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Original poster

BBC News in the morning- long stories, no other stories at all?

88 replies

VinterKvinna · 03/02/2021 08:29

From 8am to 8.26 (possibly still going) they have been discussing the sad passing of Captain Tom.

I totally agree this is important, but is there nothing else happening in the world at the moment? Whats happening in Myanmar? Whats happening in our hospitals, the vaccine...
Anything..

Yes its sad he has died, and yes he was inspiring, thats not my argument
I want news, not half an hour on a lookback on CT, and interviews with Michael Ball....

OP posts:
derxa · 03/02/2021 09:10

@VinylDetective

It is the news today. For one day. You’ll get your misery fest back tomorrow and every day thereafter.
Yes. There's only so much misery the human psyche can take imo. We need a pause from time to time.
Grenlei · 03/02/2021 09:11

I may have overstated the house value slightly, I'll change several for a couple of million.

Roussette · 03/02/2021 09:13

Totally agree.

Let me say here, I actually surprised myself yesterday, I shed a tear when I heard he had died, so I am not without sympathy. He was a wonderful wonderful man.

However...
BBC has been on it now for an hour and will continue until the programme ends.
This is ridiculous.

I want to hear about everything else going on in the world.

Covid
Brexit
Myanmar
Navalny/Russia

This is supposed to be Breakfast News. Wrong description. It's no different to a magazine programme.

CountessFrog · 03/02/2021 09:14

The death of a reigning monarch of 70 odd years is hardly comparable to a nice old man who raised lots of money and was once on Blankety Blank.

Terry Wogan never got such coverage!

PurpleDaisies · 03/02/2021 09:16

There's only so much misery the human psyche can take imo. We need a pause from time to time.

It’s not misery I want. It’s information. Not a slush fest over a nice old guy who has sadly died.

CaptainMyCaptain · 03/02/2021 09:17

@VinylDetective

And wait til the Queen dies. You ain’t seen nothing yet!
The Queen dying will be a massive big deal whether you are in favour of the monarchy or not.
pinkearedcow · 03/02/2021 09:19

I think what he did was brilliant and he deserves all the accolades, but I fear the whole thing has morphed into something that is bordering on the Diana effect.

We should have done something to mark all the dead when we reached the sad 100,000 total, as they did in the US when their toll reached 400,000 (which is probably roughly equivalent in terms of population numbers). Instead the government moved on asap once Johnson had done a quick mea culpa.

CountessFrog · 03/02/2021 09:19

I’m another who has to switch the news off. Slow creep over the last year, but especially the BBC is now one long anxiety fest.

The Clive Myrie report with camera angles shot from inside a grave and repeated ‘He’s scared, we’re all scared’ was the nail in the coffin (so to speak).

Roussette · 03/02/2021 09:19

Exactly.

I thought News programmes were meant to give out information. Current affairs. Politics. World News.
Not be an hour and a half memorial programme for one person.
(A remarkable person, yes, but very many remarkable people have passed away during this pandemic)

CountessFrog · 03/02/2021 09:21

Eddie large, for example!

pinkearedcow · 03/02/2021 09:22

@Frouby I am really sorry about your FIL. Flowers

pinkearedcow · 03/02/2021 09:25

CountessFrog I agree with you. I support the lockdown etc, but the BBC News has become one long Covid propaganda fest. I watch CNN a lot these days, some of their reporting covers the UK and the tone is very different.

CaptainMyCaptain · 03/02/2021 09:27

Why do people keep the TV on all day anyway? I listened to radio news this morning and haven't had the TV on at all. Just turn it off if you don't like it, other channels are also available.

Roussette · 03/02/2021 09:27

I agree with you.

It says something when you get a better coverage of what's going on, on CNN, an American news outlet than you do on your paid for by the public BBC.

@Frouby how very sad for you Flowers

Roussette · 03/02/2021 09:29

Why do people keep the TV on all day anyway? I listened to radio news this morning and haven't had the TV on at all. Just turn it off if you don't like it, other channels are also available

I don't.
I like a good hour of News in the morning when I get up. That's not all day Hmm And yes, I turn over to Sky sometimes.

Frouby · 03/02/2021 09:29

[quote pinkearedcow]@Frouby I am really sorry about your FIL. Flowers[/quote]
Thank you.

Fairyliz · 03/02/2021 09:31

@Voluptuagoodshag

I can't bear watching much news anymore and actually hark back to days when the newsreader just gave you the facts, plain and simple with no 'over to our reporter at the scene' nonsense to tell us the exact same thing I've told you. And then they have to interview folk to get their opinions. Stories like Captain Tom (and Ive nothing against the chap) get milked and milked to the point it becomes nauseating. There is plenty other stuff going on in the world besides Covid and Brexit but we never hear about it. The mainstream BBC are going the way of the other sensationalist channels - they have to fill 24 hour rolling news with something. I've started listening to the BBC world service and thankfully the quality of the news there and the decent proper grillings the journalists give their interviewees is a relief.
@Voluptuagoodshag Yes this! I am old enough to remember the days of Angela Rippon and Moira Stuart reading the news in a clear, crisp voice. They had gravitas and authority and gave you the facts. Nowadays it’s all badly made home videos and newsreaders telling you want they think and having ‘humorous’ banter. If you don’t have enough news to report on cut the program running time.
Piranesio · 03/02/2021 09:33

Try the Reuters app. Much more world news coverage that the insular BBC view of the world.

Thewiseoneincognito · 03/02/2021 09:35

Call me cynical but I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a socially distanced state funeral. When you look at the optics in all of this it’s just avoiding the reality of what is actually happening in the world.

I wonder who the next hero will be, I hope it’s a woman for a change.

Girls, someone step up!

GreenlandTheMovie · 03/02/2021 09:36

I've given up on the BBC. It's not just there news which is oropogabda. They are using this man's death to push their covid agenda and to try to model us into perfect citizens. He is a good role model but the news needs to be used to impart factual news, both nationally and internationally.

sparepantsandtoothbrush · 03/02/2021 09:41

I get what he did was amazing but it's kind of nauseating the way the British public fawn over him when there are so many others doing volunteer work but going unnoticed.

vm.tiktok.com/ZMeJSVGpn/

This is sweet and all but the comments on it are just OTT. "What will we do without him" " He protected us to the end"

Iwantacookie · 03/02/2021 09:49

Ahh I'm glad I'm not the only one. Yes it is very sad he died as he became a sort of mascot in first lockdown. But I dont think we need all of this.
A quick peace on the news then leave the family to grieve.

Applesandpears23 · 03/02/2021 09:51

I have started watch a mix of BBC and CNN for variety.

DianeCherry · 03/02/2021 09:55

@CountessFrog

I think it’s slightly unbalanced. Over 100k dead, flags lowered for one of them ??
Exactly what I said to DH last night. Also BBC carries two news stories, one about a poor man who couldn't see his wife in hospital when she dies but was able to see her once dead and cursed the white walls who had witnessed her death when he couldn't, yet Captain Tom had has family around him for two days. Why the different treatment?
peak2021 · 03/02/2021 09:56

News programmes (if GMB and Breakfast can be called as such) have reduced their coverage to a few stories over the years. Think how much time is spent with a presenter talking to a reporter (Robert Peston or Laura Kuennsberg as examples), how sports results in detail are not included on the main news bulletins any more, and regional news is almost absent except for early evenings.

This morning is no different just the scale.