Boris Johnson just signed the BBC’s death warrant
It seems that the political annihilation of the BBC is almost complete. Because a report in the Times showed that Boris Johnson may as well have signed its death warrant. He’s reportedly considering making a former Tory MP or possibly Andrew Neil the BBC‘s new chair. And it shows that any notion of impartial broadcasting has gone out of the window.
The BBC: mired in scandal
The UK’s public service broadcaster has been mired in controversy for decades, and not least during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. From its defence of Dominic Cummings’ ‘corona road trip’, to Rishi Sunak wearing his underpants on the outside (the infamous “Superman” cartoon), to its dire coverage of virus testing – the BBC has been behaving more like a state-sponsored broadcaster than a public service one. But as The Canary previously reported, it seems to be doing it on purpose – with a senior journalist effectively admitting the organisation was on a ‘war footing’. They said:
The BBC does have a responsibility to provide what the nation needs… It needs to know what’s being done about testing [for coronavirus]. It doesn’t need a great bust-up about what’s gone wrong in the recent past… the bosses are keen that we come out of this with the sense that we looked after the interest of the nation, not just our journalistic values.
But if the rot at the BBC wasn’t already deep enough, Johnson is about to embed it further.
WHO???
As The Canary‘s editor-at-large Kerry-Anne Mendoza tweeted:
Two more Tories for the Ministry of Information
Read on...
— Kerry-Anne Mendoza (@TheMendozaWoman) August 9, 2020
The Times reported that the PM is considering several candidates for the role of the organisation’s chair. As it reported:
Insiders say Johnson wants to “get on with it” and line up by the autumn a chairman to replace Sir David Clementi, whose three-year term expires in February.
Candidates allegedly include former Tory MPs Nicky Morgan and Amber Rudd and BBC presenter Neil. The news left people on Twitter unimpressed – but also unsurprised:
This has really confused people who have been saying the BBC are left wing.
— Onymous Nigel (@AnonymousNigel) August 9, 2020
they seem determined to descend into oblivion as fast as possible
— Steffi Thompson (@SteffiThompson) August 9, 2020
Neither Morgan, Rudd, or Neil need much introduction. Also, the Times‘ rumour is endemic of the problem of cronyism within the Tory government. But towards the end of the Times article, one quote perhaps hinted at another reason Johnson may want to put a friendly face in as BBC chairperson.
“Soft power”
It wrote that:
a senior government source said Johnson was keen for the new chairman to help the BBC be more proactive in making use of its international reputation. ‘The prime minister believes the BBC is one of Britain’s best assets, with the soft power it projects abroad. He thinks it can do more of that.’
The phrase “soft power” is key. As The Canary reported in 2017, the government ploughed millions into the BBC‘s foreign broadcasting. Specifically, it funded the broadcaster to operate in former USSR countries and North Korea. The government gave some of the money to it after a BBC report warned that:
If the UK wants the BBC to remain valued and respected, an ambassador of Britain’s values and an agent of soft power in the world, then the BBC is going to have to commit to growing the World Service and the government will have to recognise this.
The BBC: just as bad as the Russians
Essentially, the-then Tory government was paying the BBC to distribute Western corporate capitalist propaganda as a ‘weapon of soft power’. Now, we see that Johnson’s regime wants to expand that further with an ally in charge of the BBC to push this. Meanwhile, Russian TV station Russia Today (RT) has been branded by Twitter as a “state-affiliated media outlet” – without labelling the BBC as the same.
As The Canary wrote in 2017:
There is no doubt that Russia’s manipulation of the media to further its own ends is a threat to democracy. But is it really any worse than the West’s manipulation?
Given this latest revelation about the future of the BBC and the current geopolitical posturing with Russia and China – probably not. The BBC has completely lost its impartiality and credibility, now.
Featured image via Sky News – YouTube and Wikimedia
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Bbc the Tory mouth piece hasn’t learned it’s the peasants who pay their wages now those who they supported now want them gone it’s a crying shame BBC didn’t tell the truth about their bosses it find out a lonely out there without a job
I hope the Canary will be joining the recently established campaign to defund to BBC.
