Whilst the BBC is impartial and independent and whatever etc. Key positions have been packed with Tory Party supporters/donors/friends.
It's no surprise they toe the government line, especially for their fellow Tories
I feel like the BBC's "aura" of impartiality makes it all the more dangerous when it does occasionally engage in propaganda. A lot of regular folks put a lot of trust in the BBC.
Yup.
Similar to the "equal airtime" or "show both sides" when it comes to science.
It puts unscientific opinions alongside scientific theory as if they are equal.
The only thing I can say in favour of the BBC is that it seems like the majority of people feel it's coverage is favourable to "the other side".
So, while we may be saying "BBC is clearly biased" because of things like this, I guarantee there are people that we don't agree with saying exactly the same about other topics.
So the situation is probably not as bad as it seems.
It does seem the majority of these "scandals" are about the BBC acting in favour of the Westminster UK government. But maybe that just the ones I actually see.
I'm a little hesitant to put much stock in conservatives' claims of bias, because plain factual reporting tends to strike a lot of them as biased. Reality is biased against modern conservatism.
I don't think the BBC is the worst by any means. But a couple of years ago, they did come out with one of the most egregiously misleading articles I've ever seen with regards to transgender people. Very obviously deliberate in its misinformation and even including proven lies about contacting sources. And to this day the BBC stands by it and has dismissed complaints.
So yeah, worth being wary.
Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster, but I feel like it's time to rebrand the cause. The battle is over and the war is lost. There is no point to being anti-Brexit because the Brexit happened. You can't stop it without a tardis (or a Delorean, for my fellow Americans). Rejoining the EU will require an entirely new set of applications and negotiations. Somebody should come up with a new brand and some catchy slogans. Brexit was a brilliant piece of marketing, for example.
Like Breunion but better than that.
As an EU citizen, I'm very conflicted about the UK just rejoining the European Union.
Your administration made the weird decision to lean on a marginal difference on a referendum, and left with a whole lot of fuss and customised paperwork. Who's to say you won't do it again?
While I do like a stronger Union, the UK will likely try to get back the position they had before (with all kinds of exceptions), but the only way the UK should be allowed to rejoin (in my opinion), should be with a full commitment, not just "we're sort of joining but also not".
Didn't the EU say that if we were to rejoin, the UK would have to adopt the Euro and all the other shit that the rest of the EU got when they joined. I don't think we're really in a position to dig our feet in and demand exceptions that we threw in the EU's face when we left.
Right. If the UK tries to rejoin they're going to get no favors from the rest of the EU, as an example to other member states that you can't just play hokey pokey with a continental union. The UK will be miffed as a response. It'll potentially take decades for a deal to work out for the UK to rejoin the EU, if that's even its form at that point.
As a Brit, I fully support the idea that we should rejoin with full commitment. No way do I want a repeat performance where we can be taken out by a minority of gullible idiots.
When it was clear the referendum was going to be actioned, I never understood why the UK government didn't just try to implement a move to the EEA or similar satellite level. It would satisfy the terms of the referendum entirely. The referendum was to leave the European union. The wording was very succinct.
The UK probably would never have joined schengen (that's really of hugest benefit to mainland Europe), we never took the European parliament seriously (you can argue that we should have, but we sent fucking Farage, so. No, we never took it seriously).
But the common trading area and freedom of movement did benefit us (and the BS use of it to get votes from the right was filled with lies of course). Which (as I understand it) is the main features of being part of the EEA. It still of course means we'd need to adopt trade related laws of course (Oh my gaawwwd our sovereignty!!!!). But we already were and it didn't hurt us one bit!
But no, it had to be full brexit or nothing (for some inexplicable reason).
Yes, before people say anything. We'd need to be admitted into the EEA. I know that. But it wasn't even tried! That's the annoying thing. It was rejected straight off the bat.
This is an entirely reasonable position. The (narrow) majority of the UK voting public has the relationship inverted; they think the EU needs them far more than they need the EU.
There's no way to come to a reasonable lasting outcome in negotiations.
Much like it makes all the sense in the world for the rest of NATO not to trust the US any more.
Yeah, I'm just saying they need a new slant, a rallying cry. Rejoin just doesn't have that same catchy feel to it.
I read you're comment as you saying they should be pro-rejoin instead of anti-brexit.
Sorry could you put that on the side of a bus please?
I have a bit of a weird opinion on this. I was very anti brexit. I make multiple trips to Europe every year, probably 4-5 at least. I benefit nothing from leaving the union. My passport is filling with stamps at an alarming rate.
But, to rejoin now after it is done. To rejoin with the basic requirements of a new state rejoining? I don't think it's as great an idea of remaining when we had the perks of an early joining larger state. Certainly you'll find a lot more resistance to replacing the pound with the Euro (I actually could care less, but I'm in the minority here) than there was to leaving on the original terms.
Also, I don't think Europe should have to put up with us (as a whole, the country I mean) whiners. Our bed has been made by the stupidly defined referendum, and the subsequent disastrous implementation and now, we should just suck it up and lie in it.
The sentiment I hear around me is that you have been lied to.
We have kept the lights on, like many of you asked, and we are looking forward to welcoming a new humorous generation.
