MPs Continue To Hammer Pro-Death BBC

Brit MPs continue to hammer the BBC over its pro-death bias. Good for them - it's clear and has been for a while that the BBC pretty much sits in the pro-deather corner.

MP joins debate over euthanasia

NORTH Tyneside MP Mary Glindon is backing calls for the BBC to rethink its coverage of the ongoing debate over euthanasia.

Mrs Glindon has backed an early-day motion in the House of Commons calling on the broadcaster to ensure it remains impartial on the subject and has also added her signature to a letter to TV chiefs making the same point.

The former North Tyneside councillor said: “The BBC should be completely neutral on controversial issues such as euthanasia. more

UK Doctors Accuse BBC Of Pro-Deather Bias

More fallout for the BBC, with physicians now accusing the BBC (rightly) about their being in the tank for the pro-deathers.

Doctors say suicide commission is biased

Doctors have questioned the “stated impartiality and independence” of a commission investigating whether to change the law on assisted suicide.

The Commission on Assisted Dying claims to be neutral, but the doctors say it is packed with euthanasia supporters. more

Brit MPs Charge BBC With Pro-Deather Bias

Fortunately the BBC is still taking flak from those who charge that they’re in the tank for assisted suicide and euthanasia. They are, and now a group of Brit MPs has made their charge public.

BBC 'biased towards law change to allow euthanasia'

The BBC was today accused of running a campaign to promote assisted suicide. more

UK: Care Not Killing Files Official Complaint Against BBC Televised Assisted Killing

Good for my colleagues at the UK's Care Not Killing. They are the first organization to formally file a complaint with the BBC Trust, which oversees the BBC.

BBC ‘BROKE ITS OWN RULES’ WITH SHOCK SUICIDE BROADCAST

Lord Patten is being asked to rule on whether the corporation breached its own guidelines with a controversial documentary on assisted suicide.

An official complaint has been made to the BBC Trust about the BBC2 documentary which followed a man’s final moments at the Swiss Dignitas clinic. Care Not Killing, which lodged the complaint, has accused the corporation of bias and says it risks fuelling more suicides. more

Shocker (Not): Pro-Death Scottish MP Thinks Televised Assisted killing Was Just Fine

Gee, what a surprise!! Scottish pro-deather Margo MacDonald thought last night's TV assisted killing was just dandy. Why wouldn't she? After all, she's been calling for legalized assisted killing for a while - even for children, no less.

Documentary moves Margo MacDonald

Right to die campaigner Margo MacDonald today claimed a TV documentary on the issue screened last night strengthened her case. more

UK: More Fallout From Last Night's TV Assisted Killing

Here's more fallout about the showing of an assisted killing on UK TV last night.

Sir Terry Pratchett's assisted suicide film denounced

Charities and religious groups have condemned the BBC for broadcasting the final moments of a man's 'assisted death' on screen, reports the Daily Mail. It says many viewers took to social networks and online message boards last night, to debate the BBC2 documentary, Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die. They accused the programme makers of 'romanticising' and 'normalising' assisted death and warning it would lead to copycat suicides. more

UK: Backlash Builds To Assisted Killing On TV

I hope you have the time to view last night's BBC 'documentary" showing an assisted killing. There has been a serious backlash over this voyeuristic piece masquerading as reporting. It was completely in the tank for pro-death. BTW: This was not euthanasia, as the headline suggests - it was an assisted killing.

Anti-euthanasia backlash hits BBC after 900 viewers complain about Terry Pratchett documentary showing death at Dignitas

Almost 900 people contact the BBC to complain over programme

Former bishop of Rochester says the documentary was 'propaganda on one side'

Hundreds of viewers have complained about the BBC broadcasting the final moments of a man's 'assisted death' on screen - warning it would lead to copycat suicides.

Many viewers took to social networks and online message boards after watching Peter Smedley, 71,  beg for water and take his last gasp before slipping out of consciousness on the programme, Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die. more

Here's The BBC Piece On Assisted Killing Aired Last Night

Here's the much-trumpeted BBC "documentary" by pro-deather Terry Pratchett that hit the telly in the UK last night. Judge for yourself.

UK: Film Of Her Husband Being Killed OK With Wife

Predictably, the wife of the man to be featured dying on BBC TV tomorrow evening supports his decision. Note that their daughter refuses to discuss the event. Could it be that she'd rather have her dad alive than dead?

He felt he needed to go, says widow of BBC Dignitas millionaire

The widow of the millionaire whose death at a suicide clinic will be shown in a BBC documentary tomorrow has broken her silence.

