Politics Thread!

[VNVObit]

I just don’t think he’s an important factor. the NOTW hacking scandal, the decline of traditional media, both print and TV, and his advancing age.

Osborne & many others don't share your viewpoint. Osborne is quite clearly courting Murdoch's favour.

[pogo]

I just don’t think he’s an important factor. the NOTW hacking scandal, the decline of traditional media, both print and TV, and his advancing age.

Osborne & many others don't share your viewpoint. Osborne is quite clearly courting Murdoch's favour.

Any evidence of this? Wanting to reform BBC funding is certainly not evidence: maybe half the population want to see the BBC paid for some other way, making it a vote winner. Even the BBC does not see it going on forever.

BBC licence fee good for at least another decade, says director general

[k345y]

Rip me to shreds and no doubt you/anyone will for me saying the following but, Osborne and crew by their very political existence would love nothing more than a major evil corporate money model for the BEEB.

[VNVObit]

I just don’t think he’s an important factor. the NOTW hacking scandal, the decline of traditional media, both print and TV, and his advancing age.

Osborne & many others don't share your viewpoint. Osborne is quite clearly courting Murdoch's favour.

Any evidence of this? Wanting to reform BBC funding is certainly not evidence: maybe half the population want to see the BBC paid for some other way, making it a vote winner. Even the BBC does not see it going on forever.

BBC licence fee good for at least another decade, says director general

Did you actually watch the interview or are you being particularly thick? Osborne mentioned the licence fee but was more interested in what the BBC does and in particular its online presence, which to me is an extension of what it does but Osborne quite clearly feels it's interfering in the newspaper market (where Tories have more support).

The manner/method of payment for the BBC is a distraction. It's not the big debate you make it out to be. How the BBC will be controlled in the future is the more important issue

[pogo]

Did you actually watch the interview or are you being particularly thick? Osborne mentioned the licence fee but was more interested in what the BBC does and in particular its online presence, which to me is an extension of what it does but Osborne quite clearly feels it's interfering in the newspaper market (where Tories have more support).

The manner/method of payment for the BBC is a distraction. It's not the big debate you make it out to be. How the BBC will be controlled in the future is the more important issue

I didn’t watch it no. And I don’t see how the Tories are automatically in Murdoch’s pocket for e.g. pointing out that the BBC’s web site is highly distorting, as unlike every other news site it doesn’t have to use adverts or subscriptions to pay for itself.

You are right, the BBC is not as important as the media makes it out to be. But the license fee is still an anachronism that is increasingly out of place in today’s media landscape. For one if you were launching a public service broadcaster today and deciding how to pay for it, the last answer you would come up would be a tax on all people watching live TV. How it is paid for is set by government, so it’s a proper matter for political debate. And the sums involved are hardly small.

How it will be controlled is I hope of less concern, as I hope it will remain independent however it is paid for. I don’t think any government wants to mess with that.

[k345y]

tories can point out the BBC website as being 'highly distorting' all they fucking well like!

It's no different to any 'distorting' website and at least it's agenda is to rep the people that pay for it and not some overly already rich paymaster that wants more fucking power than they already fucking have!

Yeah....fucking!

Pick fault all anyone wants, agree with the beeb or not, it does rep something far more savoury than some cunts overall personal profit and influence.

[(o)(o)]

I just don’t think he’s an important factor. the NOTW hacking scandal, the decline of traditional media, both print and TV, and his advancing age.

Nick Davies on the subject.

[pogo]

You maybe misunderstood what I meant by distorting. I don’t mean its political bias, but its economic impact. If you read any other news web site on a regular basis you see the struggle many have with making money. Almost all run adverts, often in very obtrusive ways. Some have sponsored content, sometimes only subtly distinguished from editorial content. Many have paywalls.

It’s hard to do all that when someone else is doing it for free, free of adverts, free of subscription charges. Not only that but they are one of the largest news organisations in the UK, and they are largely free of pressures on their editorial content. It’s not a problem for entertainment; the BBC doesn’t produce that much quality entertainment, and there’s room in the market for them. But many people get their news from only one source, and if the BBC is providing it all for free it’s hard to compete.

