Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may be moderated.
Martin
Was it my imagination or did the idiot-scientist fronting Horizon actually insult the head of the GPS HQ in Colorado shortly before he (the idiot-scientist) was shown again assaulting the SatNav equipment in his car?
BTW I don’t recall that Bronowski required a lot of whizz-bang effects to interest and convey real knowledge to his audience. This edition of Horizon – as an attempt to convey the intricacies and fascination of the exploration of the mystery of gravity – was crap of the highest order. You can always mark the bankruptcy of explanation when the presenter uses the word “beautiful” (yes this word was used by Bronowski but sparingly and not as a replacement for but an addition to his exegesis). Generally speaking use of the word in “popular” science programmes conveys very little to non-mathematicians and non-scientists.
Theories of maths and discoveries of science may be startling and surprising and the formulae of Newton and Einstein are indeed wonderful in their simplicity. But please, require the audience to do a little more work; assume that the audience have minds which can chew on a subject not just stare at colourful graphics and animations of explosions (supposedly illustrating the “big bang”). It’s only when you view programmes like tonight’s Horizon that you glimpse a small part of the massive contempt that the BBC has for its audience.
Immigration and the Beeb
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/threelinewhip/jan08/immigrationandthebeeb.htm
“I won’t even bother to mention that our scientific expert forgot that light actually travels nearly 500,000 miles to get to the Moon and back (the astronomer he was talking to remined him). Oh I’ve just mentioned it.
Is the BBC ashamed of having ANYTHING on TV that requires an IQ in three figures?
Martin | 29.01.08 – 11:19 pm”
he also said that particles in a particle accelartor were sped up nearly 50,000 miles per second which was “close to the speed of light“.
i wont insult the intelligence of commenters on here by pointing out the obvious flaw in such a statement.
” Jane Garvey’s Champagne Hangov | 29.01.08 – 11:41 pm”
if the Nhs was privatised, there wouldnt be a “problem”
“George R | 29.01.08 – 10:46 pm ”
note how it becomes a “problem” when its white, Catholic Polish mothers giving birth in Britain.
of course, they’re fair game for the BBC.
BBC News 24 just now on the Democrat run
“what is it about Obama – he offers hope or has the audacity to offer hope?”
spoken by the female (“the only thing that’s certain in this world is my own moral superiority”) anchor.
Why are the BBC covering this themselves? – they could save us money and add more value simply by relaying a live feed from one of the US networks.
This would also avoid the sneering at the system when the Obama campaign blows up.
Another BBC winner DAB going down the drain.
“and the BBC starts from one of impartiality”
Yes that’s probably where they do start David, at least in their own skewed minds, but it certainly isn’t where they stop is it?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7215624.stm
UK paying for ‘migrant baby boom’ and its on the front of the news page.
Yet another exception to the rule?
George R: “UK paying for the ‘migrant baby boom'”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/healt…lth/ 7215624.stm
It seems a bit harsh to get upset when they do some brave reporting. The article is also straight and to the point – trusting its readers not to go out and immediately beat up a foreigner. I was quite impressed and surprised.
Martin:
Watched Horizon tonight. Oh dear, yet another BBC show dumbed down for the “Chav” Eastenders watching minority.
We had some half wit “scientist” who appeared to spend most of his time hitting his car sat nav or taking pictures of the camera crew or screwing up his lines.
Feeling grumpy are you?
I didn’t see the whole programme but I had turned it on after reading a recommendtaion in the Telegraph.
I thought it was not bad for peak-ish time viewing.
As a physicist myself I thought he got the basics right – and to do so properly and keep the average viewer interested isn’t easy.
Don’t forget the British educational system produces only a tiny proportion with any decent scientific education and physics, to many people, is an area of complete ignorance.
In this case I thought the Beeb was doing a reasonable job in line with its charter obligations.
Hugh:
George R: “UK paying for the ‘migrant baby boom'”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/healt…lth/ 7215624.stm
Broken/wrong link?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7215624.stm
My RSS reader has just delivered this gem
http://tonysharp.blogspot.com/2008/01/bbc-public-service-propaganda.html
Bias? Surely not!
