Jekyll and Hyde: The two faces of BBC World Service
Propaganda, Subliminal Persuasion, Transfer of information, Manipulation, “Reality Radio” and Politics
The BBC was founded in 1922 by leading wireless manufactures with a commercial aim (to sell radio sets). However the general manager of that time took BBC in another direction, he wanted an independent British broadcaster free from political interference and commercial pressures that would inform, educate, and entertain the whole nation.
During the Second World War the BBC came into real power and doubled in its size. According to its own history website it had to struggle to keep its independence and not just do what the government wanted (?). As well as reporting the war (but leaving out certain facts and figures) it also had units that listened to other senders, and other units that sent secret massages over the radio. The BBC grew during the war partly because of the difficulty of having newspapers and the people wanted to know what was going on, partly because the soldiers wanted it, and partly because it was a way for the government to inform but also keep control of the public. But another reason for its growth is the fact that during the war the whole manpower and concentration of the country was on fighting and trying to win the war and with that aim in mind essential services grew as all kinds of specialists (otherwise less attainable) were assigned to them.
Propaganda was part of the war, both counteracting it and creating it. Psychology was a major theme. It was essential to understand all psychological influences fully. The war could be won or lost on it. The psychological impact and effects of things like radio were studied by many specialists who might normally have been using their knowledge to teach students at universities. So no doubt the BBC benefited enormously from all of this. Not only in the increase in size, power and influence of the BBC, but also in its knowledge and understanding of the “psychological” aspects of radio broadcast. Aspects which should not be underestimated as companies today spend billions of dollars each year in finding different, or better, or new ways of psychologically influencing us. Teams of psychologists and researchers all over the world study the “what to do” and “what not to do”, using the latest understanding of how the human brain works, psychological effects, and brain development.
The BBC World Service in recent years never seemed to be quite sure of its own modern role. Often it would say it is primarily there to spread the use of the English Language around the world, to teach English, or give a teaching platform to students around the world. At other times it would say, no, primarily it is a news broadcasting service. Or then it was an entertainment and education sender. Other times it would try to hold more positions as the primary aim. Back and forth like a game of table tennis.
The educational and informing programmes that cover music, technology, science, business, women’s matters, film, and so on are of a very high quality (Mr Hyde!).
For a long time it has been clear that the BBC World Service uses what it learnt in history, particularly during the war, and since it is so closely related to British politics (it gets its money from the government from tax revenues through the Foreign Office) it has also no doubt learnt much of the political tricks and manoeuvring, augmenting, dodging of issues, denial, avoiding and steering things to achieve what they want, i.e. very political. In fact the BBC is probably another political institution within the British governing party. There is no better place to hear this political type of BBC manoeuvring than in the BBC World Service programme “Write on” where listeners are invited to write in about their complaints, or preferable to the reader of the programme (and therefore the BBC), the praise. The usual end result of some complaint, (after first generally going part of the way to give the impression that the complainer has a valid complaint and that the BBC is taking notice of this), is that the BBC thinks it is following the best path, made the right decision, it knows best what is best for us poor listeners……and so on. Translated this means, the complaint is invalid and the BBC is right! For a time they even used the complaint against the complainer, using humiliating and sensation seeking tactics so as to make another form of “show” out of the programme. Politics! Like many politicians and narcissistic people the BBC World Service is not really very good at listening to critic about its self, but deals a good share of it out in its news programmes.
The theme of subliminal persuasion (which refers to the use of subliminally presented stimuli, or messages presented to individuals beneath their level of conscious awareness which are intended to influence the person’s actions, choices, or attitudes) and subliminal perception is a hot subject in the world of advertising and psychology. On the internet there are many interesting articles to be found covering this subject. Like the subject of children watching violence on TV/films/games there are those who say it has no effect and others who say it has a lot of (negative) effect.
This then raises the question does the way the BBC World Service presents its news have any effect on the listener?
