BBC 'Biased' Coverage

[el_tk]

http://www.planetrugby.com/Story/0,18259,3...3204288,00.html

Complaints about the "English bias"

 

[lineens weegie army]

Have to say, I couldnt agree more. I cant comment on the BBC's coverage of saturdays games since (fortunatly) you cant hear their comentators at Croke Park, but I dont suspect it was any better than their normal coverage.



To state an even bigger example of this though, ALL of Englands home games in qualification for the 2010 football world cup will be shown LIVE on BBC One all over the UK, yet the BBC cant be arsed stumping up the cash to show a single Scotland game, and I doubt they will show any Wales games either. (strangly, NI often manage to get their games though )



OK, I wouldnt mind so much if they just couldnt afford it, but its the fact they told the SNP government last autum that BBC Scotland are free to bid for the rights - OUT OF THEIR OWN BUDGET! (That is after Scots, Welsh and Irish pay their license fees which are used to fund the BBC's contract with the FA - effectivly meaning we must help pay for England games AND completely cover our own games without any help.)



And along similar lines to this MP's claim, last september (13th - i'll never forget that date!) the 10 O'clock news featured the headline "and in sport, England have beaten Russia 2-0 at wembley". Completely failing to mention the fact Scotland pulled off one of the biggest results in their history by beating France 1-0 in Paris. Just tell me, how is the England game even newsworthy when compared to the Scotland result?



And its not just in Sport this happens, stories that are left totally to regional news when they happen outwith england sometime get 10 minutes of a 30 minute slot on the national news (even when the issue has nowt to do with those of us fortunate enough to live in the better parts of the UK)



Seriously, this sort of sub-standard coverage I can take from ITV or Sky News, if you dont like it you dont watch it, but if you own a TV you HAVE to fund the BBC, and therefore HAVE to pay for English people to watch their national football team. Infact BBC Scotland gets just 3% of the BBC's anual funding (anyone know the figures for NI or Wales?) despite nearly 10% of liscense payers living here!



Oh, and is there any mention of this claim on the BBC site? nah, course not. (Although there is an article about how the BBC recieved 124 complaints about too much rugby being shown on saturday!)

 

[nick_w]

This one obviously fell off my radar. I think Bryant has got a good point though. It does seem that the beeb focuses more on the English matches. I knew when Inverdale referred to the first two matches as "warm-ups" it might cause a stir. If anything, the Welsh game was far more interesting than the English one, but thats another discussion.

Will this result in more focus on the other home nations though? I'm sure the biasness of BBC's rugby coverage has been brought to their attention before, and all they have done has delivered the same line "we will look into the complaints."

 

[An Tarbh]

"we will continue to give full coverage of Wales' bid for the grand slam"

They say that now but what odds that come March 9 there'll be more coverage and focus on the Calcutta Cup than on Wales v Ireland.

To be honest I don't expect anything else, England is by far the biggest country in the UK so that's who the BBC cater to.

 

[An Tarbh]

Have to say, I couldnt agree more. I cant comment on the BBC's coverage of saturdays games since (fortunatly) you cant hear their comentators at Croke Park, but I dont suspect it was any better than their normal coverage.[/b]

You can't really make any complaints of bias with a Scot and Irishman commentating

To state an even bigger example of this though, ALL of Englands home games in qualification for the 2010 football world cup will be shown LIVE on BBC One all over the UK, yet the BBC cant be arsed stumping up the cash to show a single Scotland game, and I doubt they will show any Wales games either. (strangly, NI often manage to get their games though ) [/b]

BBC won't be showing England's world cup qualifiers, they'll be on ITV and Setanta. As for Scotland Sky have the rights fair and square since the government haven't made them an 'A' list event, so it's not a question of BBC not being arsed to stump up the cash when there's other channels in play. Sky also have the rights for Wales and NI.

