Here is a slightly deeper look at ‘38 Degrees’ mentioned in a previous post. It is the campaigning group that seems to embody every value that the BBC itself likes to promote….and is attempting to influence who gets the BBC Director General’s job when Mark Thompson goes, as well as trying to influence the outcome of the BSkyB bid.
Its campaign’s page looks as if it is the schedule for any number of Victoria Derbyshire shows….NHS, Climate Change, tax dodging, the disabled, human rights, poverty and more.
Not surprising really when you look at the CVs of its Board members…from Obama’s campaign team, Greens, charity bigwigs and assorted political activists.
It does have though some surprising ideas on the meaning of ‘independence’ and ‘diversity’ or ‘plurality’ of media ownership.
Here is one of its boasts about its influence over the BBC whilst at the same time demanding independence for the BBC…..
‘Over the next few days, the BBC Board of Trustees could be deciding who to appoint as the next Director General – one of broadcasting’s most important jobs.
38 Degrees members have said that one of the most valuable things about the BBC is its independence.
It’s vital the right person ends up in the job – and that means someone who understands that the BBC’s independence must never be compromised.
We know that 38 Degrees members can influence the BBC’s decisions. Two years ago we helped save 6Music by convincing bosses to drop their plans to close the station.’
As mentioned in the previous post this is what it thinks of media plurality….
’38 Degrees members have been defending the BBC ever since James Murdoch’s attack on it in August 2009. The reports that the government was pushing the BBC to accept “a license fee raid” triggered adiscussion about what we should do on our facebook page, and thousands of 38 Degrees members quickly contacted their MPs speaking out against these deep cuts being forced through behind closed doors.
Many members believed that this decision to raid the BBC was influenced by Rupert Murdoch.
We will also need to keep up the pressure on Vince Cable to call a review of Rupert Murdoch’s plans to seize full control of BSkyB.
Rupert Murdoch has his sights set on gaining complete control of BSkyB* and increasing his stranglehold on a free and independent media in the UK. He currently owns 40% of the company but wants to increase his stake to 100%.
This would be a disaster. It would give Murdoch even more political influence and it could open the door to biased, right-wing news like Fox News in the US.
A free and diverse media is a huge part of what makes democracy work.’
Clearly their idea of a healthy and diverse media environment does not actually include those sources of information or entertainment that do not meet their own critical or ethical standards…because of course they have the uncanny ability, being endowed with a superior intelligence and moral sense, to divine what is ‘fit and proper’ media for the Public to consume.
The, what you can safely call a pressure group, 38 Degrees organisation, has a membership of 750,000 lost souls apparently…..
‘There are currently over 750,000 38 Degrees members working for change throughout the UK, and we’re still growing fast.
It’s 38 Degrees members that provide the leadership of the organisation, by suggesting campaigns, taking the team to task, and, most importantly, taking action in their thousands. It’s thanks to them that we’ve become a such a powerful progressive voice in the UK.’
I don’t know about you but I find that somewhat disturbing…..the group boasts of having great influence and that would seem open to abuse, manipulation and corruption if somebody were so inclined.
The BBC is always on the look out for ‘right leaning’ pressure groups whilst more often than not failing to similarly identify ‘left leaning’ ones.
At a time when there is a huge hue and cry about the ‘undue’ influence of Murdoch isn’t it odd that groups like 38 Degrees slip under the radar whilst having the potential to be as destabilising and corrupting of Democracy as any Newspaper Baron?
Sinister stuff. Not surprised to see ‘climate change’ on there when you see the remit the UN-based IPCC has given itself (have a look at the various chapters of its report sometime) – it reflects every socialist dogma in the handbook. If they weald the influence on the BBC they claim, and are as political as their website makes them out to be, aren’t they a political party in all but name and therefore compromising the so-called impartiality of the BBC?
Yeah, they cannot even see the irony of their own position.
