Comment by rich_sasha | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rich_sasha | Hacker News Reader

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People complain about the BBC's bias. And since everyone has a different idea of what "unbiased" looks like, it's almost impossible to please everyone.

But it struck me how few serious, general, global news outlets there are left in the world that aren't tied to some major interest. Fox News, CNN, WSJ... So much stuff is owned by Murdoch or by some other mogul. The Guardian is pretty good IMO but does not even pretend not to have a lefty skew.

I was thinking about the spiral of death that happens to so many media outlets where serious news doesn't pay the bills anymore, so they either have to rent themselves out to some deep pocket, or chase clicks for ads, losing veracity in the process.

BBC is one of the few organisations left that's somewhat immune to that. I won't claim all their stuff is unbiased, but they're just as likely to publish something left- as right-biased. So now I'm rooting for them and hope they make it. Apparently it is the second most trusted news source in the US, right after the Weather Channel. So truly a global phenomenon: https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/52272-trust-in-media-2025-...

I'd add Al Jazeera to decent media. They are heavily skewed about the middle east, and readonably neutral/disinterested for the rest of the world.

As a non muslim EU inhabitant, they tend to open the window where our media stay silent.

The news coverage is in general OK compared to commercial news, and especially to US propaganda outfits, but Channel 4 (also public sector) are also pretty good. The UK politics coverage is abysmal. They have become cautious stenographers and promoters of whichever party Farage is heading at the time. Not surprising when you see what happens to reporting that genuinely challenges power.

BBC Question Time has been a joke for a while. One of the previous producers was actually busted for trying to source colourful characters for the audience, often from the far right or UKIP/Reform crew.

As I say above, apart from regional factors, the BBC has a built in bias against Scottish independence because it would lose 10% of its licence fee funding if it occurred.

Agree that Channel 4 is also pretty good, perhaps better even than the BBC for politics now. But so much UK politics coverage these days has moved to podcasts – some of them staffed by ex-BBC people.

I tend to find Sky has the best serious political coverage now, despite being Murdoch-controlled. They are a very different beast from Sky Australia.

The most obvious example of BBC bias (to me anyway) is their coverage of the British royal family. It is incredibly sycophantic. In fact, I notice they tried to bury the Andrew story on several occasions and it never went away.

They have an institutional bias against Scottish independence, since they would lose 10% of their funding if it occurred.

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