You can’t truly consider yourself an informed citizen unless you keep up on news around the world. If you think that media bias is a phenomenon seen only on this side of the pond, think again.

Via Drudge, you have to truly see this one to believe it. The BBC equiped three hecklers with microphones and sent them to heckle at a Conservative Party campaign rally, according to the London Telegraph. For some of you more insular types, the United Kingdom’s parliamentary elections are taking place on May 5. Aside from some smaller parties, the main contenders are the Conservative (Tory) party and the Labour Party, of which PM Tony Blair is a member.

Among the statements the hecklers yelled at Conservative leader Michael Howard were, “Michael Howard is a liar”, “You can’t trust the Tories” and “You can only trust Tony Blair”.

Amazingly, the Beeb defended itself by saying that BBC3 is doing a legitimate show on the history of political heckling. Despite the BBC’s claims that the hecklers attended Labour rallies in the name of equal time, the Telegraph confirmed that none of their rallies were similarly disrupted.

Thank God there weren’t pies involved. Although looked down upon here, smashing a pie in the face of a politician is a time-honored European tradition that goes back centuries.

Now keep in mind, the BBC does a lot more than news, but this still doesn’t look terribly good. And it’s not the first time such shenanigans have occurred — check out the Biased Beeb blog.

As long as we’re talking about foreign media, check out Captain Ed’s awesome coverage of the Adscam scandal that is threatening to bring down Canada’s government. Despite a government-imposed media blackout over the hearings, it was Captain Ed who flexed the blogosphere’s muscles.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin reminds us that the Beeb does not hold a monopoly on manufacturing the news — she links to the story of Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts, who coached soldiers with questions to ambush Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.