The question covers not only the obvious ways but the possible subliminal ways, which, by nature, have to be less obvious or otherwise they would not be subliminal. (Subliminal persuasion has to be subtle - many minor subtleties rather than large ones otherwise they would become oblivious). Also because the BBC is an entertainment service the influence of drama and sensationalism has to be considered. If we take any single news issue (any issue) and then buy every newspaper that publish this issue (story) we will find that the issue (story) is presented in a wide range of ways. Some stories are presented in such a diverse manner that the two extremes hardly seem to be reporting the same story or issue.
The BBC World Service likes to blow its own trumpet (about how good, and great it, and its staff are, in hero type terms) and uses every opportunity to do this (a technique probably learnt in the propaganda war years when there were almost no opponents and people were glad to get what news they could). Its relation with the (colonial) British Foreign Office (where the tax money comes from and with whom it has signed an agreement) no doubt help it spread around the world quickly, and the BBC probably received other help from the Foreign Office as well. The BBC World Service also likes to blow the trumpet about its independence and honest news reporting. Yet like it or not the BBC is connected to the murky world of politics. Also, it never makes completely and absolutely transparent the way it reports the “honest news reporting” (which is also supposedly free from all political and financial considerations and influences at all times!). We are supposed to believe and accept that the political link plays absolutely no role in internal politics of the BBC World Service and as consequence on its news reporting, or way of reporting!
In actual fact I find the BBC World Service news reporting to be extremely biased, self-centred, extreme leaning towards and promoting of pro-American and British policies/views/arguments/ideas, unbalanced, dramatic and sensation orientated, and extremely manipulated – even with the “honest news reporting”.
Now to add to this it has brought in the technique, which can only be described as “reality radio” (trying to jump onto the bandwagons of the Reality TV programmes?), of reading out the personal comments of listeners emails during the news programmes – this is the so-called “honest news reporting”! Of course they also sort out, “honestly”, which emails are going to get read out, and at which moment! Well this technique hardly falls under the heading of subliminal persuasion, or at least not of the “subtle” kind! But manipulation? And what has listener’s personal (biased) comments to do with “honest news reporting”? Now we hear “email us your comments or views” almost continually.
Any person or any country that falls foul of the BBC World Service policies and views (i.e. British/American policies?) often gets treated (attacked) in a similar way as the complaining listener in the Radio programme “Write On” often got treated. Countries such as Germany and in particular France were treated in this way after their refusal to back the (illegal) Iraq invasion by Britain and America. But certain other countries get the same kind of treatment often, in particular Iran and Syria but Arab countries and individual Arabs in general, also Palestine, and all other countries or individuals that fall out of favour or go against the policies.
A Second World War policy of the BBC was: "...... It was agreed (between British government and BBC) that the BBC should seek to report events truthfully and accurately, but not in such detail as to endanger the civilian population or jeopardise operations. The result was that the BBC did report setbacks as well as successes. It would say, for instance, that bombs had fallen and that there were casualties. But precise number of casualties and the location and time of a bombing would often be withheld, so that the enemy would not know which of its missions had found the target....” (end of quote)
I wonder if the BBC has retained this policy in some ways and forms.
Is it pure coincidence that the news reporting often seems to match the political policies and views of Britain and America at that moment? Is it pure coincidence that radical changes are being experienced and made at the BBC, and with the BBC news reporting, during the period that Tony Blair and his cronies are in power? Human rights, freedom and democracy both in the UK, Europe and around the world have already seriously deteriorated under the leadership and pressure of Blair (and Bush) and other such leaders. Leaders who have been voted into office to represent the people of their country instead represent their own views and ideas, even to the extent of acting without mandates, and therefore illegally (which in fact should mean that they acted criminally and as such should be prosecuted, but as usual their seems to be one law for certain people – the rich and certain Western politicians – and another law for the rest of us - no wonder we get radicals!).
Now apparently the BBC is planning on reducing the science, music, technology, music, women’s and other such programmes in favour of an increased news reporting and discussion programmes (no doubt with increased “reality radio”). Listener’s personal views can be used to manipulate the “news” even further. Well we have not quite got to the toilet action and bathroom/bedroom love making scenes on the radio as can be seen on reality TV but we are getting there!
I think I might have once heard the story of Jekyll and Hyde on the BBC!
