BBC World Petition to E*

[Mr Tony]

Only if hating the US is your primary criterion.

no it isn't. I have access to a few news stations from around the world like CBC, Al Jazeera English, Press TV (Iran) and Russia Today to name a few.

You'd be amazed on what you can see on those. Yes they are all in English and none are anti US.

 

[kstuart]

I've watched hundreds, if not thousands of hours of BBC News and hating the US is a constant, albeit subtle, feature. I'm not referring to US Government policy, either. Unfortunately, I never bothered to make notes about specifics.

If you listen to real UK radio stations, you will eventually come across commercial advertisements for broadcasts that use America-hating as a selling point.

Only if getting in-depth journalism on TV is your primary criterion.

Fantasy.

I don't think that you have to hate the US to know that our news outlets are infotainment and no longer journalism. It doesn't even depend on which end of the political spectrum you are on.

The fact that BBC News is also infotainment is clear from their extensive coverage of the Scott Petersen trial.

Scott Petersen was a great litmus test for "news" - since he wasn't news. Crimes like his occur in every country every year. He was not even a celebrity like OJ.

BBC News had extensive coverage, clear proof that they are just as much "infotainment" as any US news outlet.

 

[kstuart]

Don't forget, Top Gear is finally on BBC World Service. Anyone who loves cars, this is the must see tv programme

It's been on BBC World for years, but they show a highly edited version, that removes most of the comedic parts, and the UK-specific content, and the result is just a pale imitation of the original. (Unfortunately, the same is true of a lot of the programming on BBC America as well, simply because they cut for length).

And,welcome to Satellite Guys!

 

[techie99]

thanks, just signed the petition

 

[leegart]

The fact that BBC News is also infotainment is clear from their extensive coverage of the Scott Petersen trial..

No news operation is perfect and BBC, like others has issues. You still get a higher content of relevant international news with in depth analysis from sources with many points of view.

The American media consider a story covered when Democratic and Republican talking heads are on reading off pre-formulated talking points in the interview and then the host lets them get away with not answering anything but softball questions.

I would like knowledgeable journalists investigating what is said and reporting the view from many perspectives.

 

[Tyralak]

I don't think that you have to hate the US to know that our news outlets are infotainment and no longer journalism. It doesn't even depend on which end of the political spectrum you are on.

Very true. Sometimes I think that aliens could land in Washington D.C., but if Brittney Spears flashed a news crew on the same day, the aliens would get about five minutes and it would be all Brittney all day long.

 

[Tyralak]

No news operation is perfect and BBC, like others has issues. You still get a higher content of relevant international news with in depth analysis from sources with many points of view.

The American media consider a story covered when Democratic and Republican talking heads are on reading off pre-formulated talking points in the interview and then the host lets them get away with not answering anything but softball questions.

I would like knowledgeable journalists investigating what is said and reporting the view from many perspectives.

The one thing I appreciate about the British press, is they don't claim some sort of journalistic neutrality. They usually are quite open about the way they slant. I don't care which way a news outlet leans, I just want them to be honest about it so we have full disclosure. That being said, relying on a single source or even a single medium for news is foolish. I recommend a wide diet of news sources and mediums, then make up your own mind what you think.

 

[kb7oeb]

Scott Petersen was a great litmus test for "news" - since he wasn't news. Crimes like his occur in every country every year. He was not even a celebrity like OJ.

That's a good test, the coverage of the entire Jackson trial on PBS's the News Hour consisted of a sentence saying the trial had ended and he was acquitted.

Very true. Sometimes I think that aliens could land in Washington D.C., but if Brittney Spears flashed a news crew on the same day, the aliens would get about five minutes and it would be all Brittney all day long.

Replace aliens with Peter Pace and Spears with Paris Hilton and it already happened. Cable news cut away from the Secretary of Defense announcing Pace's "retirement" to cover Hilton's drive to the courthouse.

I took some searching but I found a clip
MSNBC Cuts Away From Pentagon To Paris - The Huffington Post

There was another clip where the control room interrupted the live announcement to show the same clip of nothing happening.

Even Leno showed the clip and ripped on MSNBC

 

[cebbigh]

Only if hating the US is your primary criterion.

Just signed the petition. And no, as an Air Force Veteran, I don't hate the US.

 

[kstuart]

Just signed the petition. And no, as an Air Force Veteran, I don't hate the US.