There’s a page on their site where people can add replies from their MPs in response to letters asking them to “Stand Up To Murdoch”
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/content/stand-up-to-murdoch/
No word from Tom Watson yet. Some people, however, don’t understand the concept of ‘free and diverse’ let alone irony…
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David Anderson -Labour, Blaydon
I would gladly see Rupert Murdoch’s empire totally dismantled, let alone extended. But, forgetting him, this is out of order, No one organisation should have this extent of control of our media. I will write to Cable along the lines you suggest and send you ant response asap
Dave Anderson, MP for Blaydon
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There are a large number of stock replies from Conservative MPs, but one was bold enough to state his personal opinion…
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Mike Freer – Conservative, Finchley and Golders Green
I understand your analysis but don’t share the conclusion. At the last election we saw all but two newspapers endorse the Conservative (The Guardian endorsed the LibDems and the Mirror remained loyal to Labour). However on polling day despite continued support from The Sun, The Times etc, the Conservatives failed to secure an outright majority, so I have great faith in the public in seeing through media manipulation.
However I will pass on your objections to the Secretary of State.
Mike Freer MP
Conservative Member of Parliament for Finchley & Golders Green
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David Anderson -Labour, Blaydon
I would gladly see Rupert Murdoch’s empire totally dismantled, let alone extended. But, forgetting him, this is out of order, No one organisation should have this extent of control of our media. I will write to Cable along the lines you suggest and send you ant response asap
Dave Anderson, MP for Blaydon……presumably he would be one of the MPs who wanted Hunt executed for holding an opinion before being asked to judge the Sky purchase.
Hypocracy – it’s what defines the left.
When this “thirty eight degrees” sham was first revealed, it was under the names of Paul Babbs and Nick Lowles……And of course we’re all painfully aware of just how “independent” Comrade Nick Lowles and his Hope Not Hate/Searchlight organisation is, don’t we now…
Very interesting. I had an ongoing spat with the BBC over their use of serial liar and Communist thug, Nick Lowles, on Newsnight. They didn’t make the viewer aware of his extremist agenda, didn’t question any of his lies, and didn’t even introduce this Communist as ‘far-left’ where as they automatically refer to any white working-class male as ‘far right’.
BBC complaints and Newsnight side-stepped all of my questions, as usual, and this was why I decided to stop paying for my TV licence.
No MH you’ve got it wrong….It’s not the ‘far left’ anymore. The BBC now descibe such people as of the ‘radical left’. Radical left sounds much better; less extreme and to borrow from the above, they all possess ‘superior intelligence and moral sense.’…or to quote Polly, they are more intelligent and nicer people (isn’t that right Mr Stalin?)
I think you mean ‘Uncle Joe’, comrade.
http://tinyurl.com/6ryyskb
http://tinyurl.com/7p4ce7p
The Leveson enquiry recommendations.
(1) Anyone found buying a Murdock paper to be penalised with a £365 fine.
(2) The Guardian Newspaper to be supported by a licence fee of £365.
(3) The truth will be banned if it is Politically incorrect or nasty, therefore right-wing.
(4) Lies are recommended if they are Politically correct white lies, and therefore not right-wing and not biased.
(5) The free market for media to be replaced by a licence fee for none biased media.
(6) The consensus is that we all agree on the above recommendations.
(7) Anyone who disagrees with the above is the enemy of the media.
Signed: Lord Leveson
Leveson seems to be imploding if the stories (and at present these are what they are, if gaining traction via online media less uncurious than the MSM) are to be believed). Meanwhile..
‘ a membership of 750,000 lost souls apparently’
I fear I may be one, if counted in for rather less accurate reasons. I certainly subscribe to their emails, as I like to stay abreast of all views.
Frankly few are worth a read as their naked agenda is simply laughable.
However listening to what they say does not mean endorsing it. Equally the BBC…. if that is how they interpret the situation to get to the ‘speaking for… well… to… well at.. the nation’ claim.
Maybe if this is being used to bolster their perception of representation I should cancel my subscription (to 38 degrees, I mean. I cannot with the BBC).
Yes there was an instance some years ago when CND (remember them!) lost 10,000 ‘members’ over night when a Poly Students’ Union removed its association with them. Apparently every student at the Poly was a ‘member’ whether they knew it or not.
I wonder how many of the 750k ‘members’ of this shower are aware they are ‘members’?
