"Taxi to the dark side"

[ian neal]

http://www.taxitothedarkside.com/

I watched this last night on BBC2. Fantastic. Hopefully it will be repeated. The best documentary I've seen so far on the torture camps, rendition and sheer insanity of it all

I strongly recommend you support the campaign to save storyville from the cuts. It's the only BBC news programme worthy of the license fee. No wonder they are butchering it.

http://www.savestoryville.org/

Try to catch more of the 'why democracy' season on BBC2/4

[TonyGosling]

'Anger building among BBC staff'
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2187036,00.html?gusrc=r ss&feed=4

Leigh Holmwood
Tuesday October 9, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk

Morale within the BBC is lower now than at the time of the Hutton inquiry, according to insiders, with anger building over management's handling of the fakery scandals and the prospect that nearly 3,000 jobs could be axed.

Sources within the BBC have said there is a growing feeling of discontent in the run up to the BBC Trust meeting on Wednesday next week, when the scale of the cuts will be confirmed.

The Financial Times today reported that 12% of the BBC workforce, or up to 2,800 jobs, could be axed.

Senior BBC sources have said the figures sound correct, with factual programming departments in London expected to be "extraordinarily hard hit".

Insiders have said they expect 25% of the workforce in the division to go, including all the studio heads and half the executive producers in London, although some could be redeployed.

BBC News is also expected to be hard hit, with one senior source saying the "anxiety levels in the newsroom are pretty high".

The FT also reported that 6% across-the-board cost saving was being looked at annually for the next five years - double the 3% the BBC Trust said it wanted.

One source said there was an expectation that the BBC wanted to cut spending by 30% over five years, although another source queried this, saying it was likely to be half that figure.

The scale of the proposed job losses, coupled with the way the fallout from the recent fakery scandals has been handled, has seen staff begin to blame director general Mark Thompson for the collapse in morale. "There has been a lot of criticism of Mark Thompson. He said he wasn't going to 'salami slice' but that is exactly what he is doing.

"He says he wants to protect serious programming but he is doing the reverse," one insider said.

"The BBC is in a much worse state than it was in at the time of Hutton. That was an external threat that the public supported it through, but this is a self-made problem," this source added.

"People are in a state of panic all the time. It is misjudgement after misjudgement. I think Thompson is in really serious trouble.

"It seems to be really personal against him. It is hard to see that he can't go at the end of this."

There are also still question marks surrounding the resignation of BBC1 controller Peter Fincham on Friday over the 'Crowngate' scandal, with a feeling that his departure was meant to protect the BBC Vision director, Jana Bennett, and ultimately Mr Thompson himself.

Another insider said the handling of Mr Fincham's departure last week had hit morale within BBC Vision.

"If you can't back senior creative leaders, especially ones as popular and successful as Peter, it's a pretty poor outlook," this source added.

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