OT: Letter to Look North

[Bill Wright]

They often say that. It isn't verifiable. It's just one of those quick little things that sounds as if it makes sense until you actually consider the matter.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Yes, the item was introduced with those words.

Bill

[Nightjar]

It can be verified quite simply, by looking at the mix of complaints they get. The problem is that, to those holding an extreme view, a completely balanced assessment will appear to be biased against their particular view.

[Nightjar]

IME, iPlayer asks you to confirm that you hold a licence if the programme is still on air when you start to look at it.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You still have to pay if you have recorded it off air (or cable).

If you use an internet catch up service (etc) no licence needed. For the moment.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

That would be correct, I suppose, but the important word for me is 'if'. Does anyone know where this statistic could be checked?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You seem to have defined Bill to a T. ;-)

[spuorgelgoog]

I wonder how many of the presenters of these programmes are channeling their earnings from the BBC through their own limited companies, which of course have a legal duty to maximise profits for the shareholder. i.e. the presenter.

Owain

[Bill Wright]

Nightjar >> ISTR one of the BBC chiefs once said that, if they got a roughly equal

No, you misunderstand. That doesn't verify the assertion that they are getting it about right. It merely means that they are getting an equal number of complaints about left and right bias.

Don't judge others by your own standards. Many people are able to disregard their own opinions when they form judgements about this sort of thing. Indeed, that is what is expected of BBC journalists, as a matter of course.

By the way, how would you define 'an extreme view'? Which of these would you say are extreme?: Democracy is the only acceptable method of government: all other methods are evil. Racial discrimination is wrong under all circumstances. People over 90 shouldn't be allowed to drive. All fox-hunting should be banned. Church schools of all denominations should be banned.

Bill

Bill

[Bill Wright]

I'd rather he defined me to a G & T.

Bill

[Capitol]

I happen to know a BBC journalist. As left wing and prejudiced as you can get. No hope of any balance.

[Fredxxx]

Doesn't that depend on your definition of centre?

If you asked 90% of people, including journalists, they would claim to be centerists!

[jake]

The BBC et al have a very vested interest in conflict. The more they can generate (and they do), stir-up, promote etc, the more bad "news" there is. Thus they secure their fat salaries. Cynical but true. Did you know that the "news"readers get circa £80k p.a. Yes just for reading the autocue. The BBC has plenty of taxpayers money. And not ONE single vote - just like the contrived European Union (aka Western Communism)

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I was just wondering if the 'BBC chief' was claiming that they do, in fact, get roughly equal complaints from both sides. Or if he/she was making a fairly obvious statement, but one that said nothing about the actual numbers at all.

But yes, such a statistic would depend on some definition of what the centre is. Perhaps the number of people telling the BBC they were too right wing, compared to the number of people telling them they were too left wing, could be used as one definition for this particular purpose? Or perhaps it is the case that either left or right wing people are more likely to be the kind of people who complain about bias? It looks like it's a hard thing to measure. Even harder to prove, one way or another.

[whisky-dave]

Isn't jeremy clarkson looking for a new job ?

[whisky-dave]

Dead Enders is what a freind of mine calls it.

[whisky-dave]

I thought the EU was there to stop trade. :-) we were trading with europe over 3,000 years ago.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I always called it Bellenders. If you'll excuse my French.

[tabbypurr]

I find it odd that so many expect it to be impartial. Every state has its propaganda. Sometimes even Russia Today gives a more honest and balanced account than the beeb.

The only way you're going to get anywhere near impartial is to watch all the main news sources in the world.

As for left-right balance, the bbc is way off to the left, crazily so.

NT

[Bill Wright]

Is it exactly 90%?

Bill