Did anyone else here Nicholas Witchell on the BBC news this morning? I thought he sounded very peeved that the place hadn’t kept him fully informed about the Queens over night stay in hospital, as though he thought he had the right to know all about her health issues, he said “We were led to believe the Queen was resting… we weren’t given the complete picture”, would that be the same complete unbiased picture the BBC always gives out.
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I cannot stand the jerk. It’s his smug attitude that gets to me. If he comes on my screen, I’m straight onto another news channel.
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Isnt he the journalist prince Charles spoke about under his breath to William and Harry saying " I cant stand that man "
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A friend of mine used to be a well known local face at the BBC & like all most everyone else I used to belived the BBC was biased against my own views of reality. But knowing him changed that.
When out & about, people would want to talk to him & often people would make a point of mentioning the well known BBC bias. And what is very obvious is we all perceive it as biased against our own views.
It was perfectly normal to hear 2 conversations minutes apart about anti & pro Conservative, or Labour bias.
Having known my friend for a few years, I am firmly of the opinion that the BBC has it about right. A big percentage of the population agrees the BBC is biased. But due to a well known principal of psychology called Conformation Bias, we only see the bias, that confirms our opinion. Not that which contradicts our opinion.
In many respects, if we did not see bias, then the BBC would not be covering all opinions & challenging all views. I may not like it at times. But personally over all, I think the BBC has it right.
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Whenever people accuse the BBC of being biased, it is usually the case that their complaint is more to do with the BBC not having a bias that corresponds to their own.
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I have no axe to grind concerning views that differ to mine, but I do object to having opposing views constantly thrust at me. The BBC is always on about diversity, so they should apply that same principal to their news AND their staff that produce the news. Radio 4’s Today programme is a prime example of biased reporting and interviewing.
Also Availability Error.
The compound result of Availability Error & Conformation Bias are at the root of almost all medical misdiagnosis cases & almost all miscarriages of justice.
But as human beings we notice that which suits our view & recall those memories most easily, which suits our own opinion of what is happening around us.
The mental process which causes us to behave in this manner is largely a good thing, but in rapidly processing lots of mental stimulus, there will be errors & unless we are careful that leads to us making poor judgements occasionally.
Richard Wiseman in his book Paranormality gives some great examples. A woman believes her animal, a dog, I belive. Is always waiting for her at a window, when she returns home, showing it must know that she is returning. But cameras show a different reality. Yes sometimes the animal is at the window when she returns. But not always & it often goes to the window throughout the day, if she is at home or not. She simply does not easily recall the times it is not there, due to availability bias & recalls the times it does most easily because of conformation bias. The animal owner, I seem to remember, does not like the evidence & still believes what she always has. It is called being a human.
I agree with a lot of what your saying and showing also, with your links…
Now Saber the Precious Cat…unless he is asleep soundly, the second our car pulls up on the driveway he is glued to the pane of the Window…He does find it difficult to be apart from his ‘Daddy’. Not an expressed view, a factual occurrence.
Whilst in the Garden…husband will hide for a few minutes…Saber gets quite frantic,searching all around until he finds him…
People do not see that in Cats very often, so would likely think otherwise to such strong close emotions…
…Most Cats are not really bothered about Humans as such, only really food and some pampering, let me in if it rains even …
So opinions would likely be different to the facts I have mentioned
Now news is a whole can of worms, how it is expressed and picked up on…
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… … Whilst in the Garden…husband will hide for a few minutes…Saber gets quite frantic,searching all around until he finds him…
People do not see that in Cats very often.
I had darling of a cat just like that. Maddie (a CPL teenage mum) was locally known as my shadow. She followed me everywhere and even came down to the beach with me night fishing. She always came with me in the car and waited patiently for my return from a shop etc. If I had a scanner, I’d show you a photo of her.
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Our Oiga followed me everywhere also…We camped with our Caravan on Winchelsea Beach a lot. [East Sussex next to Rye and near Hastings]
He would jump on me early mornings to go walking on the Beach …He knew he could not wander around at those times away from Home.
He would go into a wooded area whilst we were out walking with him, then the whole time he’d meow every few minutes …like he was saying I am here still. Glad you had one like that also…the memories are treasured.
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I can’t stand Nicholas Witchell.
There was a thing on TV yrs ago - where newsreaders took part doing an ‘act’ - rock stars I think. (Might have been something to do with Children in Need).
Anyway, he didn’t appear to know the meaning of being a ‘gentleman’. Whereas the other male newsreaders were letting the ladies do whatever it is I’m trying to remember ( 
) - he never even gave it a thought and just thought of himself.
In a nutshell, he showed no sign of having any gentlemanly qualities. He’d probably be the sort of person where he’s out the door first if there’s a fire or something.
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