{"id":4845,"date":"2012-11-11T20:16:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T00:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=4845"},"modified":"2012-11-11T20:16:29","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T00:16:29","slug":"the-bbc-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/the-bbc-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"The BBC in the news"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

(Photo source: NY Times)<\/p><\/div>\n

(Source: CS Monitor<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Britain’s BBC<\/a>\u00a0could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said on Sunday, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician.<\/p>\n

Chris Patten<\/a>, chairman of the BBC\u00a0Trust, said confidence had to be restored if the publicly funded corporation was to withstand pressure from rivals, especially\u00a0Rupert Murdoch<\/a>‘s media empire, which would try to take advantage of the turmoil.<\/p>\n

“If you’re saying, ‘Does the BBC\u00a0need a thorough structural radical overhaul?’, then absolutely it does, and that is what we will have to do,” Patten, a one-time senior figure in Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party and the last British governor ofHong Kong<\/a>, told BBC television. [continue reading…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Source: NY Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[…]Mr. Patten, 68, a former Conservative cabinet minister who gained a reputation for feisty independence when he was Britain\u2019s last colonial governor in Hong Kong, said critics of the BBC should not lose sight of its reputation at home and abroad for impartial, trustworthy journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BBC is and has been hugely respected around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we have to earn that. If the BBC loses that, then it is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public confidence in the broadcaster has slumped further in opinion polls in the wake of its coverage of a scandal involving allegations of abuses by a senior politician at a children\u2019s home in Wales in the 1970s and \u201980s. But the British public would not support breaking up the BBC, Mr. Patten said, adding, \u201cThe BBC is one of the things that has come to define and reflect Britishness, and we shouldn\u2019t lose that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barely 12 hours earlier, Mr. Patten stood outside the BBC\u2019s new billion-dollar London headquarters with George Entwistle, the departing director general, as Mr. Entwistle announced his resignation after only eight weeks in the post to atone for his failings in dealing with what he called \u201cthe exceptional events of the past few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Entwistle\u2019s resignation was prompted by outrage over a Nov. 2 report on \u201cNewsnight,\u201d a current affairs program, that wrongly implicated a former Conservative Party politician in the pedophile scandal. Responding to reports that the \u201cNewsnight\u201d segment was broadcast without some basic fact-checking that would have exculpated the 70-year-old, retired politician it implicated, Alistair McAlpine, Mr. Entwistle said it reflected \u201cunacceptable journalistic standards\u201d and never should have been broadcast.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

More immediately, the BBC has to deal with a rebellious mood in its own ranks. Over the past 48 hours many of the BBC\u2019s top journalists and presenters have unleashed angry outbursts against the broadcaster\u2019s management, mainly directed at Mr. Entwistle and Mr. Thompson for what the employees have called a pattern of failed leadership. A persistent complaint has been that reforms initiated in the 1990s have created a vast hierarchy of overpaid managers who were insulated from programming decisions.<\/p>\n

It was a critique Mr. Patten endorsed in his remarks on the Marr show, saying at one point that \u201cthere are more senior leaders in the BBC than in the Chinese Communist Party.\u201d Jonathan Dimbleby, a well-known presenter, said on the same show that because of the layers of bureaucracy between Mr. Entwistle and the \u201cNewsnight\u201d producers, \u201cGeorge was at the receiving end of nothing, when he should have known everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

[continue reading…<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Source: CS Monitor) Britain’s BBC\u00a0could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said on Sunday, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician. Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC\u00a0Trust, said confidence had to be restored […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3],"tags":[104,1474,1475,1476,410],"class_list":["post-4845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-in-turmoil","tag-bbc-overhaul","tag-bbc-scandal","tag-lord-patten"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-1g9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1192,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/lord-patten-bbc-hindi-to-survive-budget-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":0},"title":"Lord Patten: BBC Hindi to survive budget cuts","author":"Thomas","date":"June 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: moneycontrol.com) Terming the BBC Hindi Service as \"very important\", Lord Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust and chancellor of the University of Oxford, today said the service will survive the major funding cuts that had severely affected its future. Read full article here.","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/BBC-Logo-300x240.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1165,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/lord-patten-to-save-the-world-service-from-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":1},"title":"Lord Patten to save the World Service from cuts","author":"Thomas","date":"June 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Telegraph) The new chairman of the BBC has signaled he is prepared to axe sports events and a digital television channel \u2013 but vowed to fight to save the World Service from spending cuts. Read full article at The Telegraph.","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/BBC-World-Service-Bush-Ho-007-300x180.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8490,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/01\/adverts-on-the-bbc-world-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":2},"title":"Adverts on the BBC World Service?","author":"Thomas","date":"January 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"According to this article in The Independent, the international arm of the BBC plans to commercialize: \"The BBC has sparked anger with plans to commercialise the 80-year-old World Service, and to downplay the coverage of politics in its global television news output. The changes, which one MP warned could jeopardise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Image source: BBC)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39028,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/08\/bbc-world-service-steps-up-shortwave-broadcasts-in-kashmir-during-media-shutdown\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":3},"title":"“BBC World Service steps up shortwave broadcasts in Kashmir during media shutdown”","author":"Thomas","date":"August 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: BBC Media Centre via @George53419980) The BBC World Service has extended output on shortwave radio in Indian-administered Kashmir to provide reliable news and information. The Director of the BBC World Service, Jamie Angus, says: \u201cThe provision of independent and trusted news in places of conflict and tension is one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Image source: BBC)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18810,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/bbc-to-protect-world-service-in-strategic-plan-presented-to-parliament\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":4},"title":"BBC to “protect” World Service in strategic plan presented to Parliament","author":"Thomas","date":"May 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Culture Secretary,\u00a0John Whittingdale, has made public\u00a0the UK government's plan for the future of the BBC, which among other things, will now include Ofcom regulation. The BBC Trust will also be dissolved and the BBC will have a new unitary board comprised primarily of members independent of the government. The plan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fullscreen capture 5122016 113422 AM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Fullscreen-capture-5122016-113422-AM.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9207,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/bbc-world-service-to-get-more-money-but-less-influence\/","url_meta":{"origin":4845,"position":5},"title":"BBC World Service to get more money, but less influence?","author":"Thomas","date":"April 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonathan Marks takes a look at the future of the BBC World Service under the umbrella of the BBC News group board. His conclusion? Just doing the news may be \"too narrow a remit.\" I tend to agree. Read for yourself on Jonathan's blog, Critical Distance.","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Image source: BBC)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/BBC-Headquarters-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}