Christine Smedley said she had found her husband Peter’s suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland very painful but he could not face a lingering death from his illness.

Mr Smedley, 71, who had motor neurone disease, died in his wife’s arms in December. more

UK: More Opposition To TV Broadcast of Assisted Killing

The furor around tomorrow evening's showing of an assisted killing continues. Here's a member of the UK's House of Lords who opposes assisted killing.

Why assisted suicide can never be right

. . . . Last week I read that Peter Smedley had died; that he had gone to the Dignitas centre in Switzerland in December because he was suffering from motor neurone disease.

The BBC made a film about his death, narrated by Sir Terry Pratchett, who is a pro-euthanasia campaigner. The documentary, Choosing To Die, will be shown on BBC2 on Monday night and will include film of Peter's death.

I have taken a consistent view of the controversy surrounding assisted suicide. It has come up on several occasions in the House of Lords. I have consistently voted against its legalisation. more

Media Says Assisted Killing Peaceful: I See A Macabre Circus

Brit Terry Pratchett's "documentary" filming an assisted killing is getting advance spin from the media about how heroic, etc. it is. That’s what this piece is about. But read carefully the part about the actual assisted killing - I see a macabre circus where the duty to die lurks just beneath the surface.

I saw a stranger die. It's a Rubicon moment, not necessarily in a bad way

Terry Pratchett's controversial new documentary, Choosing to Die, ends in a man's death. Peter Smedley had motor neurone disease and chose to go to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland before he lost the ability to "self-determine" (article 8 of the Human Rights Act upholds for us all the right to self-determination).

In the film, which airs on BBC2 on Monday evening, Smedley ends his life at 71 with a glass of lethal medicine, his wife on one side, a Dignitas helper on the other, Pratchett standing aside, Pratchett's assistant at the door. more

Push Back Against BBC Broadcast Of Assisted Killing

Here's some push back from colleagues in the UK where the BBC is planning on showing a "documentary" of an assisted killing at Swiss death clinic Dignitas.

BBC silent on claims that euthanasia film is biased

The BBC is refusing to defend itself against claims that a forthcoming film in which a man is shown dying in an assisted suicide breaches its guidelines on impartiality.

Anti-euthanasia pressure group Care Not Killing has accused the BBC of ignoring its own editorial policy and adopting a "blatant campaigning stance" in planning to broadcast the euthanasia of a millionaire at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. more

UK Push Back To BBC Showing Of Assisted Suicide

Here's a report of pushback to the "documentary" showing as assisted sucide on the telly.

BBC film of sick man taking his life sparks major row

THE BBC is at the centre of a storm of controversy over its decision to film a man's last moments at the Dignitas clinic in a documentary fronted by bestselling author Terry Pratchett.

In a five-minute sequence in the BBC2 programme, Pratchett witnesses Peter, a British man in his early 70s who has motor neurone disease, taking his own life at the Swiss clinic.

Last night the broadcaster was forced to defend its decision. The corporation's commissioning editor for documentaries Charlotte Moore said that she did not believe the "carefully edited but unflinching" scene could have been left out. more

BBC Exposes Abuse Of People With Disabilities Part 4

More Push-Back To BBC Assisted Suicide Documentary

Here's the latest push-back to the BBC documentary filming an assisted suicide from my colleague and friend Peter Saunders. Note the spin in the title - it's not "assisted suicide" or "assisted killing," but "assisted death."

Terry Pratchett film to show an assisted death

Viewers of the BBC2 show will see the writer, whose Discworld series of books have sold millions of copies worldwide, at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland with the 71 year–old motor neurone disease sufferer, named only as Peter.

Sir Terry, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008, also reveals that he is "a believer in assisted death".

In 2008, a documentary on Sky Television called Right To Die? showed 59–yearold Craig Ewert ending his life. He also suffered from motor neurone disease. more

BBC Documentary In The Tank For Euthanasia

I've mentioned Terry Pratchett several times before. He first gained notoriety by suggesting that there should be "euthanasia booths" on many street corners kick the bucket more conveniently. Now he's getting into the spotlight again, having conned the BBC into a documentary filming a "live" assisted sucide at Swiss death clinic Dignitas. Of course, Pratchett is a little late to the game, this precedent having already been set by Craig Ewert a while ago. What's different here is that it's being sponsored by the BBC.

Pratchett presents film on Dignitas

The author Sir Terry Pratchett is to present a documentary about the last moments of a terminally ill man who travelled to the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic to end his life. more