Thursday 26 July 2007

British Broadcasting Corporation

A few interesting things are emerging from the current set of attacks on the BBC.
First and most obviously the shear gall of the newspapers will never reach a limit, the specific catalysts this time round are misleading people, with bad editing of footage and phone-ins. If I had all day I could sit here and list for each newspaper the various episodes where they have done similar, with dodgy diaries, faked photos, crooked competitions, various vexatious vouchers etc, leaving just the Lanark and Carluke Advertiser with its unblemished record to report on the matter. But know even the blackest fingered of papers is sticking the boot in, most of them with a vicious zeal.
Secondly we have the usual round of politicians and political commentators using this as a platform to have a go at the licence fee, generally adding that the Beeb has it coming as it is biased against their side. If this is the case then the BBC must politically stand alone as to be against all of the major and most of the minor parties in this country is a huge feat. I suspect that the one or two smaller local parties that aren't complaining are run by people who wont have one of those televisions in the house, but where part of the Radio Three backlash or recent times.
The last group I have some sympathies with, those that believe the licence fee is a regressive tax, but I feel that it gives the BBC an invaluable editorial independence that would be difficult to provide any other way. I have no solution as to how to make the licence fee fairer (apart from larger discounts for the blind). One suggestion has been licensing by the set which would be difficult to police and probably still hits the poorer harder.
All I am going to say before tuning in the wireless to see what is on the Home Service is God bless Aunty and all who broadcast on her.

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