this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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Whilst the BBC is impartial and independent and whatever etc. Key positions have been packed with Tory Party supporters/donors/friends.
It's no surprise they toe the government line, especially for their fellow Tories
I feel like the BBC's "aura" of impartiality makes it all the more dangerous when it does occasionally engage in propaganda. A lot of regular folks put a lot of trust in the BBC.
Yup.
Similar to the "equal airtime" or "show both sides" when it comes to science.
It puts unscientific opinions alongside scientific theory as if they are equal.
The only thing I can say in favour of the BBC is that it seems like the majority of people feel it's coverage is favourable to "the other side".
So, while we may be saying "BBC is clearly biased" because of things like this, I guarantee there are people that we don't agree with saying exactly the same about other topics.
So the situation is probably not as bad as it seems.
It does seem the majority of these "scandals" are about the BBC acting in favour of the Westminster UK government. But maybe that just the ones I actually see.
I'm a little hesitant to put much stock in conservatives' claims of bias, because plain factual reporting tends to strike a lot of them as biased. Reality is biased against modern conservatism.
I don't think the BBC is the worst by any means. But a couple of years ago, they did come out with one of the most egregiously misleading articles I've ever seen with regards to transgender people. Very obviously deliberate in its misinformation and even including proven lies about contacting sources. And to this day the BBC stands by it and has dismissed complaints.
So yeah, worth being wary.
Very good points.
I just wanted to temper the discussion a bit, and just check that I wasn't getting too carried away, echo-chambered or whatever.
Having done that, I still agree with you. I don't think the BBC is impartial or unbiased.
It no longer is impartial. It just reports what it's told.
It's not the job of a journalist to report that someone says it's raining. They have to stick their head out of the window and check, and then report what they find. They have forgotten this and it's shameful.
Non-Brit here. Can someone explain to me what makes up a Tory, and why?
Mostly hate and misery, with a good dash of racism.
For a more serious answer, "tory" is the nickname for a member of the Conservative party, the UK's major centre-right party. Much like in the US, they've been shifting further right in the past few decades and focusing more on "culture war" BS.
A Tory is the Conservative Party.
They are to the right. Although, if it's US politics you are used to they would probably be considered center or old-school right - not this new Right bullshit that's prevalent these days
So, their party revolves around thinly veiled plans to divert money to the rich, and tighten their control over the common people?
Pretty much.
Their whole deal is "fiscal responsibility", which apparently means applying austerity for about a decade and cutting huge amounts of public service budgets.
Mild tinfoil hat
Things like the amazing NHS end up underfunded (and leveraged as a bargaining tool, like when Brexit would give the NHS 350m extra per week). Obviously waiting lists get longer, some people maybe start seeking private care for some things. Then the Tories can turn around and say "the NHS is broken, people are using private care, we should sell off the remaining NHS and do the American thing. Think of the tax cuts!".
/Mild tinfoil hat
They also hate immigrants, want the old Rule Britannia/British Empire thing back, think dealing with climate change is untenable, a whole bunch of fun stuff like that.
Jeremy Hunt, current Chancellor of the Exchequer, literally co-authored a book on how to dismantle the NHS and replace it with a health-insurance based system.
He was Secretary for Health at one point too, and his policies didn't exactly rule out that he might be following the game-plan of that book.
There's no tinfoil hat needed here. The Tories are all but open about what they're doing at this point.
I know, but a part of me has to believe that the government is working for the benefit of all it's citizens.
Otherwise, what the fuck am I doing here? The future is bleak enough with hyper-consumerism, class/wealth gaps and climate change.
Sounds very American!
Yeh, but less cult and more tea, crumpets and stuff upper lips
Torys have been buying up the land that NHS hospitals are on and jacking up their rents
...then railing on and on about the ever rising costs of health care
Playing the long game until some crisis comes and then poof, welcome to the American Health* care system, you give us everything you own and we'll give you 3 months to live. Maybe.
And forget about dental and vision. That's for rich people.
Seriously Neoliberalism is anti-nationalist. The rich fucking despise regular people and do everything they can to, first, ensure that they are getting the government contracts, and then B, looting all that money, saying government doesn't work and dismantling us back to fuedalism.
Russia ain’t the only country with Oligarchs anymore!
The Tory are a nickname for the right-wing conservative party.
Historically it has been used in a somewhat derogatory manner. If somebody is a Tory then they tend to engage in more right wing policies than a Conservative who tends to be more center-right. Although technically there's no actual difference and they're all the same party.
Anyway they've lately started calling themselves Tory in a weird "let's take the word back" way, so you can more or less now just use the two words interchangeably.
Internally they have a lot of infighting about this, because some of the Backbenches (politicians who are members of the party but are not actually in government, think the equivalent of senators in the US) are unhappy with the parties direction because they feel that going full on lunatic right wing nut job might harm their chances of getting reelected. And based on current polling data it would seem that they are correct.
Tory originally came from an Irish word meaning robber/outlaw. 350 years on and they seem to be attempting to live up to it.