to offend non-Christians'-style fabrications that, upon investigation, are always just that - fabrications. Yet by then the damage has been done and the majority of their trusting readers will never see any clarifications or corrections - if the papers ever print it.

I'm not saying that BBC news is a paragon of virtue by any means but it's a damn sight better than Sky, for example - who are hardly impartial now, are they?

longfingers. Although I agree with you that this guy is a scrounger, most people are better off on the dole than getting up to go to a job from 9-5, if it's a low wage. If you are on the dole, they pay your rent,council tax and give you some over, of course you can always 'moonlight' to get extra cash.

I think to be fair to the BBC I think they are saying that not everyone is a scrounger who's on the dole.

Of course the BBc has a left wing bias it's well known and its pro Europe, never running any stories to my knowledge that criticizethe EU.

Perhaps one day they will run a story about scroungers living in £500 per week houses.
I doubt it!

It was the BBC that gave Nick Griffin air time.

Can't get more "balanced" than that

IMHO slug they were right to do so - and it was UAF who caused the damage to property and broke into BBC studios - not BNP supporters.

I say this purely from a liberal, pro free speech perspective. The BNP are intolerable, far-left racists but in giving them a voice they will hang themselves.

Riven I mainly watch BBC Parliament and watch/listen to their news coverage. Sometimes I watch an animal documentary, but don't often have the time these days.

As I am forced to pay for it, I will continue badgering to have a BBC as small as possible, and complaining every time there is left-wing bias.

The BBC is an institution and, like any such creation, has developed a 'group-think' mentality.

It has so many people of a left-liberal persuasion that its members really can't see what people are on about when they talk of bias - if everyone around me thinks like me, I must be centrist and reasonable and 'normal', no?

EU = good
US = bad
Unions = good
Business = bad
Govt spending = good
Tax cuts = bad
Climate change = a TRUTH that must not be questioned.
Diversity = a GOOD THING that must not be questioned.

I'd never trust The Sun.

Yeah, I'd definitely trust the Murdoch-owned Sun on this over the BBC. What possible reason could there be for one of his publications to come up with a story that simultaneously backs a controversial govt policy while attacking the BBC?

Sumfing, that list is not remotely accurate. I'd give you diversity. But I would be pretty alarmed if we started turning the clock back on that one.