[TV] Why is the BBC so biased?

[Jamesy-18]

Okay guys, just wondered if anyone else shared the same view as me on this, because recently, it has been quite annoying me.

So, BBC got the F1 rights this year. All was jolly and great, and we thought that we'd actually hear more about the sport on the news and things. But we were wrong. F1 has categorically been cover up by constant football and cricket news, in fact, every sport apart from F1 has most likely been featured on the sport's bullitin every half hour.

I even saw once when they were introducing the sports headline about the Renault deal to remain in the sport, but they never actually talked about it in detail, only "Blackburn Rovers are facing relegation this weekend" (or something similar!)

Okay, I'll accept that the F1 season is over, and this traditionally, is when there is more football action than anything else. And yes, I'll admit, we have heard more about F1 on the news since BBC got the rights than in 2008 and before.

But BBC constantly leave F1 out of the sport section these days. Even when it is substantial news, like a driver signing for a team or whatever, BBC would rather concentrate on some over payed ass wipe who's quit one club or other. It's like in the winter, everything regagarding F1 is completely forgotton.

What does anybody else think on this matter? Is it my just general hatred of football clouding my judgement, or do you think it has always been this bad at this time of year?

[Stuart H]

I cant stand football one little bit. Men running round try to have sex with each other doesent appel to me at all.

On a personal note i dont think that motorsport doesent get the tv coverage it should get.

[PDS]

As much as I prefer F1 over Football. Really you can't compere them..

The main football coverage in the UK is for the National game where F1 is an International event!

F1 should be compared with either the World Cup or Champions league.

Why should the BBC show as much interest to news about Renault with their foreign drivers as they give to say a new signing to a Premiership team? No contest!

[Jamesy-18]

I just find it stupid how an international sport can be so quickly forgotten once the chequered flag falls unless there is some kind of scandal!

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, but I dare say there are more people in Britain who care about F1 more than they do about the Scottish Premier League!!

Anyone got an address from the Beeb who I can email about the situation? I remember emailing them a couple of years ago over a similar thing and it picked up briefly, but went back to normal soon afterwards.

[Craig]

I don't care too much for F1 but have even less interest in Scottish football. But, then, when was the last time anyone reported on Scottish football on TV?

Sorry, but motorsport is a minority sport. Football, rugby, cricket, horse racing, etc. attract huge interest and following and are naturally reported upon regularly. It's always been that way and, with peoples acceptance of motorsport reducing, it is not likely to change soon.

[duke_toaster]

I'd also like to mention the BBC having the rights for GB's games in last year's Eurobasket, which they put on the red button (with an off-tube commentary and halftime being a modified version of the stream about to start thing and deathly silence), rather than on BBC3 or BBC2.

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by Craig

I don't care too much for F1 but have even less interest in Scottish football. But, then, when was the last time anyone reported on Scottish football on TV?

Sorry, but motorsport is a minority sport. Football, rugby, cricket, horse racing, etc. attract huge interest and following and are naturally reported upon regularly. It's always been that way and, with peoples acceptance of motorsport reducing, it is not likely to change soon.

Still, F1 has growing interest in this country thanks to back to back titles from Hamilton and Button. In my mind, it is the only international sport that Britian seems to be half decent at!

So what if all those sports have "huge interest"? Last time I checked, F1 in this country did too. For them to mention those sports consistently, yet in the case of horse racing as you point to, hardly ever show it (on the mainstream channels), it just seems stupid. It's like asking them to put news stories up relevant to BTCC!

Come on BBC, you have the rights. It would be nice to have a bit of Formula One news instead of constant football. Last I hear, a M.Schumacher was reported to coming back next season.

[Craig]

F1 doesn't have huge interest in this country. When did you last have a chat about it in the pub? When was the last time you arrived at work and the first thing you heard was what had happend in F1 over the weekend? People just don't relate to motorsport as they do to other sports - it's too elitist. Anyone can play cricket, football and rugby or bet on the horses. Only twenty odd people across the world can play F1 and, well, we all know you can't bet on it!

Sure it'd be nice to see a bit of motorsport news here and there but if you're expecting to see/hear it reported every day then you're dreaming.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Craig

F1 doesn't have huge interest in this country. When did you last have a chat about it in the pub? When was the last time you arrived at work and the first thing you heard was what had happend in F1 over the weekend?

