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why the bbc is going down the pan

Numerical ignorance is fundamental to all the other specialist ignorances. This book, or something like it, should be required reading for all pols and journos.
www.penguin.co.uk

Innumeracy

Why do even well-educated people often understand so little about maths - or take a perverse pride in not being a 'numbers person'? In his now-classic book Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos answers questions such as: Why is following the stock market exactly like flipping a coin? How big is a...
www.penguin.co.uk www.penguin.co.uk

Paulos on a reason for writing the book:
Innumeracy, an inability to deal comfortably with the fundamental notions of number and chance, plagues far too many otherwise knowledgeable citizens. The same people who cringe when words such as "imply" and "infer" are confused react without a trace of embarrassment to even the most egregious of numerical solecisms. I remember once listening to someone at a party drone on about the difference between "continually" and "continuously." Later that evening we were watching the news, and the TV weathercaster announced that there was a 50 percent chance of rain for Saturday and a 50 percent chance for Sunday, and concluded that there was therefore a 100 percent chance of rain that weekend. The remark went right by the self-styled grammarian, and even after I explained the mistake to him, he wasn't nearly as indignant as he would have been had the weathercaster left a dangling participle.
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They never fixed the nuclear article I was ranting about. No surprise I suppose, it was in the business section.
 
Elpenor said:
It’s 50 years today since a police officer and two others were shot in Devon. A bbc local news feature on the memorial plaque.

www.bbc.co.uk

PC Dennis Smith: Torquay memorial to honour murdered officer

PC Dennis Smith was shot dead on 21 December 1973, by a man who went on to kill two other people.
www.bbc.co.uk

View attachment 405266
Michael Winner has been dead for 10 years, so if we rule out him speaking to us beyond the grave, then this is a pretty big mistake.
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Michael Winner regularly speaks to me from beyond the grave.

The BBC has sacked many journalists. This is what happens when the number of staff is reduced. Gross errors like this.
 
elbows said:
By the way, press reporting on stuff that affects current nuclear generation in this country is fucking shite, even in winter when supply-demand balance is tighter.

For example, a steam valve failed in a reactor recently, taking it out of action, and likely as a result of that 3 more reactors are now also offline for steam valve inspections. Add in refuelling of one more reactor at present and half our current fleet isnt even generating at the moment. But I usually have to dig around to discover this stuff, non-specialist publications dont tend to report on such things it seems.
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Just to put that in context of the earlier numbers mentioned in conjunction with the announcement that the BBC mangled. Right now nuclear is generating less than 2.5GW in this country! Anyway thats enough nuclear detail on this thread, sorry for drifting off topic.
 
elbows said:
Just to put that in context of the earlier numbers mentioned in conjunction with the announcement that the BBC mangled. Right now nuclear is generating less than 2.5GW in this country! Anyway thats enough nuclear detail on this thread, sorry for drifting off topic.
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It's appalling that there isn't even a basic grasp on the energy situation in the UK and the size of nuclear plants, not to mention there's some still running with cracked bricks that keep getting life extensions.
 
GarveyLives said:
It appears that the government have found the right man for their the job:

New BBC chair is co-author of Boris Johnson’s controversial race report
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Disturbing:

"This is a story of wheels within wheels. It takes us into the clouded intersection between UK politics and media. We meet a cast of characters who have long wished to control, abolish or diminish the BBC and its public service broadcasting cousins. We peep into the shadowy world of how public appointments are fixed. We learn how fragile some of our great institutions are. And we discover that Sir Robbie Gibb, until 2017 a middle-ranking TV executive, may well now be the most important journalist at the BBC, and therefore in the country ..."
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How the government captured the BBC
 
www.theguardian.com

‘The bloody Protestants ran BBC in Northern Ireland’ in 70s, says ex-TV boss

Former BBC One controller Paul Fox says anti-Catholic prejudice was deeply embedded at the corporation during the Troubles
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Fox, who was editor of Panorama in the 1960s, condemns “the censorship” of the Catholic viewpoint in a new documentary about the corporation’s fights and impartiality. Similar sentiments are expressed by Martin Bell and Irish-born Denis Tuohy, who were then both reporting from Northern Ireland and who agree that the BBC was prevented from telling the British public about discrimination against Catholics in education, work and housing.

Yet the documentary, Shooting the Rapids, was itself nearly “censored”. Its commissioning editor told the director that it should go straight into the BBC Archives. John Bridcut, a highly regarded documentary maker since the 1990s, then arranged a personal meeting with director general Tim Davie, who overruled the department head and agreed on its broadcast. It will air on 3 March on BBC Four at 9pm.

