There seems to be a clear pattern of negative posts about the BBC. Certain accounts are at it on a daily basis. I find myself wondering why.
Some motives for such behaviour I could think of are:
- The BBC wrote a story that hurt them
- Reporting did not reinforce their world view
- They expected the BBC to be perfect and inevitable failures to meet that standard lead to disappointment
- They found the style of reporting annoying
- Perhaps some reporters were annoying
I’m sure that list is nowhere near exhaustive as my imagination is rather limited.
A cynic might think that something deeper is going on, for example, a systematic campaign to erode trust in the BBC. Perhaps such a campaign is not just limited to feddit.uk communities, as mightily influential as they are, and could be happening across social media.
Such a cynical person might further wonder what groups, organisations, or perhaps even states with well resourced intelligence organisations might want to mount such a campaign.
I’m not a cynic, and as mentioned don’t have much of an imagination, so such thoughts don’t even cross my mind.
I’m simply wondering why some people hate the BBC so much. For me it, with all its failings, is one of the best public broadcasting organisations in the world.
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Why haven’t you directly responded to any of the Zionist or genocide comments?
the bbc is openly transphobic and zionist
I’m personally not a fan of them for lying repeatedly about trans people and platforming hate against us regularly. They also are completely pro-genocide, which is utterly unexcusable.
It might have something to do with the BBC turning into a propaganda machine for Israel
The BBC wrote a story that hurt them
The BBC’s editorial line is that humans are worthless, and that genocide is forgivable.
Reporting did not reinforce their world view
Any decent human should share the world view that genocide is a pressing matter.
They expected the BBC to be perfect and inevitable failures to meet that standard lead to disappointment
No one expects it to be perfect, but failure to meet expected standards means it’s unworthy of existing.
They found the style of reporting annoying
It’s laughable that you can use words like “annoying” when defending an organisation championing for genocide. Their reporting isn’t annoying, it’s psychopathic and sickening.
Perhaps some reporters were annoying
Criminals. Enemies of mankind. Monsters. Some of their reporters are monsters.
A cynic might think that something deeper is going on, for example, a systematic campaign to erode trust in the BBC.
Perhaps this is a natural and uncoordinated response to the BBCs systematic campaign to make people value some human lives over others?
For me it, with all its failings, is one of the best public broadcasting organisations in the world.
I take it you regularly come across reporting from the others and find them wanting?
I take it you regularly come across reporting from the others and find them wanting?
I do.
Apologies for failing to add /s to a number of places in my post. Clearly that would have been needed.
Because the BBC is fucking shit? It’s government propaganda disguised as an independent impartial broadcaster.
Yes it makes some good content with some good talent that may make you laugh but institutionally it’s anti Scottish, pro Palestinian genocide, downplays climate change to almost denial, and uses false balance to push the Overton window rightward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC#Controversies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_BBC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_controversies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_independence
You need read any one of those Wikipedia articles to find a list of reasons for disliking the BBC. I recommend starting at the beginning though and going with History first of all.
The BBC’s coverage on certain issues (asylum seekers, trans, disability, etc) has been inexcusably bad and has been for a while. I think it’s perfectly fair to hold the public broadcaster to a high standard. The Tories were able to stuff the BBC with their people and the quality of their journalism has plummeted since, the whole thing needs serious reform and Labour don’t seem interested in doing it.
I’m not a cynic, and as mentioned don’t have much of an imagination, so such thoughts don’t even cross my mind.
You wrote them out, so the thoughts clearly did cross your mind? I don’t even know why you’re trying to deflect this, it’s not unreasonable to think foreign intelligence would try to undermine trust in the BBC, they’d be dumb not to.
But again, those doing the most to undermine trust in the BBC are the people the Tories put in charge of it.
The BBC’s coverage on certain issues (asylum seekers, trans, disability, etc) has been inexcusably bad and has been for a while.
When I compare the BBC and for example The Guardian reporting on such topics to, say, The Telegraph and any of the trash tabloids I see a big difference. The latter quite often push an agenda or try to engineer rage engagement, whereas the former don’t.
I think a much bigger problem and the root cause for how BBC reporting comes across in the kinds of topics you mention is the abysmal quality of political discourse in the UK. Too many bigots have gained too many supporters, which has given them too loud a megaphone.
