Non-motoring > Why I dislike the BBC.... Accessories and Parts
Thread Author: No FM2R Replies: 59

 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
This just sums up the quality of the BBC reporting habits. I know it's not the most interesting article in the world, but the BBC's increasing need to lean towards emotive language and tabloid-style reporting is really beginning to annoy me....

What happened to the organisation that could be relied on all those years ago, or was it always a facade?

www.bbc.com/news/business-49803064

"WeWork's Adam Neumann quits as chief executive"

or

"WeWork's Adam Neumann has agreed to step down as chief executive"

The BBC says them both in this article. However, they are quite clearly trying to deliver a more dramatic, and quite different, story with one.

"shares in other high-profile, loss-making start-ups such as ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft, have crashed following flotation."

"crashed"??

Uber -5.09%
Lyft -7.5%

Lower, certainly. But crashed? hardly.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - tyrednemotional
>>
>> "crashed"??
>>
>> Uber -5.09%
>> Lyft -7.5%
>>
>> Lower, certainly. But crashed? hardly.
>>

Uber - currently trading at $33 compared with a max of $45 shortly after IPO

Lyft - currently trading at $45 after a 52wk high of $88 ($72 at flotation)

both figures are close to their all-time low.

Rather worse figures than you quote (unless I'm missing something).
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R

>> Rather worse figures than you quote (unless I'm missing something).

You are quite correct. In a rush I looked at the wrong report.

That said, and bad though it is, it still isn't a "crash".
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
>> www.bbc.com/news/business-49803064
>>
>> "WeWork's Adam Neumann quits as chief executive"
>>
>> or
>>
>> "WeWork's Adam Neumann has agreed to step down as chief executive"

To me those two, taken together, are the nub of the question - did he fall or was he pushed.

I'd never heard of We Work until a piece by Nils Pratley on the Guardian a couple of weeks ago suggested that investment sentiment was turning against and that the CEO might be a problem rather than a solution.

A narrative that placings by outfits with new business models were not an overwhelming success for investors is legitimate reporting. TnE beat me to it with placing v now figures for ride hailing companies. Metro bank seems to be another example currently in the news.

I tend to agree that BBC coverage has been 'dumbed down' over years. Pretty sure that's part of a deliberate plan to make it more accessible. If you listen to archive reports that crop up now and again on radio/TV from that perspective you might wonder how far they were wholly comprehensible to a significant proportion of the audience.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Manatee
I've had a couple of meetings at the WeWork place at Moorgate. A bit gimmicky. Nice meeting rooms and communal area, free coffee for visitors on arrival.

I thought the markets had learned something after the dotcom bubble. How can a loss making, and therefore unproven, business be worth $50bn?

Almost everybody now does journalism on the cheap. The BBC is probably just being dragged down with he market. I certainly see more errors in its reporting, and solecisms in the writing, than I used to.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero
If at any time you feel the BBC is slipping down the pole journalism wise, take a peep at the Daily Express web site, and be reassured.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Duncan
Would you include the Mail in that?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - tyrednemotional
>> Would you include the Mail in that?
>>

.....the "sidebar of shame" most definitely.....
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Manatee
>> If at any time you feel the BBC is slipping down the pole journalism wise,
>> take a peep at the Daily Express web site, and be reassured.


Well that was an unwelcome revelation.

It seems to lean slightly towards being in favour of Brexit?

I glance at most of the papers on a Saturday when I do my community service in the village shop The 'worst', also the most popular round here after the Mail, is the Telegraph as it actually pretends to be serious. We get about 40 Mails, 35 Telegraphs, 20 Times, 10 Guardians then it's single figures for the others (they actually send us 12 Suns regardless of what we order but we only need about 4).

I get the 'i'. Straight, simple, concise, but most importantly good crossword.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Duncan
>> I glance at most of the papers on a Saturday when I do my community
>> service in the village shop The 'worst', also the most popular round here after the
>> Mail, is the Telegraph as it actually pretends to be serious. We get about 40
>> Mails, 35 Telegraphs, 20 Times, 10 Guardians then it's single figures for the others (they
>> actually send us 12 Suns regardless of what we order but we only need about
>> 4).


