The BBC

Ilya_Ilyich

UrWntr wrote: »

Or "Barclays report profits of 5.9bn - 4bn more than RBS".

Like I said, BBC are not responsible for reporting profits to shareholders, they're a media outlet. It's up to them how they want to spin things and they chose to put a negative slant on a positive result in the circumstances.

Incidentally, the telegraph headline for the same story was "Barclays unveils 5.88bn profit as bankers bonuses capped".

Both the BBC's and The Telegraph headlines are entirely accurate, but one makes the reader feel positive and the other negative.

Hence the POINT of this thread and my post.

Keep on arguing and missing the point...

A simple profit figure out of context is meaningless. £5.88bn might be really high or really low and there's no way to know without context. Noting that it's a decrease of 3% year-on-year is context.

If you do have a point the fact that nobody's 'getting it' suggests you're doing an incredibly bad job of articulating it.

UrWntr

Ilya_Ilyich wrote: »

A simple profit figure out of context is meaningless. £5.88bn might be really high or really low and there's no way to know without context. Noting that it's a decrease of 3% year-on-year is context.

If you do have a point the fact that nobody's 'getting it' suggests you're doing an incredibly bad job of articulating it.

In that case I suggest you write to The Telegraph and let them know what a bad job their journalists are doing.

I'm not even disagreeing with you. My point is valid in the context of this thread.

sheffield_lad

Ilya_Ilyich wrote: »

A simple profit figure out of context is meaningless. £5.88bn might be really high or really low and there's no way to know without context. Noting that it's a decrease of 3% year-on-year is context.

If you do have a point the fact that nobodies 'getting it' suggests you're doing an incredibly bad job of articulating it.

It did stop this headline though did it
'Project Merlin: Banks miss small company lending target'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16987063

100% correct but looking at the bigger picture, the target was missed by 1.5% the BBC quoted this as 'over a billion pound short' again correct but they failed to highlight that overall project Merlin lent £24billion more (12% above target), overall!!

We are of course looking at the micros here but for me its very clear that the BBC has swung way over to the left since 2010. If I buy the Mail or Telegraph I expect stories of work shy public sector, spongers etc. If I read the Guardian I expect banker bashing everything is bad in the world but what I expect from the Beeb is an unbiased view.

Maybe this can't happen as the journalists can't help themselves or maybe Beeb believe they should be on the side of the poor who knows the disappointing thing is to get a true look at the news I have to record C4 news which seems to balance impartiality far better.

Loughton_Monkey

Personally, I don't think the 'leftism' of the BBC is the key issue. Their problems are, I feel, far deeper than this. I think it started with John Birt, who could not speak English, but could only communicate in meaningless 'management drivel' that no-one could understand. But then 'equal opportunities' in trumps meant that they recruited the most unable and unintelligent people around. Then they re-organised them into complex 'matrix' ways that no-one can understand either.

You only need to glance at BBC News web site to understand the moronic and low quality "pap" they dish up all day and every day. Just as a trivial example, in the wake of Banker Bonuses/High executive salaries, they had an "article" headed somthing like "How do people on £1 million salary spend their money?"

Now if you clicked on the item thinking there would be any hint of an answer, you would be mistaken. All it consisted of was basically a load of hype (probably written by an 18-year-old intern) telling us how much it costs to buy a Porshe, holiday in Barbados, or how a house 'might' cost you £40 million. I rolled on the floor laughing at the last one, when the absolute idiot writing it quoted what the deposit would be and what the monthly mortgage repayment would be, as if this was a first time buyer!!!!!

Remember that to the BBC, the word "balance" seems not to imply (as it would to me) to treat each "issue" in a fair way and present all 'sides'. No. Instead, they will take the most "Nanny State", ill-informed, often leftist, position on the issue and go to print. The next week, they will do the same, but with an "issue" about the opposition etc. To them, this is "balance". Ill-informed, trivial, alarmist, and critical comment about Cameron's latest policy is "balanced" (in the BBC's mind) by setting out equally trivial, critical, lop-sided and exaggerated comment about Milliband or Balls's 'presentation' or ability to 'engage' with the voters.....

I consider ITV News to be rather more balanced and informative.

BBC should stick to entertainment.