according to the Times.
Bear in mind that the trial is still continuing. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that. In any case the most damaging aspect of this story to the BBC is not the paintballing. The worst that happened there is that they were fooled. No, the most shocking thing is this:
Nasreen Suleaman, a researcher on the programme, told the court that Mr Hamid, 50, contacted her after the July 2005 attack and told her of his association with the bombers. But she said that she felt no obligation to contact the police with this information. Ms Suleaman said that she informed senior BBC managers but was not told to contact the police.
Susan: I tell you what I do find frustrating it’s that you clearly have a problem with the Beeb. Now obviously we have a commercial outlet in the US so it’s clear the market will in the end decide. So lets wait and see. Clearly if you don’t like Mr Frei I’m afraid I’ll have to leave it to him to come on here and defend himself… but what I find frustrating is that you aren’t exposed to more BBC at home, here in the UK where the licence fee gives so much. Now of course there are plenty of UK posters here who don’t like the BBC (and even think Midlands Today where I work is totally PC) but from overseas you do miss the whole picture. For all it’s many faults the BBC can still be an amazing thing, I really believe it makes life in the UK better and if you ever visit I’d love to show you around so you could see what I mean.
If I was playing devil’s advocate I’d also say that British people who fail to defend their national broadcaster and indeed who let foreigners attack are… dare I say it… a little unpatriotic?
I jest! 😉
Jane: “I would like to see heads roll and some kind of enquiry set up to investigate and deal with Islamic infiltration of the State broadcaster.” I’ll tell you something funny. What with one thing and another ,given the current news agenda, I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn to say that Midlands Today would like a Muslim reporter. Frankly perhaps it needs one. But at the moment we don’t have a single one. Indeed if the Islamists are trying to infiltrate they’re not doing a very good job. Still I’ll keep you posted, we do have an opening coming up.
Piranah:
“I was hoping not to have to say this, David, as you seem a decent chap, but since you insist… I pay my licence fee and have endured Midlands Today for over thirty years. Although its presenters are affable, its content is no different in its PC bias from the rest of the BBC’s output.”
Ouch. “Endured” is harsh! First of all let me once again extend the invite to come and visit. Spend a day from morning meeting to post show debrief with us. You might be surprised. You may not be of course. But PC? Well always careful with language, impartial (that’s in the charter of course!) and usually considered. If you can’t visit (please do, I get staff discount in the BBC shop if you need to stock up on Dr Who stuff for Christmas!) perhaps you’d like to suggest stories we don’t cover because we’re too “PC” or that we don’t cover in the “right way” for similar reasons. If you don’t want to post here email me direct david dot gregory at bbc dot co dot uk.
Tim: Now it’s funny you mentioned May Day demos. I did a live for BBC News from there once. Perhaps we’ve already met! The Iraq story came around because I was talking to a Forensic Archaeologist who has been investigating mass graves in the “north of the country”. I don’t know how far north, but yes I’m aware a trip to the Kurdish part could be very nice. The cameraman I’d be going with spent April this year around Basra being shelled with the Army pretty much every night.
Will Jones:
“David Gregory would make a perfect liberal in the US.” Sir, I don’t think I’ve ever been more insulted. Please step outside. I’m really not playing the victim card when I post here. But what I do try and do is point out the BBC doesn’t exist in isolation in some Islington, London UK (for our overseas readers) bubble. As a rather naff regional news slogan had it a while back “We live here too”.
More seriously, (everyone!) lets wait and see before we all discuss this court case. As Mr Bones says and I agree “I have no contempt for the court or the judge”
“David Gregory (BBC):
MattLondon: I think as a journalist reporting what’s going on is one thing. Commenting on what has happened and drawing further conclusions while the trial is underway is just something I’m not comfortable with.”
Has this stopped you in the past?
David,
I must have worked the Mayday demos around 1999 2000?
There was a piece of footage used of us (The cameraman and I) being attacked. I stepped in block and the police rapidly pinned the thug to the ground – Basically saving our skins, thankfully – That footage was used in a totally unrelated documentry about state control, the police this and that etc…
Anyway David, with respect I am willing to help you out, but this thread is about a specific topic and wouldn’t be trying to divert would you?
