Harriet Harman spoke and the BBC listened.
Harman, Deputy Labour Party Leader, Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport gave her speech last night on capping Media monopoly and the BBC have already started to implement her ideas…capping their news output…by not reporting anything she said.
Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Sweet Fanny Adams.
A speech from someone in her position on a subject of unique interest to the BBC….and yet not a dicky bird today.
The speech is all over the internet and the newpapers…..but one of the world’s most powerful news gatherers and providers has decided not to report the speech…how so?
Amusingly Harman says:
There’s an absolute aversion to that [political interference in the press] from all sides of the House of Commons. No parliamentarian has called for political interference in the press.
And:
….this isn’t just about Rupert Murdoch.
Pull the other one Harry!
Actually the BBC didn’t miss the story…on the 8th of May they broadcast an interview with Harman on this very subject on the Media Show. (3 mins in)…but not reported in the ‘news’ as far as I can see.
…and yes…it is ALL about Murdoch….the ‘culture of invincibiltiy….dictating the political agenda’.
The interviewer was reasonably rigorous and fair and put the question to her:
‘Do you include the BBC as part of your calculations?‘
She ignored that.
He asked again:
‘Do you think the BBC is too big a force…it had 59% share of the news in 2003 and that rose to 74% in 2011?’
Harman replied that ….no, the BBC is not included…there is all the difference in the world between a privately owned broadcaster and a public broadcaster which has its own mechanisms for accountability [ha ha] and no I don’t include it as a monopoly…it’s not a private monopoly.
I put it on one side….the standards the BBC offers are important..it offers a gold standard for other broadcasters…the role of the BBC is absolutely essential…there is no need for protection from the BBC, far from it, we need to strengthen the BBC.
So the BBC has 74% share of the news…and that will only get bigger as Harman’s regulation would be implemented and other news providers reined in…..nice plan…especially as the BBC supports Labour and left wing political narratives.
One interesting point was raised….as newspapers are struggling and some may ‘go under’….that makes the survivors bigger by default….Harman’s regulation would mean that they would then have to cut their newspaper sales to reduce their share of the market…a never ending death spiral resulting in one state controlled media provider running the show.
No political interference? Doesn’t she know that Communism doesn’t work?
I hope that transcript is being shouted about from the rooftops in the print media as the public really ought to know about this. You are right it is creeping Communism.
Fascism, more like.
The two are much the same
its not creeping communism, its always been there. MI5 used to have an office at Al Beeb because of all the subversive communists/ socialists that work there. Room 105 closed in 1988. its probably run from MI5 itself now
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Stonham
The one footnote references a hilarious Time Magazine article from 1985.
The Secret of Room 105
Another embarrassing disclosure for the BBC
For the second time in a month, the journalistic independence of the British Broadcasting Corporation has been called into question. First, the BBC acceded last month to a government demand that a television documentary about Northern Ireland be killed. (After widespread protest, BBC officials announced that a modified version would air at a future date.) This time the furor is over the revelation that MI5, Britain’s domestic counterintelligence service, has for decades been a secret participant in decisions to hire, fire and promote BBC employees.
The funniest part is this:
British journalists acknowledged a need for some kind of policy to guard BBC ranks from infiltration by extremists or agents of foreign governments. But, editorialized the ‘Times’, ”by turning to MI5, the BBC has turned the wrong way.” As the ‘Daily Telegraph’ saw it, asking MI5 to participate revealed a basic problem of the BBC, namely, that it has an ”ambivalent relationship to the state as both ‘voice of the nation’ and an independent journalistic enterprise.’
I’ll say it does.
And you need only listen to “Any Questions” that was on earlier( 8p.m Radio 4 14/6/13) to see where this BBC monopoly on virtue and public service leads us.
I had rather hoped to hear something from the likes of Daniel Hannan-instead all I got were audience muppets clapping wildly when ever the lefties spoke and calls to resign whenever the coalition bloke spoke…oh, and boos for Hannan when he said that education had been debauched by Labour(only in blander language, but still too distressing for lefty audience types).
This is not the first time I`ve seen a rolling Judge Freisler trail heading round the country, under the all-benign auspices of a Dimbleby.
