Clarkson sacked by the BBC

[MarillionFan]

Top Gear will return to the same ratings.

Clarkson is just repeating the standard workplace delusion of "if I leave they will be ****ed".

Well if you're driving a bus or flying a plane, it's probably not a delusional statement.

[pjclarke]

Well if you're driving a bus or flying a plane, it's probably not a delusional statement.

Puts me in mind of ....

[Removed ... a joke in bad taste when a fatal aircrash is in the news ...pj]

[unixman]

Ah, so they forced the man to launch an unprovoked, sustained , foul-mouthed physical and verbal attack on a colleague, audible in the hotel bedrooms, including a blow that split his lip and sent him seeking hospital attention, and triggering a police investigation. All so they could get rid cos of his politics. Thanks for clearing that up.

No. Clarkeson bears responsibility, he did the wrong thing. But I can't help wondering how the Beeb might have treated others differently, had they committed these offences. Eg Stephen Fry. It is hard not to believe that the Beeb was partly motivated by Clarkeson's political position. They talk a good game about diversity, but really the only diversity they will tolerate is skin colour and a bit of accent. The Beeb has NO tolerance for diversity of thinking, world view, or politics.

[d000hg]

No. Clarkeson bears responsibility, he did the wrong thing. But I can't help wondering how the Beeb might have treated others differently, had they committed these offences. Eg Stephen Fry. It is hard not to believe that the Beeb was partly motivated by Clarkeson's political position. They talk a good game about diversity, but really the only diversity they will tolerate is skin colour and a bit of accent. The Beeb has NO tolerance for diversity of thinking, world view, or politics.

Stephen Fry doesn't have a history of violent verbal and/or physical altercations in the same way JC does. He hasn't been reprimanded several times and put on a 'final warning' by the BBC.

The issue is JC being a jerk, not his political views.

[pjclarke]

Stephen Fry doesn't have a history of violent verbal and/or physical altercations in the same way JC does. He hasn't been reprimanded several times and put on a 'final warning' by the BBC.

The issue is JC being a jerk, not his political views.

Indeed. I cannot construct any scenario in which an unprovoked, sustained, physical and verbal attack on a colleague does not lead to being shown the door, whoever the abuser was. A lesser punishment would be out of line with the Beeb's disciplinary policy, and contrary to their legal obligation to provide a safe workplace, it would get them into all sorts of trouble with other workplace bullying victims.

[unixman]

Yes, political bias is an issue at the Beeb. Neil is on roughly 4 hours a week, and has Michael Portillo as a regular on This Week. Neil's editor is a former chief of staff to Francis Maude. In news coverage Tory politicians appear more frequently and for longer than Labour (even allowing for them being the incumbent party) and pro-business and City representatives get substantially more airtime than organised labour.

The BBC''s political editor is a founder of his local Young Conservatives and rose to become YC National Chairman and president of the Conservative Association at Uni. Until recently the Chairman of the BBC Trust was a former Conservative Cabinet minister, his replacement was Chair of the Pearson Group - who publish the FT. The business editor is a Telegraph journalist.

It’s a scary picture, all right.

Ahem. The Guardian OWNS Newsnight and drives the rest of the BBC news agenda. Newsnight editor Ian Katz is former Guardian editor, and has appointed many Guardian staff into senior Newsnight positions in the last 3 or 4 years, as well sacking Paxo, probably the last Tory voter in BBC News. Freedom of information requests have exposed the BBC as buying hugely more copies of the Guardian than any other newspaper (proportionally). Several senior (retired) BBC news readers have stated publicly that the BBC news agenda is routinely set by that day's Guardian.

Earlier this month it emerged that Sue Inglish, lead BBC negotiator for the TV election debates, is married to former Labour communications chief John Underwood. Kirsty Wark (Newsnight) has close links to Labour and has invited Jack McConnell, former Scotland first minister (Labour) to stay at her holiday home in Majorca, ...

You are right about Nick Robinson though. Well done for finding a second genuine Tory voter in the BBC. It must have been like "Where's Wally?".

[d000hg]

It's a state-funded media company, hardly surprising it attracts left-leaning people.

[pjclarke]

Ahem. The Guardian OWNS Newsnight and drives the rest of the BBC news agenda. Newsnight editor Ian Katz is former Guardian editor, and has appointed many Guardian staff into senior Newsnight positions in the last 3 or 4 years, as well sacking Paxo, probably the last Tory voter in BBC News. Freedom of information requests have exposed the BBC as buying hugely more copies of the Guardian than any other newspaper (proportionally). Several senior (retired) BBC news readers have stated publicly that the BBC news agenda is routinely set by that day's Guardian.

Earlier this month it emerged that Sue Inglish, lead BBC negotiator for the TV election debates, is married to former Labour communications chief John Underwood. Kirsty Wark (Newsnight) has close links to Labour and has invited Jack McConnell, former Scotland first minister (Labour) to stay at her holiday home in Majorca, ...

You are right about Nick Robinson though. Well done for finding a second genuine Tory voter in the BBC. It must have been like "Where's Wally?".

Nick Robinson is not part of BBC News?

https://theconversation.com/hard-evi...-the-bbc-17028

[unixman]

Indeed. I cannot construct any scenario in which an unprovoked, sustained, physical and verbal attack on a colleague does not lead to being shown the door, whoever the abuser was. A lesser punishment would be out of line with the Beeb's disciplinary policy, and contrary to their legal obligation to provide a safe workplace, it would get them into all sorts of trouble with other workplace bullying victims.

Agree entirely.

Stephen Fry doesn't have a history of violent verbal and/or physical altercations in the same way JC does. He hasn't been reprimanded several times and put on a 'final warning' by the BBC.

Agree entirely.

The issue is JC being a jerk, not his political views.

The issue is about JC perpetrating an assault, and the BBC justifiably "sacking" him on that basis. The context is JC being at odds with the political ideology to which BBC subscribes. In my opinion, this may have coloured their judgement somewhat. Although they would argue no other conclusion was possible (a good argument), I would counter-argue that, had the perpetrator been somebody else, other resolutions might have been found. If you want to know how much the BBC has historically loathed Clarkeson (for his stance, not his buffoonery), just look at any copy of the Guardian and see what they say about him in there. Or view the Twitter stream of any Guardian writer.

In fact, if you want to know the BBC's attitude to anything, just look in the Guardian. This isn't sarcasm.

It's a state-funded media company, hardly surprising it attracts left-leaning people.

Not sure about that. Does the fire brigade attract left-leaning people, or the army ?

[MicrosoftBob]

Indeed. I cannot construct any scenario in which an unprovoked, sustained, physical and verbal attack on a colleague does not lead to being shown the door, whoever the abuser was. A lesser punishment would be out of line with the Beeb's disciplinary policy, and contrary to their legal obligation to provide a safe workplace, it would get them into all sorts of trouble with other workplace bullying victims.

Unless you're going to be Director General of the BBC of course