, by Graeme Wilson, the House of Lords BBC Charter Review committee has criticised Tessa Jowell for refusing to give Parliament more say over the BBC’s tellytax and the “democratic deficit” surrounding decisions on the tellytax and the long-term direction of the corporation. Jowell has rejected recommendations from two separate reports over the last eight months: Lord Fowler, the committee’s chairman, said: “Parliament should have a much greater role in … Continue reading →

a fisking and a digging following the return of Jonathan Charles on the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent – a taster: I emailed Dr Solis to ask if Jonathan Charles had represented his views accurately. Here’s his response in full: I do not recall saying anything like, “all they’re thinking about is getting home alive,” although I did say that which precedes that phrase. I don’t believe I would have … Continue reading →

– Thais complain as BBC ‘reopens tsunami wounds’ by Jan McGirk: The BBC says its forthcoming mini-series, Aftermath, is a “thought-provoking drama of loss, survival and hope”. But for many Thais who lost their families in the 2004 tsunami, the film-makers are reopening wounds. Further outrage has greeted the decision to hire Thais to play corpses at a cut-rate pay of £6 a day for the series, to be broadcast … Continue reading →

Please use this thread for off-topic, but preferably BBC related, comments. Please keep comments on other threads to the topic at hand. N.B. this is not an invitation for general off-topic comments – our aim is to maintain order and clarity on the topic-specific threads. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts. Click through to read and … Continue reading →

magazine we learn that: Number crunching: 200 – Number of staff the BBC is sending to Germany to cover the world cup; 20 – Number of senior BBC executives who also find it necessary to go. Nice work if you can get it! Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

was limited to gems such as Fawlty Towers and Are You being Served?”–so Gerard Baker concludes. As a Yank, I must agree. To much fanfare, and a fair amount of predictable gushing from its liberal admirers in the US, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the state-owned bureaucracy that bestrides the UK cultural and political landscape like a colossus, launched a 24 hour news channel in America last week. Billboards in Manhattan … Continue reading →

(too lazy to pick up the phone to Kenneth Clarke, that is), BBC Views Online’s weekly Magazine Monitor: Ten Things column lapped up and repeated the story that: 5. The croquet set John Prescott so memorably used at Dorneywood was presented to the grace-and-favour house by previous resident Kenneth Clarke. Except of course he didn’t, as anyone who saw Kenneth Clarke being interviewed on Sky News in the middle of … Continue reading →

BBC Views Online presents In pictures: Remembering Khomeini: On the 17th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomenei, Iranian photographer Mohsen Shandiz (centre) presents his memories of the return of the spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution to Iran in 1979. Coming soon to BBC Views Online’s In Pctures series: Remembering Hitler, Remembering Stalin, Remembering Pol Pot, Remembering Saddam, ad nauseam. For an alternative selection of Khomeini pictures, many snapshots, … Continue reading →

that took place in this troubled world on Friday night/ Saturday morning concerned crimes and alleged crimes by US soldiers in Iraq, according to Ceefax. For those unfamiliar with Ceefax, the BBC’s teletext system displays about twenty-five pages of news stories each day, starting with the news summary on page 101. Pages 125 has four sub pages on the alleged massacre at Ishaqi. When you get to the fourth page, … Continue reading →

Please use this thread, and this thread alone, for off-topic comments, preferably BBC related. Please keep comments on other threads on the topic of that particular post. N.B. this is not an invitation for off-topic comments – the idea is to maintain order and clarity. Thank you. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog. Please scroll down to find new topic-specific posts. Click through to … Continue reading →