Gransnet forums

News & politics

British Media. Let’s have a change please!

(125 Posts)
Cossy Mon 08-Jun-26 09:28:36

One of the first things I do is browse news online each morning, whilst enjoying a cuppa courtesy of DH.

I don’t have a favoured source currently, so use a range.

My plea is to please have at least one place I can go and read news. both national and international, which is accurate, non-biased and actually “news”!

I don’t care how many people loathe Harry and Meghan, or what the Vardy’s are doing or how much money X, Y & Z have. I don’t care about footballers or their antics or who is seeing who and where!

I’d like to hear/read a wide range of actual news, including politics.

BUT I’d like to read this news with facts, not snidey comments nor political bias.

It used to be The Independent which employed good, true, factual journalists, The Daily Mail, though right biased, used to have some great investigative journalists looking into miscarriages of justice across a wide range of issues, The Guardian and Observer were known as more left leaning and The Times and Telegraph as right wing.

But I don’t find this so true these days, and I know some will reject this but I find so much media “right leaning” these days and am just looking for “balance”.

Anyone consistently reading a publication which is both factual and balanced and covers a wide range of topics and issues or, do you, like me, trawl through many differing sources?

Enjoy your week thanks

Vintagewhine Mon 22-Jun-26 07:07:44

Actually I didn't say there was no comparison. I think comparison is very relevant. Strangely the BBC has been criticised for being both biased to the right and to the left, whereas GBNews is thought by some to be almost a fictional account of the news. Perception of bias seems to vary according to where someone's personal preference sits on the political spectrum.

David49 Sat 20-Jun-26 09:21:53

Vintagewhine

I wonder how many people who think the BBC is biased also watch GBNews and read the Daily Mail or the Telegraph.

As you say no comparison Telegraph etc are biased to the right, BBC is biased to the left and dramatize the news a great deal.

No comparison

Primrose53 Sat 20-Jun-26 08:35:21

NotSpaghetti

Shinamae and Primrose53 you are talking about a one- off "special" programme.

Because the special was explicitly about immigration, the BBC said it was "fair and right" to include a local audience with a wide range of perspectives, including people who had direct experience with the asylum system.
Personally I think that's fair enough.

The people you are talking about were not refugees at that point but had both had already been granted legal refugee status. This, obviously means they were no longer undocumented or "illegal".

One of the refugees did read a technical question regarding human rights and asylum laws directly from a phone. You say this is proof of a "coached" intervention, but using a phone to accurately read out legally accurate pre-prepared question in a non-native language is not unreasonable, surely.
Would you have objected if it had been written on a piece of paper?

Would you object if this had been a (say) technical question on waste management, water pollution, healthcare, workers rights?

Over the years, complex issues like Universal Credit cuts or industrial disputes have frequently had read-out questions - legalistic or data-heavy ones in particular.
In many of these cases, local trade unions or poverty charities, or political bodies had provided the data sheets or helped draft the specific wording so that the person could accurately challenge a politician who might use jargon to deflect.

I have just read this:
If your question is chosen, a producer will explicitly tell you before the cameras roll: "We are going to call on you for your question about X. Please read it exactly as you wrote it down." Because of this, standard audience members frequently read directly from their phones or prompt cards simply because the BBC production staff has instructed them not to deviate from their pre-approved text.

Hope this makes more sense.

Thank you for trying to explain but there is no way that man could possibly have written what he was reading. Someone wrote that for him.

CatsWhiskas Sat 20-Jun-26 08:13:42

NotSpaghetti, I didn't watch the programme. Thank you for your detailed and fair explanation.

Vintagewhine Sat 20-Jun-26 07:32:08

I wonder how many people who think the BBC is biased also watch GBNews and read the Daily Mail or the Telegraph.

David49 Fri 19-Jun-26 16:48:52

When it comes to voting it's self interest that counts for most, certainly not the national interest, asylum seekers would vote for whoever lets them stay.
All parties commit to the triple lock because they would loose a large part of the pensioner vote of they axed it.