Just remembered, one the May day jobs was with Clice Myre, very nice guy, even for an ex RAF lad.
David:
‘If I was playing devil’s advocate I’d also say that British people who fail to defend their national broadcaster and indeed who let foreigners attack are… dare I say it… a little unpatriotic?’
Just a moment! If that national broadcaster is undermining the nation, promoting enemy propaganda by people who wish to replace the British state with a theocracy, and giving publicity to those who kill our forces, I am sure that the only patriotic thing to do is to denounce it!
If that broadcaster extends their behaviour to attacking our allies, I think people in those nations have a duty to respond, and to inform us of the extent to which Britain is being damaged by such a Corporation.
Now, on the court case, I don’t see the problem in discussing evidence presented to the jury: their job is to decide whether the charges are merited. It is the suspects on trial not the evidence. If such evidence is questioned by the defence then fair enough, but if not, we should, like the jury, assume that its veracity is not in question. In the case of Suleaman this evidence has been presented on oath – unless you are suggesting that the BBC and its employees may be lying?
Do you all believe that Muslims en masse should be banned from paintballing?
Judgement. pre 7/7 I was in Finsbury park. Hamza was preaching against terror attacks in this country, fairly clearly. Judge for yourself.
If anyone would have made a TV film about him at the time he would probably have said something like this.
Pre-7-7 Muslims, all over the country, would have seen him saying this. For some reason this wasn’t deemed useful, by the BBC, or anyone. I couldn’t tell you if journalists who witnessed it over looked it, or if it “didn’t fit in with a story” or what.
Hamid said in court that after they were chucked out of the mosque, some of the people ex- of Finsbury park mosque considered the contract of peace between them and us had been broken by our invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is fairly much illegal to say so in this country now.
pre 7/7 I think journalists like Nasreen were eager to encourage Muslims who were angry, yet expressing non- hostile views. Maybe she thought that in a situation where we were blatantly at war with groups of Muslims, it would be helpful for them to have an outlet.
A long while later, the Police infiltrated hamid’s group. the results are before a jury.
Should Nasreen have called the Police?
I can’t answer. There was a discrepancy between her testimony and Hamids about the timing of the call. I think he was claiming that
he called her after he came back from France. He asked for her to be recalled.
Froim what I’ve seen there is a place for journalists like Nasreen, and there is a place for people like Richard Littlejohn.
The Police don’t seem to have thought that hamid had any information useful to them, lets see if there is an inquiry. Call for one.
hey and Matthew, conspiracy theories aren’t extremist.
David Gregory,
Your performance over the last few days has left me with the uncomfortable sense that you are edging closer to the style of John Reith – ignoring or skirting around the issues without really dealing with them and dismissing people’s concerns. This is a typical BBC attitude.
Whether people live in or outside of Britain, they don’t need to be exposed to every single aspect of the BBC’s coverage in order to detect the bias, as you implied in your comment yesterday at 5:59 pm on the other thread and again here at 8:52 pm, though you appeared to backtrack by saying it was in jest.
I’m not sure what else I can say to emphasize the fact that the BBC’s pushing of vile propaganda worldwide has to be fought and that wherever a person lives, he/she has every right to fight it.
“It might explain why the poor British people have yet to “wake up” to the problems of the BBC. Maybe they like it?”
So why not put your money where your mouths are and scrap the license fee, or most see, it poll tax?
The popular Former British Broadcasting Corps should have no problem raising funding.
David Gregory: It’s an excellent policy not to discuss the guilt or innocense of the accused while a trial is progressing. Discussing published testimony of an uncharged individual would generally be fair game but given the strong possibiity that Ms Suleaman and her superiors at the BBC have violated the law and could face charges, it’s probably best to wait till after their trial to discuss this case. It would make an interesting discussion of what responsibility journalists of the “National Broadcaster” have when they receive information about an attack on the nation’s citizens. I suppose we’ve already been given a clue to the BBC position.
As an overseas reader it was nice of you to let me know where Islington is located. We don’t all live in bubbles here and I have seen some excelllent plays at the Almeida and have several favorite restaurants in the neighborhood, despite what the reviewers say.
We do get to see BBC while visiting and pay higher rents for apartments due to your share of their costs. I don’t suppose that would qualify us as rate payers but I can still sympathise.
