[Infowarrior] - BBC Rehashes MPAA Propaganda

[Richard Forno]

The BBC Rehashes MPAA Propaganda
Written by Ben Jones on April 25, 2009

As a government owned corporation the BBC has a duty to educate, and  
be evenhanded in its dealings with subjects. Yet in a recent segment  
on their long-running ‘Film’ program, currently hosted by Jonathon  
Ross, the BBC ran a biased segment straight from the MPAA. The BBC on  
the other hand, believes it was fair and balanced.

bbcLet’s get things straight from the off, we know that as a major  
television producer the BBC has a vested interest in the goings on of  
copyright policy. However, the BBC also has a mission to ‘inform,  
educate and entertain’, so when the March 31st edition of “Film 2009  
with Jonathon Ross” featured a section talking about piracy, it was  
worth investigating.

The 5 minute segment focused on an MPAA funded study by a group called  
the RAND corporation. The study - which was widely criticized early  
last month - is back with a new coat of paint. This time though, it’s  
being broadcast to the movie-going British public with the appearance  
of solid fact, and has addressed none of the questions we brought up  
just after the study was released.

Perhaps the choice of interviewees might shed some light on ‘why?’ a  
bit better.

* Keiron Sharp – Director General, Federation Against Copyright Theft.
* John Woodward – CEO, UK Film Council.
* Gregory Treverton – Director of RAND, the study’s authors.
* Callum McDougall – Executive Producer for Quantum of Solace.

This selection seems to be a bit one sided to say the least. If you’re  
wondering what’s so special about the last name, it might be because  
you didn’t go to see that film at the cinema. Just before the film was  
played, a short advert voiced by Quantum star Daniel Craig, talked  
about how “piracy was costing people jobs”.

McDougall also gave a speech last winter to a UK copyright industry  
lobby group saying how the industry will fall “like a house of cards”  
if downloading continues at current levels. This same group, the  
Industry Trust for IP Awareness, tried to push much the same message  
on terrorism and piracy almost 5 years ago.

One of our readers was angered by the bias of the segment and wrote a  
complaint to the BBC. After a few weeks of waiting a reply came back  
from BBC Complaints, and it was none too satisfying.

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http://torrentfreak.com/the-bbc-rehashes-mpaa-propaganda-090425/