Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "the BBC trims back news-night- another signal of surrender" video.

  1. We don’t want the BBC doing investigative work, do we? Exploring the motives and workings of our institutions and government, might leave too many people being informed? I 100% believe that this cutback is a direct result of pressure from our Tory, “government.” There is a direct correlation between the government’s sudden radio silence about the BBC and that institution’s sudden apparent silence on any news that looks bad for the Tories. We have gone from almost daily attacks on the BBC, even from the Dispatch Box, continually threatening the licence fee, occurring all the way up to Boris Johnson’s tenure at Downing Street, to this apparent acquiescence on the part of the Beeb, frequently quashing headlines that would embarrass the government, demonstrating appalling pro-government biases (which themselves have grabbed headlines) and having the old boy network appointees quietly slipped into positions of leadership throughout the whole organisation. The irony, of course, is that people like me, who were once fierce defenders of that license fee, find the best argument for ending it in their becoming a propaganda mouthpiece for whatever government happens to be in power! It has been truly distressing to watch the decline in standards of this precious jewel in the nation’s crown. The three things that speak most loudly to me of, “Britishness,” have always been 1) Our independent judicial system, still able to make judgements that can even stymy the worst laid plans of Prime Ministers, as both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have found, to their chagrin. 2) Our NHS, providing healthcare from cradle to grave, FREE at the point of need; still heroically standing, however embattled. And 3) Our independent journalism, with its finest exemplar, setting the standard that the world still follows (or aspires to) in the BBC. An organisation with literal global reach, scope and influence. People huddled in trenches in some God forsaken African war zone or East European war zone, or some Middle Eastern hell hole, dodging missiles and trying to find out what’s really going on out there so they can decide what to do next, do NOT tune in to Fox, CNN, Al Jazeera or the RT propaganda outlets. They tune in to the BBC World Service, to get unalloyed, simple FACTS, coming from gallant journalists worthy of the name, often risking their lives or their freedom, just to get the TRUTH out to the world about matters of ultimate urgency. And our government has done more to undermine those three institutions in the last 13 years than any previous government in the last 13 decades! This cut back will lead directly back to some influential Tory, or Tories, I have no doubt.
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