In this case I thought the Beeb was doing a reasonable job in line with its charter obligations.
MattLondon | 30.01.08 – 9:31 am
How about in this one:
I assume it was a giggly undergraduate of a left-wing “humanities” course or the BBC’s “journalism” college moonlighting as a “moderator” on the Gaza HYS who decided that sam from the USA was such an intellectual giant that 5 of his comments deserved airing on the same page while thousands of comments never saw the light of day:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?sortBy=1&forumID=4131&start=120&tstart=0&edition=2&ttl=20080130094506#paginator
I suppose he/she gazed at sam’s contributions as if they were precious gems before publishing them all. Like this one:
Added: Monday, 28 January, 2008, 05:02 GMT 05:02 UK
They move to the Middle East from Europe. Kill and evict the Palestinians. Then attack and beat and slaughter all their neighbors’ armies. Then build Settlements on the land while its owners living in refugee camps.
And they are upset because the Arabs Hate them. And they say they want to live in peace. Now you want peace. After you robbed the bank. Give up your loot first. But still you deserve punishment for what you have done. Then peace will come.
Sam, usa
Recommended by 12 people
The BBC has gone way beyond mere bias.
It’s official: BBC has OFFICIALLY gone Islamic, as unconsulted UK licence-payers finance the OFFICIALLY newly- named AL BEEB to set up a new ARABIC TV channel; but all the new AL BEEB’s Muslim converts and ‘multiculturalists’ haven’t quite got the hang of the Muslims full demands to be made of the licence-payers. The Beeboids have appeared to be annoyed when the BBC has been labelled AL BEEB in the past, but now the Beeboids can hang their heads in cultural shame. By the way, the friendly competition at Hamas Al Jazeera has no vacancies at present:
“BBC blunder as bosses forget to build prayer room for new Arabic TV channel”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=511159&in_page_id=1770
(P.S. the ‘Mail’ report has a misprint here. ‘The service will cost £20 to run’ presumably this should read £20 million ( a year ) to run, plus extra cost of AL BEEB prayer room.)
BBC blunder as bosses forget to build prayer room for new Arabic TV channel
I’m curious. Has the BBC built a prayer room for ‘any’ religion before? Does Bush House have a chapel?
The BBC spokesman wasn’t clear on the point.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7216988.stm
Interestingly, the report has now been updated to lead with the Conservative Party’s response.
Yet ANOTHER exception to the rule, eh?
MattLondon: Sorry Matt. But Horizon used to be the one gem in the poo pile of BBC output (along with the Sky at Night).
I just thought the programme didn’t really talk about hard science in an informative way.
The BBC tried to make it as some sort of “lads” road trip across the USA. I was actually amazed they didn’t cycle across America. The BBC allowing staff to drive a huge American SUV? All that CO2 generated, ye gods what next? Did they fly there as well.
Also, he never got back to the reason why the Moon’s orbit was 10 metres different from what it was predicted by Newton. And why 10 metres? Additionally, I thought that from those laser range measurements the moon was actually moving away from the Earth? Why did that not get a mention?
I thought the show lost the plot. The BBC seem to be frightened of having “real” science on TV today.
Apologies if this has been posted before but I have just been reading the ARRSEpedia which for those of you who don’t know it is a kind of unofficial website/forum for the British armed forces. Anyway their entry for the BBC is most interesting ..
http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/BBC
But there Al-Jazeera page contains a cracking line about the Beeb ..
http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Al_Jazeera_TV
Umbongo & Archduke. Well said. I’m glad others feel let down by the BBC’s failure to give Horizon the quality it deserves.
And yes, he did appear to call the American officer an idiot. They looked rather stunned. I think he meant “I’m an idiot”, not “you’re an idiot” but then again with the BBC their hatred of the Americans has no bounds.
Umbongo | 29.01.08 – 11:47 pm |
Was it my imagination or did the idiot-scientist fronting Horizon actually insult the head of the GPS HQ in Colorado shortly before he (the idiot-scientist) was shown again assaulting the SatNav equipment in his car?
