Trump - again

The BBC can no longer be regarded as the gold standard of broadcasting, either at home or abroad. Its latest shambles is nothing short of humiliating, and I, for one, no longer wish to fund it.

Consider the record. Even after Huw Edwards was arrested for making Category A child abuse images, the BBC kept him on at £479,999 a year and handed him a £40,000 pay rise during that time. Only after his resignation did they timidly request £200,000 back,  money to this day Edwards  has never repaid. No serious effort has been made to recover licence payer’s funds.

Then came the Glastonbury fiasco, where the BBC broadcast a set so drenched in political messaging that it forced the resignation of its head of music and left the Director General fighting for his job. A publicly funded broadcaster should never have distributed such partisan material on iPlayer.

Most damning of all, the BBC aired a Gaza documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas official, a fact hidden from viewers that struck at the very heart of impartiality. The corporation broadcast it knowing it could never meet its own standards. Only when outsiders exposed the truth did they admit “serious failings” and pull the programme. Its own chairman called the scandal “a dagger to the heart” of impartiality, while the Director General conceded it was “a really, really bad moment” for the BBC.

Trump’s demands may grab headlines, but the deeper scandal is the BBC’s handling of his speech. When the doctored edit first came to light in May, senior staff urged an immediate apology. That advice was overruled by Director General Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the Chief Executive of BBC News. Instead, the corporation concealed the evidence for five months, hoping the storm would pass. The matter could have been resolved professionally, perhaps even at Trump’s state banquet in September,  but our publicly funded broadcaster defaulted to concealment, not candour.

In my own personal opinion, the solution is clear, end the compulsory funding model. If the BBC truly delivers value, it should thrive in the marketplace like any other media organisation, through voluntary subscriptions or advertising revenue.

No other broadcaster enjoys the privilege of guaranteed funding regardless of performance or cost to the licence payer. The time has come to abolish this anachronistic levy,  and if the BBC is as confident in its worth as it claims, that should not be a problem.

BBC = British Brainwashing Corporation. I couldn't stand to watch normal TV these days, I haven't watched normal TV in years and refuse to fund the BBC with a TV license. I prefer to get actual real news from real people, using their own voice.

Personally I find all TV fake and literal brain rot.

Trevor, you were right to push back, people are conflating the issue and dragging it into viewing habits. The core problem is not who watches what, but the BBC’s breach of its own editorial standards.

The BBC's decision to rearrange Trump’s words is what caused the grievance. For a publicly funded broadcaster, these failings are unforgivable, when they occur, they disgrace the nation and, in this case, have triggered a diplomatic situation.

The BBC have a long record of scandals and a culture of presenting contrived narratives as fact, this is not an isolated lapse but a systemic problem.  Allegations of bias have been raised for decades, and the erosion of trust is undeniable.

The BBC are the authors of their own downfall, driving viewers towards alternative channels.