Scumbag British Gutter Press

[chuckwoww]

What was the angle on the Chinese smugglers? They're the worst as far as I can tell but I don't believe most of the girls are forced into it. On the contrary. I think they're queuing up to get over.

[bibblies]

The Beeb does have a moralistic maternal tone to it for sure. Personally I squirm when I see another documentary about sex slavery in Thailand. But it's fairly sensitive to the public mood I think. If enough people show their disapproval it will adapt.

They won't adapt while they are funded by a compulsory license fee keeping them cosy - they have little incentive! Behemoth state institutions don't adapt quickly (if at all) to public demand for that reason. They're often run for their own staff's agenda, not their 'customers'. If a commercial broadcaster didn't adapt, it'd die. No such incentive here.

 

 

[bibblies]

I investigated a Chinese syndicate sending girls to the UK for a LWT prod for C4 Dispatches programme a few years ago. Big mistake. Massive rows. We did the work - they wrote the script later in London. I saw a copy 4 days before programme went to air and went ballistic.

Took them to Broadcasting Standards Commission and actually won the case though. They also broke promises of identification of victims. The reporter/prod had a bodyguard with him as 'Bangkok streets at night were dangerous to tread.'

What were the big differences?

 

With editors/producers thinking like that, is there any possibility of running contrarian pieces (i.e. something about Thai women that didn't mention 'submissiveness' or 'exploitation')? It seems to me such a piece would always be reshaped into what the producer originally decided the story should be, before investigation started. Why do they even bother?

[chuckwoww]

They won't adapt while they are funded by a compulsory license fee keeping them cosy - they have little incentive! Behemoth state institutions don't adapt quickly (if at all) to public demand for that reason.

 

Maybe it should be settled by referendum?

 

[shygye]

Isn't it part of the EU Constitution?

[chuckwoww]

Ooooo you're a card shygye. The BBC charter is top of the list of conditions for membership. It's the first step in moving the Beeb to Brussels and calling it the EBC.

[BSTaucer]

Gentleman,

 

Rather a travesty what has happened to the BBC, and British journalism in general. I recall a time when one was required to actually have command of the language and be able to articulate a proper position in order to obtain employment in this field. Of course nowadays anything goes as long as it offends no one.

 

Best Regards-BST

[bibblies]

EU issues are part of the BBC cosy liberal consensus. The EU is unquestionably a good thing, whatever is suggested by the EU is good, whenever Britain disagrees with an EU thing, headlines must be made in grave tones pointing out that we are "isolated" (hint, hint - we're wrong), that we're "missing the train". No real attempt is made to explain the side of Britain in these cases because, tut, tut, everyone knows that such arguments are just xenophobic "Little Englanders", don't they? (Even though the arguments are usually just economic common-sense, nothing to do with xeonophobia.)

 

No other countries are painted darkly with the xenophobic gun, even though I dare say France, for example, fights for its interests more than most.

 

I think Andrew Marr has mentioned this in the past. Pro EU, pro UN.. (perhaps it's not surprising that a big bloated pointless institution should admire others of the same ilk )

 

Has anyone even seen the BBC do anything investigatory on the UN? There are loads of scandals there. Son of Kofi Annan, bribes, non-action leading to genocide? Not enough for the BBC to cover?

 

Nah, it's full of despotic dictators but the BBC staff love it. Hence they quietly find something else to cover.

 

The UN is unquestioningly brought up as an implied saintly body when something the BBC doesn't like is happening without UN approval. Much mention is made of this. (And they never add things like :" and, by the way, the UN is composed of a lot of despotic nasty dictators, including a couple on its permanent security council who can veto anything they don't like, and it never seems to prevent major bloodshed like in Rwanda or Yugoslavia ... so that approval may not be worth much of a damn. )

 

Recently, the UN installed Zimbabwe to head their commission on Sustainable Economic Development! (Yes, Zimbabwe! ) Shouldn't this be a bigger story on BBC News. I wonder why they don't give this sort of thing priority... :smirk:

[carew66]

Yes, I wonder why also. Excellent post.

[chuckwoww]

I don't know why. The best I can think of is the anti-Empire sentiment that seems so prevalent ...since Suez in 1956. Plus having so many new additions to the British melting pot and/or multicultural fuck-up depending on your point of view.

 

Also, rightly or wrongly, lots of people seem to prefer the UN, with all its faults, to US hegemony. I'm not sure whether the BBC encourages that attitude or just reflects it.