why the bbc is going down the pan

[JimW]

Just given up after 15 mins of trying to watch Vikings. Painful to watch. It was all about feelings this, and evocative that. There were fancy camera angles and mood setting music.

FOR FUCKS SAKE I WANT HISTORY. You can have style and substance but Christ, there has to be some balance. You can't just bury the substance under a massive pile of fluff.

In fact for that matter why does everything have to personality led and gimmicky?

So true. Have been reasonably pleasantly surprised by a couple of BBC4 things that were shaping up to be this sort of shit but then turned out to be not all that bad in the end, but still a long way back from twenty years ago.

 

[Pickman's model]

So true. Have been reasonably pleasantly surprised by a couple of BBC4 things that were shaping up to be this sort of shit but then turned out to be not all that bad in the end, but still a long way back from twenty years ago.

and twenty years ago was a long way back from 40 years ago.

 

[JimW]

and twenty years ago was a long way back from 40 years ago.

Probably more what I mean. Seems like they spotted that people enjoyed, say, John Romer's personality as he presented his shows as well as the history, then did the usual focus group shite of trying to fake that.

 

[treelover]

BBC journo discussing euro crisis on a package about France, notes that ''it is like other European states where expensive welfare states are the problem and must change''

 

[shifting gears]

The 2000th US soldier has died in the Afghan conflict, the beeb 'news' 24 helpfully reports.

Just waiting for the bit where they balance the report by giving the number of Afghan soldiers and civvies killed......I'll get back to you on that - we're onto the Ryder Cup now

 

[JimW]

Big old round-up on how exactly the BBC parroted the government line on the NHS bill: http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourbee...eport-on-two-years-of-censorship-and-distorti

Having spent a number of days researching BBC coverage of the NHS, the picture which emerges should be of deep concern for both the BBC and the public. For whatever reason – and there are a number – it appears the BBC made a concerted effort to follow the government line, censor critical facts, bury fundamental elements of the reforms and present opposition to the bill in an intentionally limited and shallow manner. Their requirement to report impartially appears to have been fundamentally breached.
To avoid receiving a stock BBC response – ‘we covered the issue thoroughly with 146 articles including both critics and those in favour’ – considerable time has been spent researching the BBC’s coverage from 1 May 2010, just before the Coalition took office, to 1 April 2012, shortly after the bill was passed. Due to the difficulties of searching within radio and broadcast material without substantial time and resources, the focus has been primarily, but not exclusively, the output of BBC Online, both news and analysis (blogs have been excluded, though their material appears similarly limited).

 

[danny la rouge]

BBC journo discussing euro crisis on a package about France, notes that ''it is like other European states where expensive welfare states are the problem and must change''

That almost goes without saying now, doesn't it? "Of course" pensions are too expensive. etc.

 

[danny la rouge]

I don't know how I got such big font there, but I like it and it's staying.

 

[teqniq]

 

[youngian]

So true. Have been reasonably pleasantly surprised by a couple of BBC4 things that were shaping up to be this sort of shit but then turned out to be not all that bad in the end, but still a long way back from twenty years ago.

I agree, the first two episodes were well worn territory but the stuff of Canute's and later Danish rule was very interesting and largely unknown to me.

 

[JimW]

I agree, the first two episodes were well worn territory but the stuff of Canute's and later Danish rule was very interesting and largely unknown to me.

Cheers for the review, I might go ahead and snag it then.

 

[JimW]

dp.

 

[William of Walworth]

BBC journo discussing euro crisis on a package about France, notes that ''it is like other European states where expensive welfare states are the problem and must change''

That almost goes without saying now, doesn't it? "Of course" pensions are too expensive. etc.

I missed treelover's particular example but I've caught plenty of similar so I'm not being naive or apologist.

But was the quote above a direct quote -- spoken straight onto air by a BBC journalist? (Nick Robinson? ).

Was no effort at all made to pass it off as a point of view held by someone else? Not that the latter would excuse it anyway.

 

[William of Walworth]

Just been reminded earlier up this thread of John Humphries' blatant rightwingery, which has been rising in sheer obviousness for years. Sooner he retires the better, the blustering Tory arsehole.

 

[danny la rouge]

I missed treelover's particular example but I've caught plenty of similar so I'm not being naive or apologist.

But was the quote above a direct quote -- spoken straight onto air by a BBC journalist? (Nick Robinson? ).