 

[lineens weegie army]

<div class='quotemain'>
Have to say, I couldnt agree more. I cant comment on the BBC's coverage of saturdays games since (fortunatly) you cant hear their comentators at Croke Park, but I dont suspect it was any better than their normal coverage.[/b]

You can't really make any complaints of bias with a Scot and Irishman commentating

To state an even bigger example of this though, ALL of Englands home games in qualification for the 2010 football world cup will be shown LIVE on BBC One all over the UK, yet the BBC cant be arsed stumping up the cash to show a single Scotland game, and I doubt they will show any Wales games either. (strangly, NI often manage to get their games though ) [/b]

BBC won't be showing England's world cup qualifiers, they'll be on ITV and Setanta. As for Scotland Sky have the rights fair and square since the government haven't made them an 'A' list event, so it's not a question of BBC not being arsed to stump up the cash when there's other channels in play. Sky also have the rights for Wales and NI.



[/b][/quote]



OK, didnt realise ITV have the rights for the next campaign, but the BBC have had them for many years at the expense of license payers across the UK, while were being told if we want to see the team then we have to pay without the help of anyone south of the border.



Another thing that gets me though is that throught the UK we have to put up with English comentators and pundits if we decide to watch the game (although the mute button can be useful here) we are paying for, yet on the one occasion a Scottish game was shown in england (although I suspect it was because of Italy rather than Scotland) Scottish license payers were in effect paying to send 2 sets of pundits and commentators to Bari! Whats wrong with the scottish ones?





(and as for the Ireland - Scotland game, like I say I was at the game and therefore didnt see the BBC's coverage.)

 

[Nidhogg]

I lost the plot after this comment:

"The Labour MP believes that the weekend's main story should have been Wales's big win over Italy in Cardiff rather than England's shock victory over France in Paris."

Yeah, this says it all basically.


"The evening news ran with 'England are now in contention for the championship' rather than 'Wales have won all three of their games."

Bringing news is about bringing NEWS. Wales being in contention wasn't news after the Italy match, because everyone knows they would have most likely won that match anyway. England raising from the grave in France is actual new news.


"The Rhondda MP then turned his attention to the late television news bulletins which carried "each point scored by England in their win over France" but only a "brief glimpse" of Italy's 47-8 defeat in Cardiff. "

Honestly, I watched the match live, and my attention drifted as well during the second half. We get the point, Wales smashed Italy. None of the tries really struck me as superbly crafted, and were due to Italian defending (or lack thereof). I don't need to see half a dozen tries just because they are tries.


Bottomline, England has been news this week, Wales hasn't. I'm sure the BBC focusses more on England than on Wales sometimes, but then again they have much more people, land, and a more exciting rugby match last saturday. Then again, I do understand this man. He is a politician after all, so it's not like he actually has something to do >_<

 

[BLR]

If it's such a big issue to parliamentarians why don't you just start up your own channel, why this reliance on England? If you are going to live in union with the English, as they are the dominant power you have to expect these things...

 

[Mr.blobby]

To be honest, it sounds like he's looking for something to cry about. Wales' big win over the Italians was still reported by the BBC and they were still talking about how Wales are on their way to a Grand Slam and how fantastically they're playing.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Have to say it just seems the same as normal, England is the biggest country and the BBC headquarters are in London as well as well as they won in Paris. So it was always going to be the main headline match from round 3.

 

[JovialJim]

If it's such a big issue to parliamentarians why don't you just start up your own channel, why this reliance on England? If you are going to live in union with the English, as they are the dominant power you have to expect these things...
[/b]

That is a very good point.

If the Welsh & Scots do not like the BBC coverage, get off your Rses and do something about it.

And how the Scots, a country on the brink of independance via the electorate and turning it's back on Britain, can think it can have a say in how the British Broadcasting Company is run is a bit rich.

The Welsh will get my backing on this issue and the BBC needs to make sure that BBC in Wales reflects the wishes and views of the Welsh people.

 

[An Tarbh]

It's not at all rich of the Scots i.e. the SNP to be complaining how the BBC is run, it's all politics and strengthens, they believe, their case for independence and they cite this as an example of what they have to put up with as long as they remain under Westminster. It's irrelevant though that he did it in a speech that contained blatant factual errors but that's beside the point

 

[RC]

<div class='quotemain'>
If it's such a big issue to parliamentarians why don't you just start up your own channel, why this reliance on England? If you are going to live in union with the English, as they are the dominant power you have to expect these things...
[/b]

That is a very good point.

