It’s Wednesday and it’s also Budget Day!  I see that the comrades at the BBC have sent Evan Davies up to Newcastle to gain insight into opinion on the state of the economy. Ah, that impartiality – I’m just surprised it wasn’t Liverpool airport! Anyway, a new Open Thread for you!

“Strong public broadcasting spurs a ‘race to the top’ between public and commercial media, raising overall standards across the industry. This contributes towards the sector’s economic success, cultural vibrancy and audience satisfaction.”     This post is based upon a speech given by Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, at the Voice of the Listener & Viewer Conference on Wednesday 27 November 2013. From this speech come a few interesting points…the first … Continue reading →

  The BBC are hustling this story on every news bulletin and, Newsnight like, whipping it up into a candy floss confection of spin, smear and half truths….note trigger words and phrases embedded to suggest a very clear line of thought…‘guilty secrets‘ being destroyed: Met Police corruption probe papers shredded ‘over two days’ New details about the mass shredding of documents relating to a corruption inquiry in the Metropolitan Police … Continue reading →

    From WUWT: It turns out that it is the Potheads and not the Petrolheads who are destroying the planet with vast clouds of CO2, guzzling water vast resources and using huge quantities of electricity…… During California’s growing season, outdoor grows consumed roughly 60 million gallons of water a day – 50% more than is used by all residents of San Francisco. In California, indoor pot growing accounts for … Continue reading →

  Something else to thank the BBC for……. Press reform: Tighter regulation planned for Britain ‘poses worldwide threat’ The global organisation for newspaper publishers has questioned Britain’s reputation as a beacon of free media in a stinging rebuke to the Government over its plans to reform the press.   The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) said that British plans to introduce tighter regulation of the press through … Continue reading →

  Which British city is known as the ‘TB capital of Western Europe’? Resurgence of disease poses grave threat worldwide London, with 681 cases of MDR-TB recorded in 2012, and nearly 3,500 cases of TB overall, is regarded as the “TB capital of Western Europe”. Globally, only half of MDR-TB’s victims survive. “one of the gravest public health threats facing the world today”        

  ‘Journalism in the age of mobile and social media’ gives insight into the current culture of reporting by Nic Newman, a digital strategist and founding member of the BBC News website.   Newman tells us that there is a ‘dreadful state of affairs’ in news broadcasting now that social media has burst upon the scene and normal people can shape and share their own narratives. Amusingly he also says … Continue reading →

      John Sweeney spends 8 days undercover in North Korea. BBC News head of programmes Ceri Thomas said: “This is an important piece of public interest journalism.” Asked whether that justified putting student lives at risk, he replied: “We think it does.”   This is John Sweeney trying to defend his actions (and failing): North Korea is….‘A state that is more like Hitler’s Germany than any other state … Continue reading →

    All the usual suspects are coming out of the woodwork….     The BBC has certainly turned rightward since Mason left…..because he left.   Glenn Greenwald…flogging state secrets to a newspaper.  State secrets stolen by Snowden who was probably a Russian agent and is now safely back in the USSR. Nice work Glenn.       Yes Mehdi, you did write the same in 2009…hope you got some … Continue reading →

    We must understand the BBC as a pre-eminent state propagandist and censor by omission, says John Pilger.     Yet another comedian gets into politics (thanks to nofanofpoliticians for pointing this out) The ‘Firebrand’ Owen Jones says the BBC is biased to the right…no really….though I’m pretty certain this is a leaked script from the BBC’s right of centre ‘Now’ show…. It’s the BBC’s rightwing bias that is … Continue reading →