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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The PM has sold out the BBC

155 replies

Burnshersmurfs · 17/01/2022 06:29

AIBU to suspect that the agreed price of certain newspapers dropping the front page stories about partygate is the recent announcement that the licence fee for the BBC is being abolished?

OP posts:
sst1234 · 17/01/2022 07:34

Yes it’s a dead cat. Except the cat committed suicide when it went from being a treasured broadcaster with global soft power to a biased, self serving, left wing, woke culture warrior. The BBC out itself at the front of the queue for dead cat duties.

MichelleScarn · 17/01/2022 07:38

What @sst1234 says, BBC won't be able to continue as it does pumping out the crap it now does with impunity if the cash cow of the license fee isn't there no matter what.

Ifailed · 17/01/2022 07:42

Clearly the long standing ant-BBC campaign by the right-wing popular press is gaining traction. They want the BBC out of the way so they can move in with their own, profitable, 'news' services.

JustJam4Tea · 17/01/2022 07:43

Both left and right think the bbc is a puppet of the other side, so it’s probably doing ok. Personally I don’t think it brings the current government to task enough and I like the fact it shows a range of families, lives and ways of living.

Killing the bbc is a straight route to a less observed government, whichever flavour of government.

Also I think it’s quite a cheap way of getting fantastic amount of entertainment.

CarlatheJackal · 17/01/2022 07:44

I really resent risking being forced to pay for channels I never, ever watch, or risk being imprisoned.

I don't know any other country with such a ridiculous set-up.

TinySaltLick · 17/01/2022 07:45

It is a dark day for the UK, however fortunately it will inevitably be circumvented via a different funding source. The piece I find so surprising is the trotting out of 'leftist, Liberal, snowflake, woke agenda' commentary when analysis of their political output has been analysed and measured many times to be shown as false.

It goes to show the power of other media and how much people will swallow and regurgitate from their regular swilling of their daily mail / tory sympathising right wing news outlet X

Deep down people people know that the breadth and variety of output would leave a huge hole in the media available for people from all backgrounds to consume across the UK. Otherwise we will be left with popularist commissioning based purely on maximising views. Maybe it can be replaced with a channel that just shows tiger king spin offs 24/7

GreySweater · 17/01/2022 07:48

@JustJam4Tea

Both left and right think the bbc is a puppet of the other side, so it’s probably doing ok. Personally I don’t think it brings the current government to task enough and I like the fact it shows a range of families, lives and ways of living.

Killing the bbc is a straight route to a less observed government, whichever flavour of government.

Also I think it’s quite a cheap way of getting fantastic amount of entertainment.

Agree with this. Both left and right consider BBC as biased. FFS Johnson and his government are slowly dismantling all that is good about this country.
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 17/01/2022 07:53

I may be alone here but I think the BBC licence fee is good value for money. Several TV channels, lots of radio channels, iplayer, Sounds, news website. I like not having advert breaks. It wouldn't break my heart if the BBC was forced to go over to the same model as ITV or Channels 4 and 5, i.e. every programme is broken up every few minutes for the same tedious adverts repeated over and over again, but it would be a change for the worse.

I do agree the BBC has not helped itself in many ways. The objectivity and rigour of its news coverage is not what it was. Nevertheless, there's a lot of good stuff on the BBC. The nature programmes are stunning. David Attenborough's new series is breathtaking.

TrojanWhore · 17/01/2022 07:53

Both left and right think the bbc is a puppet of the other side, so it’s probably doing ok

Agree!

And there are many ways of trying to make a dead cat bounce, but trying it with one section of the media v others would be far too high risk.

More likely to be a good day to bury bad news (for the BBC) that's worked moderately well

DSGR · 17/01/2022 07:56

I think the BBC is brilliant value for money too. The Daily Fail etc hates it - I don’t think you’re wrong that they’ve done a deal with Boris to let him off as long as the BBC suffers. The anti-BBC sentiment is strong and the right wing press are desperate for it ti fail

DublinFemale · 17/01/2022 07:57

I'm in Ireland and our national broadcaster is RTÉ we have a tv license, plus a crazy amount of adverts during any programme.

The BBC don't have adverts half way through programmes.

Also your investigative and political programmes are much stronger than RTÉ.

Ours are a political love in, a watered down dig thrown in every now and again with the same approved government biased names allowed.

Your dramas are a lot better than ours. RTÉ pick them up months later.

