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The Tory attacks on the BBC begin in earnest

I agree with much of that, except that first in line to defend the BBC are rather a lot of top stars / top talent who all earn quite stellar pay packets out of working for the BBC from our licence fees. Is there no reduction in the BBC budget that one could discuss because for a lot of top talent it does look a little like fat cats on a very satisfying feeding frenzy which they don't want to end.
 
But I feel that any changes that lead to the quality of output would be a terrible thing. At least the other channels have a high watermark to aim for, if that was to go the quality of British broadcasting as a whole would probably drop.
 
D'wards said:
But I feel that any changes that lead to the quality of output would be a terrible thing. At least the other channels have a high watermark to aim for, if that was to go the quality of British broadcasting as a whole would probably drop.
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i think the greater danger would be to the production companies which are commissioned to make programmes for the bbc: it's not like there's a load of inhouse people making e.g. wildlife documentaries, the days of the bbc making its own programmes seem to be long gone.
 
weltweit said:
I agree with much of that, except that first in line to defend the BBC are rather a lot of top stars / top talent who all earn quite stellar pay packets out of working for the BBC from our licence fees. Is there no reduction in the BBC budget that one could discuss because for a lot of top talent it does look a little like fat cats on a very satisfying feeding frenzy which they don't want to end.
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That argument is a bit invalid though - for a start most of those stars are in fields where they could probably make more elsewhere, and it does ignore the many problems the BBC has (not least that it seems like every time cuts are imposed (with BBC News being perhaps the most relevant recent example) there seems to be a reduction in the numbers and the terms and conditions of the staff who actually produce things, whilst theres an increase in the number and the pay of senior managers).

If the review does have a slight point is that the BBC should not really be looking to compete when it comes to stuff like The Voice (ie buying things in to compete against commercial broadcasters, rather than developing something themselves which commercial broadcasters then try to go against).
 
It's hard to bring myself to care too much about this, in its various guises the BBC has been a malign right-wing mouthpiece for the establishment for a long time now, it re-packages right-wing talking points for all sorts of audiences.

A few examples:

Women's Hour repackages right-wing politics in order to aspire to middle-class, upper-middle-class 'aspirational' women in an attempt to get them to identify with establishment women while deriding working-class women.
Saints vs Scroungers has been pure anti-welfare bile since the Labour government.
All of the politics programmes are riddled with right-wing bias, all are hosted by obviously committed Tories.

Why would you bother defending this institution? Just let them take it, it's theirs and it has been their institution for a very long time. Don't bother expending any effort on it.
 
so long as Doctor Who doesn't get cut, then I don't mind. They should kick nick robinson out of an aircraft door though.
 
Anyone see that Attenborough thing about deep-sea sharks yesterday?

They set off to film a shark that had basically never been seen alive before. And found one.

This type of thing could not happen with Discovery or National Geographic and to my mind makes the license fee worth every penny.
 
J Ed said:
It's hard to bring myself to care too much about this, in its various guises the BBC has been a malign right-wing mouthpiece for the establishment for a long time now, it re-packages right-wing talking points for all sorts of audiences.

A few examples:

Women's Hour repackages right-wing politics in order to aspire to middle-class, upper-middle-class 'aspirational' women in an attempt to get them to identify with establishment women while deriding working-class women.
Saints vs Scroungers has been pure anti-welfare bile since the Labour government.
All of the politics programmes are riddled with right-wing bias, all are hosted by obviously committed Tories.

Why would you bother defending this institution? Just let them take it, it's theirs and it has been their institution for a very long time. Don't bother expending any effort on it.
Click to expand...
the news coverage is astonishing in its mendacity. What they don't see, what they see and talk about and in what manner. Really is lying filth, and the idea of objectivity. Well, that means say, getting a lifelong union man and signalman on to wax lyrical about the benefits of re-nationalisation. For balance, heres a prat from the Adam Smith Institute whose never done a days graft in his life.
 