We really ought to be dismantling the BBC before these audience types get yet more succour for howling down those they don`t agree with. The lefties on the panel are getting more emboldened to harrass and interrupt voices that are not theirs…and the BBC seems to like that.
I`ll give free speech five years at this rate if we don`t ennervate that self-righteous bunch of public school. public service hypocrites that want the peace of the grave for us, but a nice Chianti for themselves…as they burn the Bible, but carry the Qu`ran around like a Bahrain Grand Prix winner.
Wake up England.
chrisH,
“…instead all I got were audience muppets clapping wildly when ever the lefties spoke and calls to resign whenever the coalition bloke spoke…oh, and boos for Hannan when he said that education had been debauched by Labour…”
Complete nonsense.
There seemed to be a rather small audience with roughly equal amounts of clapping for each speaker. One (or perhaps two) people shouted out after Hannan’s education answer – against a background of applause. The same (one) person called out twice near the end for the “coalition bloke” to resign.
And that’s it. One mouthy guy in the audience shouts something MORE THAN TWICE in 45 minutes…
And…
“I`ll give free speech five years at this rate… wake up England”
Perhaps you should stick to the ‘humorous’ posts ChrisH; when you try to be serious you end up sounding like a comedian.
Did the audience forget to turn up? Or did they book into a room over the George and Dragon? I sensed they were all sitting in a circle like in a primary school. Seemed very cozy!
Dez, i wonder how big the file is that MI5 has on you
If you want “comedy gold” just return back to when Dez told us he is on the Left because he is more caring. Public sector parasite.
Do you mean this public sector?
‘The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has identified cuts it says could save around £120 billion, enough to effectively wipe out the UK’s budget deficit, without “closing a single hospital, firing a single teacher or disbanding a single regiment”.
It recommends a number of major reforms to claw back cash in its Bumper Book of Government Waste, including shaving £53 billion off the pay and pensions packages of public sector workers – the amount it claims they are being overpaid compared to the private sector average.’
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/useless-public-spending-condemned-29346060.html
Yes THAT one
Wild,
“If you want “comedy gold” just return back to when Dez told us he is on the Left because he is more caring.”
Oh really? When was that? Please do remind me…
“Public sector parasite.”
Erm, ‘Earth to Wild’; I don’t work in the public sector.
You declared that it was because you are more caring that you believe in high taxation. Do you not even remember your own posts? Sorry I am not going to trawl through months worth of comments to find it. I am sure even you would agree that you are not worth it.
What I will do is ask you is which bit you disagree with?
1) You believe in high (as opposed to low) taxation.
2) You believe in high taxation on the grounds that you are more caring than those who believe in low taxation.
You say you do not work in the Public Sector worker. Fair enough.
For some vitally important topics free speech has already been abolished by law. For example, it is impossible now to have an open and honest discussion about immigration and its effects for fear of ‘offending’ someone and so breaking the law.
On many other topics the BBC has led the charge to make views , other than those of the liberal left, morally unacceptable and for people to howled down and vilified if they dare to express contrary views, even if those views are not extreme and are probably held by a sizeable proportion of the British people.
The BBC is a major factor in shaping the views and culture of our country. Unfortunately it has chosen to shape them so as to those conform with the views and culture of a narrow, self serving, liberal left elite who only represent a fraction of the total population.
Ms Harmann and many in the Labour party of course are from that elite and they know that the BBC is valuable to them and must be protected and shielded and it monopoly extended so as to deny any opposition a voice. So much for a country that was once a standard bearer of democracy when many of its citizens are now deprived of a voice.
I listened to Any Questions too.
ChrisH’s summary of the show is a complete fiction.
I agree: it really wasn’t very bad, except for the heckler near the end who interrupted and shouted “resign” a few times. The audience was small and quiet, which gave the whole show a strange feel. The applause for the left-of-centre views seemed a little louder but not by much. This edition was far better than the one a week before, from mid-Wales, where there did seem to be some vocal and partisan people in the audience trying to shout down one or two panellists.
The missing ingredient is fear; socialists have nothing to fear in our country these days and so, just like children, they will push their irrational self interest until either they do themselves some harm or until an adult comes along and gives them a resounding slap on the arse.
Socialists fear the truth, that’s why they don’t like free speech.
That’s why the BBC’s favourite political correct statement is “you can’t say that”.