Most of the papers, with the exception of The Telegraph, allows newsagents to take their papers on a 'sale or return' basis. The Telegraph doesn't, what you order you pay for.

>>
>> I get the 'i'. Straight, simple, concise, but most importantly good crossword.
>>

Even more importantly, it's cheap.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Robin O'Reliant
>>>>
>> Most of the papers, with the exception of The Telegraph, allows newsagents to take their
>> papers on a 'sale or return' basis. The Telegraph doesn't, what you order you pay
>> for.
>>
>> >>
>>
I don't know where you get that about the Telegraph, I work in a newsagents and our unsold copies go back every day.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
>> I don't know where you get that about the Telegraph, I work in a newsagents
>> and our unsold copies go back every day.

Years ago the Guardian wasn't sale or return. HAd a hell of a game getting a newsagent in Scunthorpe to order it for me on basis I might not collect. It was also difficult to find in small towns when working away or to get hotels to provide a copy.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Duncan
>> I don't know where you get that about the Telegraph, I work in a newsagents
>> and our unsold copies go back every day.
>>

Perhaps your newsagent has a special arrangement with their wholesaler. Is yours a newish establishment?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Robin O'Reliant
>> >> >>
>>
>> Perhaps your newsagent has a special arrangement with their wholesaler. Is yours a newish establishment?
>>
>>
Older than I am, and the national anthem was God Save The King when I was born. Our suppliers are Menzies, if that makes a difference.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Duncan
>> the national anthem was God Save The King when I
>> was born.

Who was the Prime Minister?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Manatee
>>Our suppliers are Menzies, if that makes a difference.

Ours is Smiths. Do you have a farcical manual procedure for claiming on the vouchers?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Robin O'Reliant
>> >>
>> Ours is Smiths. Do you have a farcical manual procedure for claiming on the vouchers?
>>

I've no idea, the owner does all that.

Menzies are a joke, however. Being one of the furthest points west their own vans do not deliver to us, instead they drop off at Swansea and then a group of self-employed Persons With Van deliver to the shops. Late deliveries, missing titles, shortfall in totals and papers left where they will get wet are common features we have to deal with. We're lucky at the moment as we have a good driver but we've had periods before when we were stuck with a retard and it can be a nightmare.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Manatee
Smiths are a bit random as well. Don't bother changing!
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Robin O'Reliant
>> Smiths are a bit random as well. Don't bother changing!
>>

The contract down this end of the world is with Menzies so we couldn't change if we wanted to. It was worse a decade ago when it was split between the two, if one lot weren't late the other would be.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
>>take a peep at the Daily Express web site,

Oh dear, that's awful. The Daily Mail's sidebar of shame is toe-curling. What is really depressing though is that it represents the entertainment today's population prefers to consume.

My issue with all these is the same; they spin the stories as to be almost unrecognisable. They attribute emotions, thoughts and intentions which have no basis in reality all in the name of encouraging the like-minded consumer.

I don't like it but i can live with it and even understand it from private institutions, but the BBC is state funded and not only regards itself as something special but is constantly telling everybody that it is.

If it wishes to occupy the same space as other broadcasters and media organisations, then it should have to fund itself the same way that they do. If it wishes to retain state funding then it needs to sort itself out and be the bastion of truth it pretends to be. The higher levels of the BBC are unbearable in their smugness and conceit in their pride of being "The Nation's Broadcaster". It should be embarrassed about the quality of it's reporting and it's lack of journalistic integrity.

As it is it preys on people's perception of it from years ago. It is an embarrassment.

