One of the less edifying benefits of relying on satellite tv is that we can hop from regional tv news stations to see what's going on in the many areas of the UK we have lived. Look North Hull, Look North Leeds and BBC South Today are our usual haunts. Very different programmes with very different presenters and each with a very different regional identity.   So why is it that whichever station we watch every night we have to see the same logos and graphics for the BBC's campaign against cuts.  Somebody at the top of the tree is denying regional and local editors the right to do what they think their locality needs and imposing editiorial policy which is distinctly political in nature.  This is not new. It started  when the BBC thought someone should oppose Blair in the Iraq debacle and the Tories were too cosy to New Labour to do it themselves.  It has gone beyond a joke.  The BBC has no brief whatsoever to take a political stance. How can it be said to be impartial when there is no balancing argument in favour of cuts?   And from a pensioner's point of view there is much to be said for a reduction in town hall manpower and more spending on social services....and so on. The real difficulty is that no one has a chance to vote for the BBC Party. All we can do is switch off.  Let us start a campaign to restore local radio and regional television managers' independence and give us real stories instead of made-up compilations on the theme of whatever irks BBC management in London.

Very likely. I'm no great fan of ITV but look at the way the "regional" coverage has been allowed to be degraded. Watching "Meridian" now means getting stories from about a fifth of the UK.  Unless viewers and listeners put up a fight it will be the line of least resistance.  And, I might say, I'd like to hear more of a squeal from those regional TV documentary producers who are abdicating their own creativity just to toe the line.    Let's go back to a time when the regional opt outs really did reflect regional character. We need people like dear old Tom Salmon and his ilk to restore the passion.
I am disappointed by the lack of response on this thread.