The BBC is catering to the government and not the general public

[orangeblosssom]

Now the BBC won't broadcast one of Sir David Attenborough's new series on British wildlife because it cause backlash from Tory politicians.

The entire programme was about the breeding habits of Boris Johnsons in the wild.

Well given that it's well known that there is a large amount of election fraud in some consequences, predominantly Labour, why should this be so bad?

I didn't know that @LakeTiticaca. Do you have links?

Looking at WhatsApp messages from the pandemic alone, I am uncomfortable with state TV.

The BBC press office have said this is utter bollocks.

Lineker - good riddance

@Iam4eels @jgw1 you can get free ID for voting purposes online.

@TooBigForMyBoots tower hamlets for a start

That doesn't change the governments motivation for introducing it.

You are undoutedly correct. The BBC will have always intended to not show the climax of David Attenborough's landmark series about British wildlife not on its main channel but is some backwater that not everyone has access to. It stands to reasons, why would they want to broadcast a show with millions of viewers in prime time when they could instead show a repeat of Cash in the Attic with But Jeremy Corbyn.

The 5 part series Wild Isles was commissioned by the BBC from an indie several years ago.

The iPlayer programme was not a BBC commission, the same indie made it, but for RSPB/WWF. The BBC recently acquired it for broadcast on iPlayer and will not have the rights to show it on tv. They have not "pulled" it.

They have a current strategy to build up iPlayer views (it's called "digital first") so presumably thought sticking an extra bit of Attenborough that you can only watch on iPlayer around the same time as his last location series was a good idea. Nobody would have wanted to put the series itself out on iPlayer first but allowing people to think this late acquisition was part of the series was presumably also deemed a good idea because it would drive more iPlayer views. I imagine it will be trailed at the end of episode 5.

This is a non story really, but it's an example of what happens when you have a major political fuck-up like their handling of Gary Lineker. Now everything looks like a major political fuck-up.

I generally watch it via iPlayer anyway as it will be in UHD, it will be on there.

It's hilarious people are just realizing this, during the height of covid they were laughable with the obedience and not questioning of the governments narrative.

People are happy with the been until it does something they find objectionable then it becomes a problem for them despite doing many objectionable things over years.

WhatsApp messages confirmed that state TV isn't a good idea, it is evidence nobody can deny now.

This cuts both ways - the Tories pretend to be in favour of free speech, but this only extends to those they agree with.

The Tories are happy to cancel those they don't like.

Experts are expecting serious problems at the elections in May.

The policy is voter suppression.

Surprised at those saying ‘who watches the BBC’ and that the BBC is left wing! I love some of the programmes on the BBC. Still think it’s very very good and not all mind numbing shite like Love Island or See me Naked or whatever it’s called. It’s also definitely not left wing! That’s laughable

The title of your thread is a fact.
It's not even an opinion, it's a well known fact.

What rubbish. They were not obedient and gave the government such a hard time during the height of COVID. They undermined Boris at every turn.

Not everyone is online or has access. Again, it's one more barrier to people being able to vote. Throw up enough barriers and you can block enough of the electorate to make a substantial difference to the outcome. Start tweaking with the ID system and qualifying requirements further and you can hinder even more people to the point of prevention.

In 2021, there were 315 cases of alleged electoral fraud which were investigated by the police. None of these led to a conviction, a caution was issued in just one case.

Electoral fraud is so tiny that it is a non-issue and certainly does not warrant the time, money and effort being expended on the voter ID scheme which begs the question - why have the government brought it in if not for the purpose of making it more difficult for certain demographics to cast their vote?

Tim Davie, DG of the BBC, was chairman of the Tory party in one of the London boroughs. The chairman of the BBC board, Richard Sharp, donated £400k to the Tories and arranged for a guarantor of an £800k loan to Boris Johnson.

This is political, and the BBC is no longer neutral.

They absolutely did not and were worst of most broadcasters.

They didn't give them a hard time until the end, they were just a mouth piece up until that point.

@sjxoxo but what's the difference between a state broadcaster and a public broadcaster in reality?
State broadcaster would have someone in charge directly chosen by politicians [Richard Sharpe and presumably all chairmen before him?]
The money the BBC relies on, requires the government to keep the law around the licence fee as it is.

I get that this is why the Gary Linkeker thing is so important, is he a state employee and has to stay neutral like a civil servant? or is he a free agent that is just hired by the BBC and can express his owns views in his own time?

I think the BBC knows it can't bite the hand that feeds it. But I'd like to learn more about this and hopefully I will be wrong

Well yes, but it's hardly a surprise - he who pays the piper and all that

It's also why I don't see government ending the licence fee any time soon; why damage access to a handy mouthpiece?

The BBC are a left wing organisation Yes DH and I were having this discussion yesterday. They are as woke as anything to the extent of banging you over the head with it on a programme like Dr Who.

So, trying to tread a fine line with an anti-democratic Tory government elements of whom are determined to take away the licence fee must be difficult. But they've gone too far with the Lineker thing, and even more so with the wildlife documentary issue.

But I do laugh when they get accused of being a Tory mouthpiece!

That is an interesting perspective - you may be right now that Mad Nads is gone.

Electoral fraud is so tiny that it is a non-issue and certainly does not warrant the time, money and effort being expended on the voter ID scheme which begs the question - why have the government brought it in if not for the purpose of making it more difficult for certain demographics to cast their vote

I agree. However, the charitable view is that ID has been required to vote in NI for years, so it should be consistent across the UK.