Though what one can read for honest reporting is beyond me.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero

>> If it wishes to occupy the same space as other broadcasters and media organisations, then
>> it should have to fund itself the same way that they do. If it wishes
>> to retain state funding then it needs to sort itself out and be the bastion
>> of truth it pretends to be. The higher levels of the BBC are unbearable in
>> their smugness and conceit in their pride of being "The Nation's Broadcaster". It should be
>> embarrassed about the quality of it's reporting and it's lack of journalistic integrity.

I understand your angst against the superior smugness of the BBC, I have experience of it myself working with them at Wimbledon, I share your contempt for their senior managerial attitude.

However, If I want some semblance of balanced reporting about anything, I'll far sooner trust the BBC than any other news organisation, they have been caught out far less than any other in every form of media across every genre of news or information.

At the end of the day, Every political party in the UK complains the BBC is biased against them. That to me is a comfort.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
I don't think the BBC is biased in any one direction but seemingly everything they pt3sent is biased in some direction or other What it is though, is sensationalist. *All* of its reports are spun using emotive language to deliver a tabloid-style report with illogical hints, comments and suggestions.

On the occasions the BBC has reported on something that I have first hand knowledge of it has not directly lied, but has twisted, sensationalised and disingenuously commented. That together with ill-informed writers frequently relying on guess work makes their attempts at serious journalism pitiful.

Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 25 Sep 19 at 20:54
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero

>> On the occasions the BBC has reported on something that I have first hand knowledge
>> of it has not directly lied, but has twisted, sensationalised and disingenuously commented. That together
>> with ill-informed writers frequently relying on guess work makes their attempts at serious journalism pitiful.

Welcome to the 21st century of news. The BBC is in no way unique in how modern news is reported, and is considerably less worse than most if not all in this respect. I consider your criticism "pitiful" to be a fantastic example of twisted, sensationalised disingenuous commentary.

Do you have any examples of continually outstanding uncoloured unbiased, factual, broad based current news and information publishers that meet you your requirements?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
>> On the occasions the BBC has reported on something that I have first hand knowledge
>> of it has not directly lied, but has twisted, sensationalised and disingenuously commented. That together
>> with ill-informed writers frequently relying on guess work makes their attempts at serious journalism pitiful.

I'd say that I could pick holes in reporting of subjects of which I have first hand knowledge across the whole of the media. I'd identify particularly justice and its administration and benefits etc which have been themes of my professional life and aviation for which I have a life long enthusiasm.

For the most part it's not deliberate but an amalgamation of 'mission to explain' leading to over simplification, a need for colour to hold the viewers attention and more than anything the need to fill time.

When I started to take an interest in news reporting form around age of 10 there were two or three TV news bulletins of 15-30 minutes duration across whole of day - 13:00, 1800 and 21:00. Add local programming an Nationwide to the evening bulletin and it might get near to an hour. The 21:00 bulletin ran to 21:25.

Now there a 24 hours to fill and the content isn't sufficiently elastic to fill it with result we get hours of repetition, speculation and meaningless explanation.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
>> I'd say that I could pick holes in reporting of subjects of which I have
>> first hand knowledge across the whole of the media.

Agreed. But..............

"I don't like it but i can live with it and even understand it from private institutions, but the BBC is state funded and not only regards itself as something special but is constantly telling everybody that it is."
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 25 Sep 19 at 23:27
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Roger.
Right wingers dislike the BBC because it's institutionally left wing: left wingers dislike the BBC because it's not left wing enough.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bobby
You’re having a laugh Roger if you believe that.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
Left wingers dislike the BBC because it's institutionally right wing: right wingers dislike the BBC because it's not right wing enough.

:-) :-) :-) :-)

Actually it gets it broadly OK.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Kevin
In 1992 I was made redundant and part of my package was a residential assessment of my personality to see what career suited me best. After two days of interviews and multiple-choice quizzes they declared that I wasn't really a techie, I should be a HR manager. Twits.