The Times has a nice editorial today, a lovely tongue-in-cheek article taking Ms Harman’s words on capping media monopolies and questioning why she therefore wants to destroy the BBC.
It comes as some surprise to learn that Ms Harman nurses a secret loathing of Britain’s national broadcaster, not least because its politics can only rarely grate with her own. But what else can possibly be going on?
Obviously, it would be outrageous to suggest that she had deliberately chosen to omit the BBC from consideration, to conceal the fact that her motivation is not some nebulous desire for plurality at all, but an outright attempt to harm the fortunes of particular media organisations. Maybe she has simply forgotten about the BBC altogether. She will feel rather foolish when she remembers.
Can anyone with access to their website (£) post the full text? http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/leaders/article3790840.ece
Of course she was not including the BBC are we stupid it is like her saying we measure all entities by cost and product.
Alan,
“Harriet Harman… blah blah”
“Rupert Murdoch… blah blah”
“BBC… blah blah”
Evidence if ever it was needed that the right exists in a perpetual state of victimhood.
Biased-BBC:- A bunch of white-middle-aged-men endlessly wallowing in their own self pity.
Ah, thanks for that cogent, lucid argument as to why people should blindly take the BBC at its word. Thanks, I was so wondering why I should do just that, your treatise has made it all very clear to me now.
Now, remind me also, which particular political structures broach no dissent from the central published narrative, seek to drown out any question as to why that may be a touch un-democratic, and seek to denigrate and demonize any opposition by ad hominem attacks rather than reasoned argument, and, if all else fails, attempts to crush any vehicle which might be used to even discuss the issue.
It wouldn`t if it had any choice in paying for it though eh Dez?
Yet it`s a compulsory regressive tax on the “poor and vulnerable” that does not discriminate between different levels of ability to pay for it..let alone differing degrees of education.(come on Dez-I`ve left you an open goal here!).
But you see no problem with that-just a load of white van men carping on that Harman, Ross, Brand, Montagues etc…let alone Saviles and Halls-are getting public sector lamination sine die at the expense of ourselves and our kids.
God, we`re ungrateful curs aren`t we Dez?…thank God the BBC can call upon the likes of you to pop along and show us the liberal alternative.
Only wish you`d stop the pointless smash and grab raids-didn`t hear much from you about Woolwich as I recall…and I`ll not ask about those BBC wastes of our money in its digital shambles, or its Salford scandals.
It`s such fun being a BBC stoolie….why ruin a perfectly good nights brainwashing , by haggling about costs or reasons for it all eh?
It`s for the Common Good-no further questions eh Dez?
Yes, as you mention, it is strange that we didn’t hear much from him after Woolwich. The silence was deafening.
He’s never said anything about 28gate or Balen, either. Isn’t that strange?
The BBC’s licence for 74 percent coverage of news could be put up for competitive tendering, but they would have to split it into five equal units to comply with Labour’s anti-monopoly plans. Either that or Murdock could be given a 74 percent monopoly on two conditions.
(1) He is given a Charter for a Liberal establishment Trust with Lord Patten as head, to make sure that the Labour party is satisfied that he has the correct left-wing Liberal impartiality.
(2) Murdoch is allowed to impose a compulsory subscription for Sky, on everyone in the UK, whether or not they watch Sky, and all enforced by law.
The white bit is racist and the men bit is sexist. we can all play your game when it suits.
Beness your wasting your time,he has his fingers shoved into his ears. Bit like my grand daughter when she is being told something she doesn’t want to hear.
My grand daughter has the same problem. but i think she’ll grow out of it when she gets to 18 months old.
I just can’t understand why the conservatives have not done something about the BBC. It is just a joke I listen to 5live nearly all day, and the constant drip drip in every area of left wing bilge. They vet all telephone calls let on idiots to prove that the Right are knuckle heads. I just despair.
Click to access bbc_immigration_report.pdf
Read within, it states cases of them picking on people who have trouble with articulating themselves who happen to oppose the views the BBC espouse.
And:
….this isn’t just about Rupert Murdoch.
Pull the other one Harry!
Well it isn’t just about the Murdoch group! What’s better than shuttin down the hated Sun with its page 3 models? Why closing the Daily Mail as well, which has a greater than 15% share of the newspaper market.