Massive Anti-Government Demonstration In London - Did you know ?

Yesterday there was a major anti-austerity/ anti-government demonstration in London - you know, the capital city of Britain ?

Amazingly, there seems to have been a news blackout imposed, the BBC completely ignored it, despite the fact it started from outside their HQ !

Not really a news story of relevance ? But the BBC quite happily report on anti-government demonstrations if they happen...well, just about anywhere else in the world.

A first major incidence of state news censorship in Britain ?

News, photos and videos here -
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=488418&f=606


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Nothing at all in mainstream media. I heard about this from RT.

I don't think this is the first time the Beeb and others have simply chosen to ignore certain issues or events. They're little more than an echo chamber for the establishment view these days. Couldn't even find any reference to this in the Guardian.
Only the Huffington Post seem to have noticed.

 

A march organised by the People's Assembly attracted an estimated 50,000 to London on Saturday to protest against the coalition's austerity measures. Speakers included Owen Jones, Caroline Lucas, Mark Steel and the comedian Russell Brand.
Guardian

A few of my friends went but i was running a half marathon the next day so didn't go.

 

I read an article about this from the Guardian, so I think that claims of a news blackout may be a bit exaggerated.

 

I was looking for something new to the story.
Maybe the No. involved?

The last foreign austerity protest I could find - covered by the BBC - is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26702959
About the same amount of effort as this one.

It's all a bit 2012 isn't it?
Maybe it's just old news.
Sorry.

There are atleast 10 stories more important than this.

 

Not so suprising - one of the main speakers was Owen Jones, who writes for the Guardian, so it would have been more suprising if they hadn't covered it.

The BBC - that's a different matter.


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And if the queen trips over tomorrow and grazes her knee, we'll have wall-to-wall coverage for days. Just as well we've got our priorities right...

 

I must have missed it when I checked out the Guardian.

But actually, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't on the BBC.

Fact is though, there's a lot of stuff which doesn't make it onto BBC news which makes you wonder how un-biased they really are.

 

I just get the feeling the BBC was just not interested.
Why should they be interested?

No, the media didn’t ignore your anti-austerity march – it just wasn’t that interesting
There’s no organised “media blackout” on reporting protest marches. More often than not, they just aren’t that much of a story.


Secondly, as usual with these events – it’s not true that there was no coverage. There was coverage; on both BBC national and local radio, and on the BBC News Channel in the evening news, from 8pm onwards. It’s the British “Broadcasting” corporation – the clue is in the name. The inability to find something on the BBC news website does not mean there is a “media conspiracy”.

There’s also the usual cry that “Russia Today gave it loads of airtime”. It just goes to demonstrate that the more people tell you “the mainstream media are lying to us”, the more they are probably lying to you.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politic...ti-austerity-march-it-just-wasn-t-interesting

You have to wonder why the story of the BBC, supposedly, NOT covering the protest is becoming more of a story than the protest itself.
Does that interest more people than the protest itself?

Why is there not a thread about what was discussed/achieved (etc) at the protest?

I did mention there are other stories more important, and there are.
Imho, the austerity protests have had their moment in the sun.
There was nothing new, imho.

Something random such as the queen tripping over, although trivial, is new.
I doubt it would be wall to wall coverage, though.
Unless she had a heart attack at the same time.

I understand.
It is annoying when the BBC (for e.g) repeat the same news over and over and over.
For instance, they have talked about 'Britishness' time and time again over the years.
But you can't please all the people all of the time.

Have you an e.g of an austerity protest abroad that was covered 'wall-to-wall' recently?
Maybe if people were hurt/killed.
As clichéd as it is: If it bleeds it leads.

This is probably what the BBC was doing at the time of the protest above.

(having their own protest)



http://www.channel4.com/news/freeajstaff-world-stands-shoulder-to-shoulder?x=55222

I'm sorry that the protest didn't have wall to wall coverage, or even barely any coverage at all.
You win some and you lose some.

Maybe it is ironic that 'the media' is protesting about media censorship while deciding what is and isn't news.

 

Odon - the austerity is yet to hit, as I said on another thread. 80 million in 2 years out of Salop council spending.

I don't think most people really understand that whilst 'austerity' is in force, banks have been given billions in QE at zero interest rates. Or have any notion of what that implies or means in real terms.

They don't understand the creeping privatization of the NHS, our most precious national institution being killed off by idiots crammed with neo lib bullshit. ideologues stuttering though the silver spoon crammed at birth into their birdlike gullets.

Is the Beeb, our dear old auntie, become simply an echo chamber for the establishment view? Or is the corp a friend of the people?

