Tag: BBC

  • BBC Whitewashes Azerbaijan’s Crimes By Airing Film Backed by BP & Aliyevs

    BBC Whitewashes Azerbaijan’s Crimes By Airing Film Backed by BP & Aliyevs

    The openDemocracy.net website published a critical article about BBC’s airing of a two-part propaganda film funded by the UK oil and gas giant British Petroleum (BP) about Azerbaijan. Written by James Dowsett, the article was titled, “BBC accused of ‘whitewashing’ autocratic Azerbaijan in BP-sponsored film.” BP has invested $84 billion in Azerbaijan since 1995 and is the largest foreign corporate investor in Azerbaijan’s oil operations.

    The film was titled; ‘Wonders of Azerbaijan,’ leaving no doubt about its propagandistic purpose. It was produced with the backing of the ruling Aliyev family.

    Azerbaijan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. BBC is wrong to promote such a kleptocracy. BP “has long faced criticism from human rights and climate activists for its ties to the ruling Aliyev regime, which has been accused of ‘electoral fraud,’ the silencing of dissenting voices and benefiting disproportionately from Azerbaijan’s oil and gas wealth,” openDemocracy reported.

    “BP spent $300,000 on the film, which was made by the UK production company SandStone Global with support from a foundation and a media center run by members of Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family. Broadcaster and historian Bettany Hughes, who co-founded SandStone, presented the film,” openDemocracy wrote.

    “Emin Huseynov, an Azerbaijani journalist who fled political persecution in Azerbaijan in 2015, accused the BBC of ‘whitewashing a dictatorship’ over the film,” wrote openDemocracy. Huseynov said BBC was giving “the floor to one of the bloodiest and most corrupt regimes in the world.”

    Before its airing in August, BBC promoted the film by promising the viewers that they would discover “how Azerbaijan’s oil wealth enabled the capital Baku to flourish” and “gain the reputation of being the ‘Paris of the East.’”

    In the film, Bettany Hughes travelled to Azeri-occupied Shushi, but did not say a single word about the city’s Armenian heritage. “The film also implicitly promoted Azerbaijan’s claims to Shusha [Shushi],” openDemocracy wrote. Azerbaijan has allocated millions of dollars to turn Shushi into its ‘cultural capital.’

    A BBC spokesman tried to justify its objectionable transaction by telling openDemocracy that the revenue from airing the Azeri propaganda film “allows us to invest in the BBC’s world-class journalism, which provides independent and impartial news across all topics.” BBC’s ridiculous excuse is akin to a prostitute claiming that she donates to the church the money she makes from prostitution!

    To generate additional income, BBC ran during the airing of the film travel ads paid by Azerbaijan’s official tourist board. The “Baku Media Center provided logistics support to SandStone, while the Heydar Aliyev Foundation helped the UK company secure filming permits and access to unique heritage sites,” a SandStone representative told openDemocracy. The Baku Media Center is run by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s youngest daughter, Arzu Aliyeva. The Center works closely with the family-run Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

    BP admitted that the propaganda film was its “contribution to Azerbaijan’s global promotion” in partnership with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The Foundation is chaired by Ilham Aliyev’s wife Mehriban Aliyeva, who is also the country’s vice president.

    OpenDemocracy reported that “the Heydar Aliyev Foundation is tasked with promoting Azerbaijan’s image abroad, including by advancing the government position over Nagorno-Karabakh. But government critics say this work extends to diverting attention from the regime’s relentless crackdown on dissent and its systemic corruption.”

    Arzu Geybullayeva, an Azerbaijani journalist living in exile, told openDemocracy: “The [Heydar Aliyev] Foundation was set up by the ruling family to whitewash Azerbaijan’s image. It can by no means be described as independent of the state.”

    “The Heydar Aliyev Foundation is leading restoration works in Shusha [Shushi]. Some of these works [are] featured in the BBC program,” reported openDemocracy. Meanwhile, BP is planning a solar power plant in the city of Jabrayil, which Azerbaijan occupied in the 2020 war.

    BP’s regional president Gary Jones “took to the stage at the Baku premiere of the film in late September to praise the ‘unwavering support of the [Azerbaijani] government’ for his company and its co-venturers’ operations in the country. Jones also spoke of the ‘joint effort’ that went into creating the documentary. He thanked the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for its support and paid personal homage to the president’s daughter, Arzu Aliyeva, and to the Baku Media Center she heads, ‘for their outstanding technical support’ on the production,” openDemocracy wrote.

