Saturday 27 February 2016

# 393 - war - Tony Blackburn.

Personally I believe Tony Blackburn's side of the story compared to the BBC's but regardless of the 'Story' it is also clear that the manner of his dismissal did NOT follow the normal Personnel Department (now Human Resources) protocols.

I hope Tony Blackburn takes the BBC to an Industrial Tribunal, for unfair dismissal, and wins his case and is duly compensated appropriately.

As I keep saying the BBC, like many large organisations, is completely beyond reforming itself and there is no will in the government to take the action necessary to radically cut the BBC down in size.

The sure fired way to sort out the BBC is to stop the licence the fee and let it compete in its own right. This is what I advocate as the ONLY way to reform the BBC.

However having said that I would be happy to see a full and detailed review of other options which might allow partial government funding on the basis of a continued 'Public Service' broadcasting remit.

 

Monday 22 February 2016

# 392 - war - Pro EU bias.

The first item on the 9 o'clock news this morning on Radio 4 was on the EU, as I suspect it will be for the next few months.

During the piece they only interviewed or more correctly played a recording of one person.

He was an MP and was of course for remaining in - there was NO balance to this at all.

Sunday 21 February 2016

# 391 - war - BBC bias in favour of the EU.

The BBC has a history of being in favour of the EU from whom they have millions of pounds in soft loans.

The Sun makes a good point recently that to show fairness, during the forthcoming campaign, the BBC should monitor their output on the EU to ensure balance.


The BBC has refused to do this which is of course very convenient for them and I give you one very simple example from today's broadcasts to show how their reporting will almost certainly be bias in favour of the EU.

On the Andrew Marr show, BBC 1 9-10am, Cameron easily got double the time of Farage to make his case. Later on the 11 o'clock news on Radio 2 during the first slot on the EU the only person interviewed was Cameron.

Finally EVERY time the BBC mentions the Prime Minster and his views in a broadcast without equal airtime to the Leavers to challenge his views then they ARE showing bias in favour of the EU.


Thursday 18 February 2016

# 390 - war- How the BBC never asks the right questions.

The last item on the Today programme on Tuesday at 08.55 discussed a survey that put English eight  year olds at thirteenth on a league table of happiness out of 16 countries and topping the league was Romania.

Now the obvious question to me was that most of the countries above us are not dominated by the luvie brigade and have traditional families, discipline and generally provide an environment where children feel more secure.

I've just started a great book called 'The liberal delusion' by John March which sets out to expose the disastrous consequences of our liberal attitude to children. This is one in which no child must fail or be disciplined and all children are considered little angels and if and when they do wrong it is not their fault but 'societies'.

That is why we are thirteenth but you would never get the luvie BBC to admit that the social liberal attitudes they promote are a large part of the problem.   

# 389 -war - 'Leave' nutters versus reasonable' Remainers'.

On Tuesday night News at Ten on BBC 1 the first item was naturally on the EU.

During the 'vox pop' section they interviewed a male 'Leaver' (50+) in a pub sat next to a woman who rather nervously said he would take up arms and die for this country and he didn't want us importing criminals.

Next in another location, in the interest of balance of course, they interviewed two attractive reasonable ladies (35ish?) who said they would prefer to stay in the EU.

This is the sort of blatant bias the BBC plays day in day out. 

Monday 15 February 2016

# 388 - war - Damning Culture Media and Sport select committee report.

11 February 2016
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee's report on the BBC Charter review says the BBC is an "extraordinary national and global institution" with a "vast amount to contribute as an international standard of excellence in public service broadcasting", but that in a fast-moving world it needs a radical overhaul of its governance arrangements. 


Its Director General is "effectively accountable to no one" but also lacks the support for difficult editorial decisions or to drive change through the organisation.

BBC's accountability and transparency

Improving the BBC’s accountability and transparency will help it to continue to innovate and create superb programming, while addressing a culture that is still perceived by many as arrogant and introspective.
This was most recently illustrated by the "lobbying letter" episode: the Committee says it was completely unacceptable for the BBC to be secretly using stars to campaign "independently" on its behalf, and particularly disappointing that BBC executives refused either to investigate or disavow the episode and instead defended the BBC's actions.

Committee findings and recommendations

  • The BBC Trust has lost confidence and credibility and should be abolished. However, the problem that the Trust was intended to solve remains
  • The BBC’s Board needs to be reformed as a unitary board and strengthened, with the addition of an independent Chair
  • It awaits the results of the Clementi review, but in its judgement wider accountability should be the task of a separate section of Ofcom
  • A new complaints procedure would see all complaints handled initially by the BBC itself, with both industry and editorial issues subsequently escalated to Ofcom
  • The redefined BBC Board should re-examine the business case for BBC Worldwide and, if it decides to retain the wholly-owned subsidiary model, it should be subjected to greater transparency and accountability and kept under kept under review by Ofcom
  • There remain concerns about the BBC Studios proposals on four fronts: State Aid rules, transparency and accountability over pay, the relationship between BBC Studios and BBC Commissioners, and the BBC’s regional presence
  • The lack of transparency around salaries, and concerns over levels of pay for executives and talent alike, must be addressed