History Forum / General / General Topics / January 2004

"the Lion wants BBC to be Lapdog"
<If the war is between them (Coalition of liers and fools) and us
(sick of being lied to, sick of crimes against humanity by state
terrorism) then it is one sided and the stuff media moguls make
profits out of because the "littlepeople" who have had enough dont
have any big-guns (leaders)nor guns , the big guns and the guns are on
the side of the establishment where the financial gain is.
"the forty five minutes" is not the time Saddam was capable
of putting together some WMD as the lie goes but the time it takes for
a professional report to be doctored for spin and propoganda and on
the editors desk ready to tell the world.
Some of the countries in the Coalition had a majority of citizens
against the war in Irag. Democracy doesnt exist between election days.
Humanity cant even look to the UN it is a whorehouse. Humanity only
has the NET, thats our only gun. (for how long)>

Howdy Bader
You've presented a better State of the World in a few words, than any
State of the Nation in 2 hours. Sadly you present the real picture.

The lion admits no competition. He wants BBC to become a lapdog...

"the BBC must resist ministers' attempts to tame it."

And this is what I propose...

'TV and radio should be independent of Big Business and the State.
(This is due to two reasons: culturally, because the ratings make bad
programs become "good"... for business; and, politically, because
whoever has power over the media... will be in power; however, people
should be able to watch anything on video and cable; the BBC offers us
and example of an independent media.) The "Free Press" should be
democratized, so that, among other things, the censorship of the
opinions of the public is eradicated.'

BBC seeks new bosses as "lapdog" warnings swirl
Fri 30 January, 2004 14:56

LONDON (Reuters) - The search has begun for two new BBC leaders amid
fears its journalists will be muzzled in the fallout from the biggest
crisis in its history.

Former Director General Greg Dyke, who resigned on Thursday after the
public broadcaster was damned in the Hutton report into the death of
weapons expert David Kelly, said all media should take careful note.

"I think every journalistic organisation, every newspaper, every
broadcaster in this country should be concerned," Dyke said on Friday.

"Someone inside of government, inside of the civil service who has
very real concerns -- as Dr Kelly had -- could not be broadcast unless
you could demonstrate that their concerns were true," he told the BBC
Today programme.

Kelly killed himself last year after being exposed as the source for a
BBC report that Prime Minister Tony Blair's government had knowingly
exaggerated the threat from Saddam Hussein's illegal weapons to
bolster the case for war.

Dyke, a plain-speaking populist whose "cut the crap" campaign to boost
creativity won respect from staff stifled by years of bureaucracy, was
mobbed by tearful employees when he toured the newsroom for the last
time.

He and BBC chairman Gavyn Davies resigned after judge Lord Hutton
condemned the broadcaster in his report this week into Kelly's
suicide.

"SELF-CENSORSHIP"

Widespread concern was expressed on Friday that the top two jobs would
be filled by Blair placemen and that the BBC's will to break stories
embarrassing to the government would be sapped.

But the 82-year-old BBC, a source of national pride to millions of
Britons who affectionately call it the "Beeb", will overcome pressure
to dilute its journalism, commentators said.

"There is a danger of self-censorship," said Martin Bell, a former BBC
correspondent. "But it will bounce back.

"They have to dust themselves down and resume hard-hitting,
investigative journalism, bearing in mind the lessons that had to be
learned," he told Reuters.

Austin Mitchell, a parliamentarian with Blair's Labour Party, said the
BBC must resist ministers' attempts to tame it.

"Good journalism cannot be carried on as if it was a legal process
with affidavits and cross checking," he told the Guardian newspaper.

(snip)

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said she didn't want the BBC to become
a "lapdog", but added the Hutton report would figure in the review.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackag...42§ion=news