Your earlier point about natives defending the “national broadcaster” would seem more valid if there was any reciprocity. From what I’ve seen both in the UK and now way too much here, BBC hates Israel the most with the US a close second and Britain not very far behind.
I know Reith likes to trot out that old saw about a presenter being Jewish so the presentation could not possibly be anti Israel. Perhaps you will trot out how many of your colleagues served the country in various ways but that doesn’t make the BBC any less damaging to your time honored institutions.
I apologise for rattling on and for thinking you were playing the “victim card” when you….sorry…just looked back. It really does look like the victim card…but I’ll take you at your word and wish you a good evening.
I agree with what Abu Hamza al-Masri – the British convicted Islamic terrorist serving just 7 years in jail – was saying in that video. The MCB are nefarious. Very much so. Their secretary general alone advocates paedophilia, execution for apostasy, execution for ‘slandering Islam’ (whatever that means – mentioning it whilst not a Muslim probably), and the outlawing of homosexuality. I don’t know how many members they have, but it’d probably be fair to estimate that half of them are advocates or directly involved in Islamic terrorism/terrorism somehow.
And yeah, conspiracy theories aren’t necessarily extreme. Not all of them are the product of a delusional mind either. The one about Elvis stil being alive isn’t that farfetched.
Here are a few reaonable quotes courtesy of that ‘moderate’ Abu Hamza al-Masri, who really isn’t such a bad guy afterall. On the dirty Kafir (us): “Killing of the Kafir for any reason you can say it is OK, even if there is no reason for it.”; On the sellers of booze: “Make sure that the person who gave him the licence for that wine shop doesn’t exist any more on the Earth. Finish him up. Give him dawa (inviting non-Muslims to accept the truth of Islam). If he doesn’t respect dawa, kill him.”
What a guy – let’s give him some sort of award.
Tim: No I did one of the later (and much less “fun”) demos. And no I’m not trying to divert you from the point under discussion. If I wanted to do that I’d once again remind people about contempt of court. Unlimited fine and you can go to jail. ect ect
Bryan: Perhaps you are right. I’ll dial it back if you like. It’s just sometimes it’s quite hard just to politely debate. To be accused of being a “Muslim 5th column”, “Limp wristed”, “PC”, a liar, a “paedophile” (oh yes, only once but it happened) etc. You know after a while you just want to shout back a little bit. I’m very proud to work for the BBC. It has many faults but I think overall it makes a great contribution to like in this country. Its one reason why Britain is such a great place to live. But perhaps I should just restrict myself to the point under discussion. Which brings us to this…
“David Gregory (BBC):
MattLondon: I think as a journalist reporting what’s going on is one thing. Commenting on what has happened and drawing further conclusions while the trial is underway is just something I’m not comfortable with.”
Has this stopped you in the past?”
Right.
Yes. Did I mention the unlimited fine and the trip to jail?
dave bones:
It should be obvious that Islamic extremists frequently say different things to different audiences, particularly when national TV is filming. Islamists call it taqiyya. See for yourself HERE . Naivety is no excuse for poor judgement. If Hamza suggests on an occasion that Islamic sympathisers should be spared the forces of jihad, it certainly doesn’t mean that his views should then be reported uncritically.
There is no ‘Contract of peace’ with Islamists: they either agree to abide by the laws of the land, as decided by our elected representatives ( which includes not soliciting murder against our troops), or they don’t.
‘Froim what I’ve seen there is a place for journalists like Nasreen, and there is a place for people like Richard Littlejohn.’
I don’t think either ought to be publicly funded, but can you detail an occasion where Littlejohn has showcased terrorists without providing any criticism of their views?
‘hey and Matthew, conspiracy theories aren’t extremist.’
Maybe for Socialist Wankers (to quote the title of your website) they are not. Or National Socialists, come to think of it (most of whom used the same Zionist conspiracy theories as their modern equivalents). Sane people prefer to use the logic of Occam’s Razor. You should try it.
“If I was playing devil’s advocate I’d also say that British people who fail to defend their national broadcaster and indeed who let foreigners attack are… dare I say it… a little unpatriotic?
I jest.”
“The last refuge of a scoundrel”.
I jest.
David,
You’re quite right. The May Day demo’s I did, were full on.
