why the bbc is going down the pan

[xes]

That is a genuine question. Not asking you to say anything for or against the BBC as such.

Al Jazeera is better than the beeb, it's not perfect, but it does seem to put the news over with a balanced view. For example when there's a riot in London, it doesn't side with anyone, it just says "this is happeneing" unlike the BBC who go out of their way to demonize those who dare stand up against the state and fight back, and go above and beyond the call when sticking up for police violence.

 

[peterkro]

i know i've encountered you on a couple of threads, usually referring to your deep knowledge of my country. but in the interests of equality - can I ask where you hail from?

Your cuntry,fuck off.

 

[teqniq]

This involves a bit of paraphrasing for which I apologise in advance as it comes from a Radio 4 program that I was listening to a few of months ago and now I can't remember the name. The subject and the responses however stuck in my mind.

There was a debate going on between a youngish bloke who represented himself as a licence-payer on the one hand who was arguing (perfectly reasonably imo) that as licence-payers were parting with money to finance the BBC they should have representation on the panel that decided what new programs should be commissioned by the BBC. He cited various examples of hidebound thinking that resulted in unimaginative decisions and felt that licence-payers were not getting value for money as a result.

For the BBC we were treated to a plummy Oxbridge type who seemed to be a member of said panel whose argument seemed to consist of something along the lines of: 'don't be stupid we can't possibly have members of the public involved in making such weighty decisions the idea is perfectly ghastly....etc'

This made me rather angry and also grateful that I do not pay a license as I don't have a telly. It also epitomised for me everything that is wrong with the BBC. The sense of arrogance, 'we know best' and entitlement that the Oxbridge type exuded over the airwaves was palpable and the mere fact that he felt comfortable with coming out with opinions that were essentially a big finger to the general public on air was disgusting.

Unfortunately all the while such people are in positions of power and influence within the organisation I see little chance of it changing for the better.

 

[kittyP]

Is one way to look at it.

Fwiw, I watch most of the BBC content I do because I'm alerted to it by trailers - new drama/series being a prime example and which is an obv. target for the BBC as that type of programming comes and goes regularly. I don't know how else I'd be made aware of new drama programming. It's not on going with a regular slot.

On the other hand, the idents drive me batshit.

You don't get idents on the iPlayer and you can watch and hour long episode of a drama with no adverts.

 

[London_Calling]

There are no breaks during a drama on the BBC. Only have the iPlayer on a small screen.

 

[kittyP]

Al Jazeera is better than the beeb, it's not perfect, but it does seem to put the news over with a balanced view. For example when there's a riot in London, it doesn't side with anyone, it just says "this is happeneing" unlike the BBC who go out of their way to demonize those who dare stand up against the state and fight back, and go above and beyond the call when sticking up for police violence.

Ok.
Can you watch online as I don't have a tv?

 

[xes]

Yes I think so

Edit- yes, there is a watch live bit.
http://www.aljazeera.com/

(the onlything which annoys me abouttheir TV coverage, is they don't have the time in the corner, and that sometimes makes me abit late in the mornings )

 

[bi0boy]

BBC One - Wimbledon live

ok fine.

but...

BBC News channel - Wimbledon live (exactly as shown on BBC One)

meanwhile...

Sky News - Libyan elections, Egyptian parliament, Women's rights in Afghanistan...

 

[elbows]

The beeb can no longer get things right that should be well within their comfort zone.

Saudi princesses for example. One of them is trying to claim asylum in the UK, but the BBC appear to have gotten confused as to which one. They've mixed up one called Sara whose dad has never been king, with one called Basma whose dad was king decades ago. Sara appears to be the one who has actually applied for asylum, but the only thing they got right was her name. They've used Basma's photo & biographical info, and have even linked to previous stories where Basma stated her somewhat reform-minded views.

 

[elbows]

The BBC fixed their princess error about 5 minutes after I posted that.

 

[danny la rouge]

BBC Weekend News at tea time said "Dunblane High Street is empty this evening". Yes, it's Sunday evening. I don't know what fleshpots Lorna Gordon is used to, but there's nothing open in the High Street on Sunday after the paper shop shuts at dinner time. She also said "everyone in Dunblane was watching the tennis". No, they weren't.

 

[goldenecitrone]

BBC Weekend News at tea time said "Dunblane High Street is empty this evening". Yes, it's Sunday evening. I don't know what fleshpots Lorna Gordon is used to, but there's nothing open in the High Street on Sunday after the paper shop shuts at dinner time. She also said "everyone in Dunblane was watching the tennis". No, they weren't.

At least she didn't say, 'Dunblane is silent after its latest massacre'.

 

[danny la rouge]

No, at least she didn't say that. Thankfully she had at least some decency.

