the bbc - why the siding up to the government?

[Joe Hutch]

I don't know where you get your news from but in general R4 manages more than one line per story.

Mostly from R4.

The Today programme often runs interviews from the 'magazine' portion of the show as news after the interview has taken place. If clips are run with people stating non-facts then it is broadcast unchallenged and if our agreed baseline is that news should be factual, this fails to meet that requirement.

The news reports are just that; statements of what has happened, what the Government says, what the Opposition's response is. I don't know how you would go about deciding which of what the Government says is 'non-facts'. The news should be factual, indeed, but there is no Platonic truth about, say, what to do wrt the economy; there is a range of opinions which IMO the BBC does a good job of reporting.

 

[Anex]

I don't know how you would go about deciding which of what the Government says is 'non-facts'.

The example I gave is a pretty straight forward example of a non-fact. There is no opposition response to an interview from the magazine portion of the show. If the hyperbole were properly challenged in the interview portion, it wouldn't then exist as an incorrect soundbite to be run in the news portion of the show.

 

[Joe Hutch]

The example I gave is a pretty straight forward example of a non-fact. There is no opposition response to an interview from the magazine portion of the show.

In my experience an interview with Government spokesmen is almost always balanced with an interview with an Opposition spokesman (eg Osborne/Balls). Of course the trouble these days is that they're usually singing from the same hymn sheet, so it's hard to tell them apart.

 

[TheDecameron]

I like a Naughtie parapraxis now and again

 

[Anex]

Of course the trouble these days is that they're usually singing from the same hymn sheet, so it's hard to tell them apart.

Yes, that's part of my point. Both sides are as guilty of and allowed to get away with hyperbole. Asking one guy to recite his 'the people want this' line, then asking the other guy to recite his 'no, the people want this' line just creates two factually incorrect soundbites. The interviewer can and should challenge the assertion that 'the people' want a particular thing (for example). Done properly, eventually politicians might actually click that it isn't worth their time to exaggerate like that in the first place.

 

[Mescalito]

The example I gave is a pretty straight forward example of a non-fact. There is no opposition response to an interview from the magazine portion of the show. If the hyperbole were properly challenged in the interview portion, it wouldn't then exist as an incorrect soundbite to be run in the news portion of the show.

It is not an incorrect soundbite. It is what the politician said. It is therefore a factual & faithful report of his utterances.

Chris

 

[paul auster]

It is not an incorrect soundbite. It is what the politician said. It is therefore a factual & faithful report of his utterances.

Chris

there is a difference between factual reporting and factual content ,lets concentrate on the content .

 

[Mescalito]

there is a difference between factual reporting and factual content ,lets concentrate on the content .

Agreed, but in the correct context, and that context is not the news bulletin per se, it is in the editorial analysis/interview situation.

"The education minister hs announced that every schoolchild over the age of 8 shall study quantm chromodynamics because this will help them to become well rounded human beings." That is factual reporting.

The factual content is explored when the education minister is torn apart by Humphrys or Naughty in follow up interviews or in a piece sone by the education correspondent.

Chris

 

[Anex]

Agreed, but in the correct context, and that context is not the news bulletin per se, it is in the editorial analysis/interview situation.

"The education minister hs announced that every schoolchild over the age of 8 shall study quantm chromodynamics because this will help them to become well rounded human beings." That is factual reporting.

The factual content is explored when the education minister is torn apart by Humphrys or Naughty in follow up interviews or in a piece sone by the education correspondent.

Chris

So the news portion of the show becomes largely irrelevant? Like I said, challenge them properly and you won't have people making quite so many made up statements in the first place.

 

[auric]

So the news portion of the show becomes largely irrelevant? Like I said, challenge them properly and you won't have people making quite so many made up statements in the first place.

Not quite true, I detect no grater grasp of statistics or the gap between fact and fiction as displayed Tuesday(?) by IDS when called out upon his back to work / looking for a job / has found a job statistics based upon cutting the state benefits to force people into work. IIRC he fell back on the old "I feel that" and "we all know that", call them out on lies but nothing happens, repeat offenders the lot of them.

 

[Mescalito]

So the news portion of the show becomes largely irrelevant? Like I said, challenge them properly and you won't have people making quite so many made up statements in the first place.

Not irrelevant at all. It lets you know what has been happening in an impartial way. You can then choose find out more by listening to the further analysis or buying the newspaper which most closely reflects your own bias & prejudices.

Chris

 

[Still]

the bbc has gone really lame.... why?

this

 

[Anex]

Not quite true, I detect no grater grasp of statistics or the gap between fact and fiction as displayed Tuesday(?) by IDS when called out upon his back to work / looking for a job / has found a job statistics based upon cutting the state benefits to force people into work. IIRC he fell back on the old "I feel that" and "we all know that", call them out on lies but nothing happens, repeat offenders the lot of them.

It wouldn't have been difficult for Humphrey's to call out the 'I believe's. He should have been torn to shreds in subsequent media reports over that interview, but afais has somehow managed to escape that.

 

[jackbarron]

I have given my television away and I don't pay the BBC a penny for a license fee.

I download stuff I might be interested in and will occasionally look at something via iPlayer, another App or a website.

I don't want to give the BBC a dime because 99% of their programmes are government/royalty propaganda or incredibly boring.

I wouldn't mind paying for the occasional BBC television or radio programme of my choice, but I refuse to pay for all of their other ****, especially the people in charge who wouldn't recognize a good story even if it kicked them in the nuts.

Jack

 

[auric]

It wouldn't have been difficult for Humphrey's to call out the 'I believe's. He should have been torn to shreds in subsequent media reports over that interview, but afais has somehow managed to escape that.

Humphrey's did bring this point to the attention of IDS several times but IDS just turned the "we are cutting costs", "voters are with us" Shit meter to 11 and blustered on. far more an indictment of IDS than the BBC.

 

[russel]

I have given my television away and I don't pay the BBC a penny for a license fee.

I download stuff I might be interested in and will occasionally look at something via iPlayer, another App or a website.

I don't want to give the BBC a dime because 99% of their programmes are government/royalty propaganda or incredibly boring.

I wouldn't mind paying for the occasional BBC television or radio programme of my choice, but I refuse to pay for all of their other ****, especially the people in charge who wouldn't recognize a good story even if it kicked them in the nuts.

Jack

legally you need a tv licence to watch iPlayer.

 

[Martin D]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...not-tell-the-story-of-the-great-majority.html

 

[auric]

Paxo vs the Rest Of The World, featuring Michael Howard http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/27/jeremy-paxmans-greatest-clips.

 

[herb]

BBC WorldService seems to have improved recently, I believe the funding method is changing? It seems to respect its broader audience's intelligence and is obviously less parochial.

I always watch This Week on iPlayer when I can. I find Andrew Neil amusing and Portillo can be a laugh.

 

[auric]

I've been doing "World Service" for ages and can attest to the audience's intelligence and the scope of the reporting. The financing and finances are detailed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_World_Service, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/mar/02/bbc-world-service-independence-funding-switch & http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/annual_review/bbc_world_service_annual_review_2011_12.pdf