End the BBC Licence Fee - Petition

[threegee]

A timely piece:

 

BBC must disclose its £22m-plus interest in Britain's continued membership of the EU
Published Jun 11, 2015

 

UKIP Deputy Leader Paul Nuttall MEP has today written to Lord Hall, Director-General of the BBC, pointing out that the corporation does not disclose in its coverage of the EU the tens of millions of pounds which it receives from the European Commission: "An examination of the European Commission's website discloses that between 2007 and 2013 the BBC received €30.2m, approximately £22.1m, from the commission. Millions more have been paid since."

"The debate on the referendum of Britain's membership of the EU is clearly one in which the BBC has a duty to observe impartiality in its coverage. I am concerned however that the BBC, should it continue on present form, will fail in this duty."

He went onto say: "There are too many examples of the failure of the BBC to disclose to their audience the financial links between those being interviewed and the largesse of the EU institutions."

In particular, the UKIP Deputy Leader is concerned about the large number of representatives of universities, trade and industrial organisations which receive millions in funding from the EU and are invited by the BBC to broadcast their support for the UK's continued membership, yet whose payments from the EU are not disclosed.

"There is also the conflict of interest of BBC contributors who have been either European Commissioners or who have in the past been employed by one of the EU institutions. The EU pension rules state that if anyone in receipt of a pension fails to demonstrate loyalty to the EU can be 'deprived of his right to a pension or other benefits."

 

http://www.ukip.org/bbc_must_disclose_its_22m_plus_interest_in_britain_s_continued_membership_of_the_eu

[threegee]

A new article that pretty much sums up today's BBC:

 

The BBC is in a fog of groupthink and can't see how biased it is

 

If you can't be bothered to read the lot then at least skip forward to:

 

3. What the BBC never tells us about 'Europe'

[mercuryg]

'...a fog of groupthink....'

 

That put me off reading straight away! Unfortunately I don't see how any broadcaster of this scale can remain unbiased, whichever way.

[threegee]

1.3.2

The Agreement accompanying the BBC Charter specifies that we should do all we can "to ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due accuracy and impartiality" in our news and other output dealing with matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy.  It also states that our output is forbidden from expressing the opinion of the BBC on current affairs or matters of public policy, other than broadcasting or the provision of online services.  The Accuracy, Impartiality and Politics, Public Policy and Polls sections of the Editorial Guidelines incorporate the BBC Trust's code as required under Paragraph 44 (5) of the Agreement, giving guidance as to the rules to be observed in connection with Paragraphs 44(1) to 44(4) of the Agreement.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-charter/

 

The BBC get around that one by selective reporting.  i.e. always inviting their Guardinista friends in for interview, whilst only paying lip service to (or in the case of "global warming" and the EU, totally excluding) contrary views and evidence.

 

• sustaining citizenship and civil society
• promoting education and learning
• stimulating creativity and cultural excellence
• representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities
• bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK
• in promoting its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services and, in addition, taking a leading role in the switchover to digital television.

 

bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK has become bringing the UK to the EU and the EU to the UK!

 

Merc, if what you say is correct then it's time to tear up the Charter and start again.  Now seems to be just the time to do it, And, if the people like Smudge, who think the TV Tax is excellent value for money, don't want change, then the 75% of people who don't want to pay it (under threat of being criminalised) should be relieved of the threat.  The minority will doubtless cheerfully shell out £600 right away, and progressively more as their numbers drop off.

[mercuryg]

So let's get something straight, are you saying the bias vanishes when the BBC goes commercial (which is the alternative, of course, to the license fee)? If so, why, and how? Won't the new commercial paymasters have a say on content? Or has that possibility passed you by?

[Symptoms]

Of course Auntie's biased.  It's run by an elite spewed out from the Oxbridge sausage factory who are often the scion of the chinless wonders of wealthy and prominent families - yep, I know there might be a few who have regional accents (how many of these are affected?). 

 

Anyway, the choice is the telly licence, sponsorship/adverts, pay tv.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Now thats the Symptoms we all know and love!!!!

[Maggie/915]

I like the BBC.

I can even accept their biased viewpoints.

Why should we not be allowed to read listen and learn from our own biased perception.

After all we all have a 'spin' on every issue and all we can do is agree to disagree with certain individuals and corporations.

Education should and does teach us to think for ourselves.

[threegee]

Not the 38degrees petition, and frustrated by the General Election (why I didn't post earlier), but we've finally secured a parliamentary debate on the matter. (It got over 125,000 signatures):

Quote

You recently signed the petition “Abolish the tv licence, it shouldn't be a legal requirement.”:
https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/170931

We've had to change the date of the debate on this petition. The petition will now be debated on Monday 20 November at 4.30pm.

You'll be able to watch the debate online at www.parliamentlive.tv

We're really sorry if this change causes you any inconvenience.

This will be an interesting debate to follow.

[moe19]

This is just a reminder that TV licence will be debated at 4:30 on Monday 20th November in Westminster Hall’s Grand Committee Room. The sitting will last for up to three hours. Entry is free of charge. There is no system of tickets or advanced booking. Places are limited and visitors are admitted on a first come, first served basis. 

You can also watch it at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Commons. A transcript will be published the following day at hansard.parliament.uk

Also, I've been chatting with a few journalists recently to make sure they are aware of the debate and intend to cover it. Even a TV channel producer contacted me yesterday because they want to make something special on Monday, so keep your eyes out!

Bye for now

Caroline 

@lalionneuk

[Canny lass]

Something similar was clubbed through here a couple of months ago. (Comes into force January 2019). However, all that glistens is not gold. Certainly, we won't be paying £240 a year in licence fees but we will be paying a new 'public service tax'. This will be payable by ALL people over the age of 18 years who have an income above a certain level (currently set at £13,000 pa). It's reckoned that about 70% will pay the full whack - estimated to be £130 pa. - while approx. 20% will pay a reduced amount and 10% will pay nothing at all. Single parent families come out as winners while your average family of  '2 working adults with 2½ children' comes out slightly worse off with a public servicee tax bill of £260 pa. The broadcasting service remains unchanged.