    Furthermore, “This isn’t the first time BP has collaborated with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, or that the Foundation has cropped up on the BBC. Last year, BBC StoryWorks… ran a separate tourism-focused campaign for Azerbaijan to mark the 30th anniversary of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union. The campaign included a paid-for advertorial that invited readers to ‘discover more’ about Azerbaijan by following a link to an external website run by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The ‘Azerbaijan’ portal claims (among other things) that Azerbaijan’s current president Ilham Aliyev ‘has always focused on ensuring a fuller provision of human rights and freedoms in the country.’ It also contains information about the so-called ‘Armenian problem.’” However, the weblink was deleted after openDemocracy contacted BBC. The link had included scenes from a ‘war park’ in Baku where figures of Armenian soldiers with distorted faces were featured.

    BP has signed a cooperation agreement with the Heydar Aliyev Foundation to jointly implement some of its social investment projects. “Previous joint projects have included sponsored films, such as ‘The Last Session’, a 2018 documentary commemorating the birth of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic — the short-lived independent state that was ended by Soviet invasion in 1920. BP spent $320,000 on the project, which was organized by the Baku Media Center. Arzu Aliyeva was credited as the film’s executive producer,” openDemocracy reported.

  • UK Police commissioner cuts short interview to chase thief

    UK Police commissioner cuts short interview to chase thief

    Sir Bernard Hogan Howe

    UK’s most senior police officer jumps into taxi to pursue suspect who stole money from driver

    The UK’s most senior police officer broke off from a radio interview to make an arrest today.

    According to Irish Times Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe jumped into a taxi to pursue a suspect after the driver complained his passengers refused to pay the fare and had stolen cash from him.

    Sir Bernard, who was taking part in a pre-recorded interview with BBC London 94.9 Drivetime presenter Eddie Nestor near Bruce Grove station in Tottenham, north London, joined the chase first in the minicab and later in a squad car.

     

    He went on to apprehend a teenager, Scotland Yard said.

    In a recording of the interview, Sir Bernard can be heard asking the driver if he knows where the suspect is, adding: “I’m going to go with you.”

    His force said in a tweet: “Commissioner Hogan-Howe arrested a 19yo man on suspicion of theft this morning after being flagged down by local taxi driver.”

    The driver, who gave his name as Mohammed, told the BBC a passenger took £20 (€25) from his dashboard before running away.

    He said: “When I see the police, I ask the police ‘please can you stop the guys?”

    He said he was not aware who the officer who came to his aid was, but described him as a “very good, very kind” man.

    It is not the first time Sir Bernard has gone back to his “bobby” roots.

    In 2006, when he was chief constable of Merseyside Police, he chased and arrested a suspected drink-driver in Liverpool.

    It means Sir Bernard has made an arrest in every rank he has held since becoming an officer in 1979, Scotland Yard said.

    After the pursuit, the commissioner told the BBC: “The important thing for today, at least for me, is that I have made an arrest at every rank as a police officer, so as chief constable at Merseyside, but never as commissioner, and I have been here three years — that’s very slack, it’s a disgrace, but today we have put it right.”

    A Met Police statement said the commissioner was recording an interview at around 11.20am when the minicab stopped and the driver asked for help.

    It said: “Four males were seen to jump out of the vehicle and run off, closely followed by an officer who was with the commissioner.

    “A 17-year old youth was arrested inside Bruce Grove Rail Station on suspicion of theft, handling and making off without payment.

    “Descriptions were circulated and the commissioner got into a police car which arrived at the scene and went to look for the outstanding suspects.

    “In nearby Napier Road, N1, one of the suspects, a 19-year old man, was seen and arrested on suspicion of theft and making off without payment.”

    A spokesman confirmed the commissioner had initially got into the taxi before continuing the pursuit in a police vehicle.

    The two suspects are currently being held in police stations in north London.

  • Charles Sale: BBC ‘cost Turkey 2020 Olympics’

    By CHARLES SALE

    PUBLISHED: 21:55 GMT, 10 October 2013 | UPDATED: 21:55 GMT, 10 October 2013

    The BBC, who were accused of derailing England’s doomed 2018 World Cup, are now being blamed for Istanbul losing out to Tokyo as hosts of the 2020 Olympics.

    Advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell, who worked on the Istanbul bid, told the Leaders in Football conference it was a ‘tragedy’ that Turkey had been passed over. He claimed the BBC’s coverage of the Taksim Square clashes in July between riot police and anti-government protesters had influenced the IOC vote in Buenos Aires last month.

