19-04-2023, 08:23 PM
(19-04-2023, 07:10 PM)itsrobert Wrote: It seems the implications of the merger are starting to filter through to 'ordinary' people. A work colleague of mine mentioned how BBC News has effectively given up and moves to Singapore at night. It led to an office chat that included moans about there being no stories from the UK anymore and that it's all foreign news. I explained the rationale behind the merger (i.e. protecting BBC World News output/audiences) which was met with "why do we pay for this rubbish?"Why do we pay for this rubbish indeed. I do think it is bad that we Brits, who pay the licence fee, are now the poor relations to viewers in the rest of the world, most of whom have never paid a penny into the Beeb in their lives! Obviously I understand why things have turned out as they have - not that I want to go over old ground - but in my opinion, it is still a travesty that the country's public broadcaster can no longer provide a news channel to the public that pay for it. I still think other things could and should have been cut first.
Granted, it's only one office but I'm sure there are more people thinking the same across the UK. And these are not 'pres fans' - just regular people.
I tried the new news channel in its first couple of weeks but have given up completely now. I dipped in at the weekend only to find foreign stories that had no interest or relevance to me, so I switched over. In fact, the only BBC News output I ever see now is Breakfast as the BBC1 bulletins are not really at suitable times for me. That's why I liked the old BBC News Channel as you could get a good dose of UK news at strange times like 7/8pm. Or 9/10am if on a late shift. Now, I just go between the ITV Evening News and Sky News. And I flick around between Breakfast, GMB and Sky News at breakfast time to miss the adverts.
I couldn't agree with you more about the new channel, Robert, and IMO the extreme sloppiness of its presentation does not help its cause in any way. It just gives off the impression of an amateur operation, run by people who can no longer be bothered. And the sad thing is that the reality is they are anything but. Then again, I suppose this is the result of having a government who is constantly at war with the BBC.
It's such a shame that not even a weekday daytime service could have been kept - and no, I don't count the balcony opt-outs. As honourable as the intention is to keep some UK breaking news, constantly flitting between the balcony and World just looks very bitty. I'd like to think that it is currently all so amateurish by design, in order to force a rethink at the top - but I fear that might be giving certain people too much credit! My God, a rethink is needed, though. And soon.