Things we didn't know about the B.B.C.

[Sydney Grew]

The excellent Mr. Pilger, in a recent article about the B.B.C., puts us right on a number of points:

1) John Reith had no intention of "educating the masses"; he was a self-serving politician in search of an Indian position.

and

2) The famed "impartiality" of the B.B.C., Mr. Pilger explains, is likewise a myth. The Corporation has always been a mere instrument of imperial and capitalist propaganda. But after all that is not really news to many.

The whole article - very educational - may be perused here:

http://johnpilger.com/articles/as-ga...-role-is-vital

[Ferretfancy]

Unfortunately Mr Pilger is a professional Jeremiah -- view with caution!

[french frank]

The Corporation has always been a mere instrument of imperial and capitalist propaganda. But after all that is not really news to many.

Except those, apparently, who claim the left-wing bias of the BBC. Left-wing? That will be the critics of (ex-Tory MP) Lord Patten, appointed head of the Beeb. Yes, Reith was a paternalistic populist and his moralism stopped short of his own behaviour. But he did die 40 years ago, so what is said about Reith doesn't necessarily apply to today's BBC. The faults are elsewhere

[Simon]

The whole article - very educational...

Very good, Sydney. I didn't think people still read this clown's offerings...

[handsomefortune]

so what is said about Reith doesn't necessarily apply to today's BBC.

unless the beeb occasionally bend their own continuing self referential narrative to include the alleged sentiments of 'the great man'..... perhaps in order to bolster the beeb brand!

though it seems a u turn has occurred of late, and now the new thing is to imply that reith was 'up to no good' mostly....as covered by the beeb themselves in a recent programme, and now pilger too.

which may leave some beeb listeners wondering why the recent necessity for extremes and generalisations about reith initially? whether glowing, or negative! perhaps less talk about themselves would help the beeb, as a psb, no end? (though i suspect few currently working at the beeb might agree).

[french frank]

which may leave some beeb listeners wondering why the recent necessity for extremes and generalisations about reith initially? whether glowing, or negative! perhaps less talk about themselves would help the beeb, as a psb, no end? (though i suspect few currently working at the beeb might agree).

Reith became the byword for PSB, viz "Reithian principles". But looking carefully at what Reith meant and what his name evokes does suggest different things altogether. The 'education of the masses' seems to have been very much of an 'up to a point, Lord Reith'. But many great men's reputations have a habit of becoming tarnished with age and viewpoint ...

[gradus]

I think Mr Pilger's arguments would be easier to evaluate were he to say which national broadcaster he thinks tells the truth.

[Simon]

I think Mr Pilger's arguments would be easier to evaluate were he to say which national broadcaster he thinks tells the truth.

Indeed. And even easier if he actually had any. His raison d'etre seems to be to decry anything that was good about the past.

[ahinton]

Indeed. And even easier if he actually had any. His raison d'etre seems to be to decry anything that was good about the past.

Whereas your appears, at least de temps en temps, indirectly to decry certain things that are good about British music in the present. Ah, well...

[Simon]

Whereas your appears, at least de temps en temps, indirectly to decry certain things that are good about British music in the present. Ah, well...

I never decry things that are good. If you look at my recent post on the CE thread, you'll see that I comment on much I enjoyed two modern works.

I do, however, decry things that are talentless, worthless, skill-less, unmusical carp!

[ahinton]

I never decry things that are good. If you look at my recent post on the CE thread, you'll see that I comment on much I enjoyed two modern works.

I do, however, decry things that are talentless, worthless, skill-less, unmusical carp!

By your standards, perhaps - and which, in many cases, I suspect amount in reality to no more than "what Simon likes".

Now, where's me shredder?...

[MrGongGong]

By your standards, perhaps - and which, in many cases, I suspect amount in reality to no more than "what Simon likes".

Now, where's me shredder?...

Keep it on i've got a mountain of Feldman for you

I know someone who is writing a Phd at the moment about the conflation of taste with value !

if Kings College Cambridge were so good , why aren't they on X Factor ?

[Lateralthinking1]

The excellent Mr. Pilger, in a recent article about the B.B.C., puts us right on a number of points:

1) John Reith had no intention of "educating the masses"; he was a self-serving politician in search of an Indian position.

and

2) The famed "impartiality" of the B.B.C., Mr. Pilger explains, is likewise a myth. The Corporation has always been a mere instrument of imperial and capitalist propaganda. But after all that is not really news to many.

The whole article - very educational - may be perused here:

http://johnpilger.com/articles/as-ga...-role-is-vital

Sydney, I thought the last article by John Pilger you posted was very enlightening. By comparison, this one is very poor. The narrator in "The War Game" might well have noted in 1965 that the BBC was silent on thermo-nuclear weapons. No doubt Lord Normanbrook revealed in his explanation not to broadcast the film that the BBC had Government concerns in mind. But as Mr Pilger admits, all of the media were silent on the subject so it wasn't as if the privately owned media exercised freedom. Furthermore, if the banning of that film is intended to be an example of a principle that applies to today, then perhaps he could explain these -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/395689.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14879557

I could list a dozen matters about which the general public becomes easily hysterical. Dangerous dogs are just one example but it really isn't anything new. Back in 1938, many listeners to "War of the Worlds" on CBS Radio believed that an actual alien invasion by Martians was in progress. And in 1965, when "The War Game" was made, there were obvious sensitivities. The Cuban Missile Crisis had exercised peoples' minds. So had the death of JFK. Both were matters which emotionally were hard to put into context.

As for Lord Reith, he was ambitious. I doubt though that he was ambitious to a fault. During the General Strike, he fell out with the TUC and the Labour Party only after he had argued with the Government that they should be represented on the BBC and lost. He sided with the Nazis in the 1930s which hardly suggested that he had a glowing political career ahead of him. And then when he was appointed into political roles, he preferred animosity to Churchill rather than the expected kowtowing. The blatant ambition of most MPs today would put any sense of ambition in him to shame. Admittedly, this pen picture isn't in line with his usual depiction which somehow manages to combine starchiness with the avuncular. But nor does it convey a strong impression that he was nothing more than a Government mouthpiece. Even now, Mr Pilger criticises privately owned media for supporting imperialism so is there any form of news reporting he would favour? Evidently not unless it had a solid agenda of one-sided anti-imperialism.

Public broadcasting should be about balance. The BBC might not always achieve it but it achieves it more than others. There is nothing to prevent an individual like Mr Pilger from producing a daily newspaper. He could write depressing stories from Monday to Friday to add to all the ones we are given already. Lord Reith did at least summarize the BBC's purpose as to educate, inform and entertain. His historical standing is largely based on those principles which are still part of the BBC's mission statement today.

[Bryn]

Keep it on i've got a mountain of Feldman for you ...

Guess where I will be Tuesday night.

[Simon]

I know someone who is writing a Phd at the moment about the conflation of taste with value !

Someone else you know? Good heavens, you do know a lot of people, dont you?

I'm sure that said thesis, when complete, will be a revelation to us all...

As for your query about KCC - I bet even you really know the answer to that, don't you?