ArmaniJeanss wrote: » Both true to an extent. Entertainment, panel shows and politics light (Mash Report, HIGNFY stuff) have a clear left bias without any real attempt to hide it. Politics & News have a clear right bias but are more subtle about it.
ArmaniJeanss wrote: » I agree. But I think going from FPTP to full STV would have been a step too far. I saw AV as kind of an acceptable halfway house on the way to STV.
Strazdas wrote: » People look to BBC News and current affairs for their political information though. They don't look to comedy or satire. Also, the people most likely to vote (and vote Tory) are not even watching any of those satire shows.
PommieBast wrote: » Some of this has been going on since the 1990s. As for BBC News it started going rapidly downhill after the Hutton enquiry.
At the beginning of next year the government is due to start a midterm review of the charter, a “health check”, specifically focusing on governance and regulatory arrangements.
Capt'n Midnight wrote: » Tories are trying to emasculate the BBC , look at the whole OAP licence fee thing. There's history too given how Granada (Death on the Rock) didn't get renewed. ITN changed to ITV and the individual regions got subsumed.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/czpxkvk2qxpt/the-guardian
Capt'n Midnight wrote: » It was done as a step change for the Irish Free State , Scotland, Wales , Northern Ireland and for the EU elections. It would have been a step too far for politicians though. Every explanation of AV failed to mention that existing safe seats would remain unchanged and would probably change results in marginals or three way splits.
Tell me how wrote: » The British Politics/News Media Venn Diagram is going to receive a massive shake up over the next few months starting in the next few weeks when GB News starts broadcasting. While they haven't declared a political allegiance, their chairman is Andrew Neil formerly of the BBC and still involved with The Spectator. They have said that they are looking to mimic the format of US broadcasters including Fox and MSNBC with shows centered around strong presenters so I expect we will see the emergence of some highly opinionated opinion formers after a period. British News media is supposed to maintain impartiality under the governance of Ofcom so it will be interesting to see if this is the case. Neil has said that he is going to have a section on his show dedicated to 'Wokewatch' which I'm sure will arouse the interests (figuratively and literally) of many Boards users who seem to have a keen interest in such topics.
breezy1985 wrote: » What makes you think that. They have some of the highest rated comedy in the UK. Recently they have had huge hits with the Waller Bridge stuff for instance. I love how you can just flat out say an entire nation don't go to the BBC for comedy. And ya the Tory voters are not watching that satire but what has that got to do with anything
Tell me how wrote: » British News media is supposed to maintain impartiality under the governance of Ofcom so it will be interesting to see if this is the case.
PommieBast wrote: » The Ofcom with Paul Dacre at the helm?
devnull wrote: » GB News is going to be anything but impartial. One of the leading people behind it, Andrew Cole has posted this on LinkedIn: “GB News: Over time we will conduct special enquiries to expose those who act in the worst interests of the UK. “We will also drive critical campaigns: one could be calling for a public enquiry into certain MPs, members of the Lords and civil servants who acted against the UK and in favour of a foreign entity (the EU) during the Brexit years. “Many of our target audience wish to see this enquiry happen.” Notice how he presents his opinion as a fact. I have no doubt that there will be a lot of this to come. I don't object to anyone airing the view that he has, even if I disagree with it and think it's wrong, but this kind of stuff is very much the kind of nonsense you'd expect to see in America, not the UK.
