Sissons Attacks BBC for being too PC and GW Bias

[Teddy Bear]

Another long term ex BBC presenter 'comes out of the closet' after having accepted its foibles for so many years. While it's always valuable to have one from the inner circle reflecting on the overriding leftwing mentality that we have come to recognize from the BBC, I just wish they would make their exposee while they were still milking them.

The BBC became too PC for me, says veteran Sissons
By Caroline Grant

Veteran newsreader Peter Sissons has launched a scathing attack on the slipping standards and incompetence at the BBC that prompted him to leave the corporation after 20 years.
In a frank and biting interview, Sissons lifted the lid on the political correctness that has seeped into the heart of the organisation.

And he revealed that the final straw came when his bosses tried to stop him raising the controversial subject of the Queen and the D-Day anniversary.

'At today's BBC, a complaint often heard from senior producers was they dared not reprimand their subordinates for basic journalistic mistakes - such as getting ages, dates, titles and even football scores wrong - it being politically incorrect to risk offending them,' he said.

He described the newsroom as a 'news-processing plant' and explained that simple things, such as spelling and grammar, were no longer important in his former employer's multimedia world.
The 66-year-old also pinpointed the exact moment he decided to leave BBC News as the day senior producers attempted to stop him asking Labour's then deputy leader, Harriet Harman, why the Queen had not been invited to the D-Day commemorations in May.

The former presenter of the Six O'Clock News and more recently News Hour and BBC News 24 described how he was provided with questions viewers had emailed.

'The most senior of the producers asked me directly what other issues I would raise with Miss Harman.

No problem, until I mentioned the last question I wanted to get in: why the Queen had not been invited to the 65th anniversary commemoration of D-Day. The response shocked me. It was suggested that it was not a topic worth raising because it was only a campaign being run by the Daily Mail.'

However, the topic had angered veterans and the campaign had gathered huge public support.

The presenter went ahead and asked the 'obvious and important question'.
'I drove out of Television Centre for the last time a month later, with not a pang of regret,' he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.

His withering attack did not stop there. He went on to address the corporation's view on global warming. He claims it is 'effectively BBC policy' to ignore climate change sceptics.

He also referred to the furore over his choice of tie to announce the Queen Mother's death in 2002.

He said the a senior executive told him to wear a burgundy tie instead of a black one. After 'all hell broke loose' the BBC said it had been Sissons's own choice. They eventually came to his defence 24 hours later.

A spokesman for the BBC said: 'We are grateful to Peter for his contribution to broadcasting. That doesn't mean we agree with everything he has to say.'

[steevo]

I just wish they would make their exposee while they were still milking them.

Boy you know it. Unfortunately gotta take it when you can.

I just read this, you may have too 'If people don't like BBC drama, they should come and speak to me' Stephenson doesn't see it quite the same.

And with passion comes debate, discussion, tension, disagreement. If we didn't all think differently, have different ideas of what works and what doesn't, wouldn't our lives, and more importantly, our TV screens be less interesting? We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking.

[Teddy Bear]

Glad you succeeded in posting (Had to correct the link)

When a BBCnik says 'left of center' thinking, considering they think of themselves as 'centrist', it really means FAR LEFT thinking. As far as I can see, the BBC has been fostering all of these values for a while now under the guise of balance.

[Teddy Bear]

Here's another recent article on the subject, telling what it's like to try and get a programme accepted by the Beeb.

BBC drama needs to change its culture

As the BBC Trust says it 'would like to see greater range and ambition across all types of drama', legendary producer Tony Garnett argues that its executives need to open up the production process and devolve more power to creative talent


I am not an enemy of the BBC. I am a critical friend. True friends point out your failings – however uncomfortable that makes you – and the anguish in the creative community and the short-changing of the audience make me feel obligated to speak some truths about BBC drama.

The problem is systematic and cultural. The BBC's drama department has changed over a generation in ways which have coarsened both it and wider culture. The corporation has built an organisation which is perfectly tuned to allow it to exercise control and to crush the creative act – despite creativity being one of its main reasons for existing.

I make this argument in a longer article that is currently circulating on email – and which you can read in full. But it is worth briefly explaining the conditions drama producers are working under, here.

A writer will work up a pitch and take it to the BBC executive. There will be some discussion. "Can the characters be skewed young?" Well, considering they are senior hospital consultants, it might be difficult to go very young, but we will try. "I don't mind where it's set, really. I don't want to be prescriptive, but somewhere other than Birmingham, perhaps? Manchester would be good." And so on.

Eventually a pilot script may be commissioned. Then the producer gives notes on the first draft and another is written. It goes to the BBC. Long delay. Maybe months. Then notes from the commissioning editor. A new draft is written. Long delay. Then more notes. Finally another meeting, with more notes, but contradicting the previous ones. Yet another draft, or two. More long delays – you are maybe now two years in.

If you are lucky, the show is green-lit. But don't think you can just go off and make it. Your suggestions for writers for directors will be turned down. There will be demands for someone coming off a hit, someone in fashion, the flavour of the month. Various stars are suggested, all miscast and not even stars. There is no point arguing. Eventually a compromise is negotiatedand production starts.

There are notes on rushes. Notes on each cut. An executive presence at the each stage of post production. Eventually the show is delivered.This experience is typical. Sometimes it is smoother, sometimes it is worse. It often takes about three years.