BBC 5live radio 3.14 am to 3.20 am , Dr Karl admits that he goes to Wiki.
Science
I dont have the knowledge to investigate
Dr Karl is about the only hour of BBC output I can put up with nowadays.
All though he didn`t know what the transmitting power of Voyager I was – (23watts ERP), which when you consider that is half the transmitting power of my early `80`s CB, it`s pretty remarkable that NASA can still communicate with it. Infact, he came close to praising NASA (and the USA) for their fabulous technical work, seeing as it was launched 30 odd years ago, and is still working 9 billion miles on.
And he will quite often answer sensible questions without that “BBC sneer” you get from the usual presenters.
Whenever I get a 38 degrees email linking to their “contact [whoever] and send them this pre-written info” page on their website, I always send it to the person, after re-writing it to say the opposite of what 38 degrees are campaigning about. Why? Because 38 Degrees are almost certainly wrong about whatever it is they are campaigning about.
They do not want an independent and free media, If they did, they would be attacking the overwhelming power of a statist broadcaster.
38 Degrees represents less than a million people. That is less votes than the BNP got at the last European Elections.
So they are hardly representative of mass support.
(4) Lies are recommended if they are Politically correct white lies, and therefore not right-wing and not biased.
Reassuring news for lefties. 38 Degrees will be in compliance with Leveson’s new rules.
Good find! I remember that one. The letter is well worth a read, and It’s good to see that some MPs are awake and of sound mind.
If part of 38 degrees’ campaigning is to encourage their members to constantly spam their MPs, it’s no wonder that there are so many stock replies from Conservatives in relation to the ‘Stand Up To Murdoch’ nonsense.
More evidence that Richard Black is fatally compromised:
http://blackswhitewash.com/2012/06/21/richard-black-so-what-is-he-actually-doing-in-rio/
Oh dear. That does not look good. Not good at all. And all backed up.
No wonder the author has yet to get a reply from BBC CECUTT. A bit hard to ‘feel comfortable’ in the face of such evidence, so I guess they are seeking long grass options… ‘Sorry for the delay in replying, but BBC rules require we only do so when Halley’s Comet returns’, or… ‘This will be looked at further, but what with stuff and hols, etc, the next meeting will with luck only get convened when you have forgotten alllll about it.’
The failure of the BBC to comply with its Charter obligations, together with its blatant refusal to seriously consider and investigate complaints (there was an outrageous example on here yesterday concerning Norman Smith’sconduct) makes me think that it’s time for a Judicial Review of the BBC’s activities.
This must be what the Mensa legal people at Cambridge meant when they told Mensa Science members at Oxford that something was up and that Colin Tregear is the weak link in the BBCs Climate Change story. Either Colin Tregear will go or Richard Black, otherwise the BBC is going to get a nasty surprise. A year ago the people at Cambridge said it was something to do with a Parliamentary Committee rather than a Judicial Review.
“[I]t could open the door to biased, right-wing news like Fox News in the US.
“A free and diverse media is a huge part of what makes democracy work.’”
Is it just me or do I seeing a glaring contradiction in these two statements?
Surely a truly ‘free and diverse media’ would allow for a UK equivalent of Fox News to come onto the market?
Similarly, a ‘free and diverse media’ could also include Socialist Worker TV, UKIP TV and the Greenpeace Channel to set up shop, too.
No, I fear that 38 Degrees’ definition of ‘free and diverse’ does not accord with my definition of ‘free and diverse’. I suspect what they really means is ‘free and diverse within strictly-prescribed and politically-acceptable parameters, as designated by us’.
The BBC often says that they must be unbiased because they get complaints from both the right and the left.
But if instead of looking at those that complain – you look at those that never complain. Those in fact that uncritically support the BBC and the licence fee – the bias is all too apparant.
For the BBC’s fan base that never complains are all leftwing liberals. You only have to look at 38 degrees web site to confirm this.
The very existence of 38 degrees web site, that combines a leftwing agenda with unconditional support of the BBC, confirms the BBC’s leftwing bias. Particularly when no comparable right wing site is known to exist .