As for Nick Davies, whoever he is, Labour lost the last election because of Murdoch? That would make the next one should be much easier, with Murdoch 84 and withdrawing from public life, he will probably have little involvement in his media empire in five years, if he’s still alive. There’s no indication his sons take such an interest in UK politics.

Thankfully for their sake Labour are not being caught up in such ridiculous conspiracy theories. They lost the election as they had a poor leader and a poor platform. They need policies and a leader better able to appeal to middle England, where elections are won in this country. Yes, I know they are UK not English elections, but elections are won in England: even if they win all of Scotland next time (a very tall order) they still need to do much better in England to have any hope.

[VNVObit]

The manner/method of payment for the BBC is a distraction. It's not the big debate you make it out to be. How the BBC will be controlled in the future is the more important issue

You are right, the BBC is not as important as the media makes it out to be. But the license fee is still an anachronism that is increasingly out of place in today’s media landscape. For one if you were launching a public service broadcaster today and deciding how to pay for it, the last answer you would come up would be a tax on all people watching live TV. How it is paid for is set by government, so it’s a proper matter for political debate. And the sums involved are hardly small.
How it will be controlled is I hope of less concern, as I hope it will remain independent however it is paid for. I don’t think any government wants to mess with that.

Missed the point completely (hardly a surprise).

BBC is important
method/manner of payment is not particularly important
How it will be controlled is important

and if you are going to comment on an interview you should actually watch it

[gravy]

As for Nick Davies, whoever he is, Labour lost the last election because of Murdoch? That would make the next one should be much easier, with Murdoch 84 and withdrawing from public life, he will probably have little involvement in his media empire in five years, if he’s still alive. There’s no indication his sons take such an interest in UK politics.

James is in charge from July.

Here's his initial draft of the conservative media policy from back in 2009

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/a ... v-festival

You realise the Murdochs have never had an interest in UK polotics?

The meddling falls out of wanting to get any business advantage they can. Kind of funny they spend so much effort on getting governments to work for them when they avoid paying tax here.

[tufty]

It’s hard to do all that when someone else is doing it for free, free of adverts, free of subscription charges. Not only that but they are one of the largest news organisations in the UK, and they are largely free of pressures on their editorial content.

Cry me a fucking river, you clueless cunt. It's part of the "Inform" part of the BBC's mission to "Inform, Educate and Entertain".

[gravy]

Well it's hard to get any sensible information out of a source not aligned to the holy principals of profit.

[pogo]

The meddling falls out of wanting to get any business advantage they can. Kind of funny they spend so much effort on getting governments to work for them when they avoid paying tax here.

Fine, you believe what you want. If you can get the Labour party to think the same way and blame losing the election on Murdoch and not their own failings then even better. For the Conservative party that is, who will be the main beneficiaries of Labour losing the plot again and basing their strategy on far-fetched conspiracy theories.

[gravy]

The meddling falls out of wanting to get any business advantage they can. Kind of funny they spend so much effort on getting governments to work for them when they avoid paying tax here.

Fine, you believe what you want. If you can get the Labour party to think the same way and blame losing the election on Murdoch and not their own failings then even better. For the Conservative party that is, who will be the main beneficiaries of Labour losing the plot again and basing their strategy on far-fetched conspiracy theories.

What are you on about? Who's mentioned Labour? You don't think Murdoch's support was essential for Labour's 97 victory?

I'm talking about Osborne being a twat and defunding an important institution on flimsy economic grounds when he's really doing it to clear the field for corporate interests, That's how he framed it this weekend.

And if you want an understanding of why this is such a sharp topic for Murdoch have a look at News International's awful and failed attempts at new media. He hates that unencumbered by the profit motive the beeb has an amazing precense that users love. Same goes for the Guardian.

He wants that to end and reduce the choice people have so his own paywalled rubbish can flourish. And it's doubly important for him because the Beeb's web prescence is global. But that's okay, George is on the case:

What is the Times, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail or the Sun or the Daily Mirror going to look like in 10 years’ time? It is going to be an online paper probably.

You wouldn’t want the BBC to completely crowd out national newspapers. If you look at the BBC website it is a good product but it is becoming a bit more imperial in its ambitions.

[Dio]

I thought particularly fascinating that he left the Guardian - who seems unfazed about competing with the BBC, and probably the strongest online presence of the UK papers (although the Mail is undoubtedly a serious competitor too now) - out of the list.