Another part of the package was unlimited help from an employment assistance company based at Gatwick who provided secretarial help and courses on brushing up resumés and cvs to get yourself noticed above the general crowd. The owner of the company had been the head of HR at the BBC and part of his pitch (paraphrased) was:

"If you are invited to an interview be aware of the political bias within the company. You would not get a job at the BBC if you are not openly left wing."

Much as I dislike to agree with Roger, I doubt much has changed since then.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Duncan

>> Actually it gets it broadly OK.
>>

Said the self -confessed left of centre poster.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Haywain
"Actually it gets it broadly OK."

The BBC itself has openly admitted to having a left-wing and anti-Brexit bias.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero

>> The BBC itself has openly admitted to having a left-wing and anti-Brexit bias.

Has it? can you quote or reference that admission please?
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - tyrednemotional
>>
>> Has it? can you quote or reference that admission please?
>>

....John Humphrys....

;-)
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Haywain
"....John Humphrys...."

John Humphrys is a recently-retired example who had admitted to a BBC left-wing bias, though I would have considered him something of a leftie too. I suppose we aren't going to get very many currently-employed BBC staff talking about this however, in the same way that it is unlikely that a VWG employee isn't going to admit to working for a lying, cheating car-maker.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - R.P.
I would considered him as a typical middle class reactionary bourgeois white male !
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - tyrednemotional
>> I would considered him as a typical middle class reactionary bourgeois white male !
>>

....indeed; it would appear that I need to replace the bulb in my irony warning lamp.....

;-)
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Bromptonaut

>> John Humphrys is a recently-retired example who had admitted to a BBC left-wing bias, though
>> I would have considered him something of a leftie too.

There are certainly a few ex-BBC people including Humptys, the late Peter Sissons and Rod Liddle who've stated that it's left or at least metropolitan liberal in outlook. I would suggest that such statements reflect no more than the personal view of those individuals.

EDIT: As RP infers at least one and probably two reflect the fact they're older white males. Liddle is a maverick, an outlier.

Your original assertion was that the BBC itself had admitted to a pro left anti Brexit viewpoint.

To repeat Zero's question, can you evidence that?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 7 Oct 19 at 10:10
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Haywain
"To repeat Zero's question, can you evidence that?"

Sorry, but I didn't make a note of it.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Manatee
Whether the BBC is left or right biased is a sterile discussion.

As has already been said, it depends where you start from; in the same way, one definition of an alcoholic is somebody who drinks more than his doctor.

The Reithian statement of its purpose, to inform, educate, entertain, and the fact of it being an essentially free public service broadcaster, means it was intended by definition to be egalitarian in outlook. Simply being 'fair' would be enough for many to label it left-wing. 'Educate' brings opinion into the mix which guarantees complaints.

I have no problem with the BBC on this one. At least facts are generally facts and I can put my own spin on them.

Truth should be valued above all. Thinking should be taught. Some people aren't qualified to have opinions.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
>>How can a loss making, and therefore unproven, business be worth $50bn?

I genuinely don't know. I cannot see how the envisaged, planned or even hoped for end state even after 'n' years can conceivably achieve that value.

Uber is disruptive, but by and large it's disrupting sole traders and SMEs. It's not building a transformed market place suitable for a global organisation.

It does rather seem like a bubble.

Self-driving cars and freight operations are a possibility, but I see nothing at this point to show them having a grip on either.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 25 Sep 19 at 11:02
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - R.P.
It's being dumbed down to attract younger people who are excited by monosyllabic words in headlines.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Crankcase

>> I tend to agree that BBC coverage has been 'dumbed down' over years. Pretty sure
>> that's part of a deliberate plan to make it more accessible. If you listen to
>> archive reports that crop up now and again on radio/TV from that perspective you might
>> wonder how far they were wholly comprehensible to a significant proportion of the audience.


I agree the output has changed. We watch a lot of older BBC stuff and the presentation is much more "expert talks direct to unmoving camera using words of more than two syllables, and will do so for ten minutes at a stretch. Try to keep up at the back there." Which we like and prefer, incidentally, but that's by the by.

