I think you’ve really got to be careful about stereotyping Trump supporters in the same way I think in the UK, some commentators were guilty of stereotyping Brexit supporters as angry white working class racists
Mark Thompson may have fled to the US but he’s still making waves here as Guido notes:
Listen to former director-general Mark Thompson, in a Media Masters interview last week he said: “journalists as a group tend in their personal politics towards the Left.” That it would help “to have Conservatives, people who tend to think from a perspective that goes with the Right rather than the Left, across your newsroom.”
The full transcript is here.
Thompson is still panhandling for the BBC…here telling us how vital the BBC in a world where private companies cannot afford good journalism…
Do you think Tony Hall is doing a good job?
I do think he’s doing a good job, and I think Tony and his colleagues, it must be said, with the government have achieved I think a really strong royal charter. It’s going to guarantee the BBC is of real scale and scope, serving the British public for years to come, I hope with high quality programmes. The licensee settlement for the BBC is a tough one, by the way, it was it was tough in 2010 as well, and I think that all over the western world you can see governments and the commercial critics of public broadcasting tightening the purse strings and trying to limit the public broadcasters by reducing their spending. And I think that’s a bad thing. I think commercial media faces so many challenges that it’s a pity and a problem that the public’s source – not just in the UK but in many other countries – the public source of high quality, independent and free journalism is probably going to diminish over the coming years, at the very time when the commercial players are less able to pay for it.
But he then goes on to complain about C4 spending so much on Bake Off…though he ‘understands’ it…
I suppose essentially I’d need a bit of persuasion that it makes sense for Channel 4 to take a programme from the BBC and to spend what I think is going to be £25 million a year, which could be spent on new programming on an existing hit with existing talent.
He also goes on to make a plea for more public subsidy because only that will produce the creativity necessary to bring great programming to our screens….when the vast and successful range of US programmes is brought up he then dismisses that as the result of vast sums of money being spent to produce large numbers of shows out of which the winners are chosen and others go to the wall….so no shortage of money there then?
American TV is very commercial but it must be said, I mean, creativity in this country comes from an extraordinarily expensive process of making many pilots many which are… many millions of dollars go into, out of which then shows are selected.
What of James Purnell? Apparently you need to have his ‘biased’ opinion so that you get a balance of perspectives…
James Purnell? So, look… I mean, it seems to me that, as a big media organisation, you know, and I think if Dean Baquet, the editor of the Times, was next to us, I think Dean would say, “You want a broad range of perspectives in your newsroom so that you can cover the news in a way which reflects the full range of opinions.”
How exactly does a left wing ex-politician bring balance to a left wing news organisation? Interesting that he should be there to voice his political ideas and use them to influence how the news is reported….shouldn’t he just be reporting the news that happens and not from a ‘perspective’? Surely the ‘perspective’ is just opinion…which all too often pervades BBC ‘analysis’.
I’ll finish with this comment from Thompson…
I think you’ve really got to be careful about stereotyping Trump supporters in the same way I think in the UK, some commentators were guilty of stereotyping Brexit supporters as angry white working class racists.
Take note BBC.
Self serving crap.
Interesting comment on stereotyping. It’s still going on over Brexit as most voters for it categorised as being on the mental level of cro magnon. Lord Ashcroft did a survey which looked at the voters:
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2016/06/how-the-united-kingdom-voted-and-why/
Brexit voters
43% had degree
33% Asian
25% Black
30% muslim
The assumption that Brexit was all white numpties doesn’t hold water. I suspect the same is happening in the US, although its a pity Trump didn’t actually listen to Nigel who clearly DID NOT scare off a sizeable proportion of the ethnic vote.
It must surely be a first for someone who was at the top of the BBC totem pole to advise it to bring in right-wing staff. But the tone of what Thompson says is so subdued, respectful and distant that one suspects he was simply a figurehead at the BBC rather than a hands-on individual. And this is probably the case with most BBC management – staff are free to pump out their left-wing bias without hindrance, as long as they stick to that bias of course.
