7737

Sorry, yes, a bit glib. But then when I see daily wall to wall antisemitism coverage on Labour (Jews being .5% of our population) but barely a glint of white nationalism, xenophobia, racism, (towards 14% of our population not to mention of ethnic nationals of which we have millions more) by the Right [and yes misogyny too that one is universal] … when I see more coverage on Right wrongdoings (usually specific encounters, two jerks on a bus spit on immigrant etc) in the Evening Standard then on the BBC… well.

7738

I’ll reserve my judgement until policy is made that affects the BBC rather than relying on Guardian’s “we think evil man will destroy the BBC”.

7739

Ah yes, the “he took out the gun, he aimed the gun, but let’s see if he pulls the trigger before we decide if he means it” approach.

7740

No. The “let’s look at what happens in reality rather than relying on Guardian opinion pieces” approach.

7741

Dominic Cummings’s thinktank called for the “end of the BBC in its current form” and suggested rightwingers should work to undermine the credibility of the broadcaster, branding it the “mortal enemy” of the Conservative party.

Cummings, who is Boris Johnson’s most powerful adviser, was the director of the New Frontiers Foundation when it called in 2004 for a campaign to target the BBC and the creation of a Fox News equivalent that would not be constrained by impartiality rules.

Opposition MPs said on Tuesday that the views of Cummings’s thinktank would fuel suspicions that Johnson’s administration is gearing up to overhaul the BBC.

Where’s the opinion here?

7742

Yes, who knows what the government is thinking about the BBC.

When later pressed on whether he wanted to withdraw public support for the BBC altogether, [Boris] Johnson replied: “The BBC is not going to be privatised.”

He added: “What I said is that I think the licence fee needs to be argued for. We live in an age when lots of media organisations have to compete. The BBC is funded on a very different basis. The case for that needs to argued through. Funding one particular media organisation out of general taxation is a singularity. The case needs to be made.”

He also said a lot of time was being taken up with prosecutions for non-payment of the licence fee, which can be “heavy-handed”, saying: “We are looking at the possibility of decriminalising.”

From (ugh) Guido Fawkes:

Speaking to Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast this week, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan hinted that substantial reform for the national broadcaster might be just around the corner. Morgan said that the funding of the BBC is an issue that increasingly comes up on the doorstep: “why do I pay my licence fee, I don’t watch it, I don’t agree with it.” She went on to hint that scrapping the archaic licence fee was on the table going forward…

It’s all so baffling, we might as well be reading tea leaves.

7743

boggles eyes

There is a difference between reality (e.g. what the government has implemented) and concern/fear (e.g. we think the government might do something bad). One is tangible, the other is nebulous.
Why am I explaining this, what are you guys smoking?

I’l wait until we see concrete policy before passing judgement.

7744

Bullshit. The QT and news division bias has been outrageous. The BBCs much vaunted neutrality is a joke. Especially “both sides” nonsense giving equivalence to racism, climate denial, homophobia etc. Today and other other news programmes are little more than an outlet for Number 10. There’s a tiny “woke” output mainly in youth TV and the alt right and “classical liberal” vermin have been shitting themselves with rage over it when it’s little more than a smokescreen deflecting bias in the news flagships.

7745

It’s certainly admirable that you wish to wait for (I assume) a white paper to be presented to parliament before forming an opinion on any policy proposal, and one I’ll hold you to in future.

But I do agree with your point that I am merely discussing concerns about what the government might do, based purely on, er, what the government itself is saying it might do.

It seems plain to me that the government wants to reduce the amount of money going to the BBC, which in turn will diminish its influence. The reasons behind it won’t be stated in any “concrete policy” (so I’m sure you will remain disinterested on the point) but I don’t think it will be out of any particular concerns about regressive tax structures, and will likely be more out of ideology and/or applying political pressure.

Concerns about their domestic current affairs output aside, I do think the BBC as a whole - along with the NHS - are the main two things in which, as a country, we can still take some measure of pride. So I’m especially alert to any attempts to defund them, and ready to speak up, campaign, and make the argument for both as early as possible.

7746

The openly white nationalist right are a fringe. The openly antisemitic left are (still, though hopefully not for much longer) running the Labour party. That’s why.

And openly is a key word there. I’m not interested in an argument over whether Boris is a white nationalist, but he at least somewhat convincingly pretends he is not, and imposes sanctions against those who are.

Having said that a bit more coverage of the tories dancing around their promise to hold some kind of inquiry into islamophobia would be a very good thing.

7747

Please give an example of a QT without a high profile remainer.

7748

This isn’t a better framing, is it? They’re not inventing a goal of the government, they’re reporting one.

7749

This is just bullshit, and motivated bullshit at that.

7751

Yeah. I agree the government wants to do something to the BBC and it looks like political pressure is being applied. Having said that I would like to see concrete proposals because I can see the potential for improvement - the BBC pisses away a lot of money and effectively blocks out other participants. On the other hand I don’t want to see it’s output or quality cut so these are not easy problems to solve.

I just don’t trust the government to approach this with a view to improving it. It just depends who actually gets to write the new policy, and who is leaning on them, but I am not optimistic.

7752

Nine Labour MPs quit over alleged antisemitism. No Tory MPs quit over alleged white nationalism.

From a purely political perspective, antisemitism is more newsworthy than white nationalism.

7753

EDIT:
laughs They have an official range.

7754

products aimed at racist old people

At least they know their market.

7755

This may not indicate what you seem to think it indicates…

7756

Sure, you can easily draw some unfavorable inferences about the Tories.

But the question was not about judging the Tories. It was about judging BBC reporting. And a political reporter’s job is to describe what politicians are doing, not to complain about what politicians fail to do.

7757

That’s just silly. E.g. politicians fail to pass budget is a story.