The BBC - Impartial or not?

Poll

Do you think that the BBC is reliable and impartial?

Following an enlightening discussion with several BNP supporters in the thread: 'UK whites will be minority by 2100' , it emerged that any material I quoted from the BBC was branded as being worthless since "the BBC is not impartial". Now this really puzzled me because it is an independently funded news source, and one of the most reliable and respected I find.

So just out of interest what do you think of the BBC and why...

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

-Kav-

I think that, in general, they do a damn good job with respect to impartiality. They've always kept editorialising to a minimum and represented a fair sweep of views. I would rarely watch any other news broadcast (I avoid ITN in particular as they are often in no way even-handed).

Reply 2

Johnny

Pineappolis

Couldn't have put it better myself really, and as for ITN... I would laugh were it not so worrying; I mean they must attract a large audience right?

Have you ever caught the Tonight Show with good ol' Trevor Macdonald per chance? I find that the topics are invariably: 'Hooded teenagers/Bird flu/Immigrants will get YOU'

Reply 3

MB__

The bottom line is that they are not impartial. They are pushing a political agenda. I have two problems with that. First, they are doing it at the expense of those who pay the TV licence fee - who presumably expect an impartial source of information on politics and current affairs. Second, they use their previous repuation of impartiality and respectability to push their new found 'multiculti' agenda by 'stealth'.

Reply 4

oink

Which party did they decide to do an undercover documentary on?
Which is the only party that is banned from speaking on question time?

Reply 5

philjw

The BBC are generally very reliable for facts and so on, but it doesn't mean that they are impartial.

BBC News and political programmes, even more so on the radio than on TV, do show some bias towards a socially liberal attitude. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does stick out on some issues. Take the foxhunting coverage when the hunting ban was being debated - very largely biased towards the ban. In this case I agreed with the bias, but it was noticeable.

Reply 6

Stranksy

MB__

Couldn't have put it better myself

Reply 7

Beekeeper

The odd thing here and there makes my eyes squint a little, but overall they are pretty reliable for a media corp. I don't know how impartial some of you expect them to be, they are humans afterall...

Reply 8

Refused

There is no such thing as an impartial news source. While the BBC may not be perfect, they are the most impartial out there and they are the most respected news source in the world. People of all corners of the world rely on it and they hold it as more impartial than their national news.

Reply 9

Apagg

oink

Which party did they decide to do an undercover documentary on?
Which is the only party that is banned from speaking on question time?

Which party has a history of violent racism?

I may not agree with the BBC's treatment of the BNP, but I wouldn't say it's unexpected.

Besides which, the fact that the BBC has revealed extreme racism in the BNP does not mean it is not to be trusted when reporting in general. At most, I would be wary of taking at face value its reports on the BNP.

Reply 10

Apagg

In terms of international reporting - don't most broadcasters tend to source from Reuters?

Reply 11

Chrism

There's the odd moment when you can see a little bias shine through, some presenters more than others as well, however in general it does a fairly decent job in staying neutral.

Reply 12

Johnny

Apagg

In terms of international reporting - don't most broadcasters tend to source from Reuters?

Sometimes but this is less common with the BBC. Prominent international news agencies also include:

Agence France-Presse (the oldest, founded in 1835)
All Headline News (AHN)
ANP (The Netherlands)
ANSA (Italy)
Associated Press (founded in 1848)
Australian Associated Press
BASA-press (the first independent news agency from The Republic of Moldova)
British Broadcasting Corporation
Bloomberg L.P.
Canadian Press
Canadian University Press (founded in 1938)
China News Service,China
City News Bureau of Chicago
Cox Enterprises
DPA (Germany)
EFE
EIN News
Independent Television News
Israel News Agency - Israel
ITIM - Israel
ITAR-TASS, Russia
Kyodo News (Japan)
Nippon News (Japan)
OANA
The Press Association (UK)
Pacific News Service
Press Trust of India
United Press International (founded in 1907)
Xinhua News Agency, People's Republic of China
Yonhap, Korea

Reply 13

djchak

They are NOT impartial. I would trust CNN International over them.

Generally, they have a leftist bias.

I'll still watch them though, as the international news coverage has a wide range. But I take everything they say with a grain of salt. Especially when in comes to thier reporting on the US.

Reply 14

Ferrus

Of course they are bias, it is impossible not to be to a certain degree. However they are a damn sight better than any othe state owned media company in the world.

Reply 15

Apagg

Ferrus

Of course they are bias, it is impossible not to be to a certain degree. However they are a damn sight better than any othe state owned media company in the world.

True, compare it to pretty much all Chinese media sources, and you'll be glad of it.

Reply 16

Vienna

Pineappolis

They've always kept editorialising to a minimum

What does that mean?

Reply 17

Ferrus

Apagg

True, compare it to pretty much all Chinese media sources, and you'll be glad of it.

Only the British have the political maturity to have an independent state media, even in stable democracies like Italy the media has become dominated by party interests.

Reply 18

j4mes_bond25

djchak

Now, why doesn't it surprise me when a Yank say so :biggrin:

Just cos BBC portrays the true picture of American politicians & their sleazy politics along with their filthy & illegal acts of torturing innocents ......... :biggrin:

Reply 19

Vienna

Yes, they are impartial if we exclude their reporting on the US, international politics, race, the Conservative party, terrorism, global warming and Israel.