[Savage GT]

Or Biased Broadcasting Corporation.
Not only does it push its own political agenda, scaremonger, and lean so far on the PC scale its embarrassing, but they can't support themselves in this day and age when all other channels manage, junk the licensce scam I say !

[JasonB]

Not having that, the BBC is fantastic.  

A bastion of British decency and fairness, in a world which is increasingly disappearing into a sinkhole of  intolerance, lies, fake news, facebook and far right wing politics.

It's one of the few organisations which actually has a duty to be trustworthy and fair in it's reporting, it's one of the first websites I visit every day, and the station I watch the most by far. Some of their drama serials have been absolutely first class. Best of all, no adverts, on their website or on TV.

Political correctness? That's just the way the world is going. Some of it is daft, some not. But people are still being abused and mistreated because of the colour of their skin, and women are still being sexually molested and underpaid, so there's a way to go yet.

God save the Queen, the NHS, and the BBC, not necessarily in that order, and hopefully we're not relying on God to do it, because I don't believe in him. Come to think of it, I'm not really a supporter of the idea of royalty either, but the Queen has done a sterling job.

Anyway, someone save them, otherwise I will forever be swearing at the telly, and rattling on about the paucity of values, and education in this country.

[Savage GT]

A bastion of British decency and fairness.

 

Well, We will have to agree to disagree, there is no way I consider their reporting to be unbiased.

[JasonB]

Well call it intuition if you like, but I had a feeling we might not be in total agreement.  

So, just out of interest who would be your go to source for unbiased reporting?

[Scuderia_Turini]

I do not have any television broadcast receiving apparatus and since the I-Player became licenced, my only contact with BBC content is the web site and occasional radio listening.  I don't detect any particular bias although the reporting is frequently done by external bodies and that tends to be "opinionated". I do tend to find that the content is of lower quality, its basically tabloid presentation of the sensational aspects. Have tried other news channels (CNN, Fox, Sky, Reuters) but keep going back the the Beeb. 

I find the recent switch to using mobile device presentation a bit annoying, the headlines tend to get repeated in the "Most Read" and "Most Watched". Its just clutter and/or a case of "them" telling us what to read rather than just letting us decide for ourselves.   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

The hot topic of course is Brexit and the various reporters inevitably colour their content to their own viewpoint. These days, all reporting tends to present an opinion rather than simply presenting the facts.  

Recently I complained to a motorsport journalist that their YouTube vlog had far too much conjecture ('what ifs' and such) and his response was that that was what people want.

I like "Police Style" reporting eg:  "Today at 22:10, Leo Capaldi posted a message on a web forum in which he indicated his news source preferences. The message contained over 200 words and was viewed by a small number of people, some of whom agreed and some of whom did not agree. Other people took no interest in his words."

Leo

[Gordon Steadman]

I like "Police Style" reporting eg:  "Today at 22:10, Leo Capaldi posted a message on a web forum in which he indicated his news source preferences. The message contained over 200 words and was viewed by a small number of people, some of whom agreed and some of whom did not agree. Other people took no interest in his words."

Leo

Reporting is no longer news, it's part of the entertainment industry, written, it seems, by people with no knowledge of grammar or spelling.

I don't have a TV either and get my news on-line which means, I guess, that I am ill informed and misled, just like most other people.

[Mr Modifier]

I tend to go to the BBC for news.  I find that on other channels and sites I get bombarded by adverts and online you can get adverts that dress themselves up like news.

In my view the BBC is the least worst.

Having said that I think they do demonstrate bias.  For example they reported the other day that both major UK refineries will close costing 2,000 jobs if the Government sets petrol import tariffs at 0%.  But it was left at that.  It is a conjecture masquerading as fact and fuels the anti Brexit fires and yet there was no explanation of why the Government would seek to set tariffs at 0% especially as we have domestic refineries. 

They may as well say that after 31st October the sky might fall on our heads.

And that’s my annoyance - by all means present opinion but balance it and make sure it is presented as an opinion and not as a fact.

By the way - I do not want this to become a political debate - my example is merely a current illustration of poor presentation of “news” by an institution that is supposed to be unbiased.

[JasonB]

Hold on. Didn't the story about the refineries closing come directly from the government's own leaked report on a no deal Brexit? It wasn't the BBC's opinion, it was a cross government study.

Surely the BBC have to report that?

[Gordon Steadman]

I read the BBC and the Guardian every day. When they report EXACTLY the same news, I tend to at least half believe it.

The alternatives are far more biased in the opposite direction and their agenda is even more obvious.

[CMOTD]

Bias is in the eye of the beholder. Whichever government is in power they always reckon the mainstream media is biased against them. If you are on one side of a political argument then any report about the opposite view seems biased against you. If you think the BBC is bad then try Fox News in the USA.

Having said that though the BBC is a pale shadow of its former self. It is top heavy with management who spend all their time worrying about diversity and how to protect their non-jobs with the attendant big fat salary. Still some excellent programs but their 24 hour news coverage is dire - endless repeats of the same few stories and 90% of the content is just 'experts' giving their opinion. News and comment are two separate things but they have lost the ability to distinguish between them. Mind you they are still the least worst option and Radio 4 news coverage is a lot better than the TV version.

Apart from which...............can we please keep the 'B' word off these pages? I like to think that there is at least one refuge from the subject.