My main complaint is BBC player is not available. I've missed the first episode of many a drama as a result.

jgw1 · 17/01/2022 07:59

@Burnshersmurfs

AIBU to suspect that the agreed price of certain newspapers dropping the front page stories about partygate is the recent announcement that the licence fee for the BBC is being abolished?
Newspapers, but also to win support (or rather stopping them insisting that Big Dog resigns) among some of the loons that we have as Tory MPs.

It is perfectly clear that this is only being talked about today as a distraction from the Prime Minister has repeatedly broken the law.

JohannSebastianBach · 17/01/2022 07:59

If you had experienced tv in other countries then you would realise the BBC is in many ways brilliant.

CarlatheJackal · 17/01/2022 08:02

@JohannSebastianBach

If you had experienced tv in other countries then you would realise the BBC is in many ways brilliant.
Arrant "British is best" nonsense.
lightand · 17/01/2022 08:03

Both left and right think the bbc is a puppet of the other side, so it’s probably doing ok.

For me, it used to debate both sides of something. It no longer does this.
It presents its own slant on things. Which political way I woudlnt say for 100%.
But that for me is the point really. It should take into account all sides. But it doesnt. It presents it's own view or slant. It shouldnt. It didnt used to and should go back to presenting facts, and then have all sides of discussions, and let viewers come to their own conclusions. Not the conclusions of the BBC.

JohannSebastianBach · 17/01/2022 08:05

@JohannSebastianBach no, just experience of the shite quality of TV in other countries.
Nothing to do with British being best.

MsAgnesDiPesto · 17/01/2022 08:05

This can’t happen until 2027, which will be after the next election. The chances of either Boris Johnson or Nadine Dorries still being in their jobs by then is vanishingly small. So even as a staunch supporter of the BBC, I am not very worried just yet.

This has, though, done its job in moving the government’s problems off the front pages, and all of you focussing on this have been properly distracted, so you’re doing the government’s bidding beautifully.

JohannSebastianBach · 17/01/2022 08:06

Oops tagging fail!
I was replying to @CarlatheJackal

TheresSomebodyAtTheDoorNeil · 17/01/2022 08:07

I don't particularly care tbh, it should have become a subscription service years ago........don't even get me started on the 50 million loopholes they created to take people to court who don't even watch the damn channel. It's ridiculous

User135644 · 17/01/2022 08:09

@sst1234

Yes it’s a dead cat. Except the cat committed suicide when it went from being a treasured broadcaster with global soft power to a biased, self serving, left wing, woke culture warrior. The BBC out itself at the front of the queue for dead cat duties.
The Tory papers hold the government to account more than the BBC. If it's so left wing why weren't they cheering on Corbyn?

It's a dead cat because Murdoch and the rest will profit from the ruins of the BBC.

jgw1 · 17/01/2022 08:10

@MsAgnesDiPesto

This can’t happen until 2027, which will be after the next election. The chances of either Boris Johnson or Nadine Dorries still being in their jobs by then is vanishingly small. So even as a staunch supporter of the BBC, I am not very worried just yet.

This has, though, done its job in moving the government’s problems off the front pages, and all of you focussing on this have been properly distracted, so you’re doing the government’s bidding beautifully.

To be fair the Prime Minister's criminality had been on the front pages for the last week. It is admittedly not a very subtle attempt to buy of the nutter parts of his back benches and Murdoch and other rivals to the BBC and frankly that the Prime Minister is a criminal ought to be on the front pages every day until he resigns, but newspaper editors have a short attention span.
Charley50 · 17/01/2022 08:10

BBC doesn't report objectively on the horrendous women's rights abuses which are going on in the UK. It's played a major part in promoting transgender ideology (medication and surgery) to children. It ignores to obvious problems of males in women's sports, prisons, refuges and other women-only spaces. It's become slightly better recently (women's hour and Nolan podcast), but unless it changes it's ways, it's too biased against women right now for me to give a shit.

Lubeyboobyalt · 17/01/2022 08:13

Not ba Boris fan but the BBC license fee is a dinosaur anyway. They'll have to become one of those 'subscription by choice' models like netflix instead of intimidating people to pay up

00100001 · 17/01/2022 08:16

@CarlatheJackal

Not really.

British TV is actually exceptionally good, we produce world class programming. And the BBC does a lot for this, it also supports up a d coming talent etc

The other queiter things the BBC does will, I fear, be stripped out. Eg the parts of the World Service. Where sometimes it's the ONLY unbiased/non governmental media service providing people with access to news and education at no cost.

The BBC is much more than EastEnders and shit rerun's at Christmas.

Totalwasteofpaper · 17/01/2022 08:17

what @Charley50 said.
We aren't renewing ours next year.
They did this to themselves...