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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the BBC article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

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This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

BBC was one of the Social sciences and society good articles, but it has been removed from the list. There are suggestions below for improving the article to meet the good article criteria. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Article milestones Date Process Result December 20, 2005 Good article nominee Listed July 20, 2006 Peer review Reviewed April 16, 2009 Good article reassessment Delisted A news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on February 22, 2004. A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on October 18, 2004. Current status: Delisted good article

This  level-4 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects.

BBC Top‑importance BBC portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject BBC, an attempt to better organise information in articles related to the BBC. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page where you can join us as a member. You can also visit the BBC Portal. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. Tasks for WikiProject BBC: edit history watch purge Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Improve BBC, BBC News (British TV channel) and BBC News to Good Article status following previous reviews, create BBC Computer Literacy ProjectBBC Computer Literacy Project (in light of forthcoming 30th anniversary) Cleanup : Chucklevision - references and general clean-up, Pebble Mill Studios - over-detailed and long, BBC World Service Television - unreferenced and confusing Copyedit : BBC News, Broadcasting House Expand : Top 20 start-class BBC articles with most importance: BBC Japan, BBC World Service Television, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Two Northern Ireland NPOV : Criticism of the BBC (See comments) Stubs : Stub-Class BBC articles Other : *Restructure the category Add infoboxes to the BBC articles without infoboxes Add free-use images to biographical articles where possible Add references to Goa Mix (see assessment) and Coat of arms of the BBC Return Dad's Army to a Good article. (See comments) Reassess BBC following improvements to article. Media Top‑importance Journalism portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Media, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Media on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. WikiProject Media To-do List: Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Cleanup : Media influence, Video game culture, Sound bite NPOV : Content (media and publishing) Verify : Multimedia, Alternative media, Alternative newspaper Other : Answer requests for comments Television: British / Stations Top‑importance Television portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Television, a collaborative effort to develop and improve Wikipedia articles about television programs. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page where you can join the discussion. To improve this article, please refer to the style guidelines for the type of work. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the British television task force (assessed as Top-importance). This article is supported by the Television stations task force (assessed as Top-importance). Radio: UK Top‑importance Radio portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Radio, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Radio-related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. This page is within the scope of the UK Radio taskforce. New members are always welcome! To-do List: Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Article requests : Create: Missing years and articles in radio, National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunications (Hungary) Assess : Unassessed Radio articles; Unknown-importance Radio articles Cleanup : Radio articles needing attention Expand : Midweek Politics Bob Crane Maintain : Portal:Radio Stubs : Expand: Radio stubs Verify : Unreferenced BLPs Other : Collaboration of the Week: Requests for Radio peer review: Rod Serling The Howard Stern Show The History of Rock & Roll American Top 40; The Museum of Curiosity; Scott Mills (radio show) England Top‑importance England portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. United Kingdom High‑importance United Kingdom portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United Kingdom, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. London High‑importance London portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject London, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of London on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Brands High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Brands, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of brands on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

The following Wikipedia contributor has declared a personal or professional connection to the subject of this article. Relevant policies and guidelines may include conflict of interest, autobiography, and neutral point of view. 5 albert square (talk · contribs) This user has contributed to the article. This user has declared a connection. (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:5_albert_square&diff=next&oldid=923118563)

BBC insiders accuse broadcaster of acting as ‘PR for Israel’ in Gaza coverage

Staff say the UK broadcaster is ‘crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government’, leading to a culture of censorship. This important info needs to be added in the article. 157.167.128.180 (talk) 14:22, 2 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

For future reference if anyone wishes to add this to the article: Guardian reporting on the story. GnocchiFan (talk) 18:46, 7 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• The world's first regular high definition television service was inaugurated here by the BBC 2 November 1936.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:21, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

but is it going to be you that i well be talking to ~2026-18903-0 (talk) 18:22, 9 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

So bias in polling translates as argument of no bias

The article contains this paragraph: A 2018 opinion poll by BMG Research found that 40% of the British public think that the BBC is politically partisan, with a nearly even split between those that believe it leans to the left or right. which then quotes an Economist article that is behind a paywall that states the same. The problem is that polls have long been controversial, and their interpretation in publications that themselves are biased does not help. I can easily quote this YouGov poll from 2025 and say: "nearly twice believe BBC is left leaning", but I know that would not be fair either. I think the opinion poll paragraph quoted should be removed, it is both dated historically and subject to intrinsic bias. ~2025-39629-81 (talk) 21:08, 9 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

is bbc paid now?

Some articles on https://www.bbc.com/ appear to be behind a paywall, so this should be mentioned in the article. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 08:02, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Only for US users. No ads or paywall in the UK - BBC website in US launches paid subscription service. It started in June. - X201 (talk) 08:11, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

It’s public service broadcaster funded by the UK government as a public service—now they want to charge US readers for access. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 08:17, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

As has been said many time before it is NOT funded by the UK Government. The UK public fund it. Additionally: What you just did, adding your own comment and then instantly archiving the thread is not how things work around here. It creates a false record that yours was the last comment on the matter. Threads get archived when the discussion has fully ended.- X201 (talk) 09:14, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I made the last comment out of frustration - i archived it because no further conversation or changes to article is necessary. Its not my intention to create a false record and i don't think it matter's in this case. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 09:19, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

When I said the UK government funds the BBC, I meant it in principle and that’s broadly true.

The public doesn’t pay the BBC directly. The licence fee is set by the UK government and collected from households by the government, and it remains the BBC’s main source of funding.

So while the money ultimately comes from the public, it isn’t voluntary and exists only through government authority. In that sense, it’s fair to say the UK government funds the BBC. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 09:25, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

You can read more about Public finance.

Where do you think the government gets its money? From something called taxes. And who pays them? The public. The public pays taxes because they’re required to—just like the UK government requires its citizens to pay for the BBC.

And your argument - no government doesnt fund it - its the public - its just a nice semantic distinction to avoid acknowledging that the BBC’s primary funding stream exists because of government authority and enforcement. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 09:35, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

I’d love to keep debating this, but I’m not going to respond further. This is my opinion, and that’s it. 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 09:46, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

bbc lede - WP:NPOV

BBC has a long history of criticism and controversy, but the lede doesn’t even touch on—or remotely address—any of it.

Lede should include something - like CNN and Fox News 🐈 Cinaroot  💬 08:24, 22 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]