The BBC

Put simply, the BBC is one of the world's greatest broadcasters.

The personal antipathy that the Tory's (including David Cameron) seem to have towards the BBC is, to put it mildly, 'unfortunate'. They should, instead, be celebrating on of our great successes which is, in general, admired and respected in much of the world.

Remember, the Tories opposed the iPlayer; and opposed the BBC website. yet both of these innovations are now recognised to be valuable.

Politicians (all politicians) need to keep their hands off the BBC. if sometimes a politician does not like what the BBC says, then that is the BBC doing its job. The BBC needs to be independent and not bow to political pressure.

It is really great to see so many postings on this site supporting the BBC (despite any minor imperfections it might have). Keep up the good work.

I have never begrudged the licence fee. Currently less than £3 per week for world-class TV and radio - what good value! If we have to pay when we are over 75 then so be it. Something else may have to give.

I agree with Knowsley. However, the ridiculous pay awarded to certain presenters and managers needs to be reviewed and brought back to Earth!

Ok, so I am biased because I worked very, very happily for the BBC for fifteen fulfilling years. Yes, it has changed its face over the seventeen years I have been retired but I still have many friends still working there.
My biggest disappointment is definitely the pronounced Left bias which cannot be denied or ignored. From what I gather there are far too many "right on, on trend, young leftie" programme makers largely left to their own devices. Their takeover was becoming noticeable before I retired. It was evident that the organisation was adopting a policy of nobody being accountable to anyone. Many practices now in place would have been frowned upon, subject to disciplinary action in my day (the generational phrase). Today's breed keep harping on about appealing to the younger audience but the younger audience are not sitting in front of tv - they are OUT and ABOUT these days which offer so much more social interaction. It is our generation the Beeb should be courting. For my part, I want to be entertained, not continually educated, not being faced with violent and gruesome dramas and certainly not the offensive language which is so much a content and which the so called comedians think is the tool to raise a laugh. I have news for them - it's not. Think back to the days of Bob Monkhouse, Ken Dodd, Les Dawson, Jasper Carrot and shows like Billy Cotton's Band. Don't write us off Tony Hall, ask us, listen to us. The BBC still has much to commend it but it could do better and get back its fine reputation as a national institution.

Young people aren't out and about imo. They are watching box sets of Amercian programmes [Breaking Bad etc]. I don't thing comedians like Ken Dodd are the way forward either.I think 'our generation' is quite diverse. A lot of us were glued to Glastonbury the other week.

I wasn't suggesting that the past comedians were the way forward, but that theirs was clever humour not reliant on smut.

Sorry, Hattiehelga, where you see Left bias, others see Right bias, and so they must be doing something right correctly

Hattiehelga I used to absolutely loathe the Billy Cotton Band Show - even in the 50's/60's I thought it was boring and dreadfully old fashioned - and I never found Ken Dodd particularly funny either. No doubt what I find funny, you would not. You speak as if there is a universal standard upon which everyone will agree, when clearly that could never be the case.

Like you, I also find some of the material too gruesome, too coarse, too sensationalist, too shallow, etc., but other channels have similar material. Despite disliking some programmes, I still think the BBC provides a fairly good balance of programmes to suit most tastes. There is, of course, always the "off" switch.

I'd be very interested to see/read any evidence of right-wing bias within the BBC.

Eloethan - our Off switch is well used I promise you. I am pleased to have provoked debate that we can all hope will result in a better mix of programmes to cater for ALL tastes
Long live the BBC and my Pension!

Ana Professor Justin Lewis, Dean of Research at Cardiff University, who has been described as a "distinguished media professor" carried out an analysis of the BBC's output as compared to other channels and found that "the BBC has compromised its impartiality by depending too heavily on sources from business, the media, law and order and politics."

He further commented that Channel 4 and ITV make much greater use of sources from academia, medicine, science and non-governmental organisations.

A previous study headed up by Professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, had found that the BBC was more likely than ITV or Channel 4 to use sources from the right – such as US Republicans or Ukip politicians – than from the left (US Democrats or Green politicians). The imbalance in favour of Conservatives over Labour was three to one for party leaders and four to one for ministers/shadow ministers.

Agree with all the aforementioned, no need to repeat, have also signed the petition, long live the BBC .
Oops no Carl key on iPad !

I agree with (almost) everything. If we're not careful it'll be another case of 'You don't know what you've got till its gone'.

Agree totally,consistent high standards commercial channels fail to meet.

The BBC Scotland has been in the minds of a lot of Scots lately showing a real right wing establishment biased. If you take out their current affairs programming (for Scotland) the rest is pretty good though.

I understood that the BBC made many programmes which were great sources of revenue - they also make cinema films in conjunction with other companies. This is all to the good - they also show foreign films and series which are great - Montalbano being one! I for one would be very sad to see the BBC interfered with to any great degree. I do think that many presenters are overpaid and some are elevated to presenting a number of programmes and some of these could be done by new people. It depends really if their salary package is for so many hours of TV presenting a year or if they are paid for each programme they have input to.
There could well be some streamlining I am sure but I would prefer to see some tweaking rather than massive restructuring'

Watched the Melvyn Bragg thing last night --- excellent!!

I watched The Art of Cornwall on BBC catchup today followed by the programme about Henry XIII. I don't know what I'd do without programmes like that to watch. Must look for Melvyn Bragg now.

Parliament TV is on the BBC. Can you imagine what it would be like if it was on ITV, or god forbid, Sky news.

Isn't there another thread on this? I remember saying that I would pay the licence fee just for Radio 4.Hattiehelga knows of what she speaks... As she worked for the Beeb.So many names on here not seen before, hope you will all comment on other threads as well.

I doubt it somehow!

theconversation.com/how-the-murdoch-press-has-waged-a-relentless-campaign-against-the-bbc-and-why-its-worked-45523

secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c07662/2d1c5aab/715623a8/463fa6eb/173361377/VEsF/p/eyJKU1ZtYVhKemRHNWhiV1VsSlE9PSI6IkplbiIsImUzdHpiM1Z5WTJWOWZRPT0iOiIifQ==/

Government survey on the BBC. Closing date next week sometime.

www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/24/peers-no-compelling-case-scaling-back-bbc

The Lords have said there is no reason for changing the BBC.
Lets see what the government does now.

The BBC is envied the world over and I can't imagine life without it. Even though I have satellite tv I still watch the BBC more than anything else, and listen to the radio programmes too.
Thank you for the link to sign the petition, I shall find it now!