No, I don’t think it was your imagination. It was certainly, at the very least, a very bad edit, which left the ‘insult’ up in the air so we were left not knowing if this was some sort of Asberger’s joke or he really was calling the captain an ‘idiot’, or whatever it was.
In a futile exercise of hope over experience I was looking forward to watching this in the expectation of having my limited knowledge of gravity expanded. Needless to say the programme disappointed as it was aimed at an even lower level of knowledge.
I’m all for the BBC educating the masses in the mysteries of science but why can’t they also educate those of use who know something of the subject too? Why don’t they put these low level programmes on BBC1 at prime time if they wish to educate and entertain and leave Horizon and Timewatch to a greater level of understanding?
Could it be that they have no wish to educate at all and merely ‘fulfill’ their charter requirements at the most basic level possible?
On “Today” yet again, criticism of the “middle class” elbowing its way to the front of the educational queue: Professor Ball of the Institute for Education is brought on to lambast the government/Lord Adonis from the left egged on by the BBC interviewer. No mention (of course!) of the collapse in educational achievement in the state sector largely caused by implementing the recommendations of the academic educational establishment exemplified by the Institute and Professor Ball (who is the Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education at the IoE). But no, let’s all blame the “middle class” – defined as anyone who wants the best for their children.
Then we have Adair Turner “interviewed” about his new job concerning climate change. Not a breath of anything approaching criticism except from the BBC default catastrophist position (to paraphrase: “targets for 2020 and 2050 are wonderful – why not annual targets?”) which Turner easily brushes aside to continue with his description of the earthly paradise in which we will all live (or starve).
What’s the point of this story?: “Straw: Brown’s got skip in stride” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7217090.stm
To paraphrase, government minister says the government is great. I’ll be shocked if any other media outlet considers this worth an airing.
George R – surely the omission of the prayer room is a good thing from the POV of people here?
And how ironic that The Daily Mail should be critical, or at least only give space to the critical voices, of that.
I liked this quote:
“but it seems to be more about what this channel is going to deliver for the BBC than for the Arabic community.”
Change BBC to FO and that’s about right I would say. Whose interests does he think are being served here…
Reverse bias! Close down this blog, we’re not needed any more!
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/476651/so-conways-punished-but-notby-the-bbc.thtml
Deafening silence……
They don’t like it up em.
A perfect little gem of “Pravda” news on the Beeb website today.
Gordon Brown has got “a skip in his stride” following last year’s difficulties, Jack Straw has claimed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7217090.stm
This is news???
When I was in the pre-glasnost Soviet Union in the 70’s there used to be an english language daily called Moscow News (if I remember correctly) – many’s the evenng we sat in the bar of the Intourist Hotel and giggled into our vodka over similar pronouncements.
Little did we think that one day………
The majority of them moved on from the BBC to key positions in the Labour government or party.
I’d really like you to have a look and explain to us all how this fits with with your vaunted “impartiality”.
http://bbcpioneers.blogspot.com/
John Reith spins in his grave | Homepage | 29.01.08 – 10:50 pm | #
David G, if you’re out there today – are you going to give us a comment?
JRSIHG
This is quite simple, one tries to one’s own political beliefs to one side. So just as I try to put my centre-right free-market beliefs to one side, so do others.
I dare say the Guardian is not that common a sight in the Officers’ Mess of the British Army, but I would never question that the Army would have any hesitation in carrying out the instructions of a left-wing government – and clearly they don’t.
“Reverse bias! Close down this blog, we’re not needed any more!
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffe…y-the- bbc.thtml
Abandon Ship! | 30.01.08 – 12:24 pm”
No, bias is bias, even when its the other way than usual, whether party political or one of the other regular BBC biases.
Conway’s actions were totally unacceptable (something even cameron readily acknowledged and acted upon) and Gale’s defence needed to be attacked and showed up, and it was an important story. The spectator shows it up, its hardly a ‘lefty liberal’ publication.
But the BBC failed in its duty again.
I have no problem with B-BBC exposing bias even when it is the reverse of the usual, it is the nature of this blog, even if the type of bias is surprising or against the usual one being shown.