The only jail sentence most people here might receive, is refusing to pay their TV tax and I don’t think they’re that bothered with that, out of principle.
“Hamid said in court that after they were chucked out of the mosque, some of the people ex- of Finsbury park mosque considered the contract of peace between them and us had been broken by our invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“Contract of peace”,I thought they were British citizens,silly not to have realised there was a truce in a religious conflict. Even odder that most of the Muslims in Britain are from the Indian sub-continent.
This puts al BBC in perspective.
For all it’s many faults the BBC can still be an amazing thing, I really believe it makes life in the UK better and if you ever visit I’d love to show you around so you could see what I mean.
Thank you for your kind offer, Dave. I’m not sure that NuLab’s Britain is quite right for me though. I might inadvertantly say something snarky about naming my dog Mohammad or some such, and end up a guest of Her Majesty’s Royal Prisons!
“Yes. Did I mention the unlimited fine and the trip to jail?”
You can pay the fine out of your thirty pieces of silver,regard the trip to jail as research.
“skirting around the issues without really dealing with them and dismissing people’s concerns. This is a typical BBC attitude”.
Bryan | 08.12.07 – 10:02 pm |
i’m beginning to think it’s also symptomatic of the disease of leftism. further, leftists can never be wrong because: either the non-leftist is incapable of agreeing the point, by definition almost; or, the leftist isn’t (yet!)clever or experienced enough to make the point convincingly enough; or, words and language themselves are at fault for being inadequate to express the rightness of the leftist position.
any way you look at it, it’s neither the leftist nor his position that are at fault
Just to provide balance to my earlier criticisms on BBC apologetics for Islamic extremism: there are a few decent journalists still on the books of the Corporation.
John Ware is one such example. The Panorama website does now contain a link to Ware’s rebuttal of Sheikh Livingstone’s attempt to silence his Panorama documentary critical of the MCB. Presumably they cannot reprint Ware’s Telegraph article due to copyright restrictions, but at least they provide clear links to the Telegraph page on which it is hosted.
What is surprising though, is how pathetic the BBC have been at defending Ware. The website distances itself from Ware and ‘his film’, in complete contrast to the way Channel 4 executives got together and publically backed their Undercover Mosque documentary that Anil Patani of West Midlands Police tried to smear earlier this year.
Dave Bones:
“Do you all believe that Muslims en masse should be banned from paintballing?”
The ones that are using it as a terrorist training activity, yes. And as you keep reminding us how the court is in session and we should all stay hush (yourself included) here you are again continuing with your able defense of terrorists.
David Gregory:
“For all it’s many faults the BBC can still be an amazing thing, I really believe it makes life in the UK better”
God David your unfaltering worship to the church of Beeb is borderline Moonie.
Please, please, please just give me ONE instance of how the BBC makes life in the UK better. Just ONE.
“given the current news agenda, I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn to say that Midlands Today would like a Muslim reporter.”
David, this issue has been dealt with many times before. The reason muslims aren’t employed as ‘richly’ as your PC desires would like is because there aren’t enough graduating from Oxford and Cambridge to fulfil said duties. Also, we all know the BBC has been referred to as ‘hideously white’ because of it’s nepotistic classist culture and as with all liberal agendas ‘multiculturalism’ is something the great unwashed should subscribe too wholesale, NOT the preachers of it at Al Beeb.
Incidentally, as I’m sure you are aware I live in the Midlands, and I can tell you that BBC Midlands Today doesn’t reflect a damn thing that I see in my street every day. Instead it’s the usual utopian multicultural fairy stories all you limp wristed, PC fifth column Beeboids would LIKE us to believe are happening.
I hope my description of you BBC types didn’t offend 😉
As a corollary to my above post, why does Midlands Today feel the need to employ a muslim reporter anyway David.
I would have thought any employer should recruit whoever is most qualified and competent for the job, not select someone purely because they are of minority status.
This is reverse discrimination, and stop me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s also illegal in employment law.
I am not defending anyone, I have been in contact with Glen Genvey on and off for a long while.
I am telling you evidence given in court, namely that Hamid claimed Nasreen had got her evidence wrong, and that he hadn’t called her while the 21/7 guys were on the run, but called her after he had got back from France.
