Cameron and the BBC - the gloves are off

[LadyBlaBlah]

www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/10/bbc-cuts-cameron-brussels

So why does he hate the BBC - is it just because it is public funded or is it because of his dealings with Murdoch?

Whichever, I would imagine this is a real problem with voters

On an aside, I have noticed that they refuse to put anyone of worth on Question Time, and do reluctantly on Newsnight to defend their policies

I would consider Channel 4 as left wing. I think ITV is probably neutral, though I don't watch its news much.

ITV news is probably the most Tory out of the mainstream broadcasters.

Channel 4 is hideously leftie. It doesn't even pretend to hide its bias though. I prefer that though. They have better production standards than the BBC, in my opinion.

I would agree with the Channel 4 leftie thing

But then if they are left wing I don't think the BBC as a whole compare to that level of leftyness (made up word). I think there are programmes where I think "yes, it's left wing", then there are programmes where I think "Tory twats" (sorry).

I just don't see the whole of the BBC is left wing - some is, some isn't.

Channel 4 - generally yes though

No-one watches Channel 5 news anyway - but it will be interesting to see if it changes its editorial spin after the takeover by Richard Desmond.

Given it's fronted by Natasha Kaplinsky, I doubt it!

LadyBlaBla Of course the whole of BBC news isn't biased. It's just an overwhelming majority of it.

Even the BBC's criticisms of Labour during its time in office tended to be from the left.

There was massive left wing bias at the BBC, said the Director General of the BBC,

www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2010/09/lecture-thompson-bbc-interview

Most of the so-called intelligentsia have a left bias. But even after all of that, sales of the Daily Mail still outstrip sales of the left wing rags. The public is naturally right wing, it is only the massive bias to the left in the media, that influences the public to believe what the left wing spinners want them to believe.

re: advertising for jobs - I work in the media (not in newspapers themselves though) and the only newspaper I have ever looked for jobs in is the Guardian - everyone in the media knows that it's the place to advertise. Nothing to do with the bias of the people advertising. Employers won't advertise in the Times simply because they know not enough people look for jobs there. End of. The Economist only advertises very senior executive roles.

I can't bear Nick Robinson, his whole approach is so tabloid, as a replacement for Andrew Marr he's just awful.

So is nearly everyone in the media a left wing Guardian reader? That wouldn't surprise me. Does Sky TV advertise in the Guardian?

That is my point susietwoshows. I have no wish to get into arguments about the perceived bias of different news channels. But I do want to challenge LFN on his/her repeated claim that advertising in the Guardian Media Section is flying the flag for the left.

Yes, Nick Robinson is very tabloid.

He still leans to the left. Not as much as Andrew Marr, though, who readers of the Morning Star probably consider to be a fellow traveller!

Looking for jobs in the Guardian Media Section does not make you either an habitual Guardian reader, or a left-winger. It makes you someone who knows where the jobs you are interested in get advertised.

Does Sky TV advertise its jobs in the Guardian?

Does the Daily Mail advertise its positions in the Guardian?

I very rarely read the Guardian, though I have picked up the media section from time to time when it's been lying around the office. I got my BBC job from an ad in MediaWeek anyway, not the Guardian.

claig - I don't know. But it is the place to look, along of course with companies own jobs pages - perhaps Sky only advertises on it's own website. Or uses an agency. I am pretty sure (though don't quote me!) that Murdoch-owned publishers have advertised in the Guardian - though to be honest it's so expensive to advertise there that most publishers don't bother anymore - but they're not advertising in The Times either, is the point. Or the Economist.

I mean it's the newspaper to look at. Most places probably stick to trade journals and agencies these days.

Absolutely disagree that Nick Robinson leans to the left. He was chairman of the student conservative party at Oxford and was practically breathless in his enthusiasm when DC arrived at Downing Street.

Sorry to hark back, but one thing I'm genuinely interested in is why right wingers get so upset about left wing bias in the media. As far as I can tell much more print media is right wing (probably because Murdoch owns most of it) The Mail, The Telegraph, The Times, The Sun. These are seriously big hitter large circulation papers which get a much wider readership and are therefore much more likely to influence the electorate than the Guardian. The Sun is considered a bell-wether for any general election isn't it? You don't hear left winger getting worked up about that do you?

So why is it that the Guardian dominates in media advertisements? Don't the other papers think that it is a lucrative market or is it something else that means that the Guardian is number one for media types?

actually you don't need to buy the guardian to see the jobs you can do it on-line and I have never heard such rubbish as advertise in this newspaper and QED you are left wing ...
Actually my Mexican colleague views the BBC as very right wing.....(she is a political science graduate)

yes, agree with ilovemydogandMrObama. I must say I didn't think NR was left-leaning at all!

claig - again, I don't know. Perhaps they were the first to have a good media section and it's stuck. When I left uni in 1992 everyone looking for any kind of media job looked there, whatever their political bent, even if they had one, which I didn't - I just knew that was where to look. Don't think I even read the rest of the paper back then!

The left wing is always anti-Murdoch, until he supports them like the Sun did Blair.

I think the only real right wing papers are the Mail and the Telegraph. The rest swap sides or are neutral or are left wing. But the BBC gets far more listeners and viewers than the Daily Mail gets readers. The BBC is funded by the tax payer and influences the public. So if it is true that there was a massive left wing bias in the BBC, as said by the Director General of the BBC, then that helps left wing political causes.

'Actually my Mexican colleague views the BBC as very right wing.....(she is a political science graduate)'

she needs to do more studying of politics. There are things she still doesn't understand.

Headfairy I think left-wingers, on occasion, have been known to get upset with the Sun! Despite the genteel manners of your average Labour supporter, some of them have been known to get a little intemperate on the subject:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8283549.stm