Not only do the BBC build special prayer rooms for their muslim employees, they also take the added precaution of avoiding their explosive wrath by building ‘male’ only prayer rooms too.
I always wonder how the average militant middle class female employee justifies that in her anti-sexism obsessed mind when she walks past the name plate that designates that room.
Guess anything goes when it comes to islam.
Dear Sarah Jane,
“Centre-right, free-market beliefs to one side”?
Those ‘beliefs’ you hold would not have gone down well while you were a young socialist at uni and a Labour party activist in your younger days and a member of CND and a member of the ANL would they?
I wonder what your old comrades would think of your new beliefs now?
Unless of course I am thinking of a different Sarah Jane.
The People’s Front of Judea:
Not only do the BBC build special prayer rooms for their muslim employees,
The People’s Front of Judea | 30.01.08 – 1:10 pm | #
Read the article – it is about a prayer room NOT being built. What there is in HWH is a multi-faith prayer room.
Really if you cannot read the words that are actually there then you are going to find bias in anything you choose.
Those ‘beliefs’ you hold would not have gone down well while you were a young socialist at uni and a Labour party activist in your younger days and a member of CND and a member of the ANL would they?
Cassandra | 30.01.08 – 1:17 pm | #
LOL is the idea of a centre-right Beeboid too much of a dichotomy for you?
It’s official: BBC has OFFICIALLY gone Islamic, as unconsulted UK licence-payers finance the OFFICIALLY newly- named AL BEEB to set up a new ARABIC TV channel; but all the new AL BEEB’s Muslim converts and ‘multiculturalists’ haven’t quite got the hang of the Muslims full demands to be made of the licence-payers.
George R | 30.01.08 – 10:22 am | #
George, can you tell me exactly how the licence fee is funding this? Cheers
Sarah Jane:
I wasn’t referring to the posting you alerted me to Sarah Jane. If I had of been I would have quoted the poster’s name in my comments. So please don’t fall from your high horse in your desperation to pontificate to me, as you might do yourself a mischief.
The BBC have built special ‘male’ only prayer rooms – that was my point. As you are a woman – or at least I suspect you could be – you should be able to indentify directly with such sexual discrimination that goes completely against the agenda of most of the rightsist obsessed ‘wimmin’ working at Al Beeb. Yourself probably included.
The BBC reports that ‘EU leaders’ at Downing St. meeting:
‘have called on financial institutions to improve transparency in all their activities’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7215873.stm
However, in the EU’s opaque world, its Central Bank (ECB) is financially assisting Spain’s banks on a scale similar to that provided by the Bank of England to Northern Rock:
“Spanish banks are issuing mortgage securities and asset-backed bonds on a massive scale to park at European Central Bank, using them as collateral to raise money at favourable rates from the official credit window in Frankfurt..
“It may equal the taxpayer rescue of Northern Rock, and possibly exceed it in proportion to the overall size of Spain’s economy.”
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/01/sins-of-euro.html
There is no transparency with the EU. The UK taxpayers are in the dark, and have possibly lost billions of pounds, unlike Spain. (The fact that the BBC receives £114m. in loans from EU will not detract from its reporting on all this, will it?)
More BBC bias. Simon Mayo and his PMQ’s. for some strange reason his “only” studio guest during & after PMQ’s was journalist Sean O’Grady, who seemed to rubbish everything that Cameron said, yet gave support to Broon and Clegg (Ok Grady was a lackie to Paddy Pantsdown a few years ago)
Anyone who saw PMQ’s could see Mr Bean was hopeless, yet along with Mayo (Nu Labour) John Pinhead (Nu Labour) and Grady (a leftie journalist) there was no one to put an opposing view.
Nice fair and balanced. NOT.
What is a multi-faith prayer room anyway and do they work in practice? This sounds like yet another crackpot lefty idea that looks good on paper but creates trouble in practice.
What if pagans wanted to use the same room as those of monotheists?
Some Muslims are likely to take offence at the presence of a crucifix or ‘symbols’ or statues, seeing them as craven images?
Unlike the Unicorn, unreasonable elements of Islam do exist and would probably try to have them removed, in doing so creating further tensions and divisions. Or is this the plan?