Shinamae Fri 19-Jun-26 10:21:00

NotSpaghetti

Shinamae and Primrose53 you are talking about a one- off "special" programme.

Because the special was explicitly about immigration, the BBC said it was "fair and right" to include a local audience with a wide range of perspectives, including people who had direct experience with the asylum system.
Personally I think that's fair enough.

The people you are talking about were not refugees at that point but had both had already been granted legal refugee status. This, obviously means they were no longer undocumented or "illegal".

One of the refugees did read a technical question regarding human rights and asylum laws directly from a phone. You say this is proof of a "coached" intervention, but using a phone to accurately read out legally accurate pre-prepared question in a non-native language is not unreasonable, surely.
Would you have objected if it had been written on a piece of paper?

Would you object if this had been a (say) technical question on waste management, water pollution, healthcare, workers rights?

Over the years, complex issues like Universal Credit cuts or industrial disputes have frequently had read-out questions - legalistic or data-heavy ones in particular.
In many of these cases, local trade unions or poverty charities, or political bodies had provided the data sheets or helped draft the specific wording so that the person could accurately challenge a politician who might use jargon to deflect.

I have just read this:
If your question is chosen, a producer will explicitly tell you before the cameras roll: "We are going to call on you for your question about X. Please read it exactly as you wrote it down." Because of this, standard audience members frequently read directly from their phones or prompt cards simply because the BBC production staff has instructed them not to deviate from their pre-approved text.

Hope this makes more sense.

It does and thank you for your explanation…

NotSpaghetti Fri 19-Jun-26 07:20:41

Not saying there wasn't help with the question drafting by the charity - there was.

NotSpaghetti Fri 19-Jun-26 07:19:38

Shinamae and Primrose53 you are talking about a one- off "special" programme.

Because the special was explicitly about immigration, the BBC said it was "fair and right" to include a local audience with a wide range of perspectives, including people who had direct experience with the asylum system.
Personally I think that's fair enough.

The people you are talking about were not refugees at that point but had both had already been granted legal refugee status. This, obviously means they were no longer undocumented or "illegal".

One of the refugees did read a technical question regarding human rights and asylum laws directly from a phone. You say this is proof of a "coached" intervention, but using a phone to accurately read out legally accurate pre-prepared question in a non-native language is not unreasonable, surely.
Would you have objected if it had been written on a piece of paper?

Would you object if this had been a (say) technical question on waste management, water pollution, healthcare, workers rights?

Over the years, complex issues like Universal Credit cuts or industrial disputes have frequently had read-out questions - legalistic or data-heavy ones in particular.
In many of these cases, local trade unions or poverty charities, or political bodies had provided the data sheets or helped draft the specific wording so that the person could accurately challenge a politician who might use jargon to deflect.

I have just read this:
If your question is chosen, a producer will explicitly tell you before the cameras roll: "We are going to call on you for your question about X. Please read it exactly as you wrote it down." Because of this, standard audience members frequently read directly from their phones or prompt cards simply because the BBC production staff has instructed them not to deviate from their pre-approved text.

Hope this makes more sense.

nanna8 Fri 19-Jun-26 00:35:29

I wonder how on earth an asylum seeker would know or be interested in which party to vote for. They are stressed and under pressure and I am sure the last thing on their minds is which stupid politician to vote for !

Doodledog Thu 18-Jun-26 23:04:00

No, they are asked for basic information (age, occupation, voting intention, membership of political parties) when they apply. There are no interviews or auditions like the ones for reality shows. The producers are very careful to get a representative audience for QT.

David49 Thu 18-Jun-26 18:34:06

Doodledog

Question Time studio audiences aren’t ‘planted’. They are chosen to be representative of the population, as far as that is possible.