(P.S.: And is this just about the BBC World Service, or is there more to it than that?)
The BBC was founded in 1922 by leading wireless manufactures with a commercial aim (to sell radio sets). However the general manager of that time took BBC in another direction, he wanted an independent British broadcaster free from political interference and commercial pressures that would inform, educate, and entertain the whole nation.
During the Second World War the BBC came into real power and doubled in its size. According to its own history website it had to struggle to keep its independence and not just do what the government wanted (?). As well as reporting the war (but leaving out certain facts and figures) it also had units that listened to other senders, and other units that sent secret massages over the radio. The BBC grew during the war partly because of the difficulty of having newspapers and the people wanted to know what was going on, partly because the soldiers wanted it, and partly because it was a way for the government to inform but also keep control of the public. But another reason for its growth is the fact that during the war the whole manpower and concentration of the country was on fighting and trying to win the war and with that aim in mind essential services grew as all kinds of specialists (otherwise less attainable) were assigned to them.
Propaganda was part of the war, both counteracting it and creating it. Psychology was a major theme. It was essential to understand all psychological influences fully. The war could be won or lost on it. The psychological impact and effects of things like radio were studied by many specialists who might normally have been using their knowledge to teach students at universities. So no doubt the BBC benefited enormously from all of this. Not only in the increase in size, power and influence of the BBC, but also in its knowledge and understanding of the “psychological” aspects of radio broadcast. Aspects which should not be underestimated as companies today spend billions of dollars each year in finding different, or better, or new ways of psychologically influencing us. Teams of psychologists and researchers all over the world study the “what to do” and “what not to do”, using the latest understanding of how the human brain works, psychological effects, and brain development.
The BBC World Service in recent years never seemed to be quite sure of its own modern role. Often it would say it is primarily there to spread the use of the English Language around the world, to teach English, or give a teaching platform to students around the world. At other times it would say, no, primarily it is a news broadcasting service. Or then it was an entertainment and education sender. Other times it would try to hold more positions as the primary aim. Back and forth like a game of table tennis.
The educational and informing programmes that cover music, technology, science, business, women’s matters, film, and so on are of a very high quality (Mr Hyde!).
For a long time it has been clear that the BBC World Service uses what it learnt in history, particularly during the war, and since it is so closely related to British politics (it gets its money from the government from tax revenues through the Foreign Office) it has also no doubt learnt much of the political tricks and manoeuvring, augmenting, dodging of issues, denial, avoiding and steering things to achieve what they want, i.e. very political. In fact the BBC is probably another political institution within the British governing party. There is no better place to hear this political type of BBC manoeuvring than in the BBC World Service programme “Write on” where listeners are invited to write in about their complaints, or preferable to the reader of the programme (and therefore the BBC), the praise. The usual end result of some complaint, (after first generally going part of the way to give the impression that the complainer has a valid complaint and that the BBC is taking notice of this), is that the BBC thinks it is following the best path, made the right decision, it knows best what is best for us poor listeners……and so on. Translated this means, the complaint is invalid and the BBC is right! For a time they even used the complaint against the complainer, using humiliating and sensation seeking tactics so as to make another form of “show” out of the programme. Politics! Like many politicians and narcissistic people the BBC World Service is not really very good at listening to critic about its self, but deals a good share of it out in its news programmes.
The theme of subliminal persuasion (which refers to the use of subliminally presented stimuli, or messages presented to individuals beneath their level of conscious awareness which are intended to influence the person’s actions, choices, or attitudes) and subliminal perception is a hot subject in the world of advertising and psychology. On the internet there are many interesting articles to be found covering this subject. Like the subject of children watching violence on TV/films/games there are those who say it has no effect and others who say it has a lot of (negative) effect.
This then raises the question does the way the BBC World Service presents its news have any effect on the listener?
The question covers not only the obvious ways but the possible subliminal ways, which, by nature, have to be less obvious or otherwise they would not be subliminal. (Subliminal persuasion has to be subtle - many minor subtleties rather than large ones otherwise they would become oblivious). Also because the BBC is an entertainment service the influence of drama and sensationalism has to be considered. If we take any single news issue (any issue) and then buy every newspaper that publish this issue (story) we will find that the issue (story) is presented in a wide range of ways. Some stories are presented in such a diverse manner that the two extremes hardly seem to be reporting the same story or issue.
