The BBC ..or is it just me?

Gromit...why 17th July...something I have missed? I hope not cos I have booked a week away in a hotel on the Isle of Wight towards the end of April. Rash I know but there are no cancellation charges.

I see the BBC have highlighted the fact that the UK death total has surpassed 100k yet, every day on the news and their website, they report the numbers relating to deaths following a positive test within 28 days....a slightly lower number....currently 98,531 not counting today's...
So, they got their 'headline' a day or so early....perhaps another one around Thursday?

Hi Bob

I think it's genuine. There are reports that Boris has quietly extended the legislation to allow for the lockdown to continue until then.

"The British government has extended lockdown laws to give councils the power to close pubs, restaurants, shops and public spaces until July 17, and has also decided to quarantine travelers from high-risk Covid-19 countries for at least 10 days as it is unable to arrest the rising numbers of new Covid variant infections.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday, the British government has quietly extended lockdown laws to give councils the power to close pubs, restaurants, shops and public spaces until July 17."

P.S.

"The regulation, which applies to England only, was due to expire last week but has now been extended until July 17, around the date when school summer holidays begin, the Telegraph added."

here is the link to the BBC survey if anybody wishes to take part bbc.co.uk/send/u61149175

I am not sure it would be a good idea for the government to be too upbeat at the moment. As soon as they do we will have the idiots calling for the lock down released the next day. 

It was bad enough yesterday with Laura Doomsbergh lambasting the health secretary for not telling us when the schools will open

bolero boy wrote:I see the BBC have highlighted the fact that the UK death total has surpassed 100k yet, every day on the news and their website, they report the numbers relating to deaths following a positive test within 28 days....a slightly lower number....currently 98,531 not counting today's...
So, they got their 'headline' a day or so early....perhaps another one around Thursday?

As it happens, today's death total was so bad that the 'other' method also passed this grim milestone. Very sad situation....looks like cases are continuing to fall, thank goodness, and hospital places also levelling off

groundhog wrote:
I still regard the comparison as meaningless 

I can’t disagree with that, might have been a bit better if he compared the timescale of the deaths, the war lasting 6 years whereas COVID has only been around for 11 months.

But I find it better if I can relate to the comparison, I live on an avenue with about 300 houses, so today’s reported deaths of about 1600 which would be twice the number of residents of our avenue. 
Or the excess deaths since last March is nearing 120.000 which equates to nearly half the population of this city.

Anyway the bad news is that the snow seems to have finished and we haven’t seen any!

Mike

Just given up watching the news now hopefully as new cases fall the death rate will drop accordingly.

Regarding the comments below on the British Broadcasting for the Conservatives news broadcasts.

The thing that really annoys me are the evening 'briefings', where ministers and experts come on air, offer excuses for inaction and poor decision making and then fail to answer direct questions. The thing that worries me, is that these propaganda sessions aired by the BBC are to continue into the future after this pandemic with a media front face.

There is an alternative. Turn over.

I don’t think you can blame the BBC for any shortcomings of the Govt or it’s advisors.

The BBC is the publicly funded national broadcaster so is the natural home for broadcasting information to the nation.

You've found the answer though 

Wheeler dealers is a on at  6pm on another channel

The Americans have had presidential briefings for a long time. There is a case for a government to present information to the public on the current issue of the day at any time.

How many bother to watch BBC Parliament otherwise.

I'm one of those sad ones who occasionally watches BBC Parliament - because it's the cornerstone of our democratic society.

The trouble with visual briefings (as opposed to feeding info to the press and media lobby) is that it personalises things: take a dislike / like (however irrational) to the spokesperson and you'll take a similar attitude to the info.  

I do not want a Presidential constitution but we seem doomed to that.....

Cymro

It's not the job of the BBC to question the government, that's the role of Her Majesty's Opposition, their job is to report the news. 
Rich..

I'm not sure many journalists would agree with that, good investigative journalism is an essential part of holding government to account.

You only have to look at the regimes that do their best to control the press to see how much it is needed.

It is surely the job of investigative journalists to investigate the facts and report them. What is not there job is to then spin those facts in to a story for the sake of sensationalism to maximise viewing numbers or circulation figures. 
I have lived and worked in Countries where the press work WITH the Government and that is a whole different ball park to being CONTROLLED by the Government. The UK is Internationally known as being a hotbed for press intrusion, I want the likes of Piers Morgan or Andrew Marr to ask the difficult questions of course, report them but then let me interpret them. I also see nothing wrong in interviewees saying "no" to answering a question or simply saying "I do not have an answer to that" without attempts at bullying follow ups.

