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BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

theguardian.com

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Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#11

Post by gadders »

dontlaugh wrote: post #3
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #2

This is worrying as the BBC is supposed to be impartial and yet seems to be moving rightwards. There would seem to be a pattern of events: Richard Sharp made a loan to Boris Johnson and then was made the Chair of the BBC which has been described as "an error of judgement". More recently, there's been the criticism of Gary Lineker for calling out the Home Office's use of language (he compared it to Nazi Germany). Ther…

There’s been a clear right wing shift since around the Iraq war. It’s only gotten worse under the Tories, with party members in senior positions.

The Iraq Was was started by a Labour government, and from what I remember the BBC seemed to be very against it.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#13

Post by Veen »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #2

This is worrying as the BBC is supposed to be impartial and yet seems to be moving rightwards. There would seem to be a pattern of events: Richard Sharp made a loan to Boris Johnson and then was made the Chair of the BBC which has been described as "an error of judgement". More recently, there's been the criticism of Gary Lineker for calling out the Home Office's use of language (he compared it to Nazi Germany). Ther…

The Guardian article is misleading to the point of dishonesty. The episode that isn't being broadcast was not intended to be broadcast because it isn't part of the Wild Isles series. It's a companion documentary commissioned by the RSPB and the WWF.

And for all the good both these charities do, the BBC should not be broadcasting programs made by what are, in effect, political lobbying organizations (and I say that as someone who agrees with their aims).

Look at the last paragraph in the article, where they've put the real reason it isn't being broadcast.

Lineker compared the Home Secretary to the Nazis. He's entitled to his personal opinions, but he's a very prominent and massively over-paid BBC employee, so he should know better than to air his views on Twitter.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#14

Post by heywhatupboys »

This is a classic headline in the modern world. Some actor (not the film actors) says they won't do x because of fear for some other actor. The whole community then comes to critize actor 2 despite them having absolutely NO SAY in the decision and might even be okay with the situation at large.

Just like I could say: Programmer stops publishing a book on Java out of fear for HN.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#16

Post by KineticLensman »

gadders wrote: post #8
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #2

This is worrying as the BBC is supposed to be impartial and yet seems to be moving rightwards. There would seem to be a pattern of events: Richard Sharp made a loan to Boris Johnson and then was made the Chair of the BBC which has been described as "an error of judgement". More recently, there's been the criticism of Gary Lineker for calling out the Home Office's use of language (he compared it to Nazi Germany). Ther…

BBC presenters are supposed to be politically neutral, so Lineker was right to be criticised (quite apart from the fact he was talking rubbish). The ex-director general of the BBC Mark Thompson joined that hotbed of right wing activism, the New York Times. You also have ex-Labour minister James Purnell who had a senior role in the BBC. Frankly if you think the BBC is anything other than the broadcast media wing of th…

> Frankly if you think the BBC is anything other than the broadcast media wing of the Guardian you are severely deluded.

The extensive airtime given to Nigel Farage on BBC Question Time (> 30 appearances) contradicts this statement.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#17

Post by adolph »

The BBC has a tricky needle to thread. Agnostic to any claim made the episode, it seems a very normal scepticism would come from a documentary funded in part by organizations that then promote themselves based on the gravitas of said documentary. I'd think that the BBC wouldn't even start a documentary about rural electrification funded by a coal company, or poverty mitigation by payday lenders.

A sixth episode has also been filmed, which is understood to be a stark look at the losses of nature in the UK and what has caused the declines. It is also understood to include some examples of rewilding, a concept that has been controversial in some rightwing circles.

The documentary, which was part-funded by nature charities the WWF and RSPB, will not be broadcast along with the others and will instead be available only on the BBC’s iPlayer service. . . .

. . . This week the Telegraph newspaper attacked the BBC for creating the series and for taking funding from “two charities previously criticised for their political lobbying” – the WWF and RSPB.

[...]

The charities involved in the programme are already using it to launch a campaign – unaffiliated with the BBC – called Save Our Wild Isles. They have also gained the support of the National Trust, the Guardian understands.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#18

Post by sys32768 »

>allintitle: "rightwing backlash" site:theguardian.com

10 results.

>allintitle: "leftwing backlash" site:theguardian.com

0 results.

In my experience, the left-leaning people I know tend to protest and organize a lot more than the right-leaning. In fact the right-leaning mostly seem to whine and grumble and then return to their regularly scheduled programming.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#19

Post by Jiro »

My first reaction is "we have no idea if the BBC actually did this for the stated reasons at all, or whether they are refusing to show it for some other reason and are blaming outside groups to deflect the blame and/or to make a political attack."

My second reaction is "assuming the BBC is not just lying, do they have reason to think some groups would oppose it, or did they just magically come up with the idea? The only entity that this article names as objecting is the Telegraph. That doesn't seem like enough all by itself. Is there anyone else specific who objected?

My third reaction is "assuming that that's true too, on what grounds did the groups object?" Neither the BBC nor the Grauniad gives any details about their objections. Just "it's right-wingers". The Telegraph link says that the episode was funded by political groups, and that doing so is not standard procedure--if so, this sounds like a completely reasonable objection.

Re: BBC will not broadcast Attenborough episode over fear of rightwing backlash

#20

Post by stakhanov »

When I'm in a certain kind of mood, I often long for something that's a bit "slow TV", a bit "feelgood", a bit escapist, etc. I then frequently turn to a nature documentary and really enjoy the breathtaking imagery of the deep sea or Yellowstone wildlife or whatever. Then, after about 5mins, the guilttripping starts. And I'm like "...while all that may be accurate, I've had a tough day at work, and reflecting upon why my consumption behaviour is killing lovely fluffy polar bear babies is just not what I'm in the mood for right now."

...so while all this is lamentable from a political perspective, I find it coincidentally quite agreeable from an entertainment value perspective.

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