A Biased BBC reader has sent me this link to a petition to “Scrap the BBC”.
Scrap the BBC
Responsible department: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
“The BBC started life as a TV broadcaster at a time when televisions were created back in the 1940’s and has done great shows like Morcambe and Wise, Panorama and the Generation Game etc. But lately it has been overcharging us the license fee per annum, shows and broadcasts have become lame, the admittance of their left-wing bias and is broadcasting to other countries without them paying the license fee. The BBC has now overgrown and has been out of touch with society and with new TV channels coming in, we should look to scrap the BBC and save the license fee payer money to supplement new ways of broadcasting.”
Can you consider offering your support and let’s see what we can do to help!
I would add :-
” Despite the Conservative party receiving at least the same number of votes as Labour in General and Local Elections over the years, the BBC while claiming to be representative of the general public, persists in its anti Conservative stance and employs mainly Labour supporting staff rather than a balance reflecting the voting paterns of the country.”
Count me in.
Much as I’d love to sign this petition, it is not nearly coherent enough. I don’t see how “save the license fee payer money to supplement new ways of broadcasting” makes sense; Idiomatic words like “lame” and the mis-spelling of “Morcombe” as “Morcambe” and citing “The Generation Game” as an epitome of programming will, I feel, prevent the petition from being taken seriously. I would have thought one of the regulars on B-BBC could have constructed a more rigorous argument.
Totally agree.
Delighted to sign up to any such petition but this one will be laughed at, and rightly so.
I wont be signing this or any petition calling for the scrapping of the BBC. It’s a Great British Insitution, albeit one that deperately needs to be shorn of its left wing bias.
There’s about as much chance of shearing ‘left wing bias’ from BBC-NUJ as there is of shearing jihad and sharia from Islam.
The wording is certainly unfortunate; it would have been more tactful not to simply call for the ‘Scrapping’ of the BBC. Rather make it clear that remedying the bias, whatever the means, is what is necessary.
We simply need a level playing field in British broadcasting. Let them all compete.
I used to think the same as you Hippie. I also look back fondly to the BBC of my youth where they generally made desperate attempts to appear impartial. That started slipping in the seventies with the Dimblebys and became blatant bias from Margaret Thatcher’s election, and has got to a point where they don’t even try to hide it now.
Unfortunately; to shear off its left-wing bias would involve massive regulation and censorship. It would be almost impossible to even know how to regulate it and who would do the regulation to satisfy all sides. The regulation would need to be so heavy that it would drastically affect and reduce the quality of all programmes.
This would still not be the BBC as it should be and as we remember it. If something had been done at the start in the seventies or even in the early eighties, then I feel it could have been rescued. But it has gone on for far too long and is so deeply ingrained in all aspects of BBC production that the only remedy is to put it out of its misery altogether, and let those of us old enough to remember it when it was a quality organisation cherish those memories.
The wording is unfortunate in another way too. The BBC didn’t start life as a TV broadcaster…Well you could read it another way, as meaning that the BBC started its TV broadcasting life at a time when…
However it creates the unfortunate impression that the author doesn’t know the history of the BBC and doesn’t understand that its vice-like grip on the public psyche derives from the wireless and the mesmerising voices that emanated from it in homes throughout the nation in times good and bad.
I agree with the sentiment, but alas “people power” does not work in Britain.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564311/EU-referendum-petition-passes-100000-mark.html
Political parties have no fear from law abiding citizens signing a petition, they know that even “cast iron” promises can be ignored as only certain portions of the population would revert to violence.
There is nothing anyone can do to get the BBC shut down. We have a partial conservative government who are constently attacked by the BBC but it makes no difference. It matters not who governs us, as they are all come from the same circle of career politicians.
The people have spoken, but no one is listening!
The BBC, once regarded as one of the bastions of fairness and impartiality, were seen by people the world over as representing the best of Britain. Once the makers of fine radio and television programmes that were exported the world over, but unfortunately that time is long past.
Now it has been taken over by an self-styled elite group of people whose collective mindset is in an extremely narrow left-wing gutter. While admitting their party political, and many other, prejudices they seem to feel that they can remain untouched by the charter’s impartiality requirement.
This minority opinion (shared by apparently all BBC employees) is unavoidably narrow because most of their job vacancies are advertised in the Guardian newspaper, which reports from a very narrow extreme left-wing position. The Guardian suffers from increasingly falling sales figures which show that they represent very few British people.
As the BBC no longer represents more than a tiny clique of like-minded people, the licence fee has become an anachronism and needs to be scrapped immediately, particularly as the BBC broadcasts outside the United Kingdom where no licence fee can be charged.
Considering the wealth of other, self-financing, television channels today it would make more sense for the BBC to be scrapped immediately unless it was able to self-finance from people who share its prejudices. Therefore we call on the government to end BBC operations totally within 12 months.
‘…taken over by an self-styled elite group of people whose collective mindset is in an extremely narrow left-wing gutter.’ Applies also to New Labour, & it’s no coincidence. That ‘long march through the institutions’, once more, the busy little hijackers. The beeboids & New Labourites are joined at the hip.
