BBC staff stop work in protest (woo hoo!)

The Australian ^ | 1/31/04 | The Australian

[blackie]

Abolish the BBC and privatize it!

[Mark Felton]

"Abolish the BBC and privatize it"

It is "privatized". Socialism is a scheme in which the assets of the many are operated by a "private" cliche of the few.

[FreeTheHostages]

Mr Dyke had apologised for errors in the report but defended the BBC's right to cover the issue, noting that some aspects of the story were right.

ROFL!!

[pau1f0rd]

A substantial part of this licence fee goes toward subsidising the BBC.

Every penny goes to the BBC, to the tune of $4 billion a year.

[Johnny_Cipher]

"Those responsible for sacking the person responsible for this outrage have themselves been sacked".

[Southack]

A BBC staff walkout simply means a slight decrease in the total amount of global Marxist propaganda that gets slimed upon us today...

[DannyTN]

Or better yet, maybe Blair will pull a Reagan.

Walk out huh? YOU"RE FIRED!!!

[Tempest]

"Some 56 per cent of voters told a Daily Telegraph poll that law lord Brian Hutton was wrong to lay all the blame on the BBC, while 49 per cent agreed in another poll that the findings were "a whitewash".

Some people just refuse to be deprogrammed.

[MindBender26]

AMF

Now, with "Auntie Beeb" on strike, our British friends will have no source of news.... other than the wildly successful SkyNews, ITV, FNC Overseas, VOA, etc.....

[greenwolf]

Mr Blair's former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, said it was right that both men should quit.

Shame they're not both Japanese.....

[blackie]

You've got the 'cliche of the few' right ~ good job!

[retrokitten]

BBC staff protested at the forced resignation of the broadcaster's top executive, Greg Dyke, and staff pulled one BBC radio station off the air for a minute in protest.

Doesn't that mean fired? Why don't they just say fired?

[bernie_g]

Here's the Telegraph poll, it makes interesting reading.

http://tinyurl.com/2sjwj

The Telegraph is about the most conservative of the major UK papers, so they aren't asking skewed questions here. The Hutton decision and the BBC's brave and honourable response to it, is in danger of damaging Mr Blair in the very moment of his triumph. He's underestimated very badly how much the British people love their 'Auntie' BBC and feel almost patriotic about protecting it. He'd better take care.

[HennepinPrisoner]

Every penny goes to the BBC, to the tune of $4 billion a year

Not exactly...some of the tax..erm..excuse me..LICENCE FEE goes toward broadcast equipment and communications towers used by all of the broadcasters.

However, it's a tiny, tiny percentage. The vast majority of it goes to the BBC.

Their unique funding scheme (taxing television owners) allows them to do anything they want without the fear of losing "customers". This is why they have full-time Swahili translators on staff: to translate their news web pages in Swahili, 24 hours a day, so that the 100 or so Sawhili-speaking people in the UK can read the news. Talk about a waste of money!

The BBC's greatest fear is having to actually compete with commercial broadcasters. That's because they CAN'T!

Just look at some of the most popular British shows that we have copied and most of them came from the ITV television network (American Idol, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, etc.)

The BBC is mostly boring gardening and lets-remake-a-room shows. Only once in a blue moon do they actually produce a decent show (The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous).

[HennepinPrisoner]

. He's underestimated very badly how much the British people love their 'Auntie' BBC and feel almost patriotic about protecting it

What I find most interesting is that, according to that poll, the British public trusts the commercial ITV network to broadcast the truth more than they do their beloved BBC.

Even though a major item in the BBC's charter is their ban on running advertisements and product placements because of 'undue corporate influence on reporting the news'!

[HennepinPrisoner]

. He's underestimated very badly how much the British people love their 'Auntie' BBC and feel almost patriotic about protecting it

What I find most interesting is that, according to that poll, the British public trusts the commercial ITV network to broadcast the truth more than they do their beloved BBC.

Even though a major item in the BBC's charter is their ban on running advertisements and product placements because of 'undue corporate influence on reporting the news'!

[bernie_g]

Well, the BBC is the only institution or political party that gets double digits for 'totally trusted'. Given this is the day after Hutton, those are pretty decent figures really. Imagine what they look like on a *good* day :)

You might also want to note the public's view on whether Michael Howard should pursue the question of 'Did Blair lie?' which Hutton explicitly didn't rule on, and which Blair clearly did in the matter of leaking Kelly's name.

[NYCVirago]

And why don't they just privatize the BBC? That's right, the British government shouldn't pay one shilling for this garbage that they call "news!"

And isn't everybody in Britain taxed like $200 a year or so per TV for the privilege of funding this garbage? What a nightmare!

[HennepinPrisoner]

Well, the BBC is the only institution or political party that gets double digits for 'totally trusted'. Given this is the day after Hutton, those are pretty decent figures really.

Not really...the day after Clinton admitted to lying in the deposition to the American public, polls showed that more than 10% of the people still trusted him totally.

I don't believe that people honest with themselves would admit to trusting any person or institution TOTALLY except for maybe close family members.

The BBC and Clinton both prove that some factions of the public will selectively ignore facts when their beliefs are challenged.

And I do trust Fox News more so than Bush/Rove. Though I don't trust Fox News TOTALLY.

[HennepinPrisoner]

And isn't everybody in Britain taxed like $200 a year or so per TV for the privilege of funding this garbage? What a nightmare!

I think it's more like $150...but your point still stands.

As long as over 50% of the voting population enjoys the BBC, they will keep on making everyone pay....like it or not. Tyranny of the Majority.

Though the thought of no advertisements is enticing, my principles of freedom of choice would keep me from casting a vote for a politician that would support an American version of the BBC.