Is this news?

finchy
finchy Posts: 6,686
edited November 2009 in The bottom bracket
This is the 3rd headline on the BBC news site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8335793.stm

Normally I'd ignore this sort of thing, but can't believe the BBC actually thinks this is a very newsworthy story. :roll:

Comments

  • Mothyman
    Mothyman Posts: 655
    ..not news, in my opinion. there is so much similar nothingness news around
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Aww poor old Mr Fry. With a name like his he'd be best off opening a chippy.
  • verylonglegs
    verylonglegs Posts: 4,023
    Well this makes me think of the other thread about the BBC on here the other day which I nearly posted on...it does seem to have declined markedly standards wise over the last few years and too much of its content seems aimed at sun/heat magazine readers.

    This really struck me a couple of years ago when the 10 o'clock news spent at least 5 mins reporting the troubles of Britney Spears. I used to have 5live on in the background a fair bit as its daily info was fairly informative but I don't bother anymore as it has got sucked into the intellecutal void of discussing things like strictly come dancing and x-factor on a regular basis. Time to rethink the license fee in my opinion.
  • afcbian
    afcbian Posts: 424
    In a word.............NO !

    It's another example of the meaningless, hollow, self absorbed, celebrity based, inconsequential sh*te that the world seems to absorb at an alarming rate these days.
    Then again I am an old folically challenged git who would rather meet a few friends in the pub and enjoy their company than sit up all night "socializing" on Facebebospace thingy.

    Did I just say that after posting on a cycling forum at 11pm on a Saturday night.........doh !

    Rant over :oops:
    Need to lie down now
    I ride therefore I am
  • Keith Oates
    Keith Oates Posts: 22,036
    If this is the type of story they have to use to fill the news pages then I suppose it means that there is nothing very much happenig at the moment be it good or bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Ride Daily, Keep Healthy
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    Yes, it's fluff but the real issue is that the BBC regularly build 'news' stories around their own programmes in order to give them a 5 minute advert to the masses and rarely if ever do the same to progs that happen to be on ITV/Channel 4 etc (of course).
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • GavH
    GavH Posts: 933
    THIS IS UTTER BOLLOX AND IS WINDING ME UP!!!! :evil:

    This is about as much 'news' as the 'news' that Stephen Fry is considering wiping his backside with the opposite hand next time he takes a dump (that might not be news, I might have made that up as an example). I mean, why is his 'considering' leaving twitter in any way something I need to know about let alone PAY to know about. Here in lies the source of my ire. As one who pays for a TV Licence, which is used to fund the BBC, I am paying the wages of the idiots who are clearly making work for themselves by writing stories like this. Maybe if the Beeb had to source its funding from commercial organisations like the rest of its competitors, perhaps someone holding the purse strings would recognise the waste of space that clearly exists in the organisation and we wouldn't get drivel like this. :evil:
  • finchy
    finchy Posts: 6,686
    The Grauniad, which might as well just re-name itself the Stephen Fry W*nkfest Paper is also giving this "story" a prominent place on their interweb site. :roll:
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    GavH wrote:
    Maybe if the Beeb had to source its funding from commercial organisations like the rest of its competitors, perhaps someone holding the purse strings would recognise the waste of space that clearly exists in the organisation and we wouldn't get drivel like this. :evil:

    No, we'd get more drivel like this, because stories like that are cheap, and only require one person sitting behind a desk with an internet connection.

    If the BBC was forced to source its funding from commercial organisations like the rest of its competitors, what we WOULDN'T get is all the quality (ie expensive) stuff like the new David Attenborough series, or Natural World, or drama like Doctor Who or Life on Mars or Little Dorrit. When was the last time you saw a wildlife documentary on ITV? Katie and Peter: The Next Chapter does not count.
  • Cressers
    Cressers Posts: 1,329
    Whenever I see bulletins dominated by 'numbskull news' I wonder what would have and should've been reported instead of the celebrity item.

    keep 'em dumb and under control...
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    Slow day for 'real' news, maybe? Certain newspapers, of course, always have outlandish Diana conspiracy theory stories to fall back on. :wink:

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    Le Commentateur wrote:
    Yes, it's fluff but the real issue is that the BBC regularly build 'news' stories around their own programmes in order to give them a 5 minute advert to the masses and rarely if ever do the same to progs that happen to be on ITV/Channel 4 etc (of course).

    Well said. BBC Breakfast keeps having exactly those sorts of self-publicising segments during the course of nearly every morning. :evil:

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • guilliano
    guilliano Posts: 5,495
    Andrew Marr programme...... another example. Just after a "news" show (breakfast) they start with the news and weather (which has just been on) and then end with the "news" (which starts with a headline of "so-and-so said such-and-such on the Andrew Marr programme, which you are currently watching). Why can't they actually make a whole hour of an hour long programme?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/guilliano/
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    guilliano wrote:
    Why can't they actually make a whole hour of an hour long programme?

    Someone at the Beeb would probably argue that the commercial channels use ad breaks as a similar form of 'padding', I guess.

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • CHRISNOIR
    CHRISNOIR Posts: 1,400
    johnfinch wrote:
    The Grauniad, which might as well just re-name itself the Stephen Fry W*nkfest Paper is also giving this "story" a prominent place on their interweb site. :roll:

    The Grauniad is absolutely obsessed with twitter - hardly a week goes by without some feature on there.

    Even Mr Fry himself is a bit baffled. This quote from The Guardian (obviously...) "OK, this is where things get seriously scary. For a major newspaper to pick up a spat between users of an ultimately insignificant glorified chat room is absolutely mind-boggling. To make a national (and international) story of it is beyond silliness. I really would have thought that there were far more important things in news generally, and the tech sector in particular, to talk about?"
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    johnfinch wrote:
    The Grauniad, which might as well just re-name itself the Stephen Fry W*nkfest Paper is also giving this "story" a prominent place on their interweb site. :roll:

    True... But I'm not paying for the Guardian to publish that.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent

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