I would say that interest in F1 in the UK is growing generally, certainly compared to say 5 years ago, intrest dwindled a little around 2002-2005 when it was all about Schumacher and the UK didnt really have a star driver fighting for the WDC but Hamilton brought F1 back into the spot light in the UK in 2006 when he came so close to winning the WDC and then going on to win the title in 2008 and continuing this year with Buttons amazing achievement.

When was the last time i had a chat about F1 in a pub? Well that would have to be during qualifying for the Brazillian GP this year when pretty much half the pub were glued to it. As for when did I hear about F1 being discussed the monday after a race weekend, well i dont remember exact dates but i can recall numerous times discussing F1 this year with work colleagues, many of who are just casual fans rather than hardcore enthusiasts.

[Knowlesy]

Football is pretty much the national sport, along with that game where people stand around in a field for half a day, waiting for an obscenely hard ball to be hit to them. Oh and egg chasing.

I am afraid the news can't really do much beyond that, limited time. And really nobody cares about driver moves beyond hardcore fans, unless it's Hamilton or Button.

[Jamesy-18]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I am afraid the news can't really do much beyond that, limited time. And really nobody cares about driver moves beyond hardcore fans, unless it's Hamilton or Button.

I see your point, but how do the BBC know that anybody apart from the harcore football fans actually cares about [enter name here] is [enter club's name here] new manager?

In my experience, football fans only really care about their club and couldn't give a tupence over anybody else. I dare say F1 fans arn't like that. Sure we all have our favourites for who we cheer for, but arn't F1 fans interested on all the news that comes out? I certainly am, whether it's Ferrari related, McLaren related, or even Campos related.

To answer Craig's question, well, I'm not old enough to be going in pubs or working as I am still at school. However, I have numerous good friends who I discuss F1 with on a Monday after the race and we always have good banter. Same applies for any big F1 news. Despite quite a few of these friends also liking football, the first topic of conversation after a race is always F1.

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by Jamesy-18

I see your point, but how do the BBC know that anybody apart from the harcore football fans actually cares about [enter name here] is [enter club's name here] new manager? In my experience, football fans only really care about their club and couldn't give a tupence over anybody else.

They may only support one team but most fans are interested to hear what other teams are doing. Chances are they know someone who supports that other team and will be more than happy to gloat at the manager being sacked or a new central forward being signed. Speak to any Newcastle or Sunderland fan if you don't believe me.

I'm not old enough to be going in pubs or working as I am still at school. However, I have numerous good friends who I discuss F1 with on a Monday after the race and we always have good banter.

You are in a small peer group of a similar age, with similar interests, and probably similar backgrounds. Out in the real world go into any pub, office or workplace and F1 fans will be very much in the minority.

Craig is right, like it or not motorsport is a minority sport especially compared to football. A few numbers for you to consider..

Typical British GP attendance is just over 100,000 and that's once a year. The average attendance at a Premiership game is 35,000 and there are 380 of those per year. Then add in attendance at Division 1, Scottish Premiership, Champions League, home internationals, etc etc

The average UK TV audience for a GP is around 4 million, that's live coverage and reply combined. Match of the Day gets 3 million, Champions League gets 5 million. The recent World Cup draw was watched in the UK by over 3 million people - that's just to decide what games are played 6 months from now!

[Jamesy-18]

I suppose, but the world of sport doesn't JUST revolve around football. It's nice to have a bit of diversity now and again, you know?

[redshoes]

Indeed. It would be great if the sports reports weren't dominated by football and the newspapers weren't dominated by 'I'm a Strictly X-Celebrity Brother' but it's an imperfect universe.

[duke_toaster]

Part of me would like to see what the news media and sports coverage of television would be if there was a total blackout of professional club football. Perhaps we'd get other sports moving to the fore.

I think the BBC should have added to its sports remit that, if all else fails, it should attempt to provide live coverage of all national team games at Olympic sports, and to give them adequate mentions - EuroBasket, which to the BBC's credit they got the rights to the GB games in, should have been mentioned in the sports news. All it would need is "And in EuroBasket 2009, Great Britain lost to Arbitary 70-72" or something like that. I said "lost to" because we lost all three, but had a sort-of group of death and outscored Spain (who are Europe's best team and the eventual winners) in two quarters.

Some people may want to pillory this for me, but either as a participation sport or as a spectator sport, football isn't the best - the latterprobably because it's so low scoring. I describe it as a sports media Japanese Knotweed.