I was interviewed by the BBC on the launch of a new airline and the opening question from the reporter was "What makes you think this airline will last and will not go bust", what sort of question is that!  My reply was "May I suggest you ask me some sensible questions if you wish to continue this interview or I will leave now", They edited the interview from some twenty minutes to about five ( no problem with that) but leaving out much of the relevant fact and including his trivia, the Guy wasn't reporting he was creating a story.

You may have guessed I am not keen on the British press... any of them

Spinning dubious storylines is not quite the same as questioning the government plans and performance.

I don't disagree with your point about press standards but to trust the calibre of the current opposition to question the government effectively is insufficient. If nothing else Boris is too strong in parliament.

The scenario you experienced with the BBC has been repeated many a time and by every media, I've had it myself. If your submission does not fit their editorial bias then the media will bend it the way they want.

HairyFool wrote:I'm not sure many journalists would agree with that, good investigative journalism is an essential part of holding government to account.

You only have to look at the regimes that do their best to control the press to see how much it is needed.

Imo political invstigative journalists are biased to a point of having massive influence on their employers output. I still maintain the opposition should be left to question the government.   This is why I hope the BBC model is brought to account. 
Rich..

What a terrible broadcaster the BBC is! There is another story though.
Things the BBC does that others don’t:
It doesn’t have ads in the middle of programmes
It has to reveal it’s wage structure by law - pay equality and OTT contracts are worse in other mainstream media.
It has lots of TV stations covering a wide range of interests
It has many radio stations  broadcasting to a wider range of interests than any other radio outlets. Who else does comedy and intelligent stuff?
It innovates new shows and formats and encourages new talent - then pinched by other stations.
It has most of the best loved, watched and listened to programmes.
It runs several orchestras, performance venues and showcases new musical talent.
It has a department encouraging new drama and comedy writers.
It has a massive internet presence in education and information - it even has a Have Your Say news site for Grumpies and Brexiteers to moan about the BBC. ITV and Sky don’t.
It has programmes dedicated to moral discussion, no other radio station does.
It doesn’t exist to make a profit.

On the other hand it has as many reports of it’s right wing bias as it’s left wing. Every complaint made about it’s poor news coverage and rubbish programmes can be levelled at every other newspaper and media outlet.

I'd argue your first point re not advertising.

One of the most annoying things for me is the incessant advertising for the BEEB's own programmes.
They seem to appear within and between most programmes and are getting just as bad, if not worse, than the commercials.

I will agree 100% with nuevoboy. Put the stop watch on the bbc ads between programs. Yes they are ads

BBC produces, commission's or buys programmes that are timed for commercial Chanels. What looks like a half hour programme will be 23 minutes and an hour programme 46 minutes to allow schedulers in commercial and digital channels to work in half hour blocks including adverts 

Result is BBC has timing issue it fills with its own inane in house adverts

I agree essentially agree both with Peterm and nuevoboy. The BBC has lost its way particularly in objective reporting, and yes the endless ads for programmes drive me mad, and yet many programmes pop up completely unheralded...usually the most interesting ones. However it is clear that the BBC is subject to so many pressures (dare I say PC pressures) that seemingly do not seem to apply to other broadcasters.

The BBC is far from perfect but I have travelled a fair bit in my working life and have seen other broadcasters in many countries. Some simply insult the intelligence in their populist banality. I am thinking particularly of US and Japan. Often when away I would tune into the BBC World News or World Service for more objective reporting.

So beware what you wish for....what’s  the expression about baby and bath water?

Oh and I forgot to mention I no longer watch the BBC News at 10.00. A relentless diet of gloom and foreboding, each item trying to be more heart wrenching  than the previous one.

Bilbobaggins wrote:BBC produces, commission's or buys programmes that are timed for commercial Chanels. What looks like a half hour programme will be 23 minutes and an hour programme 46 minutes to allow schedulers in commercial and digital channels to work in half hour blocks including adverts 

Result is BBC has timing issue it fills with its own inane in house adverts

Inane indeed! 
I'd rather watch one of the old "Intermission" films - the potters wheel or speeded up London to Brighton train ride