No, not the viewers - the journalists (that the petitioners hope to view).

 

[yaz96]

No, not the viewers - the journalists (that the petitioners hope to view).

That's just your opinion.....

and you are wrong... in my opinion

And how can you make that sweeping generalization about other World News services that have been mentioned as well?

Let us have all the information we want and let us decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.

 

[kstuart]

When the US was opposed by the Soviet Union, then Europeans could feel good about the US, because the Soviet Union was obviously worth opposing.

Now that the US is the only superpower, it is automatically resented, regardless of policy. It's just human nature.

 

[kstuart]

That's just your opinion....

No, amazingly enough, it's actually the BBC's opinion:

“I mean in our office there’s a picture of Bush as Hitler. I don’t know where they got it, but yes, Bush as Hitler. It’s quite a serious thing comparing Bush to Hitler! So did anyone in the newsroom in question object? No. Nobody did.”

The newsroom in question is one of the main newsrooms of the BBC. The crucial thing about the quotation above - from a BBC journalist - is that no BBC staffer objected to the poster being put on the wall of one of the major newsrooms of the world's most influential broadcaster. The anti-American bias of the BBC was recently acknowledged by the Corporation's own Washington correspondent, Justin Webb. Mr Webb told a BBC seminar that his employer treated America with scorn and derision and gave it 'no moral weight'.

and

"America is often portrayed as an ignorant, unsophisticated sort of place, full of bible bashers and ruled to a dangerous extent by trashy television, superstition and religious bigotry, a place lacking in respect for evidence based knowledge. I know that is how it is portrayed because I have done my bit to paint that picture..." BBC's Washington correspondent Justin Webb.

and some UK citizens:

BBC viewers vent their anger at 'anti-US' bias of Iraq coverage

The BBC has received an unprecedented number of complaints at the alleged anti-war and anti-American tone of its coverage of the Iraqi crisis.​

More than 400 viewers have rung the corporation in the past few weeks to complain that it has shown overwhelming bias. It is one of the largest reactions from viewers ever recorded.​

One programme to attract opprobrium was the screening of a debate on Newsnight two weeks ago in which Tony Blair was savaged by an overwhelmingly anti-war audience. A Panorama programme on the crisis three weeks ago, which featured very few speakers in favour of military action, also provoked a hostile reaction.​

Viewers have complained that BBC interviews with "ordinary Iraqis" in Baghdad routinely fail to point out that they risk death if they criticise Saddam Hussein. Many others have been incensed by BBC journalists seeming to add personal comment to their reports that is openly opposed to American policy and a possible war.​

and their most famous citizen:

Tony Blair has denounced the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina as 'full of hatred of America' and 'gloating' at the country's plight, it was reported yesterday.

and even Hillary's husband:

Bill Clinton, the former US President who was hosting the conference, also attacked the tone of the BBC coverage at a seminar on the media. He said it had been 'stacked up' to criticise the federal government's slow response.

Even I was amazed to find no support whatsoever for the concept of BBC's impartiality in the comments on:

BBC report finds bias within corporation - Telegraph

 

[yapagaldil]

I guess not many of you realize the influence of BBC on the rest of the world. I come from a country where there were only gov. radio and tv stations (now it's not the case). The only other source of information was BBC and VOA beside the newspapers which were always under heavy pressure from the government.

Yes, BBC is bias but as are many other news organization. Why not listen to everybody and make your own mind. Isn't this what we are looking for? One thing I realized coming to US was the information flow is always WEST to EAST but now the tide is changing a bit. We have to give a change to other people and listen to them and see what we can learn from them or how we can correct them.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[leegart]

We have to give a change to other people and listen to them and see what we can learn from them or how we can correct them.

It is always good to have more information rather than less. I would hope we all can listen critically and use our own life experience and knowledge to filter out what we feel is biased from what we feel is balanced. If you feel BBC, RFI, Deutsche Welle, or CNN International is not objective, then be a critical viewer but you still may get something out of watching (even to know how others see things).

Regardless, the more you are exposed to, the more informed you are.

The foreign news services would enhance our knowledge base. DISH would be doing a tremendous service to use some of its capacity to provide news services that you don't have on the networks or on cable.

This is an advantage that satellite technology could have that neither DIRECT nor DISH are using to its potential.