“Yes. Did I mention the unlimited fine and the trip to jail?”
You can pay the fine out of your thirty pieces of silver,regard the trip to jail as research.
PeterUK
Hi Peter. I realise that I’ve been a bit robust this weekend. But comparing me to Judas? Really?
Reg Hammer: Well we have Christian and Hindu reporters. I think any reporter should be able to step from cattle market to temple and be comfortable in each. A muslim reporter would just be a useful addition to the mix. But you’re quite right. Since we employ of the basis of talent so far we don’t have one. I must say since Midlands Today is apparently some sort of Islamic 5th column… well the infiltration process isn’t going too well. And given we cover Birmingham with a largeish Islamic population you’d think we’d be a prime “target”.
As for Oxford and Cambridge, well I went to Liverpool and I don’t think any of the rest of my colleagues have Oxbridge degrees. Whisper it, some of them don’t have degrees at all!
Finally. What stories do you see that we don’t cover? Kidnapping and forceable conversion to Islam? Did it. Police critising the NuLab Home Sec? Did it. Celebrating the return of our brave troops from Iraq? Did it.
Long term investigation into the preachers of hate at Birmingham Mosques… sorry no Muslim reporter! Still we followed up the C4 story. And I’d also say that sort of intensive and expensive investigation is more the preserve of a documentary strand than a daily news show.
But once again, tell me the stories you want covered and I’ll see if we done them, if we haven’t why not and who knows we may go and do them after you tip off!
Post here or email me direct david dot gregory at bbc dot co dot uk.
Robust Gregory? Hardly,just obeying the orders of an organisation betraying the British people.
“This is reverse discrimination”
No it’s just plain racism.
David Gregory:
“Finally. What stories do you see that we don’t cover? Kidnapping and forceable conversion to Islam? Did it. Police critising the NuLab Home Sec? Did it. Celebrating the return of our brave troops from Iraq? Did it.”
Can you stick them on Youtube for me David, I’d certainly love to see HOW you did them. I would be utterly incredulous if you did a report on forceable conversion to Islam without it being played down as totally irelevant.
What I would LOVE to see you doing is a report on the dispraportionate number of crimes per capita of the black population in Nottingham. That the gun culture has originated from competing ethnic gangs, that it is not being tackled by local government for fear of them offending minority status. I’ve yet to see anything of that nature from your news team.
Why not?
Incidentally, I’m still waiting for your ONE example on how the BBC improves our quality of life in the UK. Come on David, you can do it.
I think David Gregory deserves a little more credit here than he is being given: he is taking the trouble to give a fair response to the posts in a polite manner, in contrast to some of the contributions of John Reith.
David – do you know which station those Muslim residents of Birmingham turn to when they want to hear the news in Arabic or Urdu? I understand that over half the Muslim community in Birmingham was born overseas, many of whom have very basic literacy in English. This may help expain why it is not as easy to find Muslim reporters as you assume.
Did you cover the chair of Birmingham Central Mosque, Naseem Mohammed, when he claimed that the video of 7/7 criminal Sidique Khan was a fake? Did you cover his offensive comments that Britain was a replica of 1930s Germany, or investigate his claims that homosexuals should be put to death for ‘public displays of lewdness’? Did you cover the racist Hizb-ut-Tahir conference in the city, which brought 10 000 global caliphate Islamic supremacists to Birmingham, or the incident last year when the shameless Birmingham MP Clare Short tried to host that group in the House of Commons? Did you cover the story of Gina Khan earlier this year, who has been campaigning very bravely against radical Islam in her community? This is the sort of person to whom the BBC ought to be giving airtime!!
I think the point is that Birmingham journalists need to stop framing every story in the context of how wonderful diversity is (which has only led to ghetto communities), but to weed out Islamic supremacism whereever you find it, just as you ought to do with white supremacism.
Reg: Tell you what, here’s this from the Sunday Times. Tune in to the Archive Hour on Radio 4 (on the website natch) to hear actual audio of a man who saw Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address. One of the greatest speeches ever made. Amazing stuff.
If you want purely practical well Radio Hereford and Worcester continues to run programming to help those still affected by the summer floods. People have used the station as a conduit for everything from cookers to furniture to help those affected.
