what's going on is an epic struggle between free speech and common sense - - and evil liars - the BBC ain't perfect - course not - are you? - but it is one of the best broadcasters in the world and evil people are trying to knobble it - please wake up!

bbc best what ..the have dun nowt but oppress us for decades they are the establishment and upper and middle classes...did they come out and protest against the iraq war the irish war and the miners strike...blair is not off the hook yet though he should resign for employing crap intelligence....

"The evidence strongly suggests manipulation"

The manipulation can be proven without doubt. As was pointed out on *BBC* Question Time, the sentence in the inteligence document that originally said something like: "may" be producing weapons - was changed to they "are" producing weapons. evidently changing a "doubt" to a "comfirmation", therefore plainly exaggerating the case for war.

Even though it is obvious to everyone with more than half a brain cell that the case for war was indeed "sexed-up", it seems to have been whether it was done in good faith, or maliciously that Hutton seems to have finally judged things on. Now it looks like we "may" have an inquiry into the inquiry...

Anyway, as was said on QT, I wonder who they have got lined up for the BBC job now that Greg Dyke has resigned ? Alistar Campell ? Mandy ?

Could be a case of better the devil you know....

Millions took to the streets even before Blair's WMD claims were proved to be lies, but he somehow stays in office...

Dyke was no where near perfect, the BBC were no where near perfect..... but..... what will follow, who appoints a new chairman?

Will the upper echelons of the BBC become even more rabid in their distortion of the truth, or pump out more mogadon for the masses?

I dont know, but I'd like to!

If you want a reason to defend the BBC, look at TV news in the US. All the news media there are in private (corporate) hands, which mostly means Murdoch or Ted Turner. And lo and behold, they are all 'patriotic' = pro-war, pro-establishment, pro-Bush!

The BBC is far from perfect. But at least they have _some_ degree of independence from both the govt and corporate interests. As someone pointed out, on what corporate network would you get a journalist (Ian Hislop) being cheered by the audience on a live debate show (Question Time) for pointing out Hutton's limitations and demanding to know where the WMD are?

If you need more proof, look at how viciously and desparately Murdoch's papers (The Sun + The Times) attack the BBC at every opportunity. That's no coincidence!

I think the BBC is a good deal better than the corporate media. It is still complicit in much of what has gone on regarding the war, and it has infuriated me at times. A lot of it is bullshit. But on the same foot, it runs stories on Newsnight, for example, the one which revealed how George Bush stole the election. For corporate media it would have been a risky story, but the BBC ran it, much to its credit, and thanks to the BBC I think most people in the UK are aware that George Bush stole the presidency.
Its not perfect. Its still a part of the government/media complex that dominates our lives. But the worry is it will now be completely compromised, and any dissenting voices which used to appear on the channel will be under threat. I don't think this will happen, though. I hope that this incident will infuriate the BBC so much that people within it will take a stand. Huttons report was so one-sided that its pissed everyone off in the BBC, who could have accepted criticism, but not such unfair criticism. I think it will make the people who work there think a bit more about the problem of our government, and stimulate a bit more anti-government sentiment within their ranks. Or maybe they'll fall in line like so many sheep. But there are some people who work in the BBC and with the BBC who are worthy of a lot of respect, and I don't think they'll just roll over and die. We'll see...

This website (Indymedia) and a few other good ones show just how news reporting has changed in recent years. It's simply a matter of demonstrating to "the sheep" that they don't have to buy newspapers or listen to the radio or watch TV to get their news. Unless the government bans the internet altogether then there's nothing they can do to stop this flood of Truth.

The sad thing is, if Gilligan had just printed what Mr. Kelly had to say without spin or alteration, the focus _would_ be on Blair and there wouldn't be anything the Sun et al could do to spin it away. Instead, for some pathological reason, he had to make things up and the inquiry became about "the biased BBC".

Storm No.10, and occupy BBC offices - have a people's Raveolution and finally tell the truth instead of allowing them to manufacture their bullshit all the time.

You know it makes sense.