“Back then, the one thing we could not tackle was Northern Ireland,” says Fox, who later became managing director of BBC Television. “The decision had been taken that the head of Northern Ireland programmes would act as censor. So it was as difficult to film there as in the Soviet Union. It also meant that it was easier to go to America, with no censorship, to film their race problems than those of Northern Ireland.”
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Can someone explain why this is a story?

www.bbc.com

K-pop star Karina and actor Lee Jae-wook split shortly after going public

Karina, who went public with their relationship five weeks ago, was accused of "betrayal" by some fans.
www.bbc.com

A K-pop star who had to issue a grovelling apology to fans for having a boyfriend is single again
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Apology, why? I don't even know who this person is, but why is this pop star having a boyfriend a problem, or even a news story? Her fans are calling it a 'betrayal' ? I don't understand.
 
skyscraper101 said:
Can someone explain why this is a story?

www.bbc.com

K-pop star Karina and actor Lee Jae-wook split shortly after going public

Karina, who went public with their relationship five weeks ago, was accused of "betrayal" by some fans.
www.bbc.com



Apology, why? I don't even know who this person is, but why is this pop star having a boyfriend a problem, or even a news story? Her fans are calling it a 'betrayal' ? I don't understand.
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A) It's not news*
B) It's bonkers

It's one of them "aren't foreigners odd" stories which the media are so fond of.

* It possibly has some value as a demonstration of the madness that exists within K-pop fandom, but without background or context, it's shite.
 
I mean I'll have a stab at the context in that for some reason, boy band/girl band members in K-Pop are frowned upon for having relationships? If this is the case then I feel it needs to be explained because if this was a western girl band I feel having a boyfriend is a bit of a non story. But this is not explained anywhere. And I don't even know why this is worthy of a BBC news article anyway.
 
skyscraper101 said:
I mean I'll have a stab at the context in that for some reason, boy band/girl band members in K-Pop are frowned upon for having relationships? If this is the case then I feel it needs to be explained because if this was a western girl band I feel having a boyfriend is a bit of a non story. But this is not explained anywhere. And I don't even know why this is worthy of a BBC news article anyway.
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It's explained in the article.
bbc said:
Some fans drove a "protest truck" to her management agency when the news broke.
"Is the love given to you by your fans not enough?" blared an electronic billboard on the vehicle.
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bbc said:
Karina's apology and now, breakup, offer a glimpse into the world of South Korea entertainment's "super fans", who are increasingly trying to dictate their idols' private lives.
Theirs is not an isolated incident.
Days before, South Korean actors Han So-hee and Ryu Jun-yeol had also announced that they have separated - just two weeks after publicly acknowledging their relationship.
The couple parted ways following a backlash from fans, who accused them of being in a "transit relationship", noting that Ryu had recently ended a seven-year romance with his Reply 1988 co-star singer-actress Lee Hyeri.
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Other than that, the BBC regularly covers celebrity stuff and k-pop is very popular.
 
skyscraper101 said:
I mean I'll have a stab at the context in that for some reason, boy band/girl band members in K-Pop are frowned upon for having relationships? If this is the case then I feel it needs to be explained because if this was a western girl band I feel having a boyfriend is a bit of a non story. But this is not explained anywhere. And I don't even know why this is worthy of a BBC news article anyway.
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You say that, but back in the day, I'm pretty sure there was mass upset when Donny Osmond or David Cassidy was revealed to be in a relationship. It's all weird, controlling stalky bollocks, there's probably a dollop of misogyny in there with the kpop singer.
 
Serge Forward said:
You say that, but back in the day, I'm pretty sure there was mass upset when Donny Osmond or David Cassidy was revealed to be in a relationship. It's all weird, controlling stalky bollocks, there's probably a dollop of misogyny in there with the kpop singer.
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Shouldn't this sort of thing be confined to Smash Hits or whatever the equivalent is nowadays? What is this sort of bollocks doing on the BBC News website? Pop star in 'has boyfriend' shocker. Fucksake.
 
The other day, the BBC news channel was banging on about Beyonce's new album. A few years back, the nine o' clock news was all over a new album by Bruce Springsteen. In the 50s and 60s it was all Elvis this and Beatlemania that. They've been doing this sort of rubbish for years.
 
skyscraper101 said:
I mean I'll have a stab at the context in that for some reason, boy band/girl band members in K-Pop are frowned upon for having relationships? If this is the case then I feel it needs to be explained because if this was a western girl band I feel having a boyfriend is a bit of a non story. But this is not explained anywhere. And I don't even know why this is worthy of a BBC news article anyway.
Click to expand...
British pop stars back in the day took care with publicity regarding relationships. It was regarded as something of a career inhibitor if the lithe and handsome bloke wasn't 'available'. It was felt that female fandom was in part driven by the possibility of being the stars girlfriend.
 
skyscraper101 said:
I mean I'll have a stab at the context in that for some reason, boy band/girl band members in K-Pop are frowned upon for having relationships? If this is the case then I feel it needs to be explained because if this was a western girl band I feel having a boyfriend is a bit of a non story. But this is not explained anywhere. And I don't even know why this is worthy of a BBC news article anyway.
Click to expand...
K Pop and J Pop are all about the image. Any hint of relationships and worst of all - drugs - can ruin the product.

Or rather the media circus and draconian laws in regard to the latter will ensure a scandal.
 
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