In order to change the system, there needs to be a change of culture at the very top. This will be difficult. BBC drama executives are too used to a narrow pyramid of power; too comfortable with hoovering up all artistic decisions, even those outside their competence, and so afraid of mistakes, they would rather paralyse creativity.

But the BBC is not just another consumer goods company.Its impetus should be driven by individual artists, not marketing executives. It is the guardian and generator of the cultural life of our society. It is time for the senior executives to wake up and take their responsibilities seriously.

• First, they should smash the pyramid where many can kill a project but only one can make it happen. There should be more sensibilities at work, more tastes on the screen, a greater choice of buyer. Four channels and one buyer is an arid arrangement.

• Second, the relationship between high-volume drama and more authored pieces must be brought back into balance. Not all drama can sensibly be set in a place called Holby.

• Third, the taking of artistic decisions must be devolved to the producer and then further, to the directors, actors and writers. The energy should be writer up, not executive down.

• Fourth, using the internet in its own right, the BBC should break out of traditional genres and dramatic forms. With tight budgets it should be releasing energies, knowing that some of them will fall flat. I have been failing all my life. I get up and try to fail better.

I am not looking for a macho row – I am merely expressing what the whole industry is feeling. I am hoping for a productive discussion. We all deserve that.

• Tony Garnett is a producer whose credits include Cathy Come Home, Law and Order, The Cops, This Life, Between the Lines and Ballykissangel

[Teddy Bear]

Jul 21, 2009 3:59:47 GMT steevo said:

I just wish they would make their exposee while they were still milking them.

Boy you know it. Unfortunately gotta take it when you can.

I just read this, you may have too 'If people don't like BBC drama, they should come and speak to me' Stephenson doesn't see it quite the same.

And with passion comes debate, discussion, tension, disagreement. If we didn't all think differently, have different ideas of what works and what doesn't, wouldn't our lives, and more importantly, our TV screens be less interesting? We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking.

It appears a Tory MP also finds this remark about 'left of center thinking' by the BBC controller 'out of order'. The pitiful response by Stephenson was that he just meant "'Like left-field, it is a phrase that I use with frequency when talking to the creative community to encourage them to develop and approach their ideas from a completely new perspective - where centre is used to convey the sense of the expected or the formulaic.'
" So why not right of center - or lateral, or outside the bubble?
Fact is, we have become well used to the BBC idea of left of center thinking and it really means LEFT OF CENTER!

Senior BBC executive faces Tory anger over 'left of centre thinking'
By Kirsty Walker

The BBC's Ben Stephenson is facing accusations of political bias but says his comments were misinterpreted

A senior BBC executive was accused of political bias last night after calling for the corporation to promote 'left of centre' thinking.
The Tories demanded an immediate retraction and apology from Ben Stephenson, the controller of drama commissioning across the Corporation.
Mr Stephenson made his remarks in a blog for a left-wing newspaper.
Defending BBC drama, he wrote: 'If we didn't all think differently, have different ideas of what works and what doesn't, wouldn't our lives, and more importantly, our TV screens be less interesting? We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn mindedness, left-of-centre thinking.'
But Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the comments were a 'clear breach' of the BBC's impartiality obligations.
'No journalist or editor should be following a political agenda, let alone someone as senior as a controller', he said.
'The fact that this appeared publicly also arouses grave concern about many others who may have the same agenda privately.'
He added that he had written to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson, and would complain to the BBC Trust if no apology was given.

Mr Stephenson, 32, last night insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.
He said: 'When I used the term "left of centre thinking" I most certainly did not use the phrase in the context of any political meaning or "left liberal" mindset.
'Like left-field, it is a phrase that I use with frequency when talking to the creative community to encourage them to develop and approach their ideas from a completely new perspective - where centre is used to convey the sense of the expected or the formulaic.'
The BBC has long faced accusations of Left-wing bias.

Two years ago, a report found that it was out of touch with large swathes of the public, and that subjects such as Euroscepticism and immigration were 'off limits in terms of a liberal-minded comfort zone'.
The row came as a report called for the licence fee to be taken away from the BBC.
Written by senior Labour MP Frank Field, it accuses the Corporation of spending most of its money on entertainment shows that fail to fulfil its public service remit.
It calls for the licence fee to be put in the hands of a new independent commissioning body and for all other broadcasters to be able to pitch for public money.

[steevo]

You know me, I think his is more than a mere biased disposition but to say the obvious... everyone now knows he wants "peculiarity, idiosyncrasy and stubborn mindedness" (attributes promoting great Brit values). It is easy to assume his explanation won't get many bites. "Left-of-centre thinking" is to be totally redefined?

[Teddy Bear]

Well the latest comment from the Daily Mail seems to come to the same conclusion.

Beeb exec's open bias in blog towards the peculiar
Last updated at 11:06 PM on 21st July 2009
By Daily Mail Comment

Everyone with a TV or radio has known for years that the BBC has a built-in, left-of-centre mindset which colours almost all the corporation's output light pink.
So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised when the controller of drama writes in a blog: 'We need to foster peculiarity, idiosyncrasy, stubborn-mindedness, left-of-centre thinking.'

But two points about Ben Stephenson's outburst are remarkable.
One is that a senior BBC executive is prepared to confess outright to his bias (banned under the corporation's charter).
And the other?

Doesn't this nincompoop realise that by promoting left-of-centre thinking, he's merely conforming to the monoculture that permeates the entire BBC?

Now, if he produced a drama extolling strong family units - or highlighting fears about, say, uncontrolled immigration - that really would be 'idiosyncratic'