Well then, one can argue as to whether Kim Kardashian’s posterior “broke the internet” but last week saw our server “break” and cause a lot of hassle. My thanks to Rob and Geoff for fixing things but as you can see some posts vanished along with the comment threads which is VERY annoying. Anyway, let’s hope for a pain free week. And whilst I am at it, I had asked you all if anyone fancied putting up some posts here to ease the strain on Rob and myself. If you would like to talk about this then please email me. The floor is yours….
Guardian boss: BBC distorting news market in Australia, Google must face ‘editorial responsibilities’
Guardian Media Group chief executive Andrew Miller has attacked the BBC for following his company by expanding into Australia.
The Guardian launched an Australia-facing website eighteen months ago funded with a loan from businessman Graeme Wood. Mail Online launched in Australia earlier this year.
Earlier this month the BBC’s commercial wing, BBC World, said it was launching a dedicated Australian news service on BBC.com in response to the new launches.
Miller said: “The BBC claims this expansion is because it believes giving Australians what they value is a core part of its mission. I would respectfully disagree.
“The Guardian is one of a relatively small number of commercial British news organisations that is building on its existing base of Australian readers.
“We are investing significant resources in high-quality journalism that connects the views of Australians to global debates on a wide range of important issues from climate change to immigration.
“Contrary to the BBC’s assertions, this is a space that, both editorially and commercially, the Guardian very much shares with the BBC’s commercial activities.
“Australia is already a diverse and highly-competitive market. As such, the BBC’s expansion into Australia goes beyond its public service remit. More than that, it does not benefit UK licence fee payers or meet the requirement of the BBC to provide news in parts of the world where there are limited alternatives.
“It threatens a distortion that is not in the interests of audiences or other UK news providers.”
The BBC says:
“The BBC’s commercial operations overseas are not funded by the licence fee and we are happy to compete on an equal footing with all other news providers.
But that’s not really true as much of the material broadcast, if not all, comes from the BBC, such as Top Gear and CeeBeebies, and BBC World benefits massively from the authority, credibility and reputation of the BBC as a whole….and it ‘looks to grow the BBC brand.’
BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). BBC Worldwide exists to support the BBC public service mission and to maximise profits on its behalf.
And ironically, and pobably impossibly, committed by the Charter to:
Comply with the BBC’s Fair Trading Guidelines and avoid distorting the market.