Couldn’t find any reference to this on the dcms website http://www.culture.gov.uk/ or in google, but found this petition. No ‘Morcamb’ here.
From: http://www.petitiononline.com/time2go/petition.html
To: British Broadcasting Corporation
We, the undersigned demand the immediate cancellation of the television licence fee.
We believe this is an indiscriminate tax that makes no allowance for personal choice and indeed pays for no meaningful public service.
It is our view that the BBC should be funded by voluntary subscription or sponsorship, and that those who choose not to support the corporation, its aims, values and output, should be free to do so.
The world has moved on since the days when the BBC was central to British life. It is high time that legislation was introduced to catch up with this fact. Any modern government that fails to acknowledge this fact is quite simply defying the will of the people.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Don’t know how long it has been running, but it now has 1262 signatures.
It was created by Garbled Communication and written by Paul Monk.
Well even though I agree the wording could have been better I have still stuck me moniker down if only to wind up the pros who breeze in now and then to open their mouths and prove they are idiots!
“The BBC…has done great shows like the Generation Game.”
Do I really need to comment? 😀
(He forgot to mention Pets Win Prizes – a giant among game-shows.)
Nothing wrong with Morecambe and Wise though, especially Morecambe. 🙂
Craig, Morecambe
(though not necessarily wise).
Craig,
” Bring me sunshine ” !
They’re not going to sell many ice creams going at that speed.
Doesn’t the imposition of the TV tax constitute a breach of our human rights ?
They managed to get rid of the TV tax in New Zealand.
http://www.tvlicensing.biz/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=506
JHT,
Thanks for that link and well done to the Kiwis. However, I suspect NZ is a much more democratic country than the UK ( wouldn’t be difficult ) with higher quality politicians who are responsive to the people.
For some weird reason , even the useless Tories seem wedded to the BBC.
I wish “people power ” could work here.
Interesting that the people in NZ took a class action against their government. I don’t know if that is possible here, but given the politicisation of the courts here under Labour, I doubt it would succeed.
But, if someone wants to try, I am happy to join in !
What is the point in pretending that the BBC is nothing other than a left wing, quisling, whose only aim is the destruction of the society that feeds it.
The ultimate aim is the total integration into the EU, where the BBC will be the Ministry of Truth for the whole of Socialist Europe.
Instead of nibbling at the edges, it is vital that the true intentions of this unhealthy canker is bought to heel and dismantled.
Anything less, spells ruin for this once Great Country.
To be announced Thursday:
“BBC plan to quit west London and cut more jobs”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/05/bbc-quit-west-london-jobs?CMP=twt_fd
(This is just an exaggerated maximum opening bid by Thompson for PR effect.)
What will Thompson and his cronies give financial priority to?
1.) their salaries and pensions;
2.) building up a BBC-NUJ imperialist global empire (to be financed by licenced payers, of course) to replace World Service, etc; with all the global expense opportunities to the favoured Beeboids;
3.) expensive, duplicated, triplicated, sky-high expenses, for thousands of staff for wall-to-wall coverage of Olympic Games.
4.) more groups of hundreds of Beeboids at a time to go on invented ‘Arab Spring’/Arab Winter breaks; mass Beeboid Obamessiah worship trips to America near election-time; plus mass jaunts to Wimbledon and to Edinburgh and Glastonbury festivals.
5.) Thompson will still renege on closing down BBC-NUJ apartheid ‘Asian Network’; and no doubt many local radio stations will continue to revert to the apartheid of Asian languages in the evenings, as a way of Thompson not fulfilling role of BBC to develop a BRITISH cultural identity, using the English language.
Re- 3.) above:
“BBC’s £3 million return fare for covering 2012 London Games” (2009)
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23741822-bbcs-pound-3-million-return-fare-for-covering-2012-london-games.do
Also re- 3.) above:
“BBC’s hotels for Olympic staff who live just eight miles from the stadium”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038731/London-2012-Olympics-2011-BBCs-hotels-staff-live-just-8-miles-stadium.html#ixzz1ZxAVoIye
Also re- 5.) above:
How Director General THOMPSON has reneged on his promise to close down ‘Asian Network’:
“Bloodbath at BBC: Thompson wields the axe to fund £600m drive to quality programmes ”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254793/BBC-close-6-Music-Asian-Network-slash-online-budget-25.html#ixzz1ZxBXsFA6
“More repeats, fewer chat shows and 2,000 jobs axed: BBC unveils slimming-down plan to save £670m”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045944/BBC-unveils-plan-save-670m-More-repeats-fewer-chat-shows-2-000-jobs-axed.html#ixzz1a0FgIb5S
I’m not a long term or regular reader here, though I do enjoy my time reading all the contributors articles. But would it not be more effective if B-BBC were to put together a more coherent and intelligent petition together. Perhaps this has already been done in the past, but, it does beg the question anyway.
Keep up the excellent work David and the team.
I would have less of a problem with the bBC if it lived up to its charter obligations on balance. A good start would be made if all jobs were henceforth advertised only in the Daily Mail and Jewish Chronicle, for the next twenty years. That might begin to rebalance that seesaw permanently weighed down on the left.
