Once ANY government tell the media what they can, and can not say then democracy has gone. Even more incredible is the fact that BBC reporters adhered to the narrative dictated by Bonko and his cronies.
Just saying they were asked to be more critical of Labour is taking it out of context though. The original article says "The message was sent on the day Rachel Reeves confirmed Labour was calling for Plan B Covid restrictions, a policy initially announced by shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, which was being resisted by the government." and that the BBC were asked to "turn up the scepticism" on it, so it's all part of the same thing as far as I can see. It wasn't asking the BBC be to more critical of Labour in general.
Totally agree with your first point, however the Reporters argued unsuccessfully against the advice and the website and broadcasts on that day used the term “curbs” and “restrictions” on daily life, while other outlets, such as rival broadcaster Sky, were referring to “lockdown”
They still told the BBC to be more critical of a Labour policy though. They still asked, thats the point.
But it was directly related to how they were trying to manage a national crisis. Whether they were managing it well or not is beside the point. At a time such as that, it makes absolute sense, in fact it's of massive importance, that the national broadcaster helps the government.
Not at all! Apart from one or two, I never assume that any response is obnoxious. Everyone sees things differently and it's usually interesting to see how other people see it and to discuss it!
Agree, it was so easy to read the article and use it to fit the premise that the tories were manipulating to their own ends and not for the best interests of the people
Yeah, I suppose you should probably never rule that out with this particular government but I don't see anything wrong with them asking the BBC to present things in a certain way when they were trying to manage Covid.
There's always a fine line and with the Liar as leader a lot can be forgiven for seeing the possibilities of manipulation
Time to revise my estimate of being right back here in six months time downwards. He'll eventually give the BBC no option but to sack him.
And it's absolutely true. But another freedom that we all have is the freedom to disassociate ourselves with people who, when exercising the freedom referred to, say things that we don't agree with.
Correct. And chosen specifically because of that. We should have a sweepstake on whether he gets to the end of his contract in 2025. He's following the same route as Alex Jones, albeit in a different direction.