    Sorrell said the BBC had been ‘unfair’ on Turkey by ‘over-egging’ the Istanbul demonstrations and that the Turks strongly believed broadcasts by the Corporation and CNN had damaged their chances.

    Blast: Advertising tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell

    The England 2018 bid team, which included Sorrell, were extremely upset over the BBC scheduling a Panorama programme about FIFA corruption in the week of the Zurich vote.

    A BBC spokesman said: ‘The Istanbul protests were a significant news story. We are satisfied our coverage was accurate and impartial.’

    The FA are looking at a possible bid for the 2024 European Championship. Turkey would be hot favourites if they prefer that option to hosting the semi-finals and final in 2020 when the tournament is spread across Europe.

    Sorrell, meanwhile, told LiF that entertainment and media agency WME, along with venture capitalist company Silver Lake, was hot favourite in the forthcoming $2billion sale of sports marketing giants IMG. If so, that would mean Ari Emmanuel, co-CEO of WME and brother of former White House chief of staff and current mayor of Chicago Rahm Emmanuel, becoming one of world sport’s most powerful figures.

    via Charles Sale: BBC ‘cost Turkey 2020 Olympics’ | Mail Online.

  • Ankara mayor’s BBC spy claims spark hashtag war

    Ankara mayor’s BBC spy claims spark hashtag war

    melihgokcekISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — Twitter has been the scene of a bizarre Turkish hashtag war between the mayor of Ankara and, well, a lot of other social networkers.

    The drama began Sunday when Ibrahim Melih Gokcek, the man who has been mayor of Turkey’s capital for more than a decade, accused a reporter from the BBC’s Turkish service of being a foreign agent.

    “Who is @selingirit? BBC’s reporter in Turkey,” Gokcek wrote in a series of English-language tweets.

    “Led by England, they are trying to collapse our economy via agents hired, both nationally and internationally. They are dreaming for Turkey to be the ‘Sick man of Europe’ once again. Here is a concrete proof.”

    The BBC issued a statement Monday expressing concern about what it described as threats issued by Turkish officials against a BBC correspondent.

    Photos: Demonstrations in Turkey

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    Protest in Turkey continue
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    Turkey’s football fans join protest
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    A wedding amid the tear gas in Turkey

    Gokcek is an elected official from the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which is led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Since an unprecedented explosion of street protests against Erdogan erupted more than three weeks ago, the prime minister and his deputies have accused demonstrators of being terrorists and vandals organized by an alleged shadowy foreign conspiracy Erdogan has labeled “the interest lobby.”

    Gokcek appeared determined to prove this Sunday via Twitter.

    Shortly after accusing Girit of being a spy, he announced the creation of the Turkish hashtag #INGILTEREADINAAJANLIKYAPMASELINGIRIT, which translates roughly to “Don’t be a spy in the name of England Selin Girit.”

    Then, the mayor of Ankara launched a campaign to make the hashtag one of Twitter’s worldwide trends.

    For the next several hours, he cheered on his followers as the accusation gained online traction with messages like “Keep going Turkiye. Our Hash Tag is ranked 2th. Must place to number 1. This will be our answer to BBC.”

    Within hours, the mayor’s Twitter campaign appeared to have backfired.

    Online opponents began mobilizing their own hashtag in response to the mayor of Ankara.

    They began retweeting the hashtag #provokatormelihgokçek (Melih Gokcek is a provocateur).

    By Sunday night in Turkey, #provokatormelihgokcek had replaced the mayor’s hashtag attacking Girit on Twitter’s list of world-wide trends.

    Gokcek responded by threatening anyone in the world who retweeted the provocateur hashtag with legal action.

    “My lawyer is going to sue everyone one by one who tweets #ProvokatorMelihGokcek No one can get away with anything because Turkey is a country of law,” the mayor of Ankara announced on Twitter Sunday night.

    As of 10am in Istanbul Monday, the #provokatormelihgokcek hashtag was ranked as the second most popular worldwide trend on Twitter.

    The BBC issued a statement expressing concern about what it called “the continued campaign of the Turkish authorities to discredit the BBC and intimidate its journalists.”

    “A large number of threatening messages have been sent to one of our reporters, who was named and attacked on social media by the Mayor of Ankara,” wrote Peter Horrocks, Global News Director of the BBC.

    Horrocks maintained that BBC reporters were committed to providing “impartial and independent journalism.” He called on the Turkish government to use “proper channels” to make comments and complaints to the organization.

    For the last several years, press freedoms organizations have published a number of reports expressing alarm about the Turkish government’s record of jailing journalists.

