announces Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (aka ‘The Yazzmonster’): “It is personal guys. Several BBC broadcasters tell me they are not interested in ‘Guardian and Independent’ points of view. We are passé, irrelevant, annoying, elitist, too middle class and soft. Fashion moves on, the culture is now noisy and intolerant and the Beeb follows, is too feeble to stand up to ugly populism. Many of us have-beens are no longer invited on to … Continue reading →

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. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

I don’t approve of taxpayers having to fund big sporting events but I am glad that Glasgow has won the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Better that our money be spent on infrastructure than most other state boondoggles. And one of those beneficiaries of the state is the BBC. Isn’t it astounding that the Beeb managed to screw up Glasgow’s big moment? BBC Scotland last night apologised after missing the moment of … Continue reading →

According to the Daily Mail, Blue Peter admit ‘competition winners’ were child actors: In the latest deception, children were asked to apply to the Blue Peter website for an opportunity to go to the show’s studios and interview Dead Ringers impersonator John Culshaw. Six children were chosen, but after the show it emerged two had been picked from a local drama group to liven up the slot. Each child was … Continue reading →

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. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

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. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

In the US, at least, the media swings left as well, according to a new academic survey on coverage of the current presidential contest. Investor’s Business Daily reports that: a joint survey by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy — hardly a bastion of conservative orthodoxy — found that in covering the current presidential race, the media are … Continue reading →

, the BBC’s compulsory tellytax on every television owning household in the UK – sometimes to mock all the wonderful things that are possible because of, as the BBC boasts, “the unique way the BBC is funded”, at others to note, for instance, the unique way the BBC’s tellytax is collected by BBC bootboys. This often leads to interesting discussions about both the theory and the practice of the BBC’s … Continue reading →

, “a joint initiative from LSE and the London College of Communication aimed at working journalists, people in public life and students in the UK and around the world”, invites everyone to a public debate tomorrow evening: The Future of Impartiality: Is the Public Service Ethos Doomed? Thursday November 8th, 2007, 6.30-8pm New Theatre, East Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE The speakers will be Emily Bell … Continue reading →