Just like the contestants on the reality shows, they are selected to make the show dramatic, exactly the same in political presentations

Shinamae Thu 18-Jun-26 11:52:05

CatsWhiskas

sundowngirl

The Telegraph has revealed that the two asylum seekers were placed and coached by Imix, a charity that seeks to “build support for migration”.

What is your objection to asylum seekers' having a voice on public TV?

That they have been planted and coached…..🤔

CatsWhiskas Thu 18-Jun-26 11:06:57

sundowngirl

The Telegraph has revealed that the two asylum seekers were placed and coached by Imix, a charity that seeks to “build support for migration”.

What is your objection to asylum seekers' having a voice on public TV?

CatsWhiskas Thu 18-Jun-26 11:05:47

nanna8

A shame about the BBC. It used to be absolutely the best. Same thing has happened here to our ABC. No one listens to it much now because it is so very obviously biased. I suppose if they are ‘balanced’ and go against the government of the day they risk losing their funding. All about money now. We have a paper called ,’TheAge’, which I was so proud of back in the day. I wouldn’t read it if you paid me now ,so very biased and such low standards of journalism. I’d guess most are just fresh out of uni , very little experience of the world.

Strangely enough, there are accusations that the BBC is biased from both ends of the political spectrum, so it's possibly doing something right.

IMO it's still my "go to" for the main news, although I only access the online version. One advantage of the BBC is that it usually provides links to its sources, so I can follow up on anything which interests me or sound s a bit doubtful.

I sometimes watch current affairs programmes and documentaries on iplayer.

sundowngirl Thu 18-Jun-26 10:44:46

The Telegraph has revealed that the two asylum seekers were placed and coached by Imix, a charity that seeks to “build support for migration”.

Primrose53 Thu 18-Jun-26 10:20:03

Doodledog

Question Time studio audiences aren’t ‘planted’. They are chosen to be representative of the population, as far as that is possible.

If you believe that you’ll believe anything! The evidence is obvious if you watch it Doodledog.

Shinamae Thu 18-Jun-26 10:16:42

Maremia

Do GB News fans dispute the AI findings on viewers' demograph, as quoted upthread?

I’ve already given my opinion on that….

Shinamae Thu 18-Jun-26 10:14:41

Doodledog

Question Time studio audiences aren’t ‘planted’. They are chosen to be representative of the population, as far as that is possible.

If you say so 😂

Vintagewhine Thu 18-Jun-26 08:08:29

I still find the BBC radio 4 is still my go to and I use the website. I like The rest is politics and The Story ( from The Times) for more in depth.

nanna8 Thu 18-Jun-26 06:42:08

A shame about the BBC. It used to be absolutely the best. Same thing has happened here to our ABC. No one listens to it much now because it is so very obviously biased. I suppose if they are ‘balanced’ and go against the government of the day they risk losing their funding. All about money now. We have a paper called ,’TheAge’, which I was so proud of back in the day. I wouldn’t read it if you paid me now ,so very biased and such low standards of journalism. I’d guess most are just fresh out of uni , very little experience of the world.

Maremia Thu 18-Jun-26 05:48:15

Do GB News fans dispute the AI findings on viewers' demograph, as quoted upthread?

Doodledog Thu 18-Jun-26 03:44:38

Question Time studio audiences aren’t ‘planted’. They are chosen to be representative of the population, as far as that is possible.

Shinamae Thu 18-Jun-26 01:21:11

Primrose53

Just been watching footage of BBC Question Time where they had planted people in the audience. Talk about biased!

There was a migrant who could barely speak English and suddenly he was talking like a legal expert as he was reading it off his phone! These people who were planted had also been coached by a migrant charity.

And “They”say GB news is bad…😉😂
It will be a cold day in hell before I watch BBC News

Primrose53 Wed 17-Jun-26 22:21:15

Just been watching footage of BBC Question Time where they had planted people in the audience. Talk about biased!

There was a migrant who could barely speak English and suddenly he was talking like a legal expert as he was reading it off his phone! These people who were planted had also been coached by a migrant charity.