 

[frogwoman]

It just gets worse.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/10295732

 

[Zabo]

Trust Expenses: October 2011 - March 2012

As it says: "Getting the best out of the BBC for licence fee payers"

Read on

Chairman £110,000 for 3-4 days a week

Trustees £32,000 for 2 days a week

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/about/trustees/2012/report_oct11_mar12.pdf

 

[William of Walworth]

Any thoughts about George Entwistle folks? I know next to nothing about him, but my opinions are generally ruled by Urban monothought consensus

 

[Zabo]

And then there's the way they are quite happy to use Police Speak.

" The Metropolitan Police told the BBC: "A male on a pedal cycle attempted to enter the security bubble around the torchbearer."

As opposed to: Young kid gets thrown off bike and dragged to the ground by burly police officer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18756050

 

[killer b]

BBC Weekend News at tea time said "Dunblane High Street is empty this evening".

wigan high street was also empty, i can report.

 

[William of Walworth]

So was Swansea High Street, earlier, but it always is anyway, being a shithole

 

[Raminta]

1st of May International workers day, vow breaking news on BBC news channel. New manager of football team appointed Roy Hodgson, press conference went for hour and over over again repeat.
Very disapointed on that day, as well something I don't like BBC radio 2 from 12 until 16, talking crap and nonsense.

 

[treelover]

Al Jazeera is better than the beeb, it's not perfect, but it does seem to put the news over with a balanced view. For example when there's a riot in London, it doesn't side with anyone, it just says "this is happeneing" unlike the BBC who go out of their way to demonize those who dare stand up against the state and fight back, and go above and beyond the call when sticking up for police violence.

Do they do that say when the unrest is in Quatar or Saudi, etc?

 

[goldenecitrone]

No, at least she didn't say that. Thankfully she had at least some decency.

Good old BBC.

 

[krtek a houby]

Al Jazeera is better than the beeb, it's not perfect, but it does seem to put the news over with a balanced view. For example when there's a riot in London, it doesn't side with anyone, it just says "this is happeneing" unlike the BBC who go out of their way to demonize those who dare stand up against the state and fight back, and go above and beyond the call when sticking up for police violence.

Could we have some examples of this, please?

 

[elbows]

Do they do that say when the unrest is in Quatar or Saudi, etc?

There hasn't been enough events in those countries to judge. If we look at Bahrain instead, then they did a reasonable job to start with, but often lapsed when it mattered that they should not. They certainly don't cover every uprising to the level that they did Egypt or Libya.

In any case there is a further complicating dimension when trying to compare their propaganda to that of the BBCs - we are looking at the English language version of AlJazeera, and we'd need to focus a lot more on their arabic channels to do this sort of analysis properly.

As for the BBC, I think its often far more subtler a distortion than Xes suggests. There are some obvious examples where they become somewhat hard to differentiate from the foreign office, and at home there are certain topics that they treat in a notable way.

It winds me up most when something changes politically that alters the tone of their overage overnight. They were in a special tizzy over Russia for a while, then it got toned down. They went totally nuts about Mugabe and then one day the volume changed drastically. Coverage of Saudi Arabia seemed to be tied into a fairly murky agenda about a decade ago and then one day that changed too, although that may have been something to do with Frank Gardener getting shot. And I watched the BBC a lot in the buildup to the Iraq war because they were less predictable then, even calling our own stuff propaganda on at least one occasion. I put this down to the very public splits within the elite about the merits of that particular war. And we saw what happened afterwards, a purge at the top.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

talking crap and nonsense.

That's you.

 

[danny la rouge]

Any thoughts about George Entwistle folks? I know next to nothing about him, but my opinions are generally ruled by Urban monothought consensus

Did some excellent work on bass, and had perfect pitch. Not much of a singer, though.

 

[xes]

Could we have some examples of this, please?

Well, when they thought Ian Thomlinson was a protestor, they was blaming him left right and centre, blaming the crowd for not letting the ambulance through (when that was the police) They didn't conceed their stance until they actually had no other choice. Even after the videos which clearly showed an unprovoked attack, they still stuck with the "brave police" speil.But basiaclly, watch them when they report on a protest. They are always 100% behind the police/goverment, and try to demonise the protestors as much as possible. If there's a peaceful protest, it barely gets a mention. Plus, and you'll have to do your own digging (at work and need to do stuff) but they've been guilty of using old stock footage, not just for protests, but some of the Syria/Egypt/Lybia unrest footage was years old.

Just look at what they say objectivly for a bit, have a game of spot the angle.

 

[Idris2002]

Could we have some examples of this, please?

Orgreave.

 

[ViolentPanda]

BBC Weekend News at tea time said "Dunblane High Street is empty this evening". Yes, it's Sunday evening. I don't know what fleshpots Lorna Gordon is used to, but there's nothing open in the High Street on Sunday after the paper shop shuts at dinner time. She also said "everyone in Dunblane was watching the tennis". No, they weren't.

I saw that and said to Greebo "la rouge is going to be peeved!".

 

[ViolentPanda]

That's you.

Why are you being unkind to ern?