Nottingham is sadly part of the East Midlands and covered by East Midlands Today. Since I work for Midlands Today it’s out of my remit.But why would a story about forceable conversion be played down. It was a deeply sensitive issue, but we still reported it. As the riots in Handsworth show broadcasters must be responsible in how they report things, but we can’t shy away from them.
As for seeing the reports I refer to look no further than bbc.co.uk/midlandstoday
Matthew (UK) That’s a great list. As I’ve said before kudos for C4 for that Dispatches… (once again an argument for having a Muslim reporter on our team) we’ve followed that story up though. I do believe we’ve interviewed Miss Khan, though I will check and I’ll see what we did on the other issues you raised.
Finally: “PeterUK:
Robust Gregory? Hardly,just obeying the orders of an organisation betraying the British people.”
Thanks for your contribution to the debate, Peter. Much appreciated. No really. Thanks!
Think nothing of it Gregory,nice to see a man earning his shilling.
“Nottingham is sadly part of the East Midlands and covered by East Midlands Today. Since I work for Midlands Today it’s out of my remit.”
Sorry David, my mistake. I shall e-mail the East Midlands team and ask them instead.
Meanwhile, if you ever get round to answering my question of how the BBC has improved the quality of our lives – as you asserted – it would be much appreciated. As you have dodged the question twice it would appear your original statement was borne out of vague opinion rather than practical experience.
Reg,
Are you saying the BBC has not improved Gregory’s life?
PeterUK:
LOL. David Gregory seems blissfully happy to me. As do most BBC employees. I wonder why?
Reg,
I should imagine that those who were granted monopolies by the monarch,in the days when monarchs had such powers,were also blissfully happy.I cannot quite work out whether to call BBC funding neo-feudalism, a protection racket or pimping.Shove another chav in the pokey and let the show go on.
This should be sufficient to spur a mass campaign to get a significant proportion of the population of Britain to withhold their license fee.
The BBC is a far left propaganda machine which uses the extorted proceeds of highway robbery to fund a media source which spews the reflection of somebody else’s views, not the public’s. The very idea is grotesque. The license fee is a direct abrogation of a basic human right – the right to own. There was once a day when the likes of David Attenborough and Patrick Moore were the friendly face of this abrogation and whose output pacified the public and made them forget about the very nature of the robbery which is the license fee – no more. It’s real nature is as apparent as it’s possible to be as the BBC stoops to withholding evidence in a terrorist investigation involving British deaths. Outraged? We need a new word.
Reg: I did answer your question. It was small scale stuff, but I thought both good examples of the sort of great stuff the BBC does. So see my last post.
Peter (UK) Blow me
Sorry, my computer posted that last reply before I’d finished.
Peter (UK) Blow me, you are quite the wit.
Yeah I bet, you terrorist
David Gregory:
“actual audio of a man who saw Lincoln give the Gettysburg Address”…
“…People have used the station as a conduit for everything from cookers to furniture to help those affected.”
Ah yes, THIS type of enrichment. Sorry David I was speaking in relative terms and you’re talking about the BBCs idea of enrichment.
Well, they know what’s best for us I’m sure. 🙂
Thanks for the offer Greggers old chap,but no thanks.This isn’t the BBC you know,flirting will get you nowhere..
David Gregory:
I just listened to the old recording of the man that witnessed Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburgh Address.
Fascinating stuff, but delivered to the world by National Public Radio and nothing to do with Al Beeb.
I could have dredged this up anywhere on the internet for free (which I did) so I don’t need to be paying the BBC a few hundred quid to recycle it do I.
And as for Hereford and Worcester running programming to help those still affected by the summer floods. Nice. But I don’t live in Hereford and Worcester.
So steeped in irony I would ask again David:
What have the BBC ever done for us? 😉
David Gregory (BBC):
I appreciate all those comments, but I still think it’s useful to know where posters come from. I also find it interesting how many people from overseas are moved to post about the Beeb. I mean I like Fox News but I wouldn’t bother posting about it on a blog.
Do suppose Fox News hire corporate stooges to defend the party line on message boards, or, failing that, to ask assanine questions to divert attention from uncomfortable subjects?
