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Original poster

What the BBC leaves unsaid...gaslighting the nation’s youth

43 replies

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 11/08/2021 16:15

I was interested in a story the BBC feature on Newsbrat today about a couple getting married on a train www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-58173130

It’s not a major news story at all, just a bit of light fluff. We are all happy to read about the couple getting married after a long delay, partly caused by unspecified ‘paperwork’. What was this, I wondered as I looked at the photos of the happy couple?

Then I read the original story. It was a Press Association story - they basically publish stories for Newspapers and websites to use. In this case Huffington Post published the full thing from PA Media without having edited it. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/couple-have-dream-train-wedding-after-fighting-to-be-recognised-as-wife-and-wife_uk_61138b9ce4b09fba0e6b4d10

The BBC has edited the article to remove the explanation of the paperwork - the couple had to get gender recognition certificates so they could be Wife and Wife. Deliberate obfuscation by the BBC as they have rewritten the quotes provided by PA Media to hide this fact. They want us to accept without question that this is two women marrying. Even though it was the photos that sent me searching for the original story and what I can see so can others.

Sadly for the BBC this slightly backfired on Twitter as several male commentators cast aspersions on the attractiveness of the two - saying that lesbians are always mingingHmm.

I don’t like being lied to, even if it’s just the sin of omission.

OP posts:
Sonarl · 12/08/2021 05:31

I got the point - all the train enthusiasts I know are male. DH and his brothers are/were one - they travelled up and down the country doing it as teens as part of a large community and still bore on about it. There were no teen girls involved 😂

drspouse · 12/08/2021 05:43

We were married by our ex minister who was still the registrar for the church, but that was pre legal changes re buildings.
I think it's lovely they've found each other and aren't bothering any actual lesbians.

Airpit · 12/08/2021 05:58

I got the same impression you did op but I couldn't be bothered to do the rest of the search you did.
I did feel like someone was lying by omission. The two who got married certainly weren't but I did not for one second believe the BBC published that article because of the novelty of getting married on the train.
I felt talking about the train was an attempt at saying everything else in the picture is normal so we don't have to mention it. Which it is... so why the obfuscation?
A bit of smoke and mirrors to hide the fact they are trying to use the couple's happiness to normalise lesbians having to put up with penis.
And this statement is what was actually being hidden in the story and it grates.

Airpit · 12/08/2021 06:05

I'll say it loud and clear for the BBC to get the message: lesbians don't have any business with penis.
Stop trying to erode that boundary by stealth.
They are a transgender couple and it is OK to normalise that terminology instead.

Potatoy · 12/08/2021 06:09

The couple seemed to want people to know the struggles they'd had including with the paperwork in the PA article so it seems odd to me for the BBC to just leave it as vague paperwork. Looks like they had a lovely time though and I'm glad they've found each other.

lightand · 12/08/2021 06:39

I listened to a story on there a while back[think it was about Trump and Biden]. They did the story correctly all the way until the last few sentences, and thne essentially did a switch - a- roo on something that had happened, which negated much of what they had been talking about. In other words, they deliberately misled.
I have no idea how many times they do that with various newsitems,. How many times they miss vital information out, how many lines or half lines are incorrect, and most likely, how many things they omit.

Yesterday, even a friend who doesnt pick up on everything[who does] said that news in general only seems to cover certain things.
I said yes, it has become propoganda, and she didnt say no.

I am heartened by two things.
The trust in the BBC[or was it BBC news] was down to be about 8%, the last poll I read.

Also, the 6 o'clock news viewing figures roughly are
GB News 107,000
Sky News 100,000
BBC News 97,000

There wont actually be that many young people who watched it either possibly. The young do not tend to get their news through the BBC.

EishetChayil · 12/08/2021 07:30

Personally, I find it refreshing that their gender identity isn't the headline.

Ariela · 12/08/2021 08:20

As others say, the story is about the train wedding. Trains will appeal to the under 12s that Newsbeat is designed for. Gender difficulties in getting married - less so. Newsbeat reports are written in more simplified terms for the youngest generation. 'Paperwork delays ' is a simplified way of saying there are lengthy complicated legal reasons as to why they couldn't be wife and wife that caused the delay.

TheSockMonster · 12/08/2021 08:44

it makes me very sad that our hearts are being hardened to things like this that we all would have found beautiful a few years ago

This ^

Personally, I find it refreshing that their gender identity isn't the headline

And this ^

I’m as TERFy as the next person here, but I think it’s a lovely story and I can’t get myself worked up over the BBC keeping the focus on trains not trans.

KittenKong · 14/08/2021 17:55

Well I misread it as I didn’t have my glasses on and saw ‘married’ and ‘trains’ (missed the i) and thought ‘ere we go again.

A train wedding is more interesting...

Newsbrat 😂

ArtemesiaK · 14/08/2021 18:06

I can't stand all this "look at me, I'm so special" publicity stuff from anyone, however they "identify." If I'd been on the train, I would have pretended I hadn't noticed them.... :)

Tuscancat · 14/08/2021 18:19

Why can't the bbc be honest that this is two trans people? Wouldn't that be better if trans relationships are normalised? The couple themselves are totally open about it.

SciFiScream · 14/08/2021 21:03

I saw the article.

My first reaction was delight and happiness in the joy of others

My second was - that's not a same sex marriage

The fact there was no mention on the BBC news article I read was unusual as normally they are all about trans awareness

This left me feeling a little uncomfortable - like I'd been lied to.

SciFiScream · 14/08/2021 21:06

Sorry I meant not a lesbian marriage...

BrandineDelRoy · 14/08/2021 21:07

@SciFiScream

I saw the article.

My first reaction was delight and happiness in the joy of others

My second was - that's not a same sex marriage

The fact there was no mention on the BBC news article I read was unusual as normally they are all about trans awareness

This left me feeling a little uncomfortable - like I'd been lied to.

I thought it was same sex-- just not lesbians.
SciFiScream · 14/08/2021 21:09

My correction was just seconds before your post BrandineDelRoy!

Oops.

BrandineDelRoy · 14/08/2021 21:14

@SciFiScream

My correction was just seconds before your post BrandineDelRoy!

Oops.

I had second guessed myself after posting thinking the "they" having to wait for GRCs could have been the singular "they," but then it would have been just "a GRC." Not confusing at all.
NoNotMeNoSiree · 14/08/2021 23:06

It's a story about two people getting married on a train.
Whether they're trans or not doesn't have anything to do with the story.

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