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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be delighted at the appointment of John Whittingdale

142 replies

longfingernails · 11/05/2015 22:23

Looks like the Britain-hating commie Beeboids are going to get their comeuppance.

OP posts:
LikeIcan · 12/05/2015 09:42

I agree op - the BBC are notoriously left wing & outrageously biased.

JamNan · 12/05/2015 10:02

I don't suppose JW or the new government will be cleaning up the right wing Murdoch/Barclay Bros/American-owned UK press any time soon.

Nah! Thought not.

I love the BBC BTW

bestmunchkinsever · 12/05/2015 10:12

I don't care what they think of me. I would be miserable doing the school run without radio 3 and 4. Worth a hundred quid a year IMHO. I can't bear the sound of commercial radio at all. It reminds me of football and my ex next door neighbour. Both of which I hate!

OTheHugeManatee · 12/05/2015 10:16

I suspect the people who think the BBC is impartial simply find its values so natural as to be invisible. Here are some quotes from people who work or have worked at the BBC, on the subject.

merrymouse · 12/05/2015 10:34

Hmm, that link seems to be from a website called 'biased bbc', so it probably not completely neutral...

However, just to take the andrew marr quote:

The BBC is “a publicly-funded urban organisation with an abnormally large proportion of younger people, of people in ethnic minorities and almost certainly of gay people, compared with the population at large”.

All this, he said, “creates an innate liberal bias inside the BBC”.

So? How would it be better if it were less liberal?

UncertainSmile · 12/05/2015 10:40

I think the BBC is actually biased in favour of the government of the day. They are very pro-establishment, just look at their fawning royal coverage.

UncertainSmile · 12/05/2015 10:41

That said, I wouldn't be without it.

OTheHugeManatee · 12/05/2015 10:50

merrymouse Of course a website called 'biased bbc' isn't neutral. But the quotes are from actual workers inside the BBC.

Regarding your question 'How would it be better if it were less liberal?' I think that's what I meant when I say the people who see the BBC as neutral find its values so natural as to be invisible. Liberalism isn't neutral; it's a value system in its own right. To many people 'liberal' just means 'nice, modern and the sort of person I like to think I am' but to others it means 'biased to the left and incredibly self-righteous when anyone points it out'.

Overall my values probably align more or less with those of the BBC. But I am not blind to the fact that in some respects the BBC does a poor job of representing the diversity of values within the UK.

OnlyLovers · 12/05/2015 11:05

Britain-hating commie Beeboids Grin

Do you think comments from 'actual workers inside the BBC' are credible evidence?

And, I'm interested – can you expand on 'Britain-hating', with reference to the BBC's coverage of royal weddings, births, deaths; the Jubilee; and British 'institution' events such as Wimbledon, Royal Ascot and the Boat Race?

Thanks.

TeWiSavesTheDay · 12/05/2015 11:10

I find it amazing that people think the BBC is left wing biased! Quite liberal, yes I suppose, but that's not innately left or right wing. It has far more programmes that are overtly right wing (saints and scroungers anyone?) than I can think of that have a left wing angle.

They are absolutely adamant royalists and extremely pro-British as well.

The idea that they have a left wing bias because it's reasonably diverse and some people who work there are left wing (even though some people who work there are right wing) is ludicrous.

merrymouse · 12/05/2015 11:10

the diversity of values within the UK.

What are the other values they should be representing? Racism? Sexism?

Sometimes two points of view don't have equal merit. Maybe that is bias, but I still don't understand what you think they should be doing instead - bringing back the black and white minstrel show so that they cater for the stupid, bigoted demographic?

The quotes may be from people working in the bbc, but they don't really add to the argument - they are anecdotal, out of context, and don't really show anything much.

If the BBC does have a political bias that needs to be shown with proper research. If there are important values that they are ignoring somebody needs to clearly explain what they are, not just whine about the bbc being left wing.

MitzyLeFrouf · 12/05/2015 11:36

I love the BBC. A lot of crazy right wingers get their knickers in a twist and their brain in a tizz about it.

'Tis most amusing.

silveroldie2 · 12/05/2015 11:38

Of course the Beeb is left wing biased and it's laughable to say otherwise. What's next? The Pope's not catholic?

MitzyLeFrouf · 12/05/2015 11:39

Long live the BBC!