Every time Jeremy Hardy appears on a BBC comedy show he should be outnumbered four to one by right wing comedians (so he knows what it feels like). And in future, Lenny Henry should be played by a white man.
politicshomeuk politicshomeuk Ivan Lewis tells BBC that Labour will “defend the BBC”.
Really, all that needs to be shared.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/06/bbc-bbc-expenses?CMP=twt_gu
Big cuts to the BBC’s budget have been announced. See how they break down
A boat long since sailed, luv.
bbc5live BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Director-General Mark Thompson is live with @shelaghfogartyright now. Let us know what you think about the proposed cuts
..and we’ll sift through to get what suits, and then claim ‘we’re speaking for the nation’ using these as evidence.
politicshomeuk politicshomeuk NUJ Gen Sec Michelle Stanistreet says strikes at BBC are “inevitable”.
A_Liberty_Rebel Only at the bloated BBC could a headcount cut of 1.5% pa for 6 years be the excuse for anguished navel-gazing. Routine in the real world
BBC strikes, just like the public sector ones, will anyone notice or care?
The BBC will behave like a Looney Left rate capped council from the 80’s. It will cut the budgets for popular programmes, but will increase budgets for their usual dross. I the public complains, Thatcher will be to blame.
Radio 5 are working themselves up into a frezy over “their cuts” today. Of course the one thing we don’t hear any beeboids saying is perhaps the time has come to fund ourselves and not rely on the state.
I think most of us would agree that if you don’t like the way you get funded, then find a different model.
There are two that work very well here in the UK, the ITV/C5 one of advertising as the main source of income and the Sky/Virgin one of subscription and advertising.
Hint to the BBC, stop sponging off the poor and fund your own drug habit.
I heard that on VD R5L, she read out an email from someone who claimed that they would pay more for there TV Licence if the BBC didn’t cut jobs.
Well there is a sure way for people who feel this way to stop the job cuts. Go out and buy two, three or four TV Licences, no one is stopping you.
Radio Ulster are also weighing in with fatty Nolan trying to whip up support for al beeb
boo hoo
pass the kleenex
Of course, the LABOUR PARTY is concerned lest any BBC-NUJ-Labour ‘cuts’ should adversely affect Labour’s top propagandist.
Labour needn’t worry: Comrade Mason and NUJ chapels at BBC-NUJ-Labour will ensure that won’t happen, by threatening strikes again.
“BBC is one of Britain’s greatest assets we must ensure everything possible is done to protect the quality of programmes – Lewis” (LABOUR Party)
http://www.labour.org.uk/bbc-one-of-britains-greatest-assets,2011-10-06?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LabourPartyNews+%28The+Labour+Party+-+Latest+news%29
Radio 4 is now crying about the cuts. This is showing what a Stalanist organisation the BBC is. ITV and Sky are private companies and during hard times they may have to make savings by laying off staff. But what you won’t hear from ITV or Sky is a blanket wall to wall whinging about those savings. No one would want to listen they would lose viewers.
This shows how unproffesional the BBC is. The BBC does not behave like a premier company, but like a third rate subsidised theatre group.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/06/bbc-cuts-end-of-road?CMP=twt_fd
‘he added that most licence fee payers will still spend a great deal of time with the BBC and continue to value what it does.’
Leaving aside that ‘most’, and ‘great deal of time’, unsubstantiated ringing endorsements that they are, those who have no choice may indeed value what it does and, a la, ‘Cash in the Attic’, I peg it about £4Bpa less than current.
Hence I think a “little bit of loss of audience” may warrant a £143.50 reduction in what I don’t want, use or feel serves any purpose save dragging democracy and free speech into a very unique minority world and spitting out authoritarian propaganda guarded by censsorhip.
I notice that for goto support for the BBC they keep going to a certain newspaper. Anyone want to guess which one?
Guessing not The Mirror as, for some inexplicable reason, it’s not front and centre today.
maybe al beeb’s joined at the hip sister channel al jazeera will subsidise any shortfall?
Yes; why shouldn’t the IN BBC’s Islamic chum Emir of Qatar’s Al Jazeera pay for the Islamic propaganda on INBBC 2 provided by that TV station’s Muslim Rageh Omaar?
Certainly British licencepayers should no longer be made to pay for such Islamic propaganda.
OK, a competitive forum, but still all licence fee payers…
http://news.sky.com/home/article/16083711
Not too sympathetic on the hole, I’d have to say.
“The BBC cuts arrive far too late, but they’re at least a step in the right direction”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jonathanwynne-jones/100109507/the-bbc-cuts-arrive-far-too-late-but-theyre-at-least-a-step-in-the-right-direction/
I notice that the BBC’s whole narrative on their cuts has been that it’s unjustified and that it can harm the BBC and ‘the viewers and listeners’.
Really? is there not an argument to be made that the whole way the BBC is funded needs to change? (not even talked about by the BBC scum) or that perhaps the BBC is destroying competition in the free market.
Why also do we have beeboids interviewing BBC management, shouldn’t the BBC have gotten in say Kelvin Mackenzie to interview senior beeboids and not some arse licking beeboid?