Reg: Oh yes, uncovered by PBS in the states. And yes you could have found it on the web. But which radio station apart from a BBC one would have broadcast it? Heart? Smooth? Kerrang? I can hear it now “That was Simply Red, and now before the Lighthouse Family audio of a man who heard the Gettysburg address”
Hmmm
As for concrete proof the BBC has done somthing for you, well do you have a Nicam stereo tv?
As for concrete proof the BBC has done somthing for you, well do you have a Nicam stereo tv?
David Gregory (BBC) | 10.12.07 – 10:11 am | #
David, only an employee of a state monopoly could come up with that.
Germany, the largest European TV market had the perfectly adequate sytem before us, which is still in use there and Australia.
The US and Japan had their respective BTSC and EIAJ system, some of which offered more to the consumer by way of multiplex sound channels etc.
True the BBC NICAM system was a much more advanced digital approach – because it was developed at enormous expense without anybody asking for it.
The reason why the US and Japan invested less was that their privately run electronics industries decided that there wasn’t a huge need for sophisticated TV stereo because TV set speakers were so close together that the listening benefits were marginal. Needless to say that didn’t stop the beeb throwing taxpayer’s money at it.
It’s instructive that consumers in the other major technologically demanding markets of Germany, North America or Japan have managed to get along OK without NICAM.
Personally, when I was living in the US, I can’t say I noticed my TV stereo sound was any worse than here.
I’m sure that there’s a benefit for serious audiophiles with megabucks TV surround sound systems – but was it right to tax all the widows and orphans to benefit the lucky few?
Sounds a bit elitist to me.
Perhaps the question should be – has the beeb done anything for us that we asked for or needed?
Sorry – typo, missed out the name of the German Zweikanalton system.
Going back to the original subject of this thread.
Is anybody from London going to be at the “Diverse Britain 07” conference at the QE11 conference centre today?
http://www.neilstewartassociates.com/re103/agenda.html
I’m sure there’ll be lots of beeboids there.
I’d love to have a first hand account of Nasreen (“Don’t Panic..”) Suleaman and Cressida Dick sharing a platform this afternoon.
Will there be calls from the audience – “Nick ‘er Cressida!”
Dream on.
David Gregory is a very good environment/science reporter on Midlands Today (authoritative & accessible) and I think it a bit unfair that he is criticised reflexively just because he works for and supports the BBC. There’s good and bad on the beeb, stuff I agree with and stuff I don’t. That is because the BBC is for everyone, some of whom, heaven forbid, have diffrent tastes and opinions to me. I thought last night that political bias might be like the parallax effect in optics. The BBC could be central but if my view is left or right of that, I will perceive it to be skewed away from my view and therefore biased. There’s a heck of a lot bad about Midlands Today if Nick Owen’s jokes are added up but it would be much worse if reporters were recruited by religious affiliation. Surely, selection of reporters should be as open as possible to enable the best to be identified and developed.
Gallimaufry: Thanks for your kind words. I don’t want this lack of a Muslim reporter thing to get over blown. I totally agree that reporters should be recruited on merit. But I think there is an argument that since the BBC takes money from everyone it should try and reflect the wide diversity of British life on screen. I mentioned the lack of a Muslim reporter mainly as a response to the idea that Midlands Today was some sort of Islamic 5th column. PAtently rubbish as we don’t have any Muslim reporters. Personally I think a Muslim reporter would be great for the show, we might have got to the Mosque story before Dispatches if that was the case. But in the end it’s how you perform at the inteview and your showreel that counts.
Finally Gallimaufry: I’m really sorry about Nick’s jokes. But my Mum likes them!
John Reith SPins in His Grave: Damn these elitist BBC engineers and their luxurious lifestyles! Hmmm, not a fan of Nicam then. How about this then, the BBC did give you the Discovery Channels.
“Hmmm, not a fan of Nicam then. How about this then, the BBC did give you the Discovery Channels”
Hmmm, all this time there was me thinking it was this chaps idea? http://www.media-visions.com/vis-hendricks.html
xlr: And where do you think all the initial programming came from?
“since the BBC takes money from everyone it should try and reflect the wide diversity of British life on screen. ”
Just for once they admit it, yes you do steal our money don’t you? [Remainder deleted on grounds of offensiveness – Admin.
WoAD, be aware that any further insulting comments will be deleted. If need be you will be banned.]
Edited By Siteowner