The BBC are screwed, aren't they?

[kinkytoes]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c891jp9j79do

Are we ever going to find out who actually made the monumental fuck up? Rather than just a homogenous apology from the top.

Is this person/people still working for them?

I actually understand why Trump is doing this. You can't just let something so wrong pass by or they'll just keep doing it.

I am asking about the BBC. not Al Jazeera.

Do you think the BBC is considered top tier for news outside the UK ?

Is it in the gang of "elites" ?

Another resignation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly5n8x1vedo

Exactly

Of what relevance is your question to being concerned about the recent examples of where the BBC has been shown to have produced seriously biased output?

In many ways being top tier makes that worse.

Nobody forced the BBC to make egregious errors, about far, far more than just Trump, which people like you aren't even acknowledging.

If you do think there is a plot to bring them down, it will succeed not because of GBnews or Reform but because people like you didn't listen and didn't sort things out.

I am still waiting .....

It's relevant because if we lose the BBC, then the UK loses a bit of standing in the world. That thing that the right claim to care so much about.

But I suspect you know that, and that is why you are avoiding the question.

I haven't answered the question because the question was an insult to anyone's intelligence. It's like asking if the sun is is hot, it's just a given.

Are you blind to the fact that if the issues in the memo, particularly the base cause of them - moving away from Reithian principles of reporting of news into interpreting of news - are not fixed, that will be the end of the licence fee, not right wing plots?

None of this is relevant.

Why the endless obsession with Farage/Reform?
Utterly regardless of them, the BBC has outlived its usefulness and needs to be at funded by opt- in subscriptions, and cut its egregious waste.
No need to bid for big ticket events /let Sky etc bid for sporting events/Glastonbury and decide how many execs to helicopter in.

I am fortunate to have lived in quite a few counties, including Europe, the US, Africa and the Far East. My experience has been that how others see the BBC is not how your average middle aged, middle class, white Brit sees it. The UK view is, let’s face it, built on the British colonial past and the unerring belief that only the British approach can deliver quality programmes and journalism. It’s the same unerring, but equally false, belief that the NHS is the only model of healthcare all should aspire to.

But if you ask a non British person what they think, they’ll say that the BBC was ‘top tier’ in the quality of much of its programming and journalism, but they wouldn’t ever say it was unbiased. They would see it as there to perpetuate the white, British, middle class view of the world. And in the days of the empire that view was at least, in part, formed by people who had actual global experience. Nowadays it’s mainly those with a much narrower set of views and experiences which are, primarily, London centric. It’s really quite interesting see things through a different lens / perspective.

You are deluded if you think the general public think that these "egregious errors" are enough to bring down the BBC.

Editorial policy seemed to favour Reform over the last few months anyway so I don't know why you are worried!

Licence fees are falling so they will have that issue.

Editorial policy didn't ”favour”. Reform, it gave proportionate airtime to the most extraordinary rise in support for a new party that British politics has ever seen.

I am not a Reform supporter, so you can keep your prejudices to yourself, please.

80000 people decided to stop paying the licence fee last year. How many do you think it will be this year? Can't you SEE the problem if the BBC don't provide balanced coverage?

The rise in support for Reform has unequivocally been as a result of all media gassing them up!

We are going through the most backward BS episode in British politics so people forgoing their BBC licence because they believe the lies the competition the gutter press tell them is not exactly shocking!

The BBC seem to think that in order to give balance to debate you have to counter basic human decency, logic and facts based science with far right scum.

Unequivocally "clear, unambiguous, total, leaving no doubt".

I do not agree with you. You seem to have zero understanding of just how unhappy people are with the way the two main parties, as was, are behaving.

And still waiting for an example of BBC right wing bias that in any way compares with any of the issues raised in the 21 page memo.

Anything at all? Nobody?

I am not denying the BBC has made serious errors. Criticising those is legitimate and necessary. My point is separate. Two things can be true at once. The BBC needs to fix its mistakes, and it also remains one of the most credible, evidence-based and impartial news organisations globally. That is precisely why political actors with an interest in weakening public broadcasters work so hard to attack it.

There is no getting away from the truth that Farage gains financially and politically when trust in the BBC drops because GB News fills the gap. Trump gains because it feeds his wider strategy of discrediting mainstream media and he consistently takes positions that align with Russian strategic interests. These incentives exist regardless of whether the BBC makes mistakes.

Also consider the wider pattern within Reform UK. The former Welsh Reform leader Nathan Gill was jailed yesterday over accepting bribes linked to a Russian source, which has raises more questions about foreign influence in Reforms political activity. This shows how vulnerable parts of the political system are to external influence.

That makes attacks on trusted institutions like the BBC even more consequential. Recognising who benefits from amplifying BBC failings does not mean ignoring those failings. It means understanding how they are being used, by whom, and why.

Yes the BBC must stick to Reithian principles. When it drifts into interpreting rather than reporting, trust drops and reform is needed. That is not in dispute.
But the point is that this is not the only force at play. The BBC is still one of the most respected public broadcasters globally, and when its reputation falters the UK loses standing. That is exactly why political actors who benefit from a weaker BBC are so quick to amplify its mistakes. So yes, the BBC must fix its internal issues. But it is also true that others are exploiting those issues for financial and political gain. Both things are happening at once.

That is a interesting perspective, I agree that the BBC is not viewed the same way outside the UK. Many countries see its journalism as high-quality but still shaped by a distinctly British, middle-class and London-centric lens. That is valid and worth taking seriously, particularly given the BBC’s historic role in projecting British influence.

But that does not change the core point. Even with its biases and limitations, the BBC still provides evidence-based journalism on a scale and standard that many countries respect (and do not have), and the UK would lose standing without it. Its flaws make it a target for reform, not a justification for dismantling it. And those who stand to gain from weakening it, financially or politically, are seizing on those flaws for their own benefit.

Both things can be true. The BBC needs to evolve and broaden its perspectives, and it also needs defending against people who are attacking it for reasons that have nothing to do with improving journalism and everything to do with political and financial self interest.

I’m not sure the BBC can see its own faults. The bias is engrained and there’s little appetite to self reflect.

I agree they need to adapt and modernise. It is too white middle / upper class male dominated.

I think you've epitomised the problem right there 😉

The BBC can't be reformed if it can't recognize its problem. It would be great if it could be, but It doesn't look as though it's capable of admitting it has a problem and you cannot solve a problem unless you acknowledge you have one.