CNN vs BBC

[Name Taken]

All U.S. news channels have lost the substance/plot... they no longer report the news, they just make it up as suits their ideology.

CNN has always had a very liberal slant.

[richard]

Sadly most news reporting seems to be a means whereby the media moguls can attempt to shape public opinion. The BBC should be an exception but their left wing bias has badly affected their credibility .

I feel in fact there is very little news and probably three 20 minute programmes a day would do it. What is sadly lacking is discussion of the news events for example there are two sides to the events going on in Ukraine where is the public debate? Or is this a reflection that the news providers feel that we, the public have a limited attention span.

News is tailored to convince the reader/viewer to tow the line. So it's a propaganda tool. Dundrillin you are spot on when you say there are two (or even more) sides to a story. Follow two different sources on the same piece of news and see the imbalance and bias. Quite often though Joe soap has been suitably 'sheep dipped' into one side of the story that presenting the other side usually earns you a CT label as it's deemed controversial and therefore inaccurate.

My brother used to research and broadcast for the BBC World Service. Scripts were carefully constructed depending on the target audience and live transmission included a time loop to prevent a presenter from bending the script. Iv'e seen him deliver the same story with a different script (emphasis and bias) to RSA and then Zimbabwe

[caller]

News is tailored to convince the reader/viewer to tow the line. So it's a propaganda tool.

Have you got any examples? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it's a bold statement.

The main one I can think of is ex-senior beeb editors admitting that over the years they played down stories on concerns about immigration in the UK, because of their own 'liberal' bias. But this was open to scrutiny by those overseeing the corporation, so at least it came to light and to be honest, Joe Public were well aware of this in any case as so many people were pointing it out!

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/j ... mmigration

Obviously in England, we've traditionally had clear lines drawn regarding the national press over whether they were tory or labour. But with labour changing, this has eroded a bit although the guardian has shifted from the middle ground to the left (to it's detriment in my opinion).

[Spitfire]

CNN has gone downhill a bit and is largely still tailored for the domestic audience of the US, although, it's obviously not as bad as some others like FOX News etc. The BBC is politically biased (plus annoyingly politically correct) and is patronizing/preachy too often as others said, but my other beef with the BBC is that it deliberately stirs the shit bucket provocatively to make a story from little that grabs attention or so that they can fill up their "analysis" section.

[Khundon1975]

I'm not a fan of CNN, but watch BBC news sometimes, however, prefer Channel 4 news in the UK, as they seem to do more in depth reporting most of the time.

[dtaai-maai]

^^ Yes, it occurred to me this morning that the only topic of discussion when it comes to UK news is the BBC. Do all non-Brits assume that is the only news outlet we have?

[Dannie Boy]

^^ Yes, it occurred to me this morning that the only topic of discussion when it comes to UK news is the BBC. Do all non-Brits assume that is the only news outlet we have?

I quite like Channel 5 news, but I am not keen on Sky News and can't stand one of their main newscasters - Kay Burley.

[PeteC]

^^ Yes, it occurred to me this morning that the only topic of discussion when it comes to UK news is the BBC. Do all non-Brits assume that is the only news outlet we have?

I know there is more but I've never seen them offered here on any system. Perhaps with an internet hookup to a TV box but without that, I think the BBC is it. Pete

[PeteC]

As an update note.....the BBC has been going great guns these last several months in offering new services including a whole variety of email news alerts and daily summaries and a lot of other on-line things I haven't tried yet. I applaud them for their effort, as their initiatives have been pulling me away from other news services and making them my primary 'go to' source. CNN is still floundering IMO. Pete

[Nereus]

As an update note.....the BBC has been going great guns these last several months in offering new services including a whole variety of email news alerts and daily summaries and a lot of other on-line things I haven't tried yet. I applaud them for their effort, as their initiatives have been pulling me away from other news services and making them my primary 'go to' source. CNN is still floundering IMO. Pete

Yes, I agree. If they would only get rid of that obese revolting female presenter from the sub-continent, and her partner Alice with hair falling all over her face. (to be fair, there is a couple on Australia Plus just as revolting)

They have some really good presenters, David Eade being one of them. Nick Cowin(sp) was another good one, but he disappeared some time ago when they first started the improvments.

In the last century, before all this TV crap, the BBC World Service was the ONLY radio news available in this part of the world. If it was not reported on the BBC, then it didn`t happen! And that also includes VOA, which you would have had more than a fair share of Pete!

[PeteC]

Back in the day I didn't listen to VOA much. Can't really remember anything about it. All I listened to was Armed Forces Radio and I don't have a clue where they were broadcasting from. It could have been Saigon, Da Nang or Bangkok I guess. They could possibly have been hooked up with the VOA or BBC World Service broadcast system. If my memory serves you could pick it up on a normal battery powered pocket transistor radio so the signal must have been strong. I seem to recall it was only on-the-air in the evening and night hours though. Pete

[PeteC]

^ As you've now ignited cobwebbed brain cells......many evenings I would listed to AF Radio mystery theatre and the actors had British accents in most cases so now it seems obvious AFR was hooked up to the BBC in some way. This was when all off base power was turned off at 2000 hours, and battery powered radio was all you had. Good memories Pete