Why the BBC’s new “anti-vaxxer documentary” is a complete farce

(by Iain Davis | Off-Guardian) – The BBC is either the worst media organisation on Earth or the best, depending upon your perspective. On the one hand it is a truly world-class propaganda machine. On the other it is completely incapable of challenging government narratives or power because it is effectively a branch of the UK government and is itself beholden to power.

As an agency of the state, the BBC has actively sought to destabilise overseas governments around the world. It is a master of propaganda and frequently lies to the public, either overtly or by omission, with the goal of convincing the people to accept whatever falsehood or agenda it has been tasked to sell.

From top to bottom, the BBC’s commitment to journalistic integrity is missing. It is simply a mouthpiece for the ruling cartel. It comprehensively fails to deliver the most crucial social function of journalism: holding power to account.

According to the corporation’s published values, “trust is the foundation of the BBC.” The Oxford English Dictionary offers a pejorative meaning of the word “trust”: “acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation.”

This definition of “trust” seems appropriate for the BBC. While it declares itself to be “independent, impartial and truthful,” it routinely trots out claimed “facts” that lack supporting evidence and produces investigative reports absent any real investigation. Indeed, the BBC broadcasts appalling lies as a matter of course.

And so it is with a certain degree of mirth that we now learn from the BBC that it intends to air a “documentary” about a phenomenon it has already opted to call “vaccine hesitancy.”

(Bear in mind: A “documentary” is “a film or television or radio programme that gives facts and information about a subject.”)

The producer of the upcoming programme, due to air on the 20th of July, Craig Hunter, explains:

Moving beyond the often misrepresented debate, this programme reveals why some people remain vaccine hesitant.

The deprecatory word “hesitant” means “tentative, unsure, or slow in acting.”

There is no room in the programme-maker’s minds for the possibility that people who chose to remain “unvaccinated” have considered the risk-benefit of these shots, have looked at the available evidence and have decisively concluded that they don’t want a COVID-19 jab.

Hunter’s statement absolutely “misrepresents” the debate. As the producer of the forthcoming BBC documentary, it seems the chance of it providing a balanced exploration of the issue is remote to non-existent. There is little reason to expect the BBC to provide an “independent, impartial and truthful” documentary.

Indeed, objectively discussing any facet of the alleged pandemic is way beyond the reach of the BBC. As a state propaganda operation, all it can do is parrot the official narrative spouted by the government and its partners, who are, in this instance, the pharmaceutical corporations.

In its press release announcing the documentary, the BBC claims that the programme will focus on:

…confronting the latest science and statistics to emerge in the field and dissecting how misinformation spreads on social media.

The BBC cannot succeed in this task because the science and the statistics rarely support the disinformation it has been commissioned to spread.

Consequently, it must deceive and misdirect its audience to make sure they believe its propagandist tripe. More to the point, the BBC is itself one of the most prolific distributors of online misinformation.

For example, in its press release the BBC says:

After multiple lockdowns and more than 197,000 deaths, experts are warning we’re now entering a fifth wave of the pandemic. So why are five million adults in the UK still yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine?

Putting aside for the moment that there are actually more than eleven million UK adults yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine and the fact that the BBC itself reported that there were just three million less than a week later, the rest of this claim assumes, without good reason, that there was a “pandemic” in the first place. Read Full Article >