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swigs
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
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 Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
The BBC doesn't have sponsors. It doesn't have advertising. It doesn't need to please anyone, that's why people pay a tv licence for them. It's part public funded. It is nothing like FOX and CNN.
All media outlets get a picture that they want. It's all about photoshoots and soundbites. Anything else is immaterial. |
Because it is publicly funded does not mean they have no reason not to be biased. Here in America publicly funded radio and television are known for having a slant one way or another: NPR and PBTV. |
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kabrams
Joined: 15 Mar 2008
Location: your Dad's house
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
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| Don't you just love "fair and unbiased" news coverage. |
Well, it would be nice to get it, but don't plan on getting it from the BBC. It's better than some but as bad as most. I wish I could find the editorial from a couple of years back where some journalist complained about the anti-American bias and the head of BBC agreed it was true. Didn't change much, though. |
I think most Americans know the BBC is biased against America. And what the Iraq War has to do with needless condescending to people in Mississippi post-Katrina escapes me.
No, its not. The rising commodity costs are barely influenced by biofuel production. The problem is the rising price of rice in Asia, the transition of Plains farmers away from grain production (a long-time coming before biofuels), and the fall of the dollar, which hurts the purchasing power of food-importing developing nations whose currencies are tied to the dollar. |
I can see where this is going, and I'm too tired to have a proper go at this. I'll just say that there is a lot of controversy concerning biofuels, and happen to be on the side that says access to food is affected by it. I saw people in my town in Mexico eating ramen noodles for dinner every night because they could no longer afford to buy tortillas.
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catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| The 'Downing Street Memos' vindicated the BBC. |
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Jimskins
Joined: 07 Nov 2007
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| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Most (sensible) Britons know that the channel 4 news is the best by an ocean mile. I've never seen another news programme in any country that can touch it. The BBC news is pretty dumbed down. |
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Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:34 am Post subject: ... |
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First off, it's hard to make a judgment call without actually seeing said report.
Perhaps this is the same news item. Perhaps not:
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| Ethanol production is on course to account for some 30% of the US maize crop by 2010, dramatically curtailing the amount of land available for food crops. |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7359880.stm
What we do know is that US exports account for 68% of all corn exported globally.
Beyond rich countries like Japan and Korea, you have Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico importing corn from the States.
http://www.grains.org/page.ww?section=Barley%2C+Corn+%26+Sorghum&name=Corn
If the US actually builds all of the ethanol facilities it has on the drawing board, then corn exports will drop to zero:
http://www.agobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=96658 (see p12)
Considering that over half of the US's corn goes into livestock feed, this means the effect extends beyond produce to include the price of meat.
So, is the BBC right?
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| Because the US has been increasing its production of biofuels, to reduce their dependency on fossil fuels, they are harming the world's food supply, increasing costs making it harder for the rest of the world to eat |
I suppose it's a bit of an overstep to say "the rest of the world" (and I'm not sure that's what the BBC said), but basically the answer is yes.
To be fair, the cost of rice and the dollar value may play a very important role, but I believe this was a report on the effect of biofuel on world fuel supplies.
To be further fair, this is excellent news for US farmers.
As for media bias, I concur with whoever said there is always media bias.
Who should we turn to for a fairer report on this issue?
FOX?
The Communist News Network?  |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:20 am Post subject: |
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| kabrams wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Don't you just love "fair and unbiased" news coverage. |
Well, it would be nice to get it, but don't plan on getting it from the BBC. It's better than some but as bad as most. I wish I could find the editorial from a couple of years back where some journalist complained about the anti-American bias and the head of BBC agreed it was true. Didn't change much, though. |
I think most Americans know the BBC is biased against America. And what the Iraq War has to do with needless condescending to people in Mississippi post-Katrina escapes me.
No, its not. The rising commodity costs are barely influenced by biofuel production. The problem is the rising price of rice in Asia, the transition of Plains farmers away from grain production (a long-time coming before biofuels), and the fall of the dollar, which hurts the purchasing power of food-importing developing nations whose currencies are tied to the dollar. |
I can see where this is going, and I'm too tired to have a proper go at this. I'll just say that there is a lot of controversy concerning biofuels, and happen to be on the side that says access to food is affected by it. I saw people in my town in Mexico eating ramen noodles for dinner every night because they could no longer afford to buy tortillas.
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Fair enough. I just wanted to say that blaming biofuels for the increasing price of food is too simplistic, especially considering that the overall supply of food has steadily increased. Is it a factor? Well, it sure will be, although again its much too early to blame the costs, which have already risen, on what will amount to future biofuel production.
I'm hardly a fan of biofuels. But the world media have this whole, let's simplistically blame the US' biofuel production for a complex problem. Although, if they were to blame the US' monetary policy/deficit spending and its comprehensive effect of depressing the currency value of many developing nations as co-extant with rising commodity costs, that would be more fair.
But at the end of the day, food costs more because the world is slowly and gradually being lifted out of poverty. |
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KirbyMagnus
Joined: 05 Apr 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 12:00 am Post subject: |
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If the OP is having a go at the BBC for biased reporting then fair enough most news outlets are.
But to complain purely because it is anti-american. That is rubbish. Should everyone blindly kiss up to America instead?
I think the USA is the best country in the world, but that does not mean we should ignore the bad things that America does. |
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Dome Vans
Guest
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 1:27 am Post subject: |
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Kirkby Magnus wrote:
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I think the USA is the best country in the world, |
Are you a Brit? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 1:37 am Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
Kirkby Magnus wrote:
| Quote: |
I think the USA is the best country in the world, |
Are you a Brit? |
So what if he is? |
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