Trump will win by a landslide and a trump win will liberate our country.
Why is it WHITE working class ? Why not just working class ? Do Black working class think differently , or the Muslim working class , or other ethnic working class ?
If the other than White working class think differently , or vote differently , or do much else differently can the liberal/left intelligentsia explain how and why ? Is it experience , culture , genes , DNA or treatment by the Powers That Be ?
If non white working class think differently to white working class is this a Good Thing ?
Do other classes in British society think in tribal ways and if not why not ?
I’d love the luvvies to explain .
I suppose it’s divide and conquer, white working class is a large group to continue separating by sex then focus on the more vocal male ,continually separating. and dividing the largest potential threat.It’s important to always remember that the establishment don’t like us,when you know that you can make forward planning.I personally feel more of a connection to the tory right someone like ian duncan smith or jacob rhys mogg.
Label and dismiss …It’s a trick people use to move on quickly without looking at arguments which may be relevant.
e.g. UKIP, Brexit or Trump supporter = angry racists
Anyone challenging mad climate/energy madness = denier
etc.
See how it’s the same kneejerk as old racism : jew = miserly, black= stupid etc
LeftMob do this all the time, avoid the arguments
They really are the New Alf Garnetts
(BTW @Alan A few days ago I did post here on BBBC, about that Media Matters podcasts… so the story was here first before it was on Guido)
“I think commercial media faces so many challenges that it’s a pity and a problem that the public’s source – not just in the UK but in many other countries – the public source of high quality, independent and free journalism is probably going to diminish over the coming years, at the very time when the commercial players are less able to pay for it.”
What crap. So the BBC is ‘independent and free’?
Presumably also Russia Today!
And the commercial players can’t ‘pay for journalism’ these days?
Could that be connected to the BBC employing 7,000 journalists and running numerous free websites while parasiting off the daily newspapers for stories?
No that’s a monopoly in the ascendancy, destroying everything it sees by virtue of a limitless, guaranteed income.
Some thoughts on Mark Thompson’s comments:
(1) Given that all organisations and individuals have some degree of bias and given that the BBC is largely funded by a poll tax on the British people, the ONLY acceptable form of BBC bias is pro-British bias, if/when it can’t be impartial.
(2) The BBC should leave anti-British bias to Channel 4, the Guardian and others, none of whom should receive any public money. Listeners, viewers and advertisers can then decide if they want to spend money on these other sources of news, opinion and entertainment.
(3) If the BBC thinks it is a good idea to play Devil’s Advocate, then it must do so consistently. For example, if when interviewing it is sceptical about explanations given by a government minister (e.g. Jeremy Paxman’s principle of asking himself “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”) then it MUST be equally sceptical and rigorous about claims from charities, QANGOes, Trade Unions, Opposition MPs, pressure groups, etc.
(4) If the BBC wishes to continue to be funded by the license fee, it must respect the views of large minorities (e.g. 3.88 million UKIP voters in the 2015 General Election) as well as those of smaller ones (e.g. the Green Party).
(5) If the BBC wishes to promote diversity, it must promote diversity of opinions and NOT just ethnic, religious and sexual diversity. Robin Aitken recently made this point, as cited on another thread here.
(6) The BBC cannot continue to be judge and jury in its own cause. It must be overseen by a truly independent body which can force it to be more impartial.
(7) The BBC must not accept money from sources such as the EU, otherwise there will be the suspicion of influence being bought, even the amounts paid are small.
(8) The principle of proportionality should be respected where possible. For instance, the frequency of stories about transgenderism should broadly reflect the very small numbers of people involved; and the representation of ethnic minorities should never exceed their percentage of the population.
(9) The BBC must be more self-critical and ready to accept complaints about accidental or intentional bias, or poor taste. With more sources of information and entertainment available, people are increasingly aware of the BBC’s failings.