I don’t think it is the BBC’s or any other journalistic organisation’s job to take that megaphone away. Their job is to report facts and ensure countering perspectives are being aired on all important topics.
I think it’s perfectly fair to hold the public broadcaster to a high standard.
I agree. For me the standard I expect is reporting facts and different perspectives so that I gain information and can make up my own mind.
… quality of their journalism has plummeted since, the whole thing needs serious reform …
Here I disagree with you, although perhaps only on the seriousness of the situation. Any big organisation will have aspects that need reform, including the BBC. I don’t agree that their journalism would have plummeted substantially. It is the political discourse that has gone to the gutters.
You wrote them out, so the thoughts clearly did cross your mind? I don’t even know why you’re trying to deflect this, it’s not unreasonable to think foreign intelligence would try to undermine trust in the BBC, they’d be dumb not to.
I can see that I should have added /s to that and couple of other points in my post.
maybe someone has grown up and realized that the BBC is just as much a propaganda machine as the rest. who knows what their reasons are.
People are expressing distaste for the state media for a state that supports an active genocide? that’s so crazy, there’s no other explanation than a coordinated conspiracy to discredit its unimpeachable reputation
Consistent Pro-Israel bias. When people see a livestreamed genocide against the Palestinian people by an apartheid state they tend to get pretty frustrated by outlets sweeping it under the rug
I’m negative about the BBC because of persistent bias in their reporting caused as a result of the Tories replacing the majority of board and senior positions with their cronies.
Academic studies have shown they have a clear bias in their political reporting. They deflect the criticism by having left leaning comedians which is not exactly a counterweight.
It’s structurally rotten and I refuse to pay the TV licence while it is so.
Academic studies have shown they have a clear bias in their political reporting.
Interesting. Would you be able to point me to any?
their biased reporting on the Israeli genocide of Palestine is enough to question the accuracy of any news they report. You don’t need to report too many lies before you lose all credibility.
I’m glad we have the BBC and I follow its news, but it has its problems and deserves criticism on some fronts.
Not an exhaustive list by any means but it’s very prone to legitimising harmful attitudes by false equivalence, and it’s very TERFy/transphobic.
it has its problems and deserves criticism on some fronts
I agree. I don’t have any problem with the BBC being criticised. What I do have a problem with is how intellectually shallow and borderline childish such criticism often is, as is evident in many of the other comments.
prone to legitimising harmful attitudes by false equivalence
I don’t see that in their journalism. I see them reporting countering perspectives on topics.
it’s very TERFy/transphobic
I would attribute the fault to the current political climate, not the BBC.
The BBC as a whole is great. The news programming though…
It’s admittedly still one of the better ones - and on non-political reporting is probably still fairly trustworthy, but it’s been shifting further and further right for the last 15 years, to the point where it’s just embarrassing to pretend they’re anywhere near balanced these days. It spends an awful lot of time promoting Nigel Farage for something which is pretending to be impartial.
I think the shift in reporting is a reflection of the society more than anything else.
Perhaps - though the comedy, drama, radio, documentaries etc are mostly still fairly “centre to centre left” - it’s mostly just the news reporting.
It often seems like the “shift in society” has been manufactured, and that that the BBC have been part of this manufacture - and that shift is really just a change in boldness, volume and support - people are loud and proud about hating people over race or gender etc.
I feel a far larger part of the shift was when the Tories threatened the BBC with funding cuts, cancellation and “sharing the licence fee with poor impoverished media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch” unless they removed their “left wing bias” (actually central bias at the time) and starting promoting a “balanced” (actually right to far-right) viewpoint. This was accompanied by sacking and replacing key staff members with their own right-promoting appointees.
That’s continued and got worse - they’ve spent much of the last decade promoting the voices of increasingly extreme right-wing viewpoints, and either silencing, mocking or generating controversy about any minor centre or left-wing viewpoints.
None of those people changed when the government did, so it’s stayed in the right and possibly drifted even further. Remember that in terms of many of its social policies, our current Labour government is more right wing then Cameron’s Tory government was.
Whitewashing a genocide is enough of a reason for me to never trust another thing they ever say, ever again.
