Forum Topic

Tell him.

Am I the only one who thinks that the BBC should tell The tangerine tosser - known as Donald Trump, where to shove his threats of a lawsuit against the BBC? As a lawyer pointed out this morning - the time for him to take action here has lapsed by two weeks, and to pursue this in the U.S. in Florida is a problem as the Panorama programme wasn't shown there anyway.Usually when someone demands money with threats attached if you don't cough up, it is regarded as blackmail. Trump is possibly one of the biggest liars breathing and has managed to beat the American press into submission and lined his pockets doing it. The man is a bully and shyster, yes, the BBC should apologise, but that's where all this should stop. The BBC is held to far higher standards than that of many other media outlets and by and large do a fair and reasonable job we would be long sorry to lose it. Time to take a stand and put the orange one back in his box.

Vanessa Smith ● 5d17 Comments

Disappointing to see you supporting this anti-British rant of the right wingers I listed.I agree BBC made a mistake with editing, but the sense of what they were suggesting was correct and absolutely clear to anyone watching. I know I have no chance of converting you but I will still put across my points.Most people across the world still see the BBC as one of the most trusted news providers. Of course there are debates about the scope of their remit and a lot of left-leaning people have stopped watching it because they think it is biased to the right. Some right wingers have the opposite view and the same reaction. Even the American Republicans largely agreed and impeached Trump and found him guilty on 32 charges.Of course he'll say it's fixed. He says everything is fixed where he is the biggest fixer of them all.Will you still support him when he abolishes elections. After all he has said something he believes to be true: you'll never have to vote again.

Guy Lambert ● 4d

As I said, some of the reporting is appalling. Some is good. Some excellent. But the BBC has lost a lot of its senior and most experienced journalists in recent years, for a variety of reasons and the replacements haven’t always been equal to what’s required.Sports reporting isn’t as easy as people might imagine, and there are areas where it’s done well. But there’s a lot of guff that goes out that simply isn’t worth broadcasting (and that applies to news as well, where what’s broadcast isn’t ‘news’ but conjecture about what might happen. Inevitable given the airtime that has to be filled). They also dig up some dreadful pundits.The Corporation has cut local radio programming right back, with regional and national programmes shared in the afternoons and weekends. Not strictly adhering to the remit there.They could certainly do better in London, where the news is woeful in its content and presentation. There should be more detailed coverage of City Hall rather than puff pieces about Sadiq Khan’s latest wheeze. There’s zero coverage online about his numerous foreign jaunts at taxpayer expense. Considering he takes a huge chunk of all our council tax there should be more critical coverage (which ITV London manage to do.)Ditto local authorities, where there is clearly evidence of dysfunction, likely corruption and cronyism. All newsworthy and in the absence of local newspapers it should be the BBC that reports this.The defining motto of journalism is speaking truth to power. It’s just not happening now and we are poorer for it.

Simon Hayes ● 4d

"Some of the New and sports reporting is appalling" I think that's doing a disservice to journalists such as Orla Guerin and Jeremy Bowen for their reporting from war torn parts of the Middle East.As regards sport and as a lifelong football  fan I always looked to the BBC for coverage rather than ITV. They have stiff competition from the sky channels but they seem more interested in furthering the careers of ex.pros. as pundits. Also the BBC gives great coverage of Olympics.Not forgetting national and local radio.All in all well worth the licence fee. 

David Burke ● 4d

To be fair to Ruth Cadbury she did ensure that her road got nicely resurfaced.The problem with scrapping the BBC is what do you replace it with. Preferable would be a tightening of editorial control and employing people who are capable of doing the job properly. Some of the news and sports reporting is appalling.

Simon Hayes ● 4d

Have to agree, although I would scrap the BBC, the socialist infection has spread to far within it. As for Ruth Cadbury and the other clowns who went to the US to interfere in their election, how dare they. Who do they think they are ? She should get off her arse and do things for the people in her constituency. I see people sleeping in Gunnersbury Park in tents and people in supermarkets, barely able to afford basic foodstuff, fighting over discounted food and she was busy bad-mouthing their elected President. It beggars belief

Robert Ayres ● 4d

Guy, you are absolutely right. The awful Rees-Mogg was on 'Newsnight' earlier this week, and had the gall to defend Trump. I think the BBC made a mistake, well, show me anything run by human beings that doesn't get things wrong now and again. But, not many seem to attract the bile poured on the BBC, and those detractors are all of one persuasion. Trump has turned into the worst kind of dictator, and God alone knows what the media in the U.S. are thinking, just to roll over and be cowed. Fortunately for us this country is a democracy underpinned by a free press, in spite of the attempts by many to change that, and long may it remain so.

Vanessa Smith ● 4d

“I want my BBC”to be impartial and I make my own mind up on the matters they present. Quite clearly if you didn't agree with them (BBC)you were cancelled.Simons previous post mentions the LGBT or “woke” agenda. Case in point was the Labour Peer Lord Winston who was banished from Question time because of his views on Biological sex several years ago.Again his post mentions the lack of impartiality by the BBC coverage  of the last US election. The  interference from over a 100 Labour supporters going to the USA to support the Democrats including our very own Ruth Cadbury and then boasting about it on social media. Dumb or what. I don't remember the BBC covering this at the time. However it was mentioned on another News platform GB News, that incidentally I do not support or watch. The License fee should certainly not increase for the mess they have created with the US administration.