Hoppinggreen · 12/05/2015 11:39

BBC is bloody amazing , I'm very proud of it - and I'm Right Wing!!

TheChandler · 12/05/2015 11:45

Piggchops What I hate about bbc news is all the analysis.
Just tell me the news, just the facts. I can work out for myself what it will mean for me and how it will affect me. I am not interested in the slightest in the opinions of various commentators/analysts/reporters/editors because when you start to do that bias always creeps in.

This. They simply have too many self-appointed "experts" on their payroll. Far too many.

Its the same in sport. I just want to watch the sport and hear the results. I don't want to hear endless extrapolated analysis of what an athlete might just do at some distant point in the future. Its nice that they give ex-athletes good jobs, but why not use them and their budget to show more events, not just the massive ones, but regional championships, and do features on how athletes train? But just encourage them to keep a bit quieter during the events themselves. Clare Balding is the exception. Everything she says is sensible.

Gaby Logan - oh dear, she tries hard but its as if this generic, bland, unnecessary detail filled style has infected all of the BBC except Clare Balding, and the result is so boring. Really interesting programme the other night on genetics in sport, but I would rather have heard more from the experts and the athletes than the generalising pointless "explanations" from Gaby Logan.

But at least she is better than Hazel Irvine, whose lack of knowledge of different sports remains unsurpassed.

merrymouse · 12/05/2015 11:46

Of course the Beeb is left wing biased and it's laughable to say otherwise. What's next? The Pope's not catholic?

The pope is catholic as a result of his baptism and confirmation.

The BBC has a left wing bias because...?

Saying something doesn't make it so. You have to provide evidence.

TeWiSavesTheDay · 12/05/2015 11:47

Seriously, in what way is it left wing biased? UKIP got vastly more coverage and invitations to take part in interviews than the Greens did in the run up to the election despite the fact that they had similar political standing at the time - there are facts to back that up.
What about actual examples of left wing bias because I don't see it

OnlyLovers · 12/05/2015 11:53

When's the last time we saw someone from the Communist Party on Question Time?

I like the analysis. You don't have to take it as fact; you can still draw your own conclusions. But for someone like me who isn't going to sit and go painstakingly through all the background data, it's a good way in to a lot of issues and discussions.

NotYouNaanBread · 12/05/2015 11:56

The BBC is outstanding. The alternative is unwatchable, ad-strewn commercial shit.

Seriously - switch on a tv in the US for 10 minutes to see what you get without a BBC. During that 10 minutes, you'll probably get 2 ad breaks, for one thing. No wonder Netflix is so popular there.

longfingernails · 12/05/2015 23:06

And so it begins. Decriminalisation, exactly the correct first step.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11600972/David-Cameron-pledges-to-decriminalise-licence-fee.html

Death by a thousand cuts awaits the Beeb. I can't wait to hear the squealing of the loony lefties.

OP posts:
Chillwinston · 12/05/2015 23:11

Agree with bells and whistles on OP.

BBC needs a damn good shake up at all angles.

Disgustingly left wing bias and disturbingly impartial. Makes my blood boil when watching things like the news, or journalists interviewing techniques. As for question time, don't get me started.

So glad this is happening...long overdue.

LAGWAFIS · 12/05/2015 23:18

The DCMS isn't just the BBC. We're all doomed :(

Icimoi · 12/05/2015 23:19

Of course the Beeb is left wing biased and it's laughable to say otherwise

Specific examples? How does that account for the amount of airtime they give people like Farage, Peter Hitchens and Quentin Letts? How about the fact that, during the Coalition government, Question Time regularly included two members of government against one Opposition representative, frequently also including a right wing journalist?

And what precisely is right wing about programmes like Songs of Praise and the Sunday Service? Can you name any mainstream TV channel that broadcasts similar programmes?

Chillwinston · 12/05/2015 23:24

Couldn't agree more; the pro Labour bias was so blatant during the Election campaign it was a joke and even the left wing journalists ( Charlie State being one that really sticks out) didn't make any attempt to hide their contempt towards the Tory's. His interview with DC was terrible on breakfast tv; rude, bias, confrontational and speaking to DC as though he was a Labour peer , not a professional ( seemingly) and impartial journalist. I was so disgusted with this I contacted Ofcom and the BBC to complain.