Was no effort at all made to pass it off as a point of view held by someone else? Not that the latter would excuse it anyway.

I didn't hear that particular one, but I, like you, have heard many like it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Nick Tory-boy Robinson was saying expensive welfare states were "the problem" now. It's amazing how quickly the repositioning occurs. We may have naively thought the banks were the problem, but we have always been at war with East Asia: before the banking crisis, pensions were "unaffordable" already, so imagine how much more so the "reality" of the unaffordability of the welfare state will be presented to us.

Here in Scotland, the Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont, just recently told us that personal care in old age, for example, was an "unaffordable luxury".

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/the-day-that-scottish-labour-died.19003932

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobil.../labour-still-lost-in-the-wilderness.19018488

http://www.heraldscotland.com/polit...rming-the-better-together-campaign.2012096355

http://newsnetscotland.com/index.ph...ned-over-labour-threats-to-free-personal-care

Labour in Scotland is in big trouble on this. And it has seriously damaged the No to Independence campaign (called "Better Together"). How much it is damaged remains to be seen.

 

[Garek]

I didn't see it so my post is based on twitter but Panaroma featured an in depth report on how the government is privatising the NHS, how this is a massive step to the breakdown of the welfare state, how the poor will suffer and in some area life ex...

...oh, no, sorry, I'm wrong it was about NIGERIAN HEALTH TOURISTS HAVE COME TO STEAL YOUR MEDSIN

 

[Mr Smin]

The panorama was lightweight on it's topic but it's more interesting that you contrast it with not featuring the privatisation. That hadn't occurred to me.

As an aside, health tourists do exist and giving free treatment to the relatively wealthy (people who can afford long haul air travel) is not, IMO, a good thing.

 

[Turboprop]

why the bbc is going down the pan


Damn! And I thought it was because I cancelled my TV licence and got rid of my telly well over a year ago! Telly is shit these days.

 

[framed]

Just been reminded earlier up this thread of John Humphries' blatant rightwingery, which has been rising in sheer obviousness for years. Sooner he retires the better, the blustering Tory arsehole.

One of the most quoted opinion pollsters by BBC is YouGov...

I read recently that Humphries is a fcuking shareholder in YouGov - conflict of interest surely?

 

[savoloysam]

Sorry folks, "Sir Jimmy Fiddles Kids" has proved it's always been down the pan.

 

[treelover]

Big old round-up on how exactly the BBC parroted the government line on the NHS bill: http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourbee...eport-on-two-years-of-censorship-and-distorti

this is exactly how they were during the inception of the welfare reforms...

 

[butchersapron]

BBC reporting scrutinised after accusations of liberal bias

The BBC's news coverage of religion, immigration and Europe is to be scrutinised in an independent review following accusations of liberal bias.

Lord Patten, the BBC Trust chairman, said the review was an acknowledgment of "real and interesting" concerns from some quarters about the impartiality of the BBC's news coverage.

The corporation has long faced accusations of liberal and leftwing bias from politicians and other sections of the media.

Patten's 'independent' BBC Trust has another go at it.

 

[Firky]

My BBC local headlines tonight included what dress Kate was wearing today and where she bought it from.

 

[butchersapron]

Main news: why did so many people not BOTHER to vote.

 

[elbows]

Main news: why did so many people not BOTHER to vote.

It got dark too early, and people were afraid of being accosted by unreliable BBC journalists lurking in the bushes.

 

[elbows]

The Chief Rabbi BBC Thought for the day 'we are on air - stop being open and honest!' gaff is worthy of a few eyebrow wiggles today. Its mostly being discussed on the Gaza thread but I'll post a story about it here for the sake of completeness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/16/bbc-apologises-chief-rabbi-jonathan-sacks-gaza

 

[xes]

My BBC local headlines tonight included what dress Kate was wearing today and where she bought it from.

you left us all dangling for like a MONTH, what was the dress like and where did she get it FFS!!! This shit is so important to the ordinary people....

 

[danny la rouge]

And which Kate? Moss? Beckinsale? Bush? Hudson? Middleton? The Great?

 

[butchersapron]

It got dark too early, and people were afraid of being accosted by unreliable BBC journalists lurking in the bushes.

Why and how did they fail to legitimate us?

 

[Buckaroo]

they should provide subtitles for her

Kirsty Wark, Kirsty bloody Wark!