This Tory mouthpiece, granny robbing organization must be brought down.
just to to say on B.B.C. get shut its costing us public in T.V. licences too much for nothing in return –So lets get shut Boris altogether now and save all the voter cash by not having to pay for a failing serves that only look after them in over country (that do not pay the dodgy license fees at all)
Boris how about asking Rupert Murdoch to buy out B.B.C. out then they can run
it like they did with SKY T.V. serves no license fees but a subscription if
you want the serves from them
The BBC has shown us excellent programmes in the past. But for a long time it has shown repeats after repeats. Christmas programmes are all rubbish. So they have been making a lot of money in the process. And now Freeview are cutting +1 channels galore. What’s left? Nothing. Broadband to get more repeats. It is a state-owned company, so belongs to us and we have the right to decide what is right for the viewer. Petitions coming? Good idea.
Regretfully ‘Aunty’ in a millennial age of ‘anything goes’ has systematically had her knickers torn from underneath her petticoated quivering nether regions time-out-of-time. It’s an absolute scandal. I, of a ‘Make Do & Mend’ era, are now sewing fine seams and cobbling together knicker elastic in an endeavour to bolster her ability to hold her own proudly against that onslaught from those that commercially ‘go commando’ where all hangs free – who want Aunty’s bloomers ripped forever from her. Slavering commercial rapists they are there’s no doubt that have an eye for profitable virginal TV and Radio takings.
The impartiality that once was the by-word for the BBC has long since gone. The PUBLICALLY funded corporation has paid it’s employees handsomely over the years without a thought for the poor who fund them and now is little more than the Conservative & Fascist Party media spokesperson that the TV licence pays for. I gave my TV to the bin man in 2004. I do not miss it. One can if one desires watch Channel 4 on line without the need for a licence. One can access a number of media outlets on line without the need to spend £159. Now the elderly who have paid into society are to either do without the necessary food/electricity to fund over the top salaries of over the top personalities. Point in fact is Naga Munchetty whose salary of £195000 clearly wasn’t enough as she had to take on extra work advertising for a car 99.9% of us could never afford!
The BBC has never been impartial – it has just got worse over the years and now it doesn’t really care what we think of it. It is guaranteed the money. Labour, the left, the SNP and Plaid have all suffered from BBC bias over the years. Time for it to compete with other broadcasters in a good old British free-market. No license fee. Got rid of my TV years ago thank heavens.
Is impartiality what we want? In a world dominated by a handful of super-rich individuals, some with more wealth then small States, do we want journalists who take an even-handed view of gross inequalities of wealth? It’s impossible to be impartial about the history of the last 500 years, a history of violent conquest, oppression, exploitation, racism and dehumanisation. What we need are people who look at the evidence, who present the evidence; but to be impartial about, say, the Vietnam War is to fail to recognise the primary fact that it was waged by the greatest military power the world has seen against a poor country on the specious grounds that the latter was a threat to the former. Who can be impartial about Israel/Palestine? The facts should be presented. Yet what is really requisite, if we believe in democracy, is journalism which is biased in its favour. That’s not impartiality. Power lies in the business-media-State nexus, not with the people. That is the scandal. We need journalists who say so. The Canary is not impartial, nor should it be. The BBC shouldn’t be. It’s remit should be to defend democracy and the rights of the common folk against all threats.
The BBC (which is part of the British propaganda state) is pure poison. Please don’t forget that the BBC World Service is also funded by the British government.
Also the main street media although not directly funded by the US government, will not “go out of line” because Donald Trump’s reelection campaign will simply file defamation lawsuits against them, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, and not forgetting northern Wisconsin’s “mega” news organisation WJFW-TV. You don’t need obedience when you can threaten a lawsuit (whether is has any grounds or no) which will put most companiesout of business due the the cost of fighting it.
RT is one of the few TV stations worth watching: Chris Williamson and John Pilger regularly appear on it. There are many shows on RT that are worth watching, such as Going Underground, Renegade Inc., Redacted Tonight (really funny), The Keiser Report, CrossTalk, Watching the Hawks, etc. Keep an open mind about it, and do not judge it by what the likes of the subservient establishment figure of Sir Starmer says. Steven Norris (ex-Tory MP) even appears on the station. They even have a show called Politicking with Larry King (yes Larry King is on RT too).