Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted December 13, 2011 Premium Member Share Posted December 13, 2011 Now, I feel fairly safe in posting this, as I suspect my negative opinion of British television output is more than well enough known to deflect any accusations of snobbery. But honestly - this? This? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15975413 Broadly speaking, the idea here is that more US-style local news is a good idea in the UK. My knowledge of local news in the US is limited mainly to watching KVVU, the hilarious Fox affiliate in Vegas, through a post-NAB-party haze of early morning fuzziness, and I think, if this is possible, they may be distinguished by being more or less the only thing that could possibly be worse than the local news we have now. I'm sure I've complained before that the BBC blows entirely too much of its gigantic funding package providing dozens of largely pointless local radio and television, each of which covers a geographical area you could spit across in which nothing of the slightest interest ever happens. Our local provision, for instance, is a very professionally produced exercise in pointlessness called Look East, presented most often by an elder newsman named Stewart White and his large-jawed sidekick, the inevitably double-barrelled Susie Fowler-Watt. Fowler-watt is possibly the world's most patronising woman, and delivers stories about combine harvester races and charity bake sales in the manner of a primary-school teacher lecturing a five year old about dropping litter. Here's an absolutely fantastic example of the genre, with White and Fowler-Watt at their slightly-constipated best: You have to be slightly upperclass to become a BBC presenter, and she is such a perfect example of the archetype that you might suspect them of running the show just to reinforce that very point. By comparison, the vividly tangerine-tinted presenting staff of KVVU are, well, memorable, and in general can there really be anything worse than local news? I don't know. But I do wish the BBC would stop producing specific television coverage of every blade of grass between Land's End and John 'o Groats, and allocate some of the hundreds of millions it must cost to doing something useful. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Must be a local thing, quite a few of the news presenters have regional accents, especially on BBC NEWS channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted December 13, 2011 Author Premium Member Share Posted December 13, 2011 You're right - I get the feeling they have more regional accents on the main 24-hour channel than they do on the regional news. Wait, what? Where are you in the world, that you're watching BBC News? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Must be a local thing, quite a few of the news presenters have regional accents, especially on BBC NEWS channel. That's because they utilize a system of local reporters to cover their area, which I think is a good idea personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I much prefer to watch BBC News 24 than Fox News. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Reimer Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Phil, the last thing you want is for you news, even if it's local, to end up like our local news. I'm from San Diego, and part of the reason why a film like Anchorman is so funny is that our news really has been just like that for as long as I can remember. An absolute joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leo Anthony Vale Posted December 24, 2011 Share Posted December 24, 2011 I much prefer to watch BBC News 24 than Fox News. Or you could listen to NPR. Not that they're perfect, but not bas annoying as Fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markshaw Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Fux News has become a real joke. The never get anything right and are so opinionated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Holland Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 So just like Murdochs shite newspapers The Sun and the rest extreme right wing crap ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 How does that piece of poop newspaper (The Sun) continue to be allowed to be printed. Surely it should have gone the way of the News Of The World? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dunn Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 How does that piece of poop newspaper (The Sun) continue to be allowed to be printed. Surely it should have gone the way of the News Of The World? Just you wait for the Sunday Sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Holland Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Mark you are right it will be Sunday Sun for the chavs low lifes that buy and belive rubbish . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dunn Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Haven't read it for decades and I'm just old enough to remember it going tabloid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Sunday Sun...Wow that's original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Samuals Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 There's the truth, lies,damned lies and the Sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Jackson Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I've been to the UK on numerous occasions and have to say that UK TV is a lot less "trashy" than US TV, except if you tune into SKY, but there again that's Murdoch owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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