Revealed: how the BBC used MI5 to vet thousands of staff
PROPAGANDA: THE UNTHINKABLE IS NORMALIZED
SECRET SERVICES AND THEIR MASS MEDIA: HOW THE BBC USED MI5 TO VET THOUSANDS OF STAFF.
FPF-intro: Well, we've all seen and heard for decades how the BBC has deteriorated from an acceptable source of information to a full time propaganda producing government's entity, where honest journalism died, strangled by the London Group's new management. 'BBC' nowadays is short for 'Broadcasting Blair's Crap', and concerning the war propaganda it's a fact that the BBC was worse than even FOX or CNN.
David Miller wrote on April 22nd - 2003, in an analysis of the BBC's reporting in the Guardian, an item called 'Taking Sides': ''Concerning the blatant bias of the BBC Miller wrote: The BBC thus turned a blind eye to divisions in the country. A study of coverage in five countries for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung shows that the BBC featured the lowest level of dissent of all. Its 2% total was even lower than the 7% found on the US channel ABC.
The BBC argues that its reporters are not perfect and make mistakes on a "daily basis". "We don't only make them in [a pro-war] direction," the deputy head of news, Mark Damazer, protested last month. But in the first half of the war almost all the false stories, such as those about non-existent Scuds or the capture of Umm Qasr, Nassiriya or Basra, reported by the BBC, originated with the US and UK military."*
PROPAGANDA DESIGNED TO "SHAKE UP PUBLIC OPINION" - BY PASSING DUBIOUS INTELLIGENCE
It is known that also British intelligence ran a campaign via the BBC and other collaborating media, designed to exaggerate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, facts which are supported by former UN chief weapons inspector and Iraq specialist Scott Ritter. The warmongers disinformation campaign was designed to shift public opinion. Ritter has confirmed that he was involved personally with 'Operation Mass Appeal' between the summer of 1997 until August 1998 when he resigned from the UN.
Journalist and sometimes BBC editor John Pilger has explained his reaction to the current reporting of events in Iraq. “The other day, on the third anniversary of the invasion, a BBC newsreader described the invasion as a ‘miscalculation.’ Not illegal. Not unprovoked. Not based on lies. But a miscalculation. Thus, the unthinkable is normalized." And, let's hope there is nobody reading this anywhere in the world, thinking that in her or his country it's different: it is not. The story on the BBC and MI5 refers to earlier times: be assured that it's much worse now.
COLLABORATING MEDIA AND SECRET SERVICES ALWAYS LIE, AND PEOPLE DIE.
Revealed: how the BBC used MI5 to vet thousands of staff
By Chris Hastings, Arts and Media Editor - Daily Telegraph - UK.
London - 02/07/2006 - It is a tale of secret agents and surveillance that could have come straight out the BBC's classic spy drama Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
But the difference is that genuine spies were involved and they were operating behind the scenes at Broadcasting House rather than on the small screen. Some of the biggest names were probably vetted
Confidential papers, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, have revealed that the BBC allowed MI5 to investigate the backgrounds and political affiliations of -thousands of its employees, including newsreaders, reporters and continuity announcers. The files, which shed light on the BBC's hitherto secret links with the Security Service, show that at one stage it was responsible for vetting 6,300 different BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce.
They also confirm that the corporation held a list of "subversive organisations" and that evidence of certain kinds of political activity could be a bar to appointment or promotion.
The BBC's reliance on MI5 reached a peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s at exactly the same time as millions of viewers were tuning into the fictional adventures of George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and -Smiley's People.
David Dimbleby, John Humphrys and Anna Ford all began their careers with the broadcaster when the system was still in place.
The papers show that senior BBC figures covered up these links in the face of awkward questions from trade unions and the press. The documents refer to a "defensive strategy" based on "categorical denial". One file note, dated March 1 1985, states: "Keep head down and stonewall all questions."
The BBC, however, has always refused to be drawn on the extent of its collaboration with the secret services.
It is only now, after a request by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, that it has finally been willing to release details of the vetting operation.
Another internal BBC document, dated 1983, confirms: "We supply personal details to the Security Service. If there is any adverse information known, we receive this information and also, where necessary, an assessment based upon the involvement of the individual. This is presented to us as advice; line management then make the decision as to action."
The documents do not name any of the individuals subjected to vetting, but it is possible that some of the BBC's biggest names were scrutinised.
Different posts were vetted for different reasons. Senior officials, including the director-general, and their support staff were checked because they had access to confidential government information in relation to their jobs. But thousands of employees were vetted because they were involved in live broadcasts and the BBC was worried about the possibility of on-air bias or disruption.
In 1983, 5,728 BBC jobs were subjected to this second kind of scrutiny known as "counter-subversion vetting".
The vetting system, which was phased out in the late 1980s, also applied to dozens of other employees, including television producers, directors, sound engineers, secretaries and researchers.
The details of freelance television and radio staff were also routinely passed on to the security services and even the posts of editor and deputy editor of Radio 4's Woman's Hour were subject to background checks by MI5. In many cases, the spouses of applicants were also subjected to scrutiny.
