5/10/2008

Hang on, I thought al BBC journalists were supposed to be lefty socialists ?

This rather flies in the face of the perceived Tory drivel about the BBC.

Considering Question Time yet again had two Tories on the panel, I think the Tories overdo the whole anti BBC thing.

Even if the Tories don't get a fair deal from the BBC, which I personally feel they do (David Cameron only has to catch a bus and it's on the news), I suggest they start supporting the lib Dems for one week then you'd know what it's like to be treated badly be the BBC.

12 comments:

asquith said...

The Tories don't give 2 shits about impartiality, they just want commercial broadcasters like Murdoch to take over and cheapen the debate, pushing their agenda, so people will be less educated and more receptive to their propaganda shite. Look at Faux News for a glimpse of what Camoron and pals want for this country.

We may not like everything the BBC does, but I know for sure whose side I'm on today.

Johnny Norfolk said...

The BBC is a leftie organisation. I cannot think of anyone at the BBC who supports the Tories.

If there were more Tories than Labour on Question time ( actually they had 2 each )its the first time.

Nich Starling said...

Yet again JN you are wrong, and there is evidence to prove it.

Your assetion that this is the "first time" shows how blinkered you are.

I guess you think Carol Thatcher, Melanie Philips and a host of other Right wing journalists are Tories ?

The research can be found at http://www.libdemvoice.org/official-bbc-question-times-protory-bias-2163.html

ThunderDragon said...

Nich, on the whole I think the BBC does rather a good job of being politically impartial. Of course it has its slip-ups and some presenters/journalists may be biased, but I can't see how this translates in to an institutional bias.

And those Tories who drivel on about how the BBC are such a leftist organisation just need to go and get a life.

As for the Lib Dems, well, they get what you as a Lib Dem supporter would consider unfair treatment from the BBC because, in reality, the Lib Dems don't matter much. They're not going to form a government in my lifetime or make massive gains in the short term. However, the Lib Dems may not get the coverage, but they also don't get the scrutiny. If they got the same level of scrutiny as the others, I doubt they'd benefit much from it in the end.

Overall, I think that the BBC is pretty good at being politically impartial, although we - as people who are politically interested and partisan ourselves - will always pick up on bits that they haven't done quite right. It's just a matter of accepting that as much as parties are hard done by in one way, they are helped in others. We just don't see that, because it fits in with our own political prejudices.

Anonymous said...

A conspiracy theorist would say that the BBC, in the words of our Aussie friends, is 'kakking its daks' that the Tories will end (or drastically reduce) the licence-fee. They are, therefore, being extra-nice to them in the (vain) hope this will not happen.

The other view is that the BBC operates a kind of self-censorship and only reports within a certain spectrum about any particular issue. Anyone/party with views that don't fit neatly into this are treated as somwhat exotic and only worth the occasional bit of exposure.

Johnny Norfolk said...

They dont work for the BBC they appear on it.

Just think if the Tories were in government with these problems of today it would be headlines on every BBC news programme.

Any reasonable person can see the BBC is anti Tory and pro Labour. Name me 1 right wing person that works (not appears) on the BBC, they are as rare as hens teeth.

Johnny Norfolk said...

A good example of how the BBC favours Labour is the current situation, labour is so low in the polls. There is nothing on the BBC about how Labour are at their lowest ever. Compare this to when the Conservatives were comming to the end last time they were in goverment. It was headlines night after night the BBC could hardly hide its glee, after all the BBC is New labour.
However they will be sorry for breaking their charter on fairness.

Johnny Norfolk said...

Look at todays front page of the BBC news web. The headlines are all about Brown and how he is going to reform Social Services.
There is nothing on have your say about Labour. This is the BBC putting a positive spin for labour when Brown has the lowest polling ever. Not a word about that of course. The BBC IS Labour.

John M Ward said...

There is no question that the BBC is extremely left-biased, but is constrained somewhat by laws and regulations. For once, those rules & regs are a generally good thing.

The evidence for the bias is covered in several websites (and there is no counter-argument put up by anyone, because it doesn't exist) and there is also the comparator of other media.

Even though it is widely acknowledged (including by themselves) that the British mainstream media are predominantly Left-leaning, the BBC still sticks out as a more extreme example of this than almost anyone else (i.e. the Guardian and the Mirror).

Bearing in mind the dependency upon vast sums of taxpayers' money, the BBC should have no bias whatsoever. End of qrgument. Yet it has been shown consistently to be one of the very worst. Of course it needs to be reformed, otherwise it is not fulfilling its purported intent.

If it doesn't reform, completely, permanently and irreversibly, it has to go.

Nich Starling said...

And the BBC website now leads on problems for the government and splits within Labour, so what was your point exactly ?

asquith said...

You have created Johnny Norfolk as a sock puppet to make the far right look like twats and I claim my £5.

Johnny Norfolk said...

It appeared after I hasd complained to them.

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