    “The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has waged one of the world’s biggest crackdowns on press freedom in recent history,” wrote the Committee to Protect Journalists in a 2012 report. Reporters Without Borders has labeled Turkey among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, since scores of media workers are currently in prison, many of them awaiting trial on terrorism-related charges.

  • Stuart Hall: Rape Charge For BBC Presenter

    Stuart Hall: Rape Charge For BBC Presenter

    Stuart Hall
    Stuart Hall

    The 83-year-old broadcaster faces fresh charges of sexual offences, including a rape allegedly committed in 1976.

    BBC presenter Stuart Hall has been charged with further sexual offences – including an alleged rape.

    The 83-year-old veteran broadcaster was arrested on Tuesday after attending a Cheshire police station.

    The Radio 5 Live football presenter was charged with 14 offences of sexual assault involving 10 girls aged between nine and 16 between 1967 and 1986.

    He is also accused of raping a 22-year-old woman in 1976.

    In December, Hall was charged with three counts of indecent assault against young girls in the 1970s and 80s. He denied these three charges at a court hearing earlier this month.

    Following the latest charges he was bailed to appear before magistrates in Preston on February 7.

    Hall, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, has worked for more than a half century in British broadcasting and was awarded an OBE in this year’s New Years Honours.

    He presented the It’s A Knockout show in the 1970s.

    The BBC has previously said he would not be working at the corporation while he is facing allegations.

     

     

    Sky News

  • BBC crisis: Trust chairman fights for his job as two more bosses quit

    BBC crisis: Trust chairman fights for his job as two more bosses quit

    Helen BoadenBBC news director Helen Boaden and deputy Stephen Mitchell are standing aside over the Newsnight crisis.

    It follows the resignation of director-general George Entwistle at the weekend after the programme mistakenly implicated former Conservative treasurer Lord McAlpine in the North Wales children’s home scandal of the 1970s and 1980s.

    Newsnight was already the subject of an inquiry, by former head of Sky News Nick Pollard, after dropping a report last year which would have examined sex abuse allegations against Jimmy Savile.

    In a statement, the corporation said: “To address the lack of clarity around the editorial chain of command, a decision has been taken to re-establish a single management to deal with all output, Savile related or otherwise.

    “Helen Boaden has decided that she is not in a position to undertake this responsibility until the Pollard review has concluded.

    “During this period Fran Unsworth will act as director of news. In line with this decision, Ceri Thomas will act on a temporary basis as deputy director in place of Stephen Mitchell.”

    The organisation said it wanted “to make it absolutely clear” that neither Ms Boaden nor Mr Mitchell had anything to do with the failed investigation into Lord McAlpine and they expect to return to their positions after the Pollard report.

    Karen O’Connor has been made acting editor of Newsnight after Peter Rippon, who was responsible for the decision to drop the Savile investigation, stepped aside last month.

    In another development, Iain Overton, the man whose Tweet alerted the public to the Newsnight programme wrongly linking Lord McAlpine with child abuse, resigned as editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

    Mr Overton had tweeted that a joint report by the Bureau and the BBC was to be broadcast “about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile”. His message was retweeted 1,574 times.

    Although the programme did not name the politician, it led to speculation on the internet about Lord McAlpine.

    Labour MPs are pressing for an urgent statement in the Commons on the crisis. Meanwhile, Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, has called for Lord Patten to step down as BBC Trust chairman.

    The BBC’s acting director-general Tim Davie arrived for work earlier but did not speak to waiting reporters.

    Later today he will set out his plans for rebuilding trust in the corporation.

    He emailed staff to tell them that BBC management will pull together as one team to tackle the problems “head on”.

    It came as the Prime Minister stepped into the row over Mr Entwistle’s pay-off – a full year’s salary of £450,000 in lieu of notice after just 54 days in the post. Downing Street said David Cameron thinks the amount was “hard to justify”, though it was a matter for the BBC Trust to decide.

    Under the terms of Mr Entwistle’s contract he was entitled to only six months’ pay but the trust said the additional payment had been agreed as a reflection of his continuing involvement with the various BBC inquiries now under way.

    Mr Cameron also expressed his support for Lord Patten as chairman of the BBC Trust..

    On Sunday, Mr Davie received a report which Mr Entwistle had commissioned from BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie into how Newsnight came to wrongly implicate Lord McAlpine.

    Before he quit, Mr Entwistle warned it could result in disciplinary action against staff.

     

     

     

    Sky News

     

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