Channel 4 privatisation

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    Channel 4 privatisation

    Nadine Dorries discovered how Channel 4 was funded in a select committee on 25th November 2021. Follow our brand new Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/Pol...


    JR

    #2
    Thanks, Jazzrook, for starting a thread.

    (I won't watch a YouTube, as I don't 'do' Google/YouTube/*m*z*n/F.....)

    I feel angry about the government's proposal to privatise Ch4. It's glaringly obvious that this is motivated by political spite, because Ch4 News holds politicians to account and inevitably this incompetent and duplicitous government - the very description included in my email yesterday to my MP - gets a lot of heat from Krishnan, Cathy, Matt, Jackie and Fatima.

    For my taste, the Ch4 News format is superior to that of the BBC, and I watch it most nights. (Just atm I find it unbearable to watch that often, so I ration myself a bit.) The BBC News seems to follow more of a 'tablold news' agenda. There is a seriousness, particularly political seriousness, to the depth of Ch4N coverage. Then there is Unreported World, too.

    Elsewhere, the channel does go a bit bonkers - for example Naked Attraction. But its privatisation will not necessarily improve it; it seems like spite + 'selling orff the silver', as SuperMac so elegantly put it. And there will likely be a huge impact on independent production companies and freelancers.

    I hope there will be a Resistance. To the barricades!

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
      Thanks, Jazzrook, for starting a thread.

      (I won't watch a YouTube, as I don't 'do' Google/YouTube/*m*z*n/F.....)

      I feel angry about the government's proposal to privatise Ch4. It's glaringly obvious that this is motivated by political spite, because Ch4 News holds politicians to account and inevitably this incompetent and duplicitous government - the very description included in my email yesterday to my MP - gets a lot of heat from Krishnan, Cathy, Matt, Jackie and Fatima.

      For my taste, the Ch4 News format is superior to that of the BBC, and I watch it most nights. (Just atm I find it unbearable to watch that often, so I ration myself a bit.) The BBC News seems to follow more of a 'tablold news' agenda. There is a seriousness, particularly political seriousness, to the depth of Ch4N coverage. Then there is Unreported World, too.

      Elsewhere, the channel does go a bit bonkers - for example Naked Attraction. But its privatisation will not necessarily improve it; it seems like spite + 'selling orff the silver', as SuperMac so elegantly put it. And there will likely be a huge impact on independent production companies and freelancers.

      I hope there will be a Resistance. To the barricades!
      What is it with the Tories that privatisation is a good thing. An obsession with fixing the unbroken for some piddling short term gain! I imagine that Channel 4 will go into the hands of someone away from these shores who has loads of money available having profited from someone else losses in some financial collapse elsewhere. Which government privatisations of bits or whole of organisations have really been of any medium or long term benefit? I sincerely hope but not optimistic that there will be sufficient opposition in parliament to the plan.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by cloughie View Post
        I sincerely hope but not optimistic that there will be sufficient opposition in parliament to the plan.
        Apparently some Tory backbenchers also unhappy.... Here's hoping....

        Originally posted by cloughie View Post
        What is it with the Tories that privatisation is a good thing.
        Perhaps some karma will run over their dogma.....

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
          Apparently some Tory backbenchers also unhappy.... Here's hoping....



          Perhaps some karma will run over their dogma.....
          Or maybe they’ll tread in some!

          Comment


            #6


            JR

            Comment


              #7
              There's a petition doing the rounds which has been appearing repeatedly in Facebook, which Ive signed (just the once!)

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by cloughie View Post
                What is it with the Tories that privatisation is a good thing.
                Not forgetting that C4 was actually set up under Thatcher, and that its remit, as a publicly owned entity that didn't actually make any of its own programmes, was to encourage the growth of private production companies up and down the country, which it did.

                Comment


                  #9
                  The trashing of something successful or that works is normal it seems these days, but what I find especially horrifying is that the person currently leading the charge doesn't know what she's talking about. Yes I know that's not a surprise with Nadine Dorries but you would have thought that a couple of salient points might have been deemed worth looking up (or getting a minion to look up) before appearing before a select committee and spouting nonsense.
                  ... she said it was right that the government should evaluate the channel’s long-term financial viability because Channel 4 was in receipt of public funding. She looked embarrassed when the Conservative MP Damian Green pointed out to her that Channel 4 gains its income from advertising, not the public coffers.

                  Evidently Brexit hasn't done enough damage to the creative industries in this country to satiate the culture killing inclinations of the Conservatives ...

                  And yes I know that much of what C4 puts out these days couldn't/wouldn't be classed as culture - but the same can be said of the BBC as far as I'm concerned, which is why those buttons(BBC 1 & 2) on the remote gather dust.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
                    The trashing of something successful or that works is normal it seems these days, but what I find especially horrifying is that the person currently leading the charge doesn't know what she's talking about. Yes I know that's not a surprise with Nadine Dorries but you would have thought that a couple of salient points might have been deemed worth looking up (or getting a minion to look up) before appearing before a select committee and spouting nonsense.


                    Evidently Brexit hasn't done enough damage to the creative industries in this country to satiate the culture killing inclinations of the Conservatives ...

                    And yes I know that much of what C4 puts out these days couldn't/wouldn't be classed as culture - but the same can be said of the BBC as far as I'm concerned, which is why those buttons(BBC 1 & 2) on the remote gather dust.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
                      There's a petition doing the rounds which has been appearing repeatedly in Facebook, which Ive signed (just the once!)
                      This one https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-pr...-nadinedorries has reached just shy of 300,000 signatures; for some reason it doesn't seem able to accept mine.

                      Please post of any others known.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Pieces in the Guardian on this story:

                        A piece by Dorothy Byrne, former head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 and president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge


                        Letters in response to this:
                        Letters: The channel has provided some of the most robust scrutiny of government policy throughout its existence, writes Ian Fraser. Plus letters from Bruce Whitehead, Deirdre Davey, Dr Martin Treacy, Stephen Brunt and Chris Roulston

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
                          Pieces in the Guardian on this story:

                          A piece by Dorothy Byrne, former head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 and president of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge


                          Letters in response to this:
                          https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...-by-tory-spite
                          From which the quote in #9 about Dorries's ignorance was taken.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
                            From which the quote in #9 about Dorries's ignorance was taken.
                            Indeed: staggering ignorance in a minister. I'm working on a response involving ostrich anus, and will get back to you.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Pure spite, just as with the BBC.

                              Comment

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