Thread by @clim8resistance

The @BBC and @ISDglobal, using cash from @cabinetofficeuk and billionaires, try desperately to make equivalents of jihadi terrorists and people who think that wind turbines are a bad idea. But such obvious propaganda falls on its face. Me in @spikedonline.
spiked-online.com/2021/11/24/how…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline Here's one BBC article, which uncritically reproduces the ISD's claims, as though it was an authority to be deferred to, not a political campaigning organisation.

bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-tre…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline Here's the ISD's "analysis", which claims that "climate lockdown" was nothing more than an "innocuous phrase", which has been twisted beyond recognition, by "far right" anti-vax conspiracy theorists who are "pivoting" from covid denial to climate denial. isdglobal.org/isd-publicatio…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The ISD's report explicitly refers to an article by UCL researcher, Mariana Mazzucato as an example of this "innocuous" use of the term "climate lockdown". But what did she actually say?

She explicitly argued for *radical* political changes...

project-syndicate.org/commentary/rad…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The ISD claim that this "is ‘a case study in how any message can be seized upon by reactionary media and adapted to serve an existing political framework".

But Mazzucato's argument was not "innocuous" was not just "any message".

She used the term "radical" herself.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline And "radical" in the sense here was, by implication and context precisely as *radical* as lockdowns -- arguably one of the most radical peacetime policy innovations in the world's history.

It was not 'deniers' or the 'far right' that were 'pivoting' from covid to climate...

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The Institute for Strategic Dialogue admits to funding from a constellation of state actors and private interests. Yet it also claims to be "fiercely independent".

That cannot be the case.

isdglobal.org/partnerships-a…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline And its claim to be "powering solutions to extremism, hate and disinformation" seems equally tenuous...

Here, ISD admit to "partnerships" with the European Climate Foundation, Greenpeace and Desmog -- arguably *the most* conflicted green organisations...

isdglobal.org/disinformation…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline In case you don't know, the ECF is the funder of the vast majority of climate lobbying in the UK. It channels tens of £millions per year from conflicted hedge fund managers, billionaires and corporations into green organisations. There would be no green movement without them.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline And in case you don't know, Desmog is the green PR outfit established by a convicted money launderer, to smear any critics of climate policies. It's low-rent stuff.

The BBC should be *investigating* the ISD and its weirdo 'partners', not reproducing their work without question.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline So why is the @BBC uncritically reproducing such absolute bullshit as "news"?

Well, the answer is that the BBC is not one single entity, but a number of organisations.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The BBC World Service receives hundreds of £millions from the UK government to project "soft power" globally. That's *propaganda* to you and I.

theguardian.com/media/2015/nov…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline There is also the "charity" arm of the BBC, BBC Media Action. Both of these arms, since the events of 2016, have put "countering misinformation" in their mission statements.

bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/ou…

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline Put simply, the BBC's understanding of the problem is that since "False and misleading information divides societies", all that needs to happen to make a harmonious society is for one story to prevail, whether or not it is right. So it uses its power to dominate the narrative.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The BBC's 'Reality Check' 'BBC Trending' and 'Misinformation' strands are produced by the World Service and Media Action. And that's how it can get away with producing such obvious BS with zero regard for normal standards of 'journalism'. This is simple propaganda.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The BBC, its arms and its defacto partners such as the ISD and its government and private backers do not believe that the public should be free and able to take part in debates and decision making about the management and direction of society.

Might is right.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline They believe that they, and they alone have the monopoly on truth, and that it is not for you, I, or anyone outside their sphere to challenge official narratives.

And so journalism dies.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline "Fact checking" and "countering misinformation" are to journalism as a baseball bat is to epistemology.

Discovering truth is often an adversarial process. In science, in law, and in democracy, and in academe, people disagree. But disagreement has become politically inconvenient.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline So, many £millions -- likely £billions -- have been pumped into aligning institutional muscle against disagreements with a political agenda. The BBC is using its muscle against debate, democracy and actual journalism.

@BBC @ISDglobal @cabinetofficeuk @spikedonline The BBC's arms claim to uncover and expose conspiracy theories. But on their journey, they invent conspiracy theories.

They claim to counter 'misinformation', but in their desperation, they create, reproduce and transmit it.