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By Douglas MacAndrew
The state funded broadcaster is increasingly blinded by stupid political correctness, adhoc editorial policies and an over representation of militants which has rendered the once agenda setting BBC a by stander and a vehicle for censorship.
The London Daily News was made aware at a BBC local station that no mentions or debates were to be permitted on Israel or the Middle East conflict during December 2008. A senior BBC executive decreed "I don't want anything on Israel ok!" God forbid any presenter discusses the middle-east peace process or Israeli illegal settlements on the West Bank or anything related to Israel. Journalists faced the potential of disciplinary action if Israel was mentioned in this context on air.
Another example of the BBC gone absolutely crazy was the decision by one news reader to ban other presenters talking about the BNP and its success in the European elections. One presenter refused to tow the line and was summoned to see a senior manager.
Ultimately the state funded broadcaster should be an independent vehicle were the nation can learn and interact in debate; this is not the case anymore.
The BBC is not a steady ship with reports that its presenters face "swinging cuts" and a head count cull of around 20 per cent in the next years. The idiocy of the move to Salford will also damage further the BBC with morale at an “all time low" according to one BBC source.
Sir Michael Lyons the Chairman of the BBC Trust gave a robust and belligerent response to the Digital Britain report which will see parts of the license fee being used to fund private sector regional news coverage:
"The licence fee must not become a slush fund to be dipped into at will, leading to spiralling demands on licence fee payers to help fund the political or commercial concerns of the day. This would lead to the licence fee being seen as another form of general taxation. The trust will not sit quietly by and watch this happen." - The Guardian
Increasingly the "alternative media" like blogs and news websites is were the agenda is being set. The BBC has because of its intrinsic rigidity, become blinded by underlining political correctness and is unable to provide the open debate that the British people expect. photo credit: BBC Mark Thompson DG of the BBC
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