Save the BBC petition

[ahinton]

https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/keep-the-BBC-free-from-government-control

[Frances_iom]

https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/ca...rnment-control

sorry too late fait accompli - Whittingdale is just the apparatchik required to take obvious control - the damage was done by the Hinton affair and the servile response - since then as witnessed by last two financing arrangements the Beeb overpaying its managers coupled with inept DGs and complacent board members, was chosen over standing up to a financial straitjacket to preserve its integrity

[Lat-Literal]

Erm.......this is quite a complicated matter. If it is managed by Government people whose instinct is to privatize, emphasise competitiveness etc then the Government becomes a gateway to less national control rather than more. I don't think that would be a good thing in many ways but it seems to me that the modern BBC financially is already like a PPI.

What concerns me is the lens through which much of the debate is viewed. First, the BBC should not be seen principally as a news service but as a broadcasting provider with a unique blend of cultural outputs and a distinctive tone. Secondly, that tone should remain distinct for being British in a way that reflects the nation. Nation here is all of the establishment and "the people" rather than any Government of the day. It is closer to notions of constitution and the entire British system than short-term party political fads.

Thirdly, the news element is important but the starting point is the BBC World Service. As soon as BBC news is considered in that light, it is immediately obvious that its role is to represent the nation in the broadest sense and to focus far beyond trivial domestic politics. The domestic news service - Radio 4 etc - should continue to have a character that is an extension of that approach as part of a broad cultural mix which underpins a sense of national cohesion. To talk merely of the economics and politics of the BBC is just too narrow.

[Richard Tarleton]

You sign a 38 degrees petition at your peril - I signed one once and was immediately pestered to sign all sorts of random petitions most of which I strongly disagreed with, until I managed to unsubscribe.

[Serial_Apologist]

You sign a 38 degrees petition at your peril - I signed one once and was immediately pestered to sign all sorts of random petitions most of which I strongly disagreed with, until I managed to unsubscribe.

True - if you don't support the sorts of causes 38 Degrees support: most of which I do, or would do were it only signatures they ask for. Many of their messages ask you to write messages to your MP/councillor/the minister in question in the box provided, and that's what gets me - I can never think of anything appropriately polite or constructive to say!

BTW I have signed this one.

[ahinton]

True - if you don't support the sorts of causes 38 Degrees support: most of which I do, or would do were it only signatures they ask for. Many of their messages ask you to write messages to your MP/councillor/the minister in question in the box provided, and that's what gets me - I can never think of anything appropriately polite or constructive to say!

BTW I have signed this one.

Yes, that is indeed one of the drawbacks of 38 degrees and no doubt also of similar petitioning organisations; had someone instead set this one up on the Parliamentary petition website I do not imagine that such follow-up stuff would be a consequence. That said, if being alerted to petitions that one might want to endorse by signing, that's surely a good thing in that one might not otherwise have known about them and, after all, it doesn't take more than a few seconds to check whether the latest notified one is of interest and to delete it if not.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, that is indeed one of the drawbacks of 38 degrees and no doubt also of similar petitioning organisations; had someone instead set this one up on the Parliamentary petition website I do not imagine that such follow-up stuff would be a consequence. That said, if being alerted to petitions that one might want to endorse by signing, that's surely a good thing in that one might not otherwise have known about them and, after all, it doesn;t take more than a few secpond to check whether the latest notified one is of interest and delete it if not.

[Richard Tarleton]

I think the way 38' goes about things, a pick 'n' mix list of petitions on all sorts of subjects, greatly reduces their value, and the amount of notice likely to be taken of them. Even the one I signed, I afterwards realised, was backed by people supporting it for reasons quite other than mine. Sorry, I don't mean to derail the thread. As Lat suggests this is far too simplistic.

[P. G. Tipps]

Never trust those who brandish 'petitions' ... or at least be very aware of the real (often political) motives of those behind them!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Never trust those who dismiss petitions ... or at least be very aware of the real (often political) motives of those who do so!

[ahinton]

Never trust those who dismiss petitions ... or at least be very aware of the real (often political) motives of those who do so!

Indeed; thank you!

[ahinton]

Never trust those who brandish 'petitions' ... or at least be very aware of the real (often political) motives of those behind them!

Has it ever occurred to you that petitions can be issued as invitations rather than having by definition to be "brandished"? - on which note do you consider that the Parliamentary petition website does that?

[P. G. Tipps]

Bless you, Marina!

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/11/world-without-online-petitions-jeremy-clarkson-donald-trump

[ahinton]

Bless you, Marina!

http://www.theguardian.com/commentis...n-donald-trump

"Bless" is hardly the word that I'd use for the author of this piece that doesn't even deserve space in the newspaper in which it was published and which is as notable for its unresearched absurdities as it is for its woeful and wilful attention-seeking determination to avoid all reference to the subject of petitioning in more general terms.

For starters, please read http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/de...glish/petition , http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dict...glish/petition , http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petition and http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dic...glish/petition .

Next, bear in mind that when voting at general or local elections or indeed in any other democratically held ballot, one is effectvely participating in a petitioning exercise.

Then remember that Parliament has its own petition website (to which I already drew attention) at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open .

Of course the subject of many petitions is "political" to some degree.

Then remember that all MPs offer their constitutents opportunities to refer issues to them which, again, is a form of petitioning.

Then bear in mind institutions such as Ombudsman's offices to which citizens may refer complaints, often against regulated organisations - another form of petitioning.

Finally, it is clear that online petitions are no different to any other kind apart from the means by which they are launched and operated.

Now tell us where your problem is with online or perhaps all petitioning activity that prompts you to endorse this puerile piece of pseudo-journalism.

Thank you.

[jean]

I think the way 38' goes about things, a pick 'n' mix list of petitions on all sorts of subjects, greatly reduces their value, and the amount of notice likely to be taken of them. Even the one I signed, I afterwards realised, was backed by people supporting it for reasons quite other than mine. Sorry, I don't mean to derail the thread. As Lat suggests this is far too simplistic.

The way 38' goes about things is to ballot its members on what they want to petition about.