If the Welsh & Scots do not like the BBC coverage, get off your Rses and do something about it.
[/b][/quote]

I didn't really have a problem with the bias before now...until i read those comments.
They hit somewhat of a sore spot.

Our own channels? You do realise that our "own channels" are those of BBC 1 Wales, BBC 2 Wales and S4C...our own channels are those funded by BBC.

Reliance on the English? We HAVE TO rely on the English because we are such a small country (nay principality). We rely on your money (which is actually seen as "our money") we need the English and we could NEVER become a republic. Any welsh person to think otherwise is deluded.

We've been given the freedom of speech and clearly there are some Welsh folk out there who feel they want more concentration on Wales.
Granted, these people could learn to speak Welsh and turn over to S4C and watch NOTHING BUT Wales, but we're a country that's filled with English speakers and live in a culture and society that is heavily dominated by the concept of a western world revolving around the English word. So, not everyone here can speak Welsh.

"Dominant power" your speaking as if the Empire still runs good and strong. Get over yourself, things don't quite work the way they used to...not that you ever witnessed the way things "used to be" so why on earth you have this way of thinking is beyond me. How about thinking of Wales as an allie to England and there is no "power situation"

Now England have long since accepted that Wales are HEAVILY reliant on them, and have willingly funded us and what not, and granted you could choose to say "beggars can't be choosers" but England should look at Wales as their adopted children. They chose to look after us, so they can't let us watch the tele and not let us have cartoons. That's unfair and cruel punishment. So would it be too much to ask for a little less English bias?


NB: Not that i have a problem with all of this. It's just i didn't appreciate JovialJim's and BLR's comments being thrown around so flippantly. Nationalities are a delicate concept and words of such a belittling nature can be hurtful.
You were close to a neg rep for those comments.

 

[JovialJim]

RC,

I'm sorry you took it that way as it was not meant.
But, if the Welsh already have BBC Wales channels etc, and these channels are being bias towards the English, then to me they are not serving their purpose. Only the Welsh can sort this out. Letters, petitions, demos, boycotts, lobby Welsh MPs, etc. To accept the situation as just the way it is is not going to get anything done.
My point is that although I disagree with what is happening on your BBC broadcast(it would pee me off aswell if in reverse), and I back the Welsh on this, it is not something for the English viewer to deal with but an issue the Welsh have to bring to the fore.

I hope you see my point.

 

[el_tk]

I'm actually fairly certain I didn't actually start this thread...

 

[An Tarbh]

yeah there were 2 similar threads so I put the relevant posts in the relevant topics

 

[el_tk]

You're making me doubt my sanity.

 

[An Tarbh]

You're making me doubt my sanity.
[/b]

we do our best!

 

[Macsen]

But, if the Welsh already have BBC Wales channels etc, and these channels are being bias towards the English, then to me they are not serving their purpose.[/b]

All the different regions of BBC do is show different news and occasionally they'll show a different program. They don't actually modify the content of the programs to suit the different regions at all. So the BBC Wales coverage of a Six Nations match is exactly the same as the coverage on BBC Scotland or BBC North East or whatever. I tried flicking through them on Saturday to make sure Norther Ireland and Scotland were also getting three englishmen discussing a different game to the one we were about to watch (they were).



The thing is they don't need to change the content, neutrality is easy really, just a matter for them to keep in mind. It's common sense to know that dismissing matches by the countries of almost half your viewers as 'warms ups' is going to **** people off.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("RC")</div>

we need the English and we could NEVER become a republic. Any welsh person to think otherwise is deluded. [/b]

I'm deluded then.

 

[lineens weegie army]

If the Welsh & Scots do not like the BBC coverage, get off your Rses and do something about it.

And how the Scots, a country on the brink of independance via the electorate and turning it's back on Britain, can think it can have a say in how the British Broadcasting Company is run is a bit rich.

. [/b]

Did I actually just read that?



So you are saying that because some people in Scotland would like to be independant no scots have a right to comment on how their license fee's are spent? Utter ********! we have just as much right to criticise the way the BBC present their coverage as any other region in the UK!



And as for doing something about it, im glad that fiinally our first minister IS trying to do something about it. (About the only policy of his I agree with!)