Tell me how wrote: » I really think the UK is in a dangerous position in terms of what way it's electorate are about to be manipulated over the next few years. GB News will definitely attract those of a particular mindset and I expect there are going to be a significant number of discussions on topics such as the efficiency of the NHS, the role of the BBC and whether or not it warrants having a license fee propping it up, the argument against Scotland voting to leave in a future referendum will get it's fair share of attention and a regular helping of lambasting the EU, Labour, Climate activists, BLM, and all these pesky progressive ideals that have gotten in the way for so long. They'll have no shortage of candidates to appear on the various shows and I expect people like JHB, Kate Andrews, Farage, Tom Harwood, Brendan O'Neil and others will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of being invited on to speak to even more agreeable hosts than they've been used to in some circles. I don't know if anyone saw a clip from Talk Radio recently where two guests, along with the host, gleefully awarded Femi Oluwole the title of 'Plank of the week' for having the gall to speak out against Brexiteers continued insistence that the problems the UK is experiencing is the fault of the EU or remainers or whoever. It was quite unsettling to see them lambast him without him being there to defend himself or without them, even for a second, providing a counter point to his argument. As someone else pointed out, Paul Dacre has been chosen to lead OfCom so as to rebut any calls that will come saying that GB News or other broadcasters who try to chase after their audience are being biased. It all feels quite sinister and to use the analogy often aimed at Democrats in the US where they are accused of bringing a knife to a gunfight with the GOP, Labour in the UK look like they are arming themselves with water pistols and nerf guns against opponents in fighter jets and attack helicopters. We've already seen how the Tories have acted with Boris's flat upgrade, contracts to friends of cabinet ministers, setting up a review in to how Covid was handled etc, once there is a very friendly high profile national broadcaster in place to help massage how the public hears about this, they could really lose the run of themselves.
quokula wrote: » I do think UK society as a whole is much more progressive than their media landscape and their political class. If you look at voter demographics, "young" people, which means pretty much anyone under 50, are much more less likely to vote Tory, as is anyone with an education. But the combination of the utterly undemocratic FPTP voting system, safe seats, and voter turn out mean that their voice is just not heard as much. This is a contrast to the US where there are large cohorts of very hardline young republicans (not saying the UK doesn't have its Tommy Robinson types but they're not as big a factor) I think this is mainly due to the prevalence of Fox News where the UK doesn't have anything quite that bad on TV and it's mostly the newspapers with their older demographic that are utterly toxic. I do wonder what the current concerted effort from the Tories to skew the media landscape even further to the right would achieve in taking the UK down that path.
Strazdas wrote: » How do these progressive and liberal under 50s remove Johnson and the Tories from power though? The Brexiteers and their numerous corrupt media backers are trying to rig the political system so that the Tories remain in power for decades.
Sam Russell wrote: » You would have thought Thatcher had it all sown up - but she was ousted.
quokula wrote: » I do think UK society as a whole is much more progressive than their media landscape and their political class. If you look at voter demographics, "young" people, which means pretty much anyone under 50, are much more less likely to vote Tory, as is anyone with an education. But the combination of the utterly undemocratic FPTP voting system, safe seats, and voter turn out mean that their voice is just not heard as much. This is a contrast to the US where there are large cohorts of very hardline young republicans (not saying the UK doesn't have its Tommy Robinson types but they're not as big a factor)I think this is mainly due to the prevalence of Fox News where the UK doesn't have anything quite that bad on TV and it's mostly the newspapers with their older demographic that are utterly toxic. I do wonder what the current concerted effort from the Tories to skew the media landscape even further to the right would achieve in taking the UK down that path.
Professor Moriarty wrote: » Keep an eye on the BBC. For the past six months, The Telegraph has had at least three articles every week attacking the BBC. The stage is being set for an 'overhaul'.
pixelburp wrote: » I said it in a Current Affairs thread a while back, but I find it darkly amusing that in a classic case of accidental prescience, the 2005 film V For Vendetta managed to predict a dystopian Britain, becoming more actual than many might stomach; in this specific instance, the film's blatantly propagandist British News Network, headed by a ranting demagogue that - for all intents and purposes - sounds exactly what we're going to see with "GB News". And if I remember, the film posited a Britain taken over by fascists in the wake of a terrible pandemic, so ... yeah.
dogbert27 wrote: » I think he was saying the "special relationship" description made the UK look the weaker of the two. No matter what way he spins it with this "indestructible relationship" they will always be the weaker of the two. Or is he trying to send a veiled dig at the EU to say the US will be backing the UK? :rolleyes:
