New director general threatens to axe 'Left-wing' BBC comedy

[hummingofevil]

Time to give Sadowitz a live to air hour. Let the people decide.

[Thursday]

Stewart Lee sent out this on his newsletter

NO BBC WAR ON COMEDY
DEAR ALL

I know you do not sign up to this list for my opinions but this has been an important week for comedy.

The time line goes like this;

MONDAY - New BBC DG Tim Davie announces that on Thursday he will make a speech about how the BBC must include diverse viewpoints.

TUESDAY - The Conservatives' newspaper The Daily Telegraph says "BBC insiders" have said Davie wants to crack down on "left wing" comedy, citing Mock The Week, HIGNFY and Nish as examples. This story is picked up, as if it were fact not speculation, by all other right wing papers, and others that should know better, framing a debate in news, on-line and social media about how there is too much 'left wing' comedy entirely on terms already dictated by right wing media and the Conservatives. People who should know better participate in these debates despite the fact there is no hard evidence that Tim Davie intends his crack down on comedy.

THURSDAY - Tim Davie does his actual speech. He praises FLEABAG and THIS COUNTRY and says nothing of a crackdown on comedy. His speech did not contain the points and threats the Telegraph specifically, and right wing media (i.e the media) generally said 'BBC insiders' had told them it did. Who were these 'BBC insiders'?

After the speech Davie does an in-house BBC webcast where he is asked about his crackdown on left-wing comedy. He says, "Reading some of the commentary is ridiculous. Comedy has always been poking at authority. If a particular government is in charge you probably do get a bit more edge against those in power, that's how it works. And, by the way, I want good satire on the BBC. I like being adventurous." He says he has no idea where the story came from. Let us help him. It came from The Telegraph and The Conservatives, dishonestly fanning the flames of a culture war to distract from the Covid-Brexit government's many failings.

By the time this clarification leaks out to the only media source interested in covering it (Chortle, below) the damage has been done. The deliberate suggestion has been planted, by a client media, that comedy is too left wing and will be clamped down on.

In short. DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THE RIGHT WING PRESS TELL YOU ABOUT ANYTHING. If they can lie like this about something like comedy, what else are they lying about? Everything, presumably.

Here is the Chortle piece. (https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2020/09/04/46839/theres_no_war_on_left-wing_comedy%2C_says_new_bbc_boss)

Stew

[the]

Oh it was bollocks then fuck me never picked up on that

[idunnosomename]

It's a good summary though how speculation was peddled as fact

[beanheadmcginty]

I sincerely hope that I live long enough to see the big right wing newspapers inevitably die. Not because people will suddenly stop being right wing (that will come later hopefully) just because young people won't buy newspapers.

[Thursday]

Yeah genuinely feel very daft for falling for it and not seeing anything was amiss here.

[the]

It would help if this fucking sci-fi morality story dipshit trend for viewing the contents of the world as IS IT LEFT OR RIGHT fucked off

[Jake Thingray]

I sincerely hope that I live long enough to see the big right wing newspapers inevitably die. Not because people will suddenly stop being right wing (that will come later hopefully) just because young people won't buy newspapers.

That's a nice thought but, to state the obvious, the Right have unfortunately moved into the new(er) technology.

[jamiefairlie]

I sincerely hope that I live long enough to see the big right wing newspapers inevitably die. Not because people will suddenly stop being right wing (that will come later hopefully) just because young people won't buy newspapers.

They should be dead now but are being funded as loss makers (by very sketch groups) purely for their propaganda value.

[Tony Tony Tony]

I'm afraid the tentacles of the more reactionary press reach online.

Readership for hard copy versions (as of 2019)

1. Sun 1.3 Million
2. Mail 1.2 Million
3. Sun on Sunday 1.1 Million
4. Mail on Sunday 0.99 Million

all the way down to
19. The Guardian 134,000

Whilst online (as of 2019)
1. Mail 31 Million
2. Sun 29 Million
3. Mirror 25 Million
4. The Guardian 24.9

Of course all the above online reads are trumped by the BBC website at 1.6 Billion views each month as of March 2020 (if we multiply up the Mail by 30 it comes to 0.93 Billion).

So what does the rise from 19th place for the paper version of Grauniad to 4th for online tell us? Maybe the 'young left leaning' readers are more used to free content? (Or too mean to pay out after they splurge on cappuccino and avacado on toast?).

Also how come the 'left wing biased' BBC tops everyone?

Who knows.

[Alternative Carpark]

I'm afraid the tentacles of the more reactionary press reach online.

Readership for hard copy versions (as of 2019)

1. Sun 1.3 Million
2. Mail 1.2 Million
3. Sun on Sunday 1.1 Million
4. Mail on Sunday 0.99 Million

Those figures are all out of date now, they've all gone below a million since. The best-selling newspaper is now the Daily Mail, and has been since summer, at about 0.9 million. The Sun no longer allows its figures to be published, but media outlets that have seen them report that they're below the Mail's.

The covid pandemic and recent lockdown will have helped them decline steeper this year than usual, probably.

[TrenterPercenter]

I think that can still work for a right-winger as Stanhope shows.  You could theoretically have a right-winger attacking the government from the right for wasting money on x, y & z. While also talking about their own alcoholism.

The whole thing is a bit silly though.  The vast majority of comedy on TV has no overt political content, it is about as political as instrumental music.

Not sure I agree with this, lots of comedy is intentionally political with all your; Mock the Weeks, Now Show, Dead Ringers, HIGNFU, The Week That Was, Brasseye, Mash Report, Last Leg.....and loads more.  Then you have all of your stands of which a significant amount are political or reference to political events.  Then you have comedy that isn't politically focuses but has political references.

That is because politics is an easy reference point for most people, because politicians are just a canvas to paint comedy onto.

Stanhope isn't right-winger either he is an anti-hero nihilist, which again is just a vehicle to paint comedy on.  People either relate to his apathetic hatred of the world or laugh at how OTT his apathetic hatred of world is - it's just a form of Bill Hicks with a twist.

There are lots of reasons why rightwing comedy doesn't work regardless of whether the person is alcoholic or not (which would be rather deleterious to any opinions they might have).  Wasting money on non-rightwing causes is perhaps something that could be made into a vehicle for jokes but its pretty dull. I'm not saying rightwing comedy is impossible but quote ironically it would be taking what British comedy is actually great at (the critique of power and ego - including the self-degradation of the act itself) and making it akin to much more continent point and laugh comedy.

I can't see it myself.  Also (again as I was saying) it creates that impetus for a counter comedy that would be much more effective (again for a variety of reasons).

[Sebastian Cobb]

So what does the rise from 19th place for the paper version of Grauniad to 4th for online tell us? Maybe the 'young left leaning' readers are more used to free content? (Or too mean to pay out after they splurge on cappuccino and avacado on toast?).

Pretty sure they alienated all of them when they pandered to their gen-x centrist readership and threw the left under a bus.

I'm not saying people shouldn't read it at all but you should be using an ad-blocker.

[zomgmouse]

Most comedians are just edgy centrists