Sure, it is not going to be under the same conditions. Things have moved around when you left. Empty voids have been filled. Regardless, I'd love for us to see the propaganda of the time for what it was, propaganda and lies, and to bring the actors and platforms responsible for willingly spreading lies to their knees.
Together we stand stronger in a strong Europe, and reuniting is a sign of Europe's resilience to external influences.
I wasn't lied to. Actually, the way this stuff was spread on social media was the whole cambridge analytica thing. I never saw ANY of the ads/sponsored posts etc. I was not the demographic, I guess. What I did see was weird opinions and people that never had a problem with the EU suddenly talking about sovereignty etc starting around a month before and getting much louder a week or so before. They targeted the advertising so tightly that those that weren't close to the middle or on the side of leaving already never ever saw an advert/sponsored post or any other advertising. It was spookily well executed.
I remember initially I was certain it would be a landslide remain. Around a week before I was very concerned it wouldn't be any more, just based on the shift of public sentiment.
Our laws are currently fairly inline with EU laws. It's less work to fully align them now than in 10 years, when the Tories have fully dismantled workers/privacy/consumer/human rights.
And I have no issue with the Euro. We still get to do our own artwork on the notes/coins.
We clearly need immigration to cover the jobs people don't want to do, despite the fact that the "they took our jobs" group would whine about work they personally don't want to do being done by others.
It would simplify and clear up our trade, just-in-time logistics for all manor of things, and likely put the UK in a better position as an "English speaking HQ of Europe" for companies.
Ultimately tho, theres going to be a decade of shit to wade through before any potential benefits of Brexit actually come around.
This was a huge talking point about Scottish Independence ("yeh, but you'd be fucked" "oh sure, but after 5-10 years we would be in a better position"). It's fair to say the same applies to brexit (although the benefits of brexit are a lot less apparent to me)
All of the benefits (so far as I can tell) were always theoretical. We can make our own trade deals. Except, previously trade deals were made on our behalf as part of a trading bloc that included us, Germany, France, Italy, The nordics (mostly via the EEA) and the rest of Europe. How was there ever a serious expectation we'd get a better deal as a fraction of that bargaining power? So, a theoretical benefit that's extremely unlikely to pan out to our advantage.
Taking control of our borders? How has that worked out for us? Not too well so far it seems.
Yeah, it's crap. But I feel like some more of those brexit supporting business owners need to eat some more humble pie before we ever try to go back.
I don't buy tunnocks, dyson, or go to a weatherspoon.
No doubt there are other companies I don't realise were pro-brexit.
I know the whole "ooh look at you and your personal boycott changing the world" bullshit. Fuck it, I'm still doing it. This is my hill of beans to die on.
It's like recycling, reducing consumption etc. Yeh, big companies are contributing more to climate change and they really are the ones that need to change. But I can't hate on them if I'm not trying to help the situation.
I like Breunion a lot, for what it's worth.
BR-Back
I can't wait for brentrance or maybe brenetration?
They’ve been at this for years now tbh. Thousands protested Austerity outside the Tory Conference, and not a peep about it on the Beeb. At least they barely even hide the partisan support for the government now.
Why is BBC going shit now? I loved their impartial coverage but now this is giving me second thoughts on what they have covered till now has been truly impartial.
Not sure if you're joking or not, but the BBC is always biased towards the current UK government.
That's not to say they are bad at reporting news, you just need to be aware of the biases and tendencies when reading their reporting.
Impartial coverage from the BBC, when?
The BBC hasn’t been impartial for at least 20 years. Not only that, but they’re the most transphobic publicly funded institution in the UK.
The BBC hasn't been impartial since it was established, it's sole purpose was to support the British State, that was it's entire purpose of being created in the first place. I mean it's not like there was never any news in England prior
Can you expand on that? They're my main news source and I've never got transphobic vibes from them.
There's an entire Wikipedia article on one of their more egregious cases, where they platformed a genocidal rapist cis lesbian who was claiming all trans women are rapists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22We%27re_being_pressured_into_sex_by_some_trans_women%22
OK, that's one really article that was in bad faith, but I would argue the topic has journalistic value. But it should have been more nuanced.
Does that make the entire bbc transphobic? I am in full support of trans rights (I have a gender fluid child), but not everything is 100% black and white (cfr gender ;)) , one bad article doesn't make the entire bbc transphobic.
I gave it as one example, there's dozens more articles like it. They've been pushing anti-trans articles for years at this point. And it's been noted by LGBT media and others that entire time. Some examples:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7nv97/lgbtq-employees-are-quitting-the-bbc-because-they-say-its-transphobic
https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/55468/1/the-bbc-has-been-called-out-for-transphobia-by-a-human-rights-group
https://www.them.us/story/bbc-latest-transphobic-screed-is-a-mockery-of-journalism
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/03/14/bbc-impartiality-row-gary-lineker-trans-article/
Impartial coverage? More like Imperial coverage!
I for one am shocked that a state run media organization is biased in favor of the establishment. Shocked!
Things do not look good on the inside too. The world is changing dramatically right now and if hypothetically the brits were to rejoin, I doubt that this would have a significant impact. Last five years have been crazy for all people of Europe. I would argue that this has been the case for the last 13 years. Financial policies that led the EU in a downward spiral and the UK out of EU
thenational.scot having a pop at the BBC? Who would have thought.
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