Let's avoid a bout of BBC bashing

“Quote: "The BBC is a spent force. No-one will believe its journalism any more, because however you look at it, the newsnight programme was a failure. "

Quite amazing. One poor program out of many many thousands of great programmes by the BBC and someone over reacts big time. And the investigative journalist at fault wasn't even from the BBC!”

“Sansue, you can't compare the BBC to sky or ITV because they bring money in and therefore profits dictate the salary potential of their execs. The BBC are happy to pay off an exec at £450K for 54 days work for which he was inept for most of it. In general, the BBC pays higher salaries than their rivals across the Board not just at exec level but down the hierarchy as well. It has become like a secret club for a select bunch of individuals. Jonathan Ross on £12m over 3 years was way higher than he was offered anywhere else which is why he took it. Who exactly is controlling the fees policy at the BBC??”

“The BBC is a spent force. No-one will believe its journalism any more, because however you look at it, the newsnight programme was a failure. Either the programme was wrong about paedophiles in high places in the 1980s, in which case it was disgraceful, or it was right but the criminals have been protected by their friends in high places and the BBC discredited. Either way, the BBC has lost.

It's time for the BBC to be closed down and news reporting left to private sector broadcasters. Sure, we'd get biased reporting but that's been the case with newspapers form generations. Everyone knows which papers are biased to the left and right, and makes their choice when buying. We haven't felt the need for a publicly-funded politically neutral newspaper and there's no need for publicly-funded broadcasting either.”

“It's the hypocrisy of the National print media that I find somewhat hard to take.
If papers like the Daily Mail sacked everyone every time that they made a mistake or wrongly accused someone of something, blimey, every newspaper would have to close down.
The BBC have problems, but lets put it into perspective, I agree with C_G_Lee, they are still the most reliable News Service in the world. You only have to look at some of the American stuff to see that.”

“"They can start by stop being so elitist in their employment strategy and start paying salaries for execs in line with their equivalent in the NHS, education etc"

Err, so not in line with ITV, Sky, and other similar organisations which is surely the most logical benchmark, rather than services (e.g. NHS, education) with which it shares nothing in common other than the fact they are publically funded??!!!!”

“The BBC are in a no win position. They were pilloried for not broadcasting a Newsnight programme about Jimmy Saville because they were not sure about the validity of their evidence at the time. They then feel compelled to broadcast the item about child abuse in the Welsh children's home to avoid further criticism. The evidence in this case turns out to be unreliable. They can't win. Anyway, Newsnight did not name the alleged senior Tory.

It would seem to me that the political right are out to destroy the BBC by any means. They have always see the BBC as lefty liberal, the Tory supporters want only commercial TV because it has shareholders, dividends and profits from producing rubbish TV programmes.”

“This is another example of the lowering standards in journalism. Sensationalism seems to be the order of the day as it is with the newspaper industry. Scoops call them what you like but you need to get your facts right first and foremost.

Whilst the chap in North Wales undoubtedly went through hell he certainly has done his cause any good whatsoever. Incidentally, it must be remembered the 'Newsnight' programme didn't actually name Lord McAlpine but other events lead to him being wrongly accused.”

“Where is the evidence to suggest this is not a systematic cultural problem within the BBC. Panarama has been producing one sided sensationalist journalism for years now. The facts are there for all to see. This corporation employed an inidivdual who they knew behaved inappropriately with minors and not only turned a blind eye to it, but in fact endorced it and gave him a childrens programme to host and the facilities to commit his crimes on their premises. Once they were found out the head at the time states "they were not that young" absolutely unbelievable. They then take the Chelsea FC approach to defencing the indefencible by going on the attack and trying to implicate someone else (wrongly!). This time it was a senior tory, which was no coincidence considering the deep rooted left wing culture within the BBC.
I'm not suggesting closing the BBC down or anything radical like that. I just want to know that the corporation we pay for is trustworthy, transparent, operates with an ethical code similar to that of most law abiding people. They can start by stop being so elitist in their employment strategy and start paying salaries for execs in line with their equivalent in the NHS, education etc. No individual on the payroll should be bigger than the organisation, and standards and ethics should ensure that the likes of Savile are never seen on our screens again.”

“It would be a huge folly for people to start "bashing" the BBC, which I believe is the foremost public service and news broadcaster in the world.

The BBC still provides the most reliable news service, and the highest quality programme output in the UK and is loved and respected by millions of people in this country and abroad.

Mistakes have clearly been made, but let's not tar the whole organisation with the same brush. The BBC needs to remain strong and effective. We would be a lot worse off without it.”