David Cook ● 4d

Well GuyCan I ask is it acceptable for our national news broadcaster the BBC to take a video tape cut and splice it to tell lies ?To present this lies to the people of this country and world stating this as the truth ?Do you not see and I know you don't want too that these lies have destroyed the trust and credibility of the BBC to the whole world.People make decisions based on the information they are given and five people lost there lives in the capitol hill riot. Trump is always screaming fake news and now the BBC have proved him right.Are they in part responsible for these deaths. I think its time for the BBC to go. As my old mum says at 98 years old " give me a thief over a liar as you know where you are with a thief you never know where you are with a liar

Robert Ayres ● 5d

The external watchdog Michael Prescott highlighted other issues at the BBC. This from the Corporation’s website:“Mr Prescott raised concerns about several other elements of the BBC's news output.He claimed its reporting of trans issues was effectively "censored" by its specialist LGBT reporters, who promoted a pro-trans agenda."I was told that time and time again the LGBTQ desk staffers would decline to cover any story raising difficult questions about the trans-debate," the memo said.And he pointed to problems with BBC Arabic's coverage of the Israel-Gaza war, including a claim that the service's "story treatment was designed to minimise Israeli suffering and paint Israel as the aggressor".Other "troubling matters" were raised:Prescott says the BBC's coverage of the 2024 US election was more critical of Trump than of his opponent, Kamala HarrisHe said the BBC published "ill-researched material that suggested issues of racism when there were none", including in a now-removed BBC Verify story about car insuranceThere was a "selection bias" against sending stories about migration and asylum seekers to BBC News app users as push notificationsHis other criticisms include misrepresenting the percentage of Palestinian women and children who have been killed by Israel's military in Gaza, and misrepresenting the likelihood of children starving under Israel's aid blockade.”

Simon Hayes ● 5d

I agree,they get some things right and some of their output is very good, but the Gaza'documentary' piece featuring the son of a Hamas official was another quite recent proof that their internal self regulating machinery has ground to a halt.They need some long lasting checks and balances imposed upon them as they don't seem to take these matters seriously or they are self absorbed and mismanaged.Either way they need to change.

Keith Iddon ● 5d

Hilarious that the reactionary old left winger Lambert is getting so hit under the collar. Coming from someone who has joined a party now led by a man who claimed he could enlarge women’s breasts by the power of thought one supposes he must recognise a charlatan when he sees one.Seems both he and Vanessa have missed the point of what’s going on. This isn’t really about Trump, it’s about the failure of editors and executives at the BBC to check what they were putting out. The Panorama programme was made by an independent company so those checks should have been even more rigorous. They compounded this by ignoring their own scrutiny watchdog. That should worry anyone paying a licence fee.The BBC is good at some things, poor at others and is increasingly marginalised in some areas of broadcasting. The failure here highlights the internal regulation isn’t working, but then after a string of scandals such as the Huw Edwards affair, it’s not surprising that management there is incompetent.Trump might have a problem suing as he’s out of time here but the least he deserves is a proper apology. The programme was a deliberate distortion. Just because there are those who despise him doesn’t mitigate a deliberate misrepresentation.

Simon Hayes ● 5d

I am only interested in the local issues that directly affect myself and cost me time and money. Oh yes I forgot I walk around Brentford with my blinkers on silly me.Your rant earlier had absolutely nothing to do with this local forum.

David Cook ● 5d

The BBC must tell him where to go. Of course those in the pay of GB News (Farage, Rees-Mogg) and the trump/Putin worshipper Farage and the ultimate no-ethics Boris Johnson are hoping to see one of our still world leading world respected BBC which also employs thousands of Brits fail, so GB News, the UK branch of the US Trump media succeed.None of those shysters give a monkey for our country. Their loyalty is only to their wallets.

Guy Lambert ● 5d

'He he he, whats this post got to do with local news? 'Just in case it had escaped your eagle eyes there are many wide ranging subjects discussed on these local Forums. I fear we might all get very fed-up with endless posts about e-bikes, roadworks, cyclists and drivers ad infinitum. Time to broaden your horizons perhaps?

Vanessa Smith ● 5d

They should apologise and bloody well buck their ideas up as they are continually getting into situations that would be  completely avoidable with some real checks and balances in place.Until those who are responsinle,the staff who actually edited the tape and their managers, are sacked and their very generous pensions put into the mix,then this type of bad practise will continue.They come across sometimes as a law unto themselves sometimes,cosseted by public funding and prone to mutual back slapping.

Keith Iddon ● 5d

He he he, whats this post got to do with local news? Dear me Vanessa your recent posts have gone downhill and into the gutter.

David Cook ● 5d

Agreed,  as Emily Maitless said yesterday the BBC needs to stiffen its spine Trump makes a habit of litigation against US broadcasters.in order to cow them into submission. The BBC is held in high regard abroad and indeed in the US. It's just the home grown Farrage supporters making a noise. A fulsome apology and two resignations should be the end of it.I

David Burke ● 5d