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BBC Controversies?
bingoman
Posts: 23,938 Forum Member
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Just been reading on Wikipedia about the BBC and the thing they have done down the years including the Cliff Richard Raid on his Home & I cannot believe the amount of Controversies they have been Involved in since the BBC started:o
Some of it's there own doing as already mention & some not in there control like Richard Bacon taking Drugs & it seem to me the like of Jeremy Clarkson always seems to get way with an Apology and if was anyone else at the Corporation would have been sacked
Is there any other Company other than the BBC that can have so many Controversies and still get away with it
Plus not sure weather or not it should be the Broadcasting section or should be in Genenal Disscussion
Some of it's there own doing as already mention & some not in there control like Richard Bacon taking Drugs & it seem to me the like of Jeremy Clarkson always seems to get way with an Apology and if was anyone else at the Corporation would have been sacked
Is there any other Company other than the BBC that can have so many Controversies and still get away with it
Plus not sure weather or not it should be the Broadcasting section or should be in Genenal Disscussion
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Are there any government departments around this long that haven't been embroiled in large amounts of controversy? might be a better question to ask.
Bear in mind that other media outlets play up everything that goes wrong at the BBC, as they would all benefit from it's closure, so it wouldn't surprise me if actually a similar number of things had gone wrong at ITV and C4, but simply weren't reported to same extent because of this.
Relating to Blue Peter, there was the phone competition scandal when technical fault meant they got a young girl visiting the studio to phone the programme, having told them her answer. Thus cheating young competition entrants out of their money.
Of course, there is the Jimmy Savill scandal in which we still do not really know how much the BBC knew about that case.
Re Savile it's coming out that Savile did his worst at the NHS, who were far more lax and negligent with Savile than the BBC. Savile was in BBC studios because that was his job, and shows like TOTP were adult only audiences anyway. The NHS gave him keys giving him 24/7 access all areas and living accommodation inside hospitals, despite warnings and many nurses 'knowing' what he was doing and complaining about him and he didn't even work there! They knowingly bypasses any vetting that any other volunteer would have had to go through.
The NHS? They let Savile do far more than he did at the BBC, and they've had nurses kill people, rationed drugs and treatment by postcode, wasted £12 billion on an IT system they then scrapped, charge sick people and their visitors huge parking fees, let foreign patients get treatment without paying, the Alder Hey organ scandal, Bristol heart scandal, the NHS dentist shortage, wasting billions on PFI schemes, fiddling waiting times by keeping emergency patients waiting in ambulances, MRSA etc etc.
And you're worried about Richard Bacon taking some coke?
...and of course ITV Play closed due to issues relating to phone-in competitions.
People had been complaining for years about the competitions and phone scams at ITV it wasn't till a whistleblower came forward that can of worms was opened up to the public, including giving an award to Ant & Dec they had not won.
How many controversies has ITV stalwart Phillip Schofield single handed been involved with over the years, his infamous 'internet list' his punishment not made public because ITV does not have to. And don't forgot Schofield only got the ITV gig because the presenter had been suspended.
Fern Britton has had her own controversies whilst at ITV as did Richard Maddley and if we delve into the archives there was Stan Boardman and his little 'fukkers'.
Numerous Coronation Street actors over the years have had controversies, including domestic violence, assault, sexual charges and taking cocaine on set.
But as I put out ITV and other commercial channels don't have to provide answers, they can sweep it all under a PR blanket and move on. Where is the inquiry into what ITV knew about Savile when he worked regularly for Granada & Yorkshire Television?
The BBC can be it's worst enemy by showing its news department is truly independent as witnessed by its reporting of the 'fracas'. It was an interview during the Today programme on the BBC that ended the previous DG's days at the BBC. It was the BBC that has made & broadcast investigative documentaries that have exposed its work doings.
Channel 4 has learnt being open and frank does yourself no good, so it has dropped programmes that such as "Right of Reply", the modern equivalent being "Gogglebox" where the viewer is the star and the programme makers are not quizzed.
Channel 4 had major controversies over Big Brother, its response was to commission the production company that makes Big Brother, who had a commercial reason to gloss over its mistakes and cover ups...which it did compared to the evidence provided by C4 to various organisations.
If I were the BBC I'd stop the self flagellation because they won't get any praise for it, as witnessed by this thread.
Congratulations on the most ridiculously ambiguous post ever...
Handled what things? In what way? How is it disgraceful? Who would investigate them?
And if you mean Clarkson, grow the hell up, most people would get fired for causing several diplomatic scandals and punching/swinging a punch at superior. Clarkson gets congratulated and people want the producer fired. What the hell happened to people? Being moderately funny isn't an excuse to get away with gross misconduct, and if you think it is you're perhaps a little bit too childish for employment...
A full public enquiry about how they deal with these issues and presenters on high wages and how they deal with public opinion. Many many issues to cover..
Heard Sky News investigation intro Lambeth in the 90s yesterday?
We're going to need a bigger prison.
Not a controversy either. A news organisation (in this case the BBC) was tipped off by the police that a newsworthy item was happening.
The police may have been in the wrong, but I'd be more concerned if the BBC didn't cover it.
I would much rather they spend the money on programmes then yet more enquiries. The BBC must be the most closely scrutinised organisation in the UK with every vested interest and pressure group complaining about every little detail and wanting most of the BBC staff to spend their time investigating each other.
Can we have an enquiry into how Sky, ITV, CH4, the newspapers etc 'deal with issues', pay much higher fees (not 'wages' to presenters and everyone else working for them) and how they deal with public opinion (though we know they just ignore it, unlike the BBC which has lots of systems for consultations with the public).
I get the rather strong impression at times that various other outlets still think the News should be their preserve and that the BBC should butt out, or at least put it behind a paywal.
The BBC Charter requires it to provide news programming and more people in the UK get their news from the BBC than any other source (although hundreds are available of course).I see local newspapers are currently moaning about the BBC and claiming it is taking news from them instead of realising the papers they are producing are just poor - my local paper carries endless uncritical accounts of the doings of the local MP for instance, very few of which are actually newsworthy.
An inquiry as to how the BBC conducts inquiries?
As has been discussed many times, if you want high quality presenters you have to be prepared to pay (close to) market rates. If the BBC were to offer peanuts, the only people you'd get a desperate media students lacking in experience, and then you'd bemoan the fact they sucked as presenters.
How the BBC deals with public opinion in regards to what? How the BBC lets public opinion influence it's commissioning and editorial policies?
I am sure I remember Sky trying that on when Sky News started, one of their people suggested BBC should stop doing news. A certain Andrew Neil!
Would that be the Rupert Murdoch lackey Andrew Neill ?
You didn't do a lot of research did you? All companies or large organisations have issues, ITV has had a few soap actors and weatherman in court, Savile worked for Government and NHS more then the BBC. The owners of Sky under Murdoch you think are perfect? Have you heard of Hacking? LOL?. Not a week goes by in the news that someone has done this or that.
The thing is certain newspapers, and the daily mail have interests in media do only report issues on the BBC and ignore their own connections, so The Sun will not have a bad word for Sky, DM as it has interests in ITV tends not to say anything against it.
You may wish to believe the daily mail, most of us understand the real truth.
Clarkson:- they took swift action.
The license fee payer funds these programmes the others are ad funded so can do what they want as they are privatley owned. If it's in the publics interest then an enquiry needs to be held.
He was at that time.
You can opt out of the licence by not having a TV set. You cannot opt out of the even higher payment to ITV etc from the cost of advertising. At least not unless you only by unbranded goods and produce your own utilities like gas and electricity.