BBC biased or incompetent?

Oldwoman70
Did they really 'demand' your phone number or did they simply ask, and why?.
If, as you say, you felt intimidated by an e-mail/letter which clearly demanded your phone number for no reason, it might be an idea to contact Ofcom.
I'm sure they would be happy to investigate.

I won't some shows because of the constant jibes at the Brexiteers, who are it seems the scum of the earth. The champagne socialists, we all know they are working class they tell us, whilst living a very comfortable life. The BBC allow this bias. I am not interest one bit who they do or don't support, keep it yo themselves, I can make up my own mind, it's not a political platform, they are there to entertain, inform or make us laugh. So I switch off.

I think it is a bit like the saying that good news doesn't sell newspapers. Nigel Farage is a controversial figure with forceful and extreme opinions and so he attracts attention – and increased viewing figures. As Donald Trump, another controversial figure with forceful and extreme opinions, would say, "great ratings".

I thought Boris had called an election. I read the OP before I saw the date. Phew.
Channel 4 evening news I find biased. The news isn't so much news as opinion so often on BBC and ITV.

Why did the BBC devote twenty minutes of R4 Today Programme to an interview with white supremacist brexit backer Steve Bannon?

varian.

We don't live under a dictatorship, yet.

Surely it is better to hear from the horses mouth not simply rely on twitter /propaganda sites or such?

If the questions asked are fair and if they asked ' awkward' questions the light can be shone on the likes of Bannon, that applies to individuals left/right of politics.

What does refusing those we are opposed to the right to speak achieve? They must not be seen or heard because a section of the public say so to promote their ideologies.

Besides which some people like to assess for themselves what an individual is saying and watching and hearing them in a an interview can confirm or make them think twice about the previous perceptions of that individual, as long as the interviewer is not some sort of sycophant or pushing his/her view which very often is the case but people see through that style of interview/interviewer.

Bannon, like his associate Farage and the likes of Mark Francois and the Weatherspoons man, is given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC.

I think it is a good idea to allow those with objectionable views to appear on radio and TV, as long as they are being interviewed by a competent and skilled interviewer. They will surely then be condemned by their own obnoxious comments.

I have been busy so have only just returned to this thread. In answer to GabriellaG54 - yes my phone number was demanded. I replied asking why they had not replied to my query and pointing out that demanding my number was intimidating and asking for an explanation - no reply was received.

varion

"Bannon, like his associate Farage and the likes of Mark Francois and the Weatherspoons man, is given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC."
-

Swap those names for :-

Ayesha Hazarika, Aaron Bastani, Ash Sarkar, Dawn Foster and the other side could say they are given an excessive amount of publicity by the BBC.

BBC's Politics Live for example is hardly ever without a spokesman/women from Momentum or a pro Corbyn Think Tank.

I'm puzzled by these names. I've only vaguely heard of one of them, and I do watch a lot of political discussions

So do I.

Not sure how to answer your point other than I must watch more.

I used to think the BBC was the bastion of good TV drama and the licence money was well spent.

No longer. Every drama panders to left wing political correctness in the extreme. They cannot portray every day life any more. The dramas are preachy, virtue-signalling tripe and tick every single diversity box (every time) to the point that they become ridiculous. Anyone would think all police chiefs now have to be black, bolshi women and every family has to be of mixed race, with at least one disabled member, and a homosexual son or daughter for good measure.

I have no problem with diversity. I have no problem with black, bolshi women. I have no problem with mixed race families. I have no problem that gay and disabled people feature in dramas. I do have a problem with taking the viewer for an idiot and lecturing us whilst shunting life as it's really lived to the sidelines because boxes have to be ticked and messages about modern life relayed to us. It is patronising, warped and contrived 'BBC reality' we have to suck up time after time to indulge self-satisfied TV producers. The fact that it is SO obvious makes it worse.

Which programmes are they day6?

Day6...once again I agree whole-heartedly. Fictional drama can just about survive having a mixed race cast (even when it's not really appropriate), but casting a black girl as Queen of England is going too far!

Day6 thankyou for writing so clearly the reasons we no longer have a television.
I do watch a few things on iplayer though eg Montalbano.

The day after the Liberal Democrats have won a resounding success in the Brecon and Radnorshire byelection, overturning a Tory majority of over eight thousand the BBC Any Questions panel will feature one Tory MP, one Labour MP, a journalist from a left-wing website and a journalist from the Telegraph. Who will represent the majority of UK voters who do not support either any kind of extreme party of the right or left?

One reason why MF and the Wetherspoons' man are on tv so often is because they are the only people who are happy to give an opinion. Same goes for Digby Jones former head of the CBI who always managed to find time. The new Director General, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn is a completely different kettle of fish. DJ was a senior partner in a small firm of solicitors for 3 years whereas CF has had a very successful career as an economist, financial journalist and management consultant and apparently doesn't have the time to appear on so many programmes.

When the BBC agrees with me I consider that its news reporting to be excellent and fair, when it disagrees, I think it is biased and unfair.

Day6 I don't think you've been watching BBC. Line of Duty which was very popular had 1 black inspector I think, in an early series. Killing Eve, Keeping Faith - no black people. Poldark one black person in the current series. We live in a mixed race, multi-cultural society and I for one am pleased to see such diversity on tv. There is a wide range of programmes on BBC which caters for all tastes. As I write the Proms on tv tonight feature Mahler and Britten.

I can only think that some of you are prejudiced by the constant knocking of BBC by the Murdoch press,

POGS I watch Politics Live every day (when it's on) with my lunch. The guests are always balanced. 1 MP from the right and 1 from the left. Journalsits equally balanced. Plus the extra guest who can be from either side but they are only on to talk about a particular topic and then they leave.

Surely the point is Monica, that the BBC is supposed to be impartial.

I’m not sure the BBC was ever impartial. I felt it was very establishment/conservative years ago, becoming more liberal as time went on and now is very left wing.

I have no problem with any of that - as long as I’m aware of bias I can balance it myself by using other sources of information.

I think that the BBC does promote "social liberal" attitudes which conservatives might regard as left wing, but probably are reflection of the times.

However when it comes to politics the bias is firmly to the right. Commentators like Andrew Neil, Nick Robinson, Laura Kuennsberg and John Humphries are all Conservatives and the relentless promotion of Farage and his ilk has been an utter disgrace.

It suits the right-wing press to condition their readers into regarding the BBC as left-wing as it does when they refer to Corbyn as a communist, and to ridicule what they term "politidal correctness"..

No one could seriously regard the political stance of the BBC as left-wing unless they are comparing it with Fox News

It isn’t known as the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation for nothing. Farage is always on Question Time, yet someone like Caroline Lucas who actually is an MP doesn’t get anything like the same amount of publicity.

When the BBC agrees with me I consider that its news reporting to be excellent and fair, when it disagrees, I think it is biased and unfair.

Excellent point, M0nica. We recently sat through breakfast at a hotel where a couple on the table to one side of us was complaining of the BBC’s left wing bias, a couple to the other side of its right wing bias. They were citing the same programmes.