Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Fantasy Cabinet - Fantasy BBC ? http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1040947642 Message started by david_france on Dec 27^th, 2002, 12:08am

Title: Fantasy Cabinet - Fantasy BBC ?
Post by david_france on Dec 27^th, 2002, 12:08am

Having just read today's Times I am dismayed by the undertones conveyed in the article referring to plans by the BBC for a "Fantasy Cabinet" feature. The article can be read by going to the Times website and performing a search under "Fantasy Cabinet" and is dated 27 Dec 2002. First, it details some appalling blunders by the BBC on-line staff. Second it raises serious questions over the Corporation's increasingly active role in setting the political agenda. It also furthers any suggestion that the Corporation is pursuing a "dumb-down" policy. As an avid reader of on-line news and current affairs I have recently questioned such matters as the Education Correspondent criticising education policy by writing
"an open letter" to the Government on the BBC On Line news "front page" (and later claiming credit for an apparent policy shift). It all adds up to the Corporation abandoning its roots and playing the part of Opposition parties (a) because it has the means and (b) because they are failing to live up to their role.
I am worried by this trend, and especially by the dreadful lack of basic journalistic standards exhibited by those writing On-line material. Are you?
David France
(Uher-carrier 1973 - 1994)