3 ms·

The BBC a Tory newspaper? Wow, that's a new one. Is the NYTimes a Republic rag then?

dijit 5y ago
Real talk, so please read charitably: 1) BBC has a policy of not going hard against the sitting government, this seems to be true regardless of who's in charge. 2) BBC is a large organisation, they have parts which are more pro-tory and others which are more anti-tory, but overall the anti-tory stuff will be a bit more curbed due to point 1. 3) David Cameron stacked the board with pro-tory people, this has little effect on the actual stories since the board has no direct involvement, but this could lead to a tory bias in some cases. citation on point 3: https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d55...
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  Considering the absolute horror show of sleaze and incompetence of the last few years, the BBC has become notorious for not holding the government to account. An Italian civil servant is a non-story compared to the £37bn given to the UK's private sector to run a poor-to-nonexistent COVID test and trace scheme. For comparison the entire annual budget of the NHS is £44bn. And the government refused to increase the pay of doctors and nurses who have more or less singlehandedly held the NHS together through COVID. https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/03/19/covid-19-test-and-trace-scandal-its-not-too-late-to-change-the-story/ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/03/19/covid-19-test-and-trace... Among other stories. That's just the worst of an appalling raft of cash-for-cronies handouts. But the BBC rarely publishes news about Europe at all. And when it does it's often negative. Not only do we have a story about an Italian civil servant, but also - coincidentally - there's news about Malta's EU cash-for-passports scheme. Which is more or less identical to the UK's cash-for-passports scheme. But less expensive.
  - yrro 5y ago
    It's £37 bn over two years. It's not clear how much of that has actually been disbursed yet (I vaguely recall a figure of £5-6 bn in Private Eye, but I'm not sure).
- toyg 5y ago
  I don’t disagree but the focus on Tories is somewhat misleading. At the end of the day, the last PM to effectively fire the BBC Director General (and the board) because of a report that he didn’t like (while being likely correct) was Tony Blair. The Tories would love to dismantle the BBC, rather than controlling it, but both parties like the grip it gives on propaganda.

Real talk, so please read charitably: 1) BBC has a policy of not going hard against the sitting government, this seems to be true regardless of who's in charge. 2) BBC is a large organisation, they have parts which are more pro-tory and others which are more anti-tory, but overall the anti-tory stuff will be a bit more curbed due to point 1. 3) David Cameron stacked the board with pro-tory people, this has little effect on the actual stories since the board has no direct involvement, but this could lead to a tory bias in some cases. citation on point 3: https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e https://www.ft.com/content/7ba884c2-176d-11e6-b197-a4af20d55...

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
Considering the absolute horror show of sleaze and incompetence of the last few years, the BBC has become notorious for not holding the government to account. An Italian civil servant is a non-story compared to the £37bn given to the UK's private sector to run a poor-to-nonexistent COVID test and trace scheme. For comparison the entire annual budget of the NHS is £44bn. And the government refused to increase the pay of doctors and nurses who have more or less singlehandedly held the NHS together through COVID. https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/03/19/covid-19-test-and-trace-scandal-its-not-too-late-to-change-the-story/ https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/03/19/covid-19-test-and-trace... Among other stories. That's just the worst of an appalling raft of cash-for-cronies handouts. But the BBC rarely publishes news about Europe at all. And when it does it's often negative. Not only do we have a story about an Italian civil servant, but also - coincidentally - there's news about Malta's EU cash-for-passports scheme. Which is more or less identical to the UK's cash-for-passports scheme. But less expensive.
- yrro 5y ago
  It's £37 bn over two years. It's not clear how much of that has actually been disbursed yet (I vaguely recall a figure of £5-6 bn in Private Eye, but I'm not sure).
toyg 5y ago
I don’t disagree but the focus on Tories is somewhat misleading. At the end of the day, the last PM to effectively fire the BBC Director General (and the board) because of a report that he didn’t like (while being likely correct) was Tony Blair. The Tories would love to dismantle the BBC, rather than controlling it, but both parties like the grip it gives on propaganda.