The British Broadcasting Corporation

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As anyone who lives in the UK will know (unless they've just come back from outer space) the once world reknowned BBC has found itself embroiled in a new 'scandal'. Following on from such fiascos as the multi-million pound investment in a building that was only used for one unsuccessful series of a very poor show, the phone line scandals (I, for one, have not watched Blue Peter since, and even threw my BP badge in the canal) over kittens names, rigged votes and faked competition winners, and paying Jonathon Ross £16million for 3 years of tv, it is now in turmoil. Russell Brand and Mr Ross made offensive phone calls to the home of Andrew 'Manuel from Fawlty Towers' Sachs, making lewd comments about Mr Sachs' grand-daughter. Where the main problem lies is in the fact that the show was recorded, then passed by a BBC editor as broadcastable, and then aired, even though Mr Sachs had already complained to the BBC. Even worse, on the night, a second person also contacted the BBC to complain. A week passes, and then a Sunday newspaper reports that the two presenters had offended Mr Sachs. This resulted in 30,000 complaints to the BBC. Russell Brand, whose show it was, resigned from the BBC yesterday, and today the head of BBC Radio2 &6Music, for this was a radio show, fell upon her sword, although she realistically was not resonsible. Mr Ross has been suspended for 12 weeks with no pay. This begs several questions;1/ Why did one of the few competent BBC Editors have to go? 2/ According to the Head of the BBC, the answer to 1/ is, because the Head ultimately must be held responsible. He, alternatively, had not considered resigning! 3/ The BBC shows mostly repeats, and Jonathon Ross is certainly overpaid. People are saying that this will be the end of near-the-knuckle comedy, though this was not really comedy. This was actually harrassment of an individual. Comedy is Bill Bailey talking about Chris De Burgh, Spitting Images' portrayal of the Queen Mother (bless her) or Chris Morris's 'The Day Today'. 4/ Russell Brand has basically made a career of being offensive, and whilst this is not my kind of thing, my age group is not his target audience. Therefore, if you are going to employ him, expect this kind of thing, and just as the BBC did with Kenny Everett in the 1980s, listen to and edit the shows before airing. Why did a producer sign off on the show, if they had listened to it? The thrust is that the BBC has kept an overpaid waste of space, lost a great Programmer, and shown that it is more driven by ratings chasing (due to its Director General) than doing what it is chartered for, and supplying programming for those whose interests are not represented in the world of advertising orientated tv. The BBC is funded by a tax, imposed upon household that owns any equipment through which a tv signal can be received. It is about £120 each year, and receives further funding from the government - £2.3billion per year in total. Should the BBC lose the license fee? Is it still a respected broadcaster in other parts of the world? Should the Director General resign? How do we get quality tv and radio back on the BBC? Your thoughts please