BBC

I don't know what BBC.com have done recently but their download speeds are now appalling. All other news media are fine - CNN for example loads in a Jiffy but I now select other web sites while I wait for the BBC web site to load. Even selecting different articles is a chore!
Julian Sambrook.

I used to be a big fan of BBC coverage but find over recent years it has deteriorated. It has very little analysis but rather concentrates on political tittle tattle without any significant insight into issues. I don't like reporters talking to each other without any real input from external experts.

Lightweight overall

(bbc.com doesn; t exist. It's bbc.co.uk)

Oh gosh... it's 'The Public'. We'll have none of that here.

It's the BBC. It's an institution. It's funded in a UNIQUE way. Don't question it.

Intro

Once upon a time, there was the BBC. And it was the only thing available. And people looked upon it, and didn't know any different. It did TV, and radio. Then the internet was invented, and the BBC had several long meetings. And decided it should have an internet presents.

Someone told them it was a presence' not presents, and they had several more long meetings, and decided that they should have an internet presence, not presents.

The BBC traditionally does other stuff apart from the internet, but this online thing is becoming quite popular. The beeb hasn't really figured out how to do audience participation (nor does it want to), altho it's news site does look lovely and dull. (this is an organisation that has 30 minutes of meetings everyday to decide how to be cool)

Background

The BBC is: severely up it's own a___ (UIOA). The BBC makes the most interesting or potentially exciting articles tedious, so you click back' after the first couple of paragraphs. It would be useful for the Beeb to have a time monitor on it's pages. Not to see how many clicks an article gets, but to see how soon after the click, the reader gives up reading and clicks back'.

You are not good enough for the BBC. It is the BBC's job to educate you from your current pleb level. Unless you're retired, in which case you're better than other people, and may be good enough for the BBC. The BBC is a safe space for you to learn about the dangerous parts of this world. Such as "slang", and "the internet".

The BBC

Parts of the BBC are loosing the plot as seemingly per the media industry (depending on how much attention you pay to the media industry'). But they are the mee dee arr, pinch of salt etc.

They are funded by the government. The money comes from you, but the penalty for not paying is prison, and the government ensures the prison. So the BBC is funded by the government. Paid for by you, but ensured by the government. That means the BBC won't say anything nasty about the government, because then, the government say "oh no, we're not guaranteeing your income". The gov't also won't abolish the license tax fee, because then the BBC won't say nice things abut the gov't. You scratch my bank account, I scratch yours.

(moderately) Left wing that looks like right wing. A supposedly free love' organisation, that has a pristine sensible image.The opposite of the Daily Mail. The Savile episode may be relevent for the fact that aunty is not as comfortable a relative as you might think. Moderately left wing, but slightly less irritating than the left-wing Huffngton Post, which shadowcensors *

*shadowban/shadowcensor=log out, check your comment is still visible (anywhere on the net)

The BBC is keen to point out that things you thought were crap, aren't crap. The BBC defines this as 'opening your mind'. It's also called being liberal'.

Lots of sentences the BBC prints, seem to be directed at people who have absolutely no idea what is going on, and have zero knowledge of anything to do with the article they just clicked on. Eg. Caption on an online article: "social networks have faced criticism". I might write an article for the BBC. It will be a long, "in depth", moderately unreadable article on the Amazon rainforest. At the end it'll have a picture of a tree. With the caption: "this is a tree".

The BBC's news flavour is sanguine. That's what you get when you know your income is guaranteed, and not dependent on adverts, sales, or program quality. "It's ok. Everything is ok. We've got our money, so it's ok".

Comments

On the majority of news sites, the only decent information comes from user comments. There is a reason that on the BBC you are only able to comment on around 10% of the articles. That would mean. Allowing, THE PUBLIC you, the great unwashed to air their views. And that just gets messy, and is definitely not inline with the image the BBC wants to portray. YES, you pay for it, but god, no, don't Have Your Say'. On some of the HYS's (which are a nightmare to navigate around, being BBC standard', and not like'normal message boards'. And apparently You' is You, which is tricky if someone else decides to have the username of You'.) half the comments have been removed due to breaking the house rules'.

The BBC website DOES:
-tell you when a comment has been deleted, unlike the daily mail, where there is no trace.

The BBC website DOESN'T:
-let you comment on the majority of articles, and is also strict in that you can't submit a comment to an article, where the comment is about a different article
-allow you to find your own comments. Go figure. (the bbc would never condone anything as crude as say. Being able to find how upvoted/downvoted your OWN posts are)

Why is the BBC stricter on non-article related comments, while the DM is generally more leniant? Well, the BBC has it's income guaranteed by the government (essentially a public-owned service). The DM relies on user engagement' to sell it's product. The BBC news site is also popular with retired types, who have more time and are more inclined to report "non house rule" comments (the BBC is popular with old people. This may be because, older people want to FEEL that their news source is reliable, whether it is or not. They don't want to have the effort of wondering if they should question it. Varied user comments would unsettle them)

If you're quick enough to have read them before they are removed, you'll realise that most of them are normal conversation, which the beeb deems to beer"not up to standard" for their site. If you see them before they are removed, they are basically the good parts of a conversation down the pub. The pub is terribly' low-brow, though, not inline with the BBC cultivated image at all. It does explain why the flavour of the comments on the site is."above board" all the interesting comments get removed. If you want a chance at an off-topic comment remaining, try putting something positive about the BBC within the comment.

The have your say section has it's fair share of middle-englanders, who words like excellent' ("The BBC is an excellent source of news") and twaddle' a lot and the bbc website is more than geared up for them. If you want lively, vigorous, varied debate, the BBC is not the place for you. As much as I hate to admit it, try the daily mails website. At the BBC, we will have considered, calm. BOR-ING discourse specifically of the matters at hand.

We encourage discussion, but not "too passionate/enthusiastic" discussion. This is the BBC, of course. Your licence fee provides enough moderators, thank you. There is more moderation on the net than you think.

HYS is only available on very select stories. It's quite telling that often many of the top-rated comments have been deleted by moderation. If you comment on a different story than the one the HYS is open on, expect a deletion. "You vill comment on ze story in hant". Said in Her Majesties English, of course.

Dear BBC. Are. You. Aware. That when you remove a comment from your website, the internet has things called "other websites". Where the comment will probably get published. With stronger terminology. Possibly with the phrase "f__k the BBC" somewhere in the text. Possibly.

The lack of commenting could be quites#1te, tbh. Journalists have been known to get their facts' wrong, and if there is no immediate way of correcting this, then I believe what you have, is #fakenews. From the BBC of all places. And it's worth noting that the BBC slant on stories does NOT reflect public opinion. Income guaranteed by the government, it reflects the opinion that the government WANTS the public to have (just"be calm"). Left wing slant, whatever you do, don't OFFEND anyone. (someone can be stupid, just don't CALL them stupid. The beeb definitely doesn't call a spade a spade). The BBC is quite influential, you see. Can't have it saying the wrong' thing. No no.

To the users be NICE. Remember, it's ok. We've got our income guaranteed.

Brexit has shown just what a propaganda machine the British Propaganda Corporation is. Propaganda that you obviously can't comment on. Because most of the "articles" don't have comments sections on them.