Much as I used to respect the Beeb, I really do have concerns.

 

BlackBillBlake

'Austerity' has already hit, and will continue to filter through for for several years to come. However, where it ends, will be far behind where it started.
Meaning, certain areas of public services and the economy etc etc are or will be in recovery/recovered.

The BBC reported on Shropshire Council cuts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-24952714

Also, related stories (four in total).

I thought It was referred to as 'bail-out' rather than 'QE' (not that it really matters how you refer to it as).
I think RBS has payed back their £75b 'loan' in 2012 - with £1.5bn in fees to use the credit guarantee scheme (is that interest?)

I'm not sure about the other banks (I'm not going to look up them all)

Point is, the BBC reported on all of that, too. At length

I'm not sure what to think about this. I know the NHS isn't going to be 100% 'privatised' in my life time. I do know certain GP surgeries (e.g http://www.thepracticeplc.com/ ), security and cleaning services have been 'privatised' - did you read the thread about where the NHS is on some league table? No. 1. In the world.
I know it's complicated and there is more to it than just thinking that we don't pay at the point of service.

In what way?

I doubt the BBC is going to give support to future strikes by various unions ( 'It looks likely that these co-ordinated strikes will be the biggest for years and will involve members from the NUT, Unite, GMB, PCS as well as Unison.' )

 

http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/50_000_march_against_austerity#addreaction

50,000 attendees. 1 'reaction'

BBC 'furore' a publicity stunt?

 

375 billion in QE since 2009. This article says it's added 50 billion to UK GDP. Hmmm.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/17/uk-better-off-quantitative-easing

The BBC have made a couple of good documentaries about the financial crisis, but there's also a lot that isn't really understood. The problem for the media is that the whole financial world is so complex that most people have no idea how things work. Things that are big in financial terms need a great deal of explanation, and that isn't the way TV news works.

I think it will change, be scaled down, become less accessible in the future. More and more bits of it will be privatized. My understanding is that there are many within the NHS who are worried and concerned about the current changes being made. It's not an area I know a great deal about, but I think it's probably the most significant social achievement of this country to have a free high quality health service.
I just hope the kleptocrats aren't planning to steal it.

They've never actually supported strikes in my memory. In fact as we now know, back in the 84 miner's strike, they edited footage to create a negative impression of the miners.
It will be interesting to see how they cover this.

Personally, I doubt the strikes will achieve very much however they're reported.

 

BlackBillBlake

WOW. OK. That G article isn't too complicated is it?

I thought your point was: banks were given lots of money by gov'.
My point is: It's been payed back.
Neutral at this point.
Protest necessary?
No, imho.
Old news.

I agree with you.

How do you get complex issues across in minutes worth of news segments?
How many people are smart enough to understand?
They say: They don't know how the working class live!
Well, most of the working class (and pretty much everybody else) has no idea about much, especially where No.s, politics and 'the economy' are concerned.

I doubt it.

Don't judge me too harshly, but I read Tony Blair's autob' - he mentions that public services (lets just keep it with that) are run by traditionalists.
They do things because it is 'a given'.
They do not like change.
A lot of the NHS has always been 'run' like a business.
'Business' is more than 'making profit'.
What does 'public sector' actually mean?

Like I said, where is the NHS on a certain league table? 'privatisation' has been with us for many, many years, and it seems to have not always been a monumental failure.

Of course there are many within the NHS that are worried.
Mainly due to following the unions who lose power when decisions are out of their hands.

Have no idea about this :/

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-27893072

I doubt we are going to agree on any of these issues. You seem happy with the neo lib system. Personally I think we're headed for very hard times for ordinary people as a result of it.
This country is finished. Our decline over the next decades will not be a pretty thing to behold. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think so.
Time will tell.

 

maybe if we get the whole cyberservers to go on strike then i could save enough of my old bleeding heart in this nhs psychiatric institution that i find myself in, that i could go on and make a positive day a truely positive movement. government and banks handle things minute by minute in some cases - maybe the anarchists and all persay could as well --[well done cyberservers ]

 

I can't say I was aware of this at that time, but is that it?

I would not say this is fair:' In fact as we now know, back in the 84 miner's strike, they edited footage to create a negative impression of the miners.'

You seem to be saying the BBC purposely edited all of their footage to give a negative impression of 'the miners'.

This seems highly unlikely.

The BBC seem aware of their error.

This seems like a petty argument about a minuscule amount of time to me.

What do you mean by 'neo-lib'?

I hope I am not this cynical in 20 years time :/

Indeed.