Why always the BBC ??

[bmattock]

I'm slightly surprised at Bill's comments about its being against the law to mention the IRA or Sinn Fein, because I certainly never noticed their absence in the media and indeed it would have been impossible NOT to mention them. I mean, take the Birmingham pub bombing (I used to drink there occasionally). They couldn't say, "There has been a bomb attack but we're not allowed to say who by," could they?

Or given Tony Bliar's mania for secrecy and control, maybe that's what we'll be hearing quite soon...

Cheers,

Roger

Roger,

Being of Irish extraction as well as Catholic, we were all 'well aware' that the UK didn't report what was happening in Northern Ireland. Yes, bombings got the news - hard to ignore them. But hamstringing, shooting, and beatings of Catholics in the six counties? Catholic Church burnings? Not on BBC, mate.

http://staff.stir.ac.uk/david.miller/teaching/7613-NI.html

The 1989 Official Secrets Act further narrowed the sphere of debate by making it illegal for anyone associated with intelligence or security matters to speak or be reported in the media. No public interest defence is permissible.

I won't take a stand defending the IRA or Sinn Fein, because I don't defend terrorism, ever. I find it ironic that the RUC was not considered to be a similar terrorist organization, and the fact that the US would not let RUC members into the USA was never reported in the UK.

I remember being shocked when former PM Thatcher stood on the doorstep of 10 Downing with a pair of orphans from Germany and asked the world why there could not be 'One Germany' instead of two. My jaw dropped - when there are two Irelands, she had to ask this about Germany?

Anyway, let's not get at logger-heads over this; I was just saying that the US is not the only government that censors what its citizens can see and hear, and the UK was an example. I don't think anyone can defend that the UK did NOT censor reports out of NI.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[phototone]

I'm in Wilson, North Carolina. I love it here, I'm not complaining, but buddy, we got NASCAR and precious little else. I'm not about to buy a satellite dish just to see John Cleese, but it would be nice to have.

It's like the people who urge me to patronize my local camera shop. The nearest one is 60 miles away, so sadly, no. We don't ALL live in suburbia, dang it.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Well you may not live in suburbia, and you may not have a satellite dish, but with a good outside antenna you can probably get at least one PBS station from your state, and these generally run quite a bit of BBC programming. I understand living in remote areas, as although I live in a medium-sized community, there are zero support services for a Commercial Photographer, such as myself, and I have to mail-order all of my supplies, and this would include even common items such as 35mm b/w films, unless I want T-max 400, which the local Wal-Mart has.

 

[bmattock]

Put an antenna on my house? How quaint! Do people still do that?

Anyway, as it turns out, basic cable via Time Warner has UNC PBS:

http://www.unctv.org/whatson/index.php

I didn't know, because I never watch it. I looked at the lineup (above) and I see why.

"Keeping up Appearances" seems to be the only BBC comedy being show here now, and although I like it, I've seen most or all of them.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[TPPhotog]

This thread has moved on since the original posting about a photography programme 😉

I'm always surprised that people are surprised about censorship 😕 Every country and organization has it's own censorships, even local "independent" radio and newspapers. The only way to really know the truth is to actually be there and understand what is going on or know someone that can give you the facts without bias.

As was said in a film ... If you could see what these eyes have seen .... you'd look as old and balding as I do ( the last part is my own bit) 😉

 

[bmattock]

"Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes" - Batty, from the movie Bladerunner (just before he kills him).

I've found that the best answer to censorship is to make yourself aware of news sources from outside your own country. Listen to them all, filter, and make your own decisions. The truth is usually to be found somewhere in the mix and between the extremes.

The printing press was controlled by the early Church because it gave men the means of reading/interpreting/understanding the Bible without having to be told what it said and meant and as such, private printing was heavily discouraged and licensed.

Once that was done, former communist dicatators had to fight samizdat printers who put counter-agit-prop out to counter government agit-prop. Pirate radio stations and government funded experinments like VoA.

Now, hardline governments try to censor the Internet. But a free people have access to ideas, news, and opinions from all over and can't be easily lied to - unless they close their eyes and ears and let it happen.

The solution? Don't shut down - open up.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[TPPhotog]

Bill ... yep you identified the line, the cigar is yours 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Bill,

Thought you were Welsh, boyo?

BBC and Loyalist -- well, that's hardly forbidding mention of the IRA and Sinn Fein, is it? More a question of going easy on the Orangemen. I fully accept your point about MUCH poorer coverage of anti-loyalist atrocities on Auntie (the Beeb), but equally, I might unkindlly suspect disproportionately high coverage in the US media as a result of not-very-well-informed Green supporters putting their oar in.

I remember drinking in McSorley's in NYC in '81 with a load of charming fellows (no irony -- we became the best of friends) who didn't actually realize there were two sides to the argument: as far as they knew it was the Wicked British oppressing the Noble Irish for no apparent reason, which was how the IRA managed to raise so much money in the USA. They were much interested to learn about Loyalists.

I'm not defending the Settlements for an instant, but you need to know a bit of Irish history before you advocate simplistic solutions, which I fear were popular among some New York Irish. This is NOT a personal attack, or a suggestion that you support simplistic solutions (even though you do support Dubbya...) just observations about drinking with fellow Celts in the 1980s.

Incidentally, you said elsewhere that I get up your sleeve. Is this a euphemism, or am I losing my touch?

Finally, at my suggestion, the VIth form common room (17-19 years old) at my old school subscribed to both the North Vietnam Peace News and the British Union of Fascists newsletter. It was an interesting way of seeing how the same news story could be reported, shall we say, selectively.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[Poptart]

I always think "Boring British Crap" when I see BBC. But maybe that's just me.
The good stuff, like Fawlty Towers, was done independently and had little to do with the suits at the company.

 

[peter_n]

The beeb is on the telly here, its called "BBC America". In my area its about #150 on the cable system. Not a bad channel but they don't have footy on it. 🙁

 

[djon]

I think David Hume Kennerly was more responsible for promoting Kennedy than was anybody else...virtually lived in the White House.

General Douglas McArthur traveled with three photographers (at least) and a makeup artist, according to one of the photographers that traveled with him, David Lomasney.