The BBC tried on several occasions to be more open about the system, but was blocked by the Security Service. A memo, dated March 7 1985, states: "Secrecy of the complete vetting operation is imposed upon us by the Security Service - it is not of our making."
For their part, the security services were increasingly concerned about the number of people being referred to them by the BBC. During the first four months of 1983, they were asked to investigate 619 different individuals.
In the early 1980s, the BBC had a list of "major subversive organisations", which included the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, the Workers' Revolutionary Party, Militant Tendency, the National Front and the British National Party.
In contrast, CND, which was very popular at the time, was not regarded as a "subversive organisation". Youthful attachments to extreme causes did not necessarily mean an automatic ban on employment.
The papers show that, in 1968, Sir Hugh Greene, the BBC's then director-general, and John Arkell, the head of administration, successfully evaded questions on the issue during an interview with a journalist.
A memo from Mr Arkell, dated March 1 1968, to another senior colleague states: "You might like to get a bit of credit for the BBC next time you talk to MI5 by telling them that I stuck resolutely to the brief which you prepared for me in spite of very pointed and penetrating questions.
"I still denied that we had any vetting procedures."
THE BBC DECLINED TO -COMMENT.
[andend] - Daily Telegraph - Story Url.: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/02/nspy02.xml
RELATED:
* Revealed: how MI6 sold the Iraq war - Url.: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5433.htm
* 'TAKING SIDES' - The anti-war movement accuses the BBC of having had a pro-war bias; the government says it was too Baghdad-friendly. So who is right? - by David Miller - Tuesday April 22, 2003 - The Guardian - Url.: http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,940770,00.html
* Kofi Annan - United Nations - BBC - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v
* Watchdog for the BBC and others: MediaLens is a response based on our conviction that mainstream newspapers and broadcasters provide a profoundly distorted picture of our world. We are convinced that the increasingly centralised, corporate nature of the media means that it acts as a de facto propaganda system for corporate and other establishment interests. - Url.: http://www.medialens.org/
* Journalists are killers too - Url.: http://www.countercurrents.org/henk040803.htm
* The Medium is the Murderer - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5nyrp
* ROME TRIBUNAL ON WAR CRIMES AND MEDIA: Held Guilty of Deception - The tribunal said mainstream media reportage on Iraq also violated article six of the Nuremberg Tribunal (set up to try Nazi crimes) which states: "Leaders, organisers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes (crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity) are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such a plan." - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/68jws
* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
-0-
SECRET SERVICES AND THEIR MASS MEDIA: HOW THE BBC USED MI5 TO VET THOUSANDS OF STAFF.
FPF-intro: Well, we've all seen and heard for decades how the BBC has deteriorated from an acceptable source of information to a full time propaganda producing government's entity, where honest journalism died, strangled by the London Group's new management. 'BBC' nowadays is short for 'Broadcasting Blair's Crap', and concerning the war propaganda it's a fact that the BBC was worse than even FOX or CNN.
David Miller wrote on April 22nd - 2003, in an analysis of the BBC's reporting in the Guardian, an item called 'Taking Sides': ''Concerning the blatant bias of the BBC Miller wrote: The BBC thus turned a blind eye to divisions in the country. A study of coverage in five countries for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung shows that the BBC featured the lowest level of dissent of all. Its 2% total was even lower than the 7% found on the US channel ABC.
The BBC argues that its reporters are not perfect and make mistakes on a "daily basis". "We don't only make them in [a pro-war] direction," the deputy head of news, Mark Damazer, protested last month. But in the first half of the war almost all the false stories, such as those about non-existent Scuds or the capture of Umm Qasr, Nassiriya or Basra, reported by the BBC, originated with the US and UK military."*
PROPAGANDA DESIGNED TO "SHAKE UP PUBLIC OPINION" - BY PASSING DUBIOUS INTELLIGENCE
It is known that also British intelligence ran a campaign via the BBC and other collaborating media, designed to exaggerate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, facts which are supported by former UN chief weapons inspector and Iraq specialist Scott Ritter. The warmongers disinformation campaign was designed to shift public opinion. Ritter has confirmed that he was involved personally with 'Operation Mass Appeal' between the summer of 1997 until August 1998 when he resigned from the UN.
Journalist and sometimes BBC editor John Pilger has explained his reaction to the current reporting of events in Iraq. “The other day, on the third anniversary of the invasion, a BBC newsreader described the invasion as a ‘miscalculation.’ Not illegal. Not unprovoked. Not based on lies. But a miscalculation. Thus, the unthinkable is normalized." And, let's hope there is nobody reading this anywhere in the world, thinking that in her or his country it's different: it is not. The story on the BBC and MI5 refers to earlier times: be assured that it's much worse now.
COLLABORATING MEDIA AND SECRET SERVICES ALWAYS LIE, AND PEOPLE DIE.