… they’ll ultimately become mosques!
Dear Sarah Jane,
My head has just fallen off as I write this!
My 3 brain cells just could not handle the thought of a Tory at the BBC socialist collective.
Do your ‘comrades’ write rude things about you on the Loo wall? Perhaps you should apply for a bit of ‘compo’ for hurt feelings Etc(its quite popular nowadays I hear.
The BBC have plenty of yuman rites briefs on staff, maybe they can sort you out.
People’s Front of Judea
Yes, it pisses me off, regardless of gender. But as in any other bigcorp I have worked in, or for, the Diversity police would mark your card for saying that.
A bit less PC would be a good thing, IMO.
Cassandra – it really is not a problem. Occasionally you come across the odd Trot in a darkened corner of Bush House or a regional BH somewhere but they stick out like a sore thumb and are few and far between. Usually they are too busy playing the system to have any influence on output. Otherwise people are polite and professional and mind their own business. Until they get far enough up the slippery pole that only the most rampant egos survive.
I prefer ‘clasically liberal’ to Tory though these days.
What I will say is that what you believe to be ‘true’ and ‘best’, and what is impartial, non-judgemental reporting are very different things. Or so I have come to realise.
This is often what is at the heart of blogs such as this.
(I could be wrong about this of course :))
Ben 1.33pm
Can you tell me why the new AL BEEB Arabic TV station needs a prayer room for Muslims? Surely any sensible Western broadcasting corporation would be much wiser to staff any such station with non-Muslims and apostates as part of a sound anti-Jihadist mission statement?
Dear Sarah J’
Thanks for the nice reply and Im glad that you dont suffer for your beliefs.
On the other hand, my 3 brain cells have stopped fighting and started working again and they tell me that the BBC political scale opperates in a different way to mine ie centre right in my book means Tory, centre right in Beeboid land means political ideals in the region of Lennin/Trotsky/clegg/Hughes Etc and that would put the Tories on the extreme right of the Beeboid political scale near Satan/Hitler/Bush/Thatcher/Fawkes?
Maybe I am mistaken in my beliefs(its a good job that the EU will be opening some very nice Loony bins for the likes of me in the near future!)
Ah, ‘classically liberal’. That must be why all those BBC staff on facebook decided to class themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘very liberal’ rather than ‘conservative’ or ‘moderate’. It’s obviously just the fevered paranoia of the posters here that’s responsible for the belief that most in the Beeb are left-leaning. Just don’t tell Andrew Marr since he’s labouring under the same misapprehension.
Well Hugh they are quite young often and my reading of it is that they think ‘very liberal’ = gay and ‘liberal’ = some of my friends are gay and I dont mind.
Part-joking aside, regardless of their ability to put their political beliefs aside, it bothers me that a minority did not think that publishing information of that nature where it could be accessed would not do the Beeb some damage. That’s just dumb. Especially when they were nicely asked to keep that kind of stuff to themselves by one of the Senior Managers they actually listen to.
Cassandra, it could be possible that I have assimilated to that degree, but for me centre-right = Cameron, Boris, etc
Dear Sarah J,
Please accept my appologies for the Lefty jibes, I hope you werent too offended by them!
The best of luck to you my friend and if you see that ‘trot’ in the dark corner, give him a kick from me please!
BBC explains how they give the soft interview to Gordon/NuLab……
Side-stepping the question
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2008/01/sidestepping_the_question.html
“The interview [with Gordon Brown] became a traditional Two Ronnies sketch in a modern setting: prime minister answers his own question, again and again, with no comedic results whatsoever. But maddening though it is for Jon and the production team – hours of finely-honed questions battered into submission by the weighty manual – can you actually blame Gordon Brown for playing the straight man? In short, no.”
Straight man? Is that what lying is called these days?
But the BBC are right, how could any blame rest on our great leader’s shoulders? Bad BBC for asking him questions! Of course he shouldn’t have to answer them, if he doesn’t want to. Diddums.
The BBC. Not nasty to our lovely, hansome Gordo. It’s what we do.