The BBC World Service likes to blow its own trumpet (about how good, and great it, and its staff are, in hero type terms) and uses every opportunity to do this (a technique probably learnt in the propaganda war years when there were almost no opponents and people were glad to get what news they could). Its relation with the (colonial) British Foreign Office (where the tax money comes from and with whom it has signed an agreement) no doubt help it spread around the world quickly, and the BBC probably received other help from the Foreign Office as well. The BBC World Service also likes to blow the trumpet about its independence and honest news reporting. Yet like it or not the BBC is connected to the murky world of politics. Also, it never makes completely and absolutely transparent the way it reports the “honest news reporting” (which is also supposedly free from all political and financial considerations and influences at all times!). We are supposed to believe and accept that the political link plays absolutely no role in internal politics of the BBC World Service and as consequence on its news reporting, or way of reporting!
In actual fact I find the BBC World Service news reporting to be extremely biased, self-centred, extreme leaning towards and promoting of pro-American and British policies/views/arguments/ideas, unbalanced, dramatic and sensation orientated, and extremely manipulated – even with the “honest news reporting”.
Now to add to this it has brought in the technique, which can only be described as “reality radio” (trying to jump onto the bandwagons of the Reality TV programmes?), of reading out the personal comments of listeners emails during the news programmes – this is the so-called “honest news reporting”! Of course they also sort out, “honestly”, which emails are going to get read out, and at which moment! Well this technique hardly falls under the heading of subliminal persuasion, or at least not of the “subtle” kind! But manipulation? And what has listener’s personal (biased) comments to do with “honest news reporting”? Now we hear “email us your comments or views” almost continually.
Any person or any country that falls foul of the BBC World Service policies and views (i.e. British/American policies?) often gets treated (attacked) in a similar way as the complaining listener in the Radio programme “Write On” often got treated. Countries such as Germany and in particular France were treated in this way after their refusal to back the (illegal) Iraq invasion by Britain and America. But certain other countries get the same kind of treatment often, in particular Iran and Syria but Arab countries and individual Arabs in general, also Palestine, and all other countries or individuals that fall out of favour or go against the policies.
A Second World War policy of the BBC was: "...... It was agreed (between British government and BBC) that the BBC should seek to report events truthfully and accurately, but not in such detail as to endanger the civilian population or jeopardise operations. The result was that the BBC did report setbacks as well as successes. It would say, for instance, that bombs had fallen and that there were casualties. But precise number of casualties and the location and time of a bombing would often be withheld, so that the enemy would not know which of its missions had found the target....” (end of quote)
I wonder if the BBC has retained this policy in some ways and forms.
Is it pure coincidence that the news reporting often seems to match the political policies and views of Britain and America at that moment? Is it pure coincidence that radical changes are being experienced and made at the BBC, and with the BBC news reporting, during the period that Tony Blair and his cronies are in power? Human rights, freedom and democracy both in the UK, Europe and around the world have already seriously deteriorated under the leadership and pressure of Blair (and Bush) and other such leaders. Leaders who have been voted into office to represent the people of their country instead represent their own views and ideas, even to the extent of acting without mandates, and therefore illegally (which in fact should mean that they acted criminally and as such should be prosecuted, but as usual their seems to be one law for certain people – the rich and certain Western politicians – and another law for the rest of us - no wonder we get radicals!).
Now apparently the BBC is planning on reducing the science, music, technology, music, women’s and other such programmes in favour of an increased news reporting and discussion programmes (no doubt with increased “reality radio”). Listener’s personal views can be used to manipulate the “news” even further. Well we have not quite got to the toilet action and bathroom/bedroom love making scenes on the radio as can be seen on reality TV but we are getting there!
I think I might have once heard the story of Jekyll and Hyde on the BBC!
(P.S.: And is this just about the BBC World Service, or is there more to it than that?)
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