British flooding

The BBC has finally written something about the flooding in the North East of England (read here). My village, Rothbury, is mentioned numerous times as it's getting quite bad.

"The town of Rothbury is almost cut off and several motorists are reported to have been caught out by the rising water."

image: n1349166401715811862fu3

image: n1349166401715585479fr7

The river has probably widened (at the point in the pictures) by three/four times, and depth wise, it's usually a couple of feet, but it's closer to 15 ft.
Comments
48
CNN > BBC
Nah, the BBC is better than CNN in just about every possible way.
Parent
ok, what about CNBC? Or Al-Jazeera?
Parent
Well, I haven't used Al-Jazeera for obvious reasons. As for NBC, it has the same flaws as most western (especially American) news agencies.

If you want information on a basic level, then Reuters, Associated Press and the Press Association (UK only news agency) are probably the best bet in the West. But, they suffer from PR and a lack of funding like most news organisations. The difference is, they don't pretend that they're passing the truth on.

The BBC on the other hand, is so good at coverage (the sheer volume of subject), that it basically kills any internet only news websites in the UK. While it's also vulnerable to the same problems other organisations face, the fact that's predominately funded through a license fee means it can maintain some integrity.

As far as I know, though don't quote me on this, I believe the BBC is the biggest news agency in the world. Which, if true, is quite an achievement considering the size difference between markets.

I personally use a number of different sources to get my news; the Guardian (daily 'paper and website), the Times (website and Sunday Times 'paper) and the Independent (website).

I've just subscribed to the Guardian Weekly (newspaper) which focuses on international news and uses content from the Observer (the Guardian on Sunday basically), the Washington Post and Le Monde. I'll occasionally read the New York Times or some other American website purely out of boredom, though, not often.

The internet is great as a tool to pass information on, but there's no such thing as an internet only news agency. The likes of Yahoo or Google, generate about 95% or more of their news stories from press releases so you can trust them as far as you can throw them basically.

(Long reply ^^)
Parent
dude i wasnt that serious but thanks for info ;)
Parent
why is there a difference in markets? BBC is just as 'international' as CNN.
Parent
being neutral.

CNN has huge political backgrounds within the democratic party I think, its international yea but tends to cover up or expose where it seems fit.
Parent
a) The US is 12 times the size as the UK, population wise.
b) CNN is a commercial organisation.
c) The main income for the BBC comes from the UK television license, meaning the BBC is held accountable (by the BBC Trust) for any money it spends.

In summary, because the BBC is publicly funded, it means that it's less (on paper) political and commercial "bias," and it (should) produce higher quality content. But, it means there's a heavy focus on UK coverage instead of international.

Though, when the two organisations fight on equal terms - "despite its domestic standing, CNN remains a distant second in international news coverage, reaching just over half of the audience of the older BBC World News".

:P
Parent
ok, only point a is actually relevant to my comment, but anyways :P
thing is, many people actually undermine the influence of Britain on other countries, especially former colonies. the rest have probably been wronged by the US in one way or another, and can't stand relating to anything American. Any peasant can look through the blatant propaganda of CNN; I'd really be surprised if CNN had anything close to the number of viewers the BBC gets.

i never disputed how/what/where the BBC is in relation to CNN, I only disputed the fact that you kinda narrowed down to CNN = US, BBC = UK.
Parent
Well, they were all related really. And, it was the original poster who stated "CNN > BBC", not me. I don't use CNN for anything. I merely argued that the BBC was better (using the examples he gave) and why. Then I stated my own preferences.
Parent
yet the bbc news section holds huge amounts of power as it is the most viewed news source tv station in the world. but im relatively pleased with it's largely neutral stand point, far more neutral than 90% of other news networls out there.
Parent
Al-Jazeera english version is really good.
Parent
I'll check it out, cheers!
Parent
lol CNN.....
Parent
Panda takes better pics that this journalist
its hard to take picture of destruction, and make it to an art !
Parent
other picture

image: chaiten_2_01

Chaiten Volcano Chile 2008

P.S: more pictures on Google/images: Volacan Chaiten :D
Parent
lol @ thinking pictures like that are photoshopped :D
Parent
I'd like to go there x)
Parent
They're not taken from the BBC, but a neighbor!
Parent
Wtf are you doing behind your pc, take a bucket and go bail!
Parent
so the flood b4sh3d your house aswell??????? WTFRUDOINATURPCLOLZ
Parent
I'm a little further up the hill, will take another couple of days worth of constant rain before I even consider moving my PC into the loft!!! ^^
Parent
throw the women and children in the water first!!!
Parent
Build a floating device using women and children!
Parent
nice opprotunity for you to go out and swim

lol xD
Sound.
yerr thats like 30mins from me... :/
Where do you live?
Parent
30 mins away from you :P
Parent
ahhh when i first looked i thought it said Rotherham not Rothbury >_<
Parent
i hope you die
thats what happens if you live on a island, get a boat!
What a ridiculous comment, what about the suppose floods in the nederlands? Are you gonna say "thats what happens if you live in a country built on flad land?"
Parent
that would be logical yes.
Parent
woopie i can have a bath now!
we have that in here as well within 25 years
i live in a submarine so np 4 me
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