Category Archives: uk

BBC won’t turn spotlight on self

Of course the BBC won’t reveal details of its lobbying operations following a FOIA request. It’s a very buttoned-up organisation when it comes to dealing with government. More surprising is that they’re contracting out at all when, as Adrian Monck notes, they have their own public affairs department.

Round-up

BBC told to, um, reflect the country more. The bad news is, the report found that Scots were dissatisfied with the BBC’s news and current affairs. The good news? They were just as dissatisfied in the eighties, but no-one within the BBC was publishing reports on it.
Television licence fee to be index-linked to inflation in […]

Scottish Sixes and the SBC

Two weeks ago I commented upon the BBC’s coverage of Scottish politics and dissatisfaction amongst Scottish viewers. Two days ago, Alex Salmond announced a commission to look into Scottish broadcasting.
There are both general and partisan reasons for setting up such a commission. On a partisan level, the BBC’s coverage of Scottish politics seems to be […]

Appointments, dismissals, funding

The House of Lords Select Committee on Communications today released a report on the appointment of the BBC Chairman, written in the well-tempered amber prose typical of such committees. Some recommendations I share: if the government adds a member to the short-list it is given, it should be publicly justified. Some recommendations I disagree with. […]

BBC Summer of Slip-up continues

A BBC complaints panel has upheld a viewer’s complaint about a Newsnight poll which falsely implied business was against Scottish independence. The finding comes after BBC presenters have been curt - to say the least - with the SNP.
This is a very basic error. It will fuel the belief amongst the SNP that the BBC […]

And Then They Came For The Scientists…

I wasn’t terribly bothered about the BBC  offending the queen.
Faked television phone-ins didn’t bother me.
But misreporting scientific research really gets me…

BBC NEWS | Politics | Ex-Brown aide regrets BBC battle

BBC reports that a former Brown aide now believes that the row over Gilligan damaged trust in the government. Now there’s a shocker. Quick, someone investigate whether ursine animals defecate in woodland areas…

More Thompson replies to politician’s queries

More Axegrinder 21.07.06 | Press Gazette: “BBC director general Mark Thompson put his foot in it with a Labour MP during his appearance in Westminster last week. Thompson was being assailed by MP Mike Hall about a BBC programme called The Secret Policeman, which, in Hall’s words, used ‘criminal elements’ in its production.’If you’d care […]

Fox attacks BBC’s Iraq coverage

Independent Online Edition > Media: “Liam Fox, the shadow Defence Secretary, has accused the BBC of pumping out ‘unrelentingly negative’ reports about Iraq without giving adequate coverage to more positive developments.”