The thing is, should there be a plan to make it "easier" for chunks of the population, or should there be a plan to "enable" the population to appreciate and understand stuff at a more involving and ultimately more interesting level?

The fact that some can't or won't shouldn't mean everyone else has to put up with the lowest common factor.

You might think that the BBC do segregate this stuff off. Simplistically, let BBC4 hold the "hard" stuff, and BBC1 the "easy" - but in fact they just make the BBC4 stuff "easy" as well, so it pleases nobody.

It just means that if you want a bit of challenging, intellectually stimulating output that makes you think "I don't understand that, let me look into it myself and then I'll come back round again" you look away from the BBC.

Maybe there's only six people left who want that kind of stuff, and in the meantime we six have to repeatedly chuck on "The Shock of the New", "Civilisation", "Monitor", "Earth Story"....etc etc.

I'm excluding from this BBC radio, which does still give you the "hard" stuff from time to time.


 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
>>Maybe there's only six people left who want that kind of stuff

One of the purposes of the BBC is to make available FTA content that would not otherwise be available if it was subject to purely commercial considerations.

How that justifies a soap opera like Eastenders is beyond me.

Also the list of protect events has been slowly decreased over the years for purely commercial reasons.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero
Loss of protection for "events" is not the BBCs fault, that's the responsibility of OFCOM, The BBC simply cannot obtain sufficient funding to beat the commercial broadcasters once they are opened to commercial bidding.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - No FM2R
I said it had been reduced for commercial reasons, not that it was the BBC's fault.

Pick a fight with someone else, I'm not interested.
 Why I dislike the BBC.... - Zero
Well at least there is something you don't blame The BBC for.

 Why I Like the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
I've added a post on the Trump thread referencing an interview on this mornings Today programme on Radio 4:

www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=27280&m=594718&v=e

As I've said there intreview and tenor of item are BBC at it's best.
 Why I Like the BBC.... - Duncan
>> As I've said there intreview and tenor of item are BBC at it's best.
>>

tinyurl.com/y68jc68a
 Why I Like the BBC.... - Bromptonaut
>> tinyurl.com/y68jc68a

Sloppy typing. Now s*d off :-)
 Why I Like the BBC.... - Duncan
>> >> tinyurl.com/y68jc68a
>>
>> Sloppy typing. Now s*d off :-)

Didn't you mention once that you used to be a civil servant?

All those grammatical errors and spelling mistakes now make sense....
 Why I Like the BBC.... - tyrednemotional

>>
>> Didn't you mention once that you used to be a civil servant?
>>


....sloppy...

He hasn't mentioned it once.......


("Didn't you once mention......" please)

;-)
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Duncan
Somebody on the news quiz used the word 'chiv'. Somebody else had to ask what the word meant.

On top of that. Oh, how the standard has fallen! Nonentities who couldn't tell a joke to save their lives.
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - sooty123
I've never heard of the word chiv either.
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Robin O'Reliant
>> I've never heard of the word chiv either.
>>

Commonly used to describe a cut throat razor, in the context of "So I chived the geezer..."
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Runfer D'Hills
I admit that I hadn't heard of it either. Just had to look it up. I can only assume that Duncan moves, or at least has moved, in very different circles...perhaps he's in one of those witness protection thingies?
;-)
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - tyrednemotional
....ex mob-hitman, "Duncan the eRazor"......
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - sooty123

>> Commonly used to describe a cut throat razor, in the context of "So I chived
>> the geezer..."
>>

Thanks, a new one on me.
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Lygonos
Chiv must be a local variant of "shiv"

In Glasgow, it's a "chib".

Edit: appears the etymological origin is from "chive"

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_(weapon)
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sat 28 Sep 19 at 14:45
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Ambo
In 1950s American films a "shiv" was a small, slim double-edged stiletto that could be slipped in and out of a victim's body almost before he knew it.
 BBC News Quiz Friday 6.30pm - Zero
I always understood a "shiv" to be a home made knife in prison
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