DotCommunist said:
the news coverage is astonishing in its mendacity. What they don't see, what they see and talk about and in what manner. Really is lying filth, and the idea of objectivity. Well, that means say, getting a lifelong union man and signalman on to wax lyrical about the benefits of re-nationalisation. For balance, heres a prat from the Adam Smith Institute whose never done a days graft in his life.
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IMO you can find out all you need to know about the so-called objectivity of the BBC by talking to people who rely on it as their main source of information. These people usually have some extremely worrying views which they themselves believe to be unideological, neutral and reasonable and I suspect that they would be better informed if they watched no media at all.
 
J Ed said:
It's hard to bring myself to care too much about this, in its various guises the BBC has been a malign right-wing mouthpiece for the establishment for a long time now, it re-packages right-wing talking points for all sorts of audiences.

A few examples:

Women's Hour repackages right-wing politics in order to aspire to middle-class, upper-middle-class 'aspirational' women in an attempt to get them to identify with establishment women while deriding working-class women.
Saints vs Scroungers has been pure anti-welfare bile since the Labour government.
All of the politics programmes are riddled with right-wing bias, all are hosted by obviously committed Tories.

Why would you bother defending this institution? Just let them take it, it's theirs and it has been their institution for a very long time. Don't bother expending any effort on it.
Click to expand...
you missed out the moral maze
 
I think it's the Voice that's gonna keep coming back biting them in the arse (and probably, since Jonathan Ross jumped ship, Graham Norton's salary). Far too much money to pay for someone else's mediocre talent show to put out on a Saturday night amid a schedule of better (!) rivals. Wouldn't have much of a clue what the BBC earns, from where, or what it goes on, but the Voice can be easily identifed as a bit of a waste of money, therefore...

I did agree with what most of Bryant had to say after the initial white paper reading, I don't usually bother turning around to listen to any MP speak in the commons when I've got the news on in the background. The new culture secretary, who I must admit I've never heard of, didn't really seem all that interested in his first big job.

DotCommunist said:
so long as Doctor Who doesn't get cut, then I don't mind. They should kick nick robinson out of an aircraft door though.
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Doctor Who brings in millions more than it costs in overseas sales, DVDs and merch. If the Beeb gets filleted, i'll bet it's certain to get flogged off on the cheap
 
To think I used to really defend the BBC (especially radio). Whilst I still listen to some of its radio output above the terrible dross that commercial radio has succumb to, and I still think it tends to do drama/documentary better than most, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to give much of a shit. As for its news/current affairs, that can fuck right off.
 
I defended the BBC right up till about 5 years ago. Now my life has been almost BBC free for 3 years!

Even Springwatch winds me these days!!
 
The BBC really does need to sort itself out and completely depoliticise itself. Different parts have different biases: some left-wing, some right-wing. Both sides need to be quashed. There's also the issue of people leaving the BBC to become political press officers and vice versa - that's too close a link IMO. How you do that, I leave to better minds.
 
J Ed said:
Goes without saying really. Only decent programme on Radio 4 is In Our Time which I would miss but I'm nt going to bother defending the rotten institution over it.
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Thinking allowed and All in the mind are both interesting and aren't pro government... Then there are various programmes that are interesting but have no particular political slant; Inside science, Digital human, life scientific, (although Al-Khalili is something of a sycophant to his guests). Broadly speaking the politics and news media side of the BBC is totally fucked, drama's been pretty hit and miss for a while but it can still produce some decent factual programming.
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
This type of thing could not happen with Discovery or National Geographic and to my mind makes the license fee worth every penny.
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NEXT ON DISCOVERY! SHARK WARS! FROM THE PRODUCERS OF ALIEN SHARKS CREATED ATLANTIS! AND GARBAGE FIGHTS!

D'wards said:
It earns my licence fee on podcasts alone for me - I take 10 currently.
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I feel a bit guilty for leaching Iplayer but then I remember I steal all my media content and use ad-block

So... *shrugs*
 
I'm not sure how much I actually care.
I work in telly but they seem to have a closed network of true blues and I never seem to get any Beeb jobs.
I don't really watch it apart from the odd doc on BBC4, Stewart Lee's comedy vehicle, and doctor who. I guess I won't miss it.

I think TV has already eaten itself, there is shit all on and all the jobs I get are for freakin' docutainment fly on the wall shit.
 
Somewhere there must be a plan to flog off loads of its income-generating properties (like Doctor Who) to the highest bidder, thereby once again privatising assets paid for by public money.
 
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