Tim Fenton gets it wrong again

Tim, Tim, not very nice but dim

Left wing blogger and UKIP-hating Huffington Post writer, Tim Fenton, has apparently "busted" Bloggers4UKIP which he describes as UKIP's "propaganda arm".

Fenton has some history of making wild assumptions and getting them wildly wrong, leading to the editors of the Spectator to publicly debunk one of his nonsense blog posts and demand an apology. He's been accused of being a troll and stalker (amongst other things) and it appears that he's known to the police for harassing people online. His claim that Bloggers4UKIP is the party's propaganda arm is almost as laughable as the series of incorrect "corrections" that he's "busted" us with.

The scale of this dishonesty is staggering; to lie on this scale suggests a combination of blind faith and disregard for reality far beyond even the worst excesses of the Fourth Estate.

He then goes on to reproduce most of this blog post on the Channel 4 mockumentary attacking UKIP with some "corrections". But little Timmy hasn't done his homework.

He claims that Channel 4 haven't openly admitted the programme was biased. Channel 4's head of documentaries, Nick Mirsky, told the Daily Mail that the programme didn't have to be politically balanced because it wasn't inside the election restricted period. If something isn't balanced then it's biased.

He claims that Channel 4 isn't funded by the taxpayer at all. Channel 4 get money from Creative Europe, an EU Commission quango. Where does that money come from? The taxpayer. In last year's Department for Culture, Media & Sport annual report and statement of accounts there is a list of "Arms Length Bodies" that DCMS sponsor. Three broadcasters are on the list: BBC, S4C and Channel 4.

He claims that Channel 4 aren't funded by the EU. Fenton's old adversary, the Spectator, says differently. Channel 4 financed Slumdog Millionaire with money it got from an EU research and development grant.

He claims that the European Broadcasting Union has nothing to do with the EU. The EBU and the EU are inextricably linked, just like the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the European Central Bank. They are nominally independant but the reality is that all of these pan-European bodies are so enmeshed into the EU that they are merely extensions of the European Union and the machinery of the state.

He claims that there is no evidence that RAW Productions get money from Creative Europe, one of the EU Commission's quangos. This fact is widely reported in the press and one commentator on the David Icke forum (yes, I'm well aware he's a crank but it's not him saying it) reports that she called RAW Productions herself and they confirmed that yes, they do get funding from Creative Europe.

He claims that there is no such thing as the EU Commission. This is just semantics - "European Commission" and "EU Commission" are used interchangeably. Reuters today refers to the EU Commission in an article about Greece and even the "European Commission" refers to itself as the EU Commission on Twitter (@EU_Commission).

He claims that Nigel Farage was invited to watch the programme and be interviewed about it afterwards. He was invited, accepted and then they cancelled, only offering an alternative slot after he was booked to speak at a public meeting.

He claims that Channel 4 doesn't receive any of the BBC licence fee. Channel 4's digital switchover costs are met from the BBC licence fee.

The only "corrections" that are ... well, correct ... are two typos. I'm not one for threats of defamation suits, having successfully defended a vexatious suit myself so I'll just accept an apology for falsely describing me as dishonest and a liar at the top of your original blog post and we'll leave it at that, Tim.