Donald Rumsfeld quotations competition

December 22, 2002 8:09 PM

Monumentae Rumsfeldiana: A soundbite competition for future tombstone use. [But should a British state-owned corporation like the BBC make official fun of an senior American government minister? Real Audio req. ]
posted by Carlos Quevedo (9 comments total)

But should a British state-owned corporation like the BBC make official fun of an senior American government minister?

As far as I know, the BBC makes an effort to leave its content unbiased. (And in my experience, it does, with the exception of royal functions.) So, yes, it should.
posted by bwerdmuller at 11:16 PM on December 22, 2002

You miss the context, Carlos Q. The Rumsfeld soundbite of the week is from Broadcasting House, which is the Sunday morning 'sideways-look-at-the-news' programme, offering a slightly less serious spin on the week's events. (The most recent programme is archived on the site, so you can listen for yourself.) In fact, I think Rumsfeld was asked for his opinion on the feature, and he was quite amused by it.
posted by riviera at 11:20 PM on December 22, 2002

But should a British state-owned corporation like the BBC make official fun of an senior American government minister?

Why not? The BBC takes the piss out of everyone else...
posted by iain at 1:02 AM on December 23, 2002

Small point: the BBC is actually funded and created through Royal Charter. Its contact with the executive of the day is rather tangential. It collects its own taxes (the (in)famous licence fee), and is answerable only to its own board of governors.

The best way I've found to explain this to an American audience is this: imagine another wing of government, generated constitutionally, to go with the legislative, executive and judiciary. A wing which is supposed to provide impartial information, entertainment and education for the people.

I'm neither commenting on whether this is a good idea, or whether the BBC succeeds in those aims. But it's important to differentiate it from your common or garden state-run broadcasting network.
posted by ntk at 2:56 AM on December 23, 2002

If the BBC is funded and created by the head of state, wouldn't that kind of make it state-owned ntk?
posted by DrDoberman at 3:25 AM on December 23, 2002

"As far as I know, the BBC makes an effort to leave its content unbiased."

I was listening to a Radio5 doc on Pres Bush the other day, and heard this:

"Next we'll hear how George Dubya drank his way through the eighties."

Well.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 3:49 AM on December 23, 2002

Is our Defense Secretaries learning?
posted by nofundy at 4:41 AM on December 23, 2002 [1 favorite]

If the Beeb is funded by the Queen, where does my £112/year licence fee go?

The funding is actually entirely from users - no different to many other services. The only state funding is for the world service - a small part of their global role. I don't think furr'ners quite get the BBC...in more ways than one.

It's one of the few taxes which is truly good value: 7 Radio stations, 8 TV stations, feature film funding, one of the top Internet sites in the world, globally-respected newsgathering, archived comedy and support for innovative new artistes... for 30pence a day.

May they long continue to take the piss!
posted by dash_slot- at 9:40 AM on December 23, 2002

First of all, it's barely satire---it's just a hilarious and sad rephrasing of the Secretary's words, which are pretty colorful regardless of politics.

The question is, why do we Yanks have to rely on the Brits to take the piss our of the most bloated piss-progenitors around? And our blinkin' media is largely "private"---it'd be so easy for them to create some really entertainment out of the entire administration, if only they weren't so busy doing its bidding.

Currently I pay $600 a year in cable for marginally acceptable programming---y'all Brits've got the best deal in town.
posted by DenOfSizer at 5:35 AM on December 27, 2002