What does the BBC stand for?

[MichaelMcGuire]

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The media is essential for the functioning of a democracy. It bridges the gulf which separates the political caste from the people: informing and educating, ensuring that the government is held accountable to the electorate, and providing a platform for public debate and scrutiny of the government. Yet whilst the media functions as the guardian of public interest, it is also an exceptional means of influencing and manipulating public opinion. Shamelessly biased reporting, sensationalisation at the expense of accuracy, and scarily rich and powerful media tycoons are accepted with unnerving ease as part and parcel of our democratic age.


The raison d'être of the publicly funded body of the BBC, as conditioned by Royal Charter, is to objectively inform and educate the people with news free from bias and manipulation. ‘‘Trust is the foundation of the BBC: We are independent, impartial and honest.” Yet in the context of the Scottish independence campaign, the world renowned BBC, which has played a cherished and central role in British society for almost a century, is flagrantly flouting its duty to those who finance its existence, as it overtly works in tandem with the UK government to smear the SNP and ridicule the campaign for Scottish independence. In doing so, the BBC is not only defying its own founding principle of objectivity, it is also seriously threatening one of the founding principles of democracy - the freedom of the press from government influence - as it increasingly echoes a system of state-controlled media. In such a system, content deemed unfavourable to the interests of the government is censored. Journalists must demonstrate affiliation with the regime. The press is an instrument of propaganda: a mouthpiece championing the ideology of the regime, promoting the regime in a favourable light, vilifying and slandering any opposition to the regime, and broadcasting manipulated and distorted coverage of any opposition to the regime.


For anyone who follows the Scottish independence campaign, the BBC have highlighted a concerning lack of balance and seriously undermined the credibility of the BBC’s flagship political forum. The unmistakable contempt from the ‘objective’ BBC interviewer, apparent disdain, intolerant body language and condescension seem to underline a continuing blatant anti-independence agenda of the directors and producers who sanction such behaviour within their programming schedule. Either ill-informed or poorly researched, the interviews progress through inappropriate questions posed in a disrespectful and patronising manner, to which a Head of State is not provided the time to fully answer whilst being consistently interrupted. One interview, for example, plummeted to a serious low by suggesting that the SNP wish to establish a one party state, thereby comparing Scotland to Zimbabwe and Alex Salmond to Robert Mugabe (Newsnight 24 January 2012). The composure and integrity of the First Minister in dealing with the sham of a serious and objective interview requires our respect and admiration.

Read on: http://www.theregulus.co.uk/domestic-politics/the-bbc-freedom-of-the-press

Ignorance at its best.

Latest GERS Figures:

{In 2010-11, total expenditure for Scotland by the UK Government, Scottish Government and other tiers of the public sector, including a per capita share of debt interest payments, was £63.8 billion. This totals 9.3% of total UK public sector expenditure.

In 2010-11, total Scottish non-North Sea public sector revenue was estimated at £45.2 billion (8.3% of UK equivalent). When our geographical share of North Sea revenue is included, total Scottish revenue was £53.1 billion (9.6% of UK total public sector revenue).

In 2010-11, the estimated current budget balance for the public sector in Scotland, presuming a geographical share of oil revenues, was a deficit of £6.4 billion (4.4% of GDP).

For comparison, in 2010-11, the UK as a whole ran a budget deficit, including 100 per cent of North Sea revenue, of £97.8 billion (6.6% of GDP).
}
Summing up by:http://weeredsquirrel.com/2012/03/07/gers-and-the-scottish-subsidy-myth/

GERS for 2010/11: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/03/9525

[longship]

1. British Broadcorping Castration?

I know. Low hanging fruit.

I actually like Auntie Beeb. No, they pale to what they were in the past. And yes, the are biased like any other media. But their international reporting tends to be pretty good. At least it's better than what we get here in the US. (Maybe that's not saying much.)

My favorite news source? That's easy. Al Jazeera. They're very objective and their reportage is comprehensive.

[BooScout]

2. And your source is not biased?

Puleeze.......I think your source is blowing things a wee bit out of proportion. I think your source is a whole lot more biased than the BBC.

[Sea-Dog]

6. I have two questions

1. do you follow Scottish poltics?

2. if not how can u tell

[MichaelMcGuire]

7. The article is sound, reflects other similar articles + other Scottish political commenter's views.

That numerous times the BBC falls to inform on Scotland's future through serious debate not even getting past the "could" to the "why", and in fact the level of debate so far is well below par and at times fails to be impartial. As for bias, a little search of BBC on medialen shows them up, of towing the state line although not only them I may add, with other topics then that of Scottish statehood. Look up one of Scotland's top political commenter's, and the main issue is the lack of proper debate from the media. Anyone that follows Scottish politics, also some newspaper political writers sees this failure. Not only that it takes a special kind of naivety to believe state nevermind non-state media is free from political forces. The BBC is not free from the British state.....Note no one is saying Scotland under BBC London rule is the new North Korea, but they are failing to keep-up to their standards.

Haven't even mentioned the "Iraq war and the Hutton Inquiry", and the BBC involvement. Never mind Government and the BBC, its make-up, relationships with key members and how they are selected. Even ofCom's Chief Executive used to work of PM Gordon Brown, so their even in the very thing set-up to watch for the kind of bias and to uphold standards.

They seem to forget that the general public's license fees that we pay we expect a better public service. This sort of replacing proper debate and discussion with US style 'entertainment'? where a zany wise-ass host may be OK in the US, and at the end of the day it really up to you what you prefer, watching. Too much of that crap and the brain starts dribbling out of the nose.


Acclimatization, No doubt that where the 'wee' bit out of proportion is coming from?

[HopeHoops]

3. Brown Bread Consumption.

Hmm. Speaking of which. I've got a hankering for some brown bread.

[cherish44]

4. Boring Beyond Comprehension

[mmonk]

5. British Bullies in Control?