Revealed: how the BBC used MI5 to vet thousands of staff
By Chris Hastings, Arts and Media Editor - Daily Telegraph - UK.
London - 02/07/2006 - It is a tale of secret agents and surveillance that could have come straight out the BBC's classic spy drama Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
But the difference is that genuine spies were involved and they were operating behind the scenes at Broadcasting House rather than on the small screen. Some of the biggest names were probably vetted
Confidential papers, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, have revealed that the BBC allowed MI5 to investigate the backgrounds and political affiliations of -thousands of its employees, including newsreaders, reporters and continuity announcers. The files, which shed light on the BBC's hitherto secret links with the Security Service, show that at one stage it was responsible for vetting 6,300 different BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce.
They also confirm that the corporation held a list of "subversive organisations" and that evidence of certain kinds of political activity could be a bar to appointment or promotion.
The BBC's reliance on MI5 reached a peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s at exactly the same time as millions of viewers were tuning into the fictional adventures of George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and -Smiley's People.
David Dimbleby, John Humphrys and Anna Ford all began their careers with the broadcaster when the system was still in place.
The papers show that senior BBC figures covered up these links in the face of awkward questions from trade unions and the press. The documents refer to a "defensive strategy" based on "categorical denial". One file note, dated March 1 1985, states: "Keep head down and stonewall all questions."
The BBC, however, has always refused to be drawn on the extent of its collaboration with the secret services.
It is only now, after a request by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, that it has finally been willing to release details of the vetting operation.
Another internal BBC document, dated 1983, confirms: "We supply personal details to the Security Service. If there is any adverse information known, we receive this information and also, where necessary, an assessment based upon the involvement of the individual. This is presented to us as advice; line management then make the decision as to action."
The documents do not name any of the individuals subjected to vetting, but it is possible that some of the BBC's biggest names were scrutinised.
Different posts were vetted for different reasons. Senior officials, including the director-general, and their support staff were checked because they had access to confidential government information in relation to their jobs. But thousands of employees were vetted because they were involved in live broadcasts and the BBC was worried about the possibility of on-air bias or disruption.
In 1983, 5,728 BBC jobs were subjected to this second kind of scrutiny known as "counter-subversion vetting".
The vetting system, which was phased out in the late 1980s, also applied to dozens of other employees, including television producers, directors, sound engineers, secretaries and researchers.
The details of freelance television and radio staff were also routinely passed on to the security services and even the posts of editor and deputy editor of Radio 4's Woman's Hour were subject to background checks by MI5. In many cases, the spouses of applicants were also subjected to scrutiny.
The BBC tried on several occasions to be more open about the system, but was blocked by the Security Service. A memo, dated March 7 1985, states: "Secrecy of the complete vetting operation is imposed upon us by the Security Service - it is not of our making."
For their part, the security services were increasingly concerned about the number of people being referred to them by the BBC. During the first four months of 1983, they were asked to investigate 619 different individuals.
In the early 1980s, the BBC had a list of "major subversive organisations", which included the Communist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, the Workers' Revolutionary Party, Militant Tendency, the National Front and the British National Party.
In contrast, CND, which was very popular at the time, was not regarded as a "subversive organisation". Youthful attachments to extreme causes did not necessarily mean an automatic ban on employment.
The papers show that, in 1968, Sir Hugh Greene, the BBC's then director-general, and John Arkell, the head of administration, successfully evaded questions on the issue during an interview with a journalist.
A memo from Mr Arkell, dated March 1 1968, to another senior colleague states: "You might like to get a bit of credit for the BBC next time you talk to MI5 by telling them that I stuck resolutely to the brief which you prepared for me in spite of very pointed and penetrating questions.
"I still denied that we had any vetting procedures."
THE BBC DECLINED TO -COMMENT.
[andend] - Daily Telegraph - Story Url.: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/02/nspy02.xml
RELATED:
* Revealed: how MI6 sold the Iraq war - Url.: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5433.htm
* 'TAKING SIDES' - The anti-war movement accuses the BBC of having had a pro-war bias; the government says it was too Baghdad-friendly. So who is right? - by David Miller - Tuesday April 22, 2003 - The Guardian - Url.: http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,940770,00.html
* Kofi Annan - United Nations - BBC - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5pl2v
* Watchdog for the BBC and others: MediaLens is a response based on our conviction that mainstream newspapers and broadcasters provide a profoundly distorted picture of our world. We are convinced that the increasingly centralised, corporate nature of the media means that it acts as a de facto propaganda system for corporate and other establishment interests. - Url.: http://www.medialens.org/
* Journalists are killers too - Url.: http://www.countercurrents.org/henk040803.htm
* The Medium is the Murderer - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5nyrp
* ROME TRIBUNAL ON WAR CRIMES AND MEDIA: Held Guilty of Deception - The tribunal said mainstream media reportage on Iraq also violated article six of the Nuremberg Tribunal (set up to try Nazi crimes) which states: "Leaders, organisers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes (crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity) are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such a plan." - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/68jws
* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
-0-
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