Suella Braverman saying "lefties" in Parliament this week is one of the cringiest things that I have ever witnessed.
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...apparently?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...rt-of-pandemic
Suella Braverman saying "lefties" in Parliament this week is one of the cringiest things that I have ever witnessed.
The problem is that the events of the last few days have shown that the scenario was/is entirely believable under the current management of the BBC. Rather than you playing the sort of party political games on here that you accuse those on the left of doing, an acknowledgment that political interference from Governments of the right or left shouldn't be allowed when it comes to appointments of Director Generals, Chairmen/women etc. at the BBC and that it should be down to the same sort of independent person/body which is supposed to be conducting the inquiry into impartiality wouldn't go amiss..
You were on a wind up during your passive aggressive rants and I fell for it rather than ignoring for which I apologised. That’s your style and why I usually ignore you.
As long as your wind ups are what you would say face to face then there is no problem is there.
The BBC absolutely should not bow down to political pressure, we all agree on that. I'm not sure this is quite what the guardian thinks it is though. Govts will always put pressure on the media in terms of language. If it wasn't called a lockdown, then when it's a public health message is it right to call it such? I dunno.
The second point appears more damning but it is pretty routine for media editors etc to suggest more focus on different things, the question is how much that was steered by downing st. A good BBC wouldnt need advising that Labour were changing their position daily anyway.
The last point appears to be nonsense but every guardian has to get a dig about Brexit in to drive up advertising revenue by enraging a few people.
It's a useful article in the wider debate about BBC impartiality but I'm not sure it's killer evidence.
My issue is more the editorial decisions and news values on what they report on. I don't think there is a party political bias and we can see that with BBC Wales that does a decent job of holding the (Labour) Welsh Govt to account
"it is pretty routine for media editors etc to suggest more focus on different things".
That part is correct but media editors don't have to remain impartial at other news outlets/broadcasters.
The message read:
"D St complaining that we’re not reflecting Labour’s mess of plan b online. ie Ashworth said it earlier this week, then reversed. Can we turn up the scepticism a bit on this?”
'Downing Street' complained about a lack of focus of negativity on Labour from the BBC so a senior editor kowtowed to them and told his staff to be more critical.
For what it's worth, I've always felt that the BBC were pretty balanced in terms of news coverage.
The left & right equally complain that it's biased - which, on the balance of probability, shows that they generally do a good job - but how much more damning testimony do you personally need to see that this incarnation of the BBC is in cahoots with the Tory government?
No I just don't like hyperbole. Notwithstanding the fact that accurately defining left and right is very tricky, how do we have a 'massively' right-wing government? We don't. Some policies may be considered right-wing, some left-wing. That's probably the case for every government in the world dealing with practical problems.
And whilst by a slim margin the majority of newspapers (only one sector of the media if course and a declining one at that) are centre-right or right- wing, that doesn't mean a majority are 'massively right&wing' at all.
The debate just spirals out of the realms of reality when people exaggerate these things.
I threw the article in primarily for consideration and discussion.
I don't see the Beeb being a government propaganda source by any stretch...
I think it's interesting that a government may comment, suggest or advice on vocabulary, content and specific parts of a political item to make itself look better or mask the story and issue?
I know it's today's politics but what sort of governments or controlling parties historically have attempted to influence, direct and contain press/media output?
These days granted it seems the norm in a number of countries?
Sure! I don’t see all of these as necessarily left wing btw, as the right would claim moral ownership over many of these, but unquestionably they are topics that people on the left would typically reference and rightly support. So, excluding the greatest universal support package in the history of the country (related to Covid) off the top of my head, I would note the following:
Record investment in the universal healthcare NHS
Record rises in the minimum wage
Equalising immigration laws, rising to record high immigration levels
Enormous is increase in renewable energy production and reduction in fossil fuel use
Support for Ukraine against Russian invasion
Marriage equality
Ensuring the result of a referendum was enacted
Raising the top rate of tax
Lowering the threshold for the top rare of tax
Producing the first non-white prime minister in history
Providing direct support for refugees from Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Ukraine
Energy support scheme knocking £60 a month off everyones bills.
Increasing corporation tax.
There are counter examples of course, and people can question whether all of these have worked, but my point isn’t that the government are left-wing, it’s that they are not ‘massively right wing’, as was claimed earlier.
Is there really that much to distinguish them from Blairs New Labour?
Either way, whether it's posters here or TV pundits, I just don't see the benefit in using exaggerated language really