It’s always a special moment when the BBC tries to claim they’re not overwhelmingly slanted toward multicultural doublethink: BBC ‘not crammed full of soft liberals’ says deputy chief.

Oh, how we laughed. Then we remembered it really isn’t very funny to see the instruments of public information hijacked by self-loathing morons.

One of the BBC’s most senior executives has defended the corporation against accusations that it is “crammed full of soft liberals” obsessed with pushing a politically correct agenda.

In an exclusive interview, Mark Byford, the deputy director-general, has hit back at suggestions that the broadcaster is too sensitive to the feelings of Muslim viewers and that it has an inbuilt anti-Christian bias.

Mr Byford, 48, who has overall responsibility for the corporation’s news division, refused, however, to rule out the possibility that a Muslim woman could read the news wearing a veil.

He also said he was “proud” of the BBC’s decision to include an interview with the Taliban in an item about the conflict in Afghanistan.

“Our job in journalism is to communicate to the audience effectively the information we are delivering to them,” he said. “As far as the issue of dress is concerned, it must not get in the way of the audience being able to receive the information in a clear and effective manner.”

Asked specifically about the issue of a Muslim newsreader wearing a veil, he said: “The key is, if it does not hamper our primary obligation to deliver the news and information to our viewers and listeners then we would be respectful of that.

“The key is that we would look at every single case and see it under that criterion. If the face is covered completely by the veil, then that is a different issue to something else. That’s why we can’t be that clear on it.”

He added: “Do I believe that the BBC favours Islam compared to Christianity? Absolutely not. We absolutely recognise that the BBC has to reflect all faiths which are relevant within the UK.”

Notice Byford’s refusal to say that the BBC will not have a Muslim woman read the news while wearing a radical Islamic face mask. This strongly suggests that such a thing is already in the planning stages, and we should expect it to be a reality soon. The Beeb will probably wait until the current furor over the veil cools off, but don’t be surprised to see a veiled newsreader within the next few months.

UPDATE at 10/29/06 8:24:16 am:

Notice also how Byford doesn’t even mention the BBC’s coverage of Israel, or Judaism—perhaps because it’s impossible to defend. Melanie Phillips had a post a few days ago about an astoundingly anti-Jewish episode of the BBC series “Spooks,” showing how insane things have gotten: The British Bigotry Corporation.

Anti-Zionism may be unremarkable on the Beeb, but this skidded well over into antisemitism. The take-home message was that Al Qaeda are a bunch of amateurs and can be managed as a law-enforcement problem but the real danger are those devious, murderous, all-too-clever Jews. The main plot involves a group of ruthless Mid-East hijackers who take over a London embassy and shoot people every hour. They turn out (of course) to be Jews in disguise. We have a Jewish traitor in high places with dialogue invoking the classic ‘can’t serve two masters’ accusation: ‘I asked which side he would fight on in a war between Britain and Israel. He just gave me his answer.’ The plot also relies on the same argument as the 9/11 conspiracy theory that Mossad blew up the twin towers because Muslims aren’t smart enough: MI5 realise the baddies must be Jewish because they’re too clever for their own good (and merciless and self-serving, naturally). The Jews in this episode may not be drinking the blood of Christian children but they are certainly bloodthirsty. There is even a fat, heavy-featured Mossad officer looking evil and inscrutable as he mouths ’shalom’. Plus the ringleader gets a cathartic booting at the end from the hero which had me in mind of Kristallnacht.