[safc_fan89]

Well...totally off-topic but football is perhaps the most accessible sport to play (all you need is a football and some space) and just like motorsport isn't all about overtaking, football is not just about goals, so it's a bit of a misguided comment to make.

[jab]

It's supply and demand. The BBC reports what people want to hear

As Jonathan Palmer once said, there are about 100,000 hardcore motorsport fans in Britain. Wembley Stadium has a capacity of 90,000, which it fills for the FA Cup Final. And that's just one match. No contest

[Andy77]

For media coverage of motorsport events and news go to your local paper dealer and get the specialised mag. It is as easy as that.
I found the motorsport coverage of the BBC pretty good this year. Formula 1 and MotoGP mainly and bits and pieces of the Ulster GP and the NorthWest 200 on its regional northern ireland channels.

Since here in Germany the DSF took over Motogp rights the dsf doesnt show the 125cc and 250cc races because at the same time they have their "popular" football live talk format with managers and trainers. The free F1 coverage at RTL is similar. 75% commercials 25% motorsport and even this 25% are celebrity talk only.
In the news in general motorsport is rather put low and dropped to the edge by national sports such as football, team handball, hockey, basketball . Even volleyball is way above motorsport in the media coverage. Except for the odd Michael Schumacher news. of course. The DTM on the states tv channel ARD gets shown with quali and races but go and try to get DTM news in the ARD news or sport shows. You'll soon find that the news coverage of DTM is next to zero there.

I have luck that I live next to VW capital Wolfsburg and the Oschersleben circuit. My newspaper is above average when it comes to motorsport. Of course, coverage goes a bit towards VW, so their Dakar and F3 exploits are usually covered well. When Michael Schumacher did the motorcycle races there have been reports in my newspaper too even though it was "just" the national IDM race at Oschersleben.

I am sorry if I sound cynical or bad now but motorsport in general still draws the biggest interest by the TV if there is a huge shunt to show. After all, motorsport news are rather hard to find in TV. This is not related to the BBC only but many more TV stations too. As I said above, most likely you find them news in the specialised mag or in the newspaper.

[SamWaters]

Originally Posted by Craig

When was the last time you arrived at work and the first thing you heard was what had happend in F1 over the weekend?

The day after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the day after the Brazillian Grand Prix, the day after the ...

Originally Posted by Jamesy-18

However, I have numerous good friends who I discuss F1 with on a Monday after the race and we always have good banter. Same applies for any big F1 news.

Same

Originally Posted by redshoes

You are in a small peer group of a similar age, with similar interests, and probably similar backgrounds. Out in the real world go into any pub, office or workplace and F1 fans will be very much in the minority.

So I and everybody else that I work with (in the real world) are in the same peer group. From the 20 year old apprentice to the 60 year old storeman we all talk about motorsport in general, yes motorsport in general not just F1.

Originally Posted by redshoes

Typical British GP attendance is just over 100,000 and that's once a year. The average attendance at a Premiership game is 35,000 and there are 380 of those per year. Then add in attendance at Division 1, Scottish Premiership, Champions League, home internationals, etc etc

What about the attendance at the other meetings that are taking place all over the country every weekend of the year - 150,000 at the Festival of Speed and Revival Meetings, a few thousand at BTCC meetings to name just a few.

Maybe motorsport and motorsport fans are not as much of a minority as some think? Maybe just not as high profile as other sports? More publicity would change this

[Adam43]

They should only ever have things on that I like. Not what you like. Ever.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Joseph Heller

More publicity would change this

Quite

I must admit I'm really not that bothered about hearing about motorsport more on the news. I can find the news if I want it, F1 is live on telly. As long as it doesn't have less coverage than that I'm happy.

More popular than football? I hope that never happens!

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by SamWaters

What about the attendance at the other meetings that are taking place all over the country every weekend of the year - 150,000 at the Festival of Speed and Revival Meetings, a few thousand at BTCC meetings to name just a few.

What about them? The original poster is talking about F1 specifically, not motorsports in general.

Premiership get 35,000 spectator per game and there's 380 games per year, that's 13 MILLION spectators. Even taking every international, national and club race meeting in the UK I doubt you'd get close to that figure, and if you include all those then equally you need to include every football game from World Cup qualifiers to Sunday League friendlies.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of football myself, but the reality is that motorsport is never going to be as popular.

[Andy77]

Originally Posted by redshoes

What about them? The original poster is talking about F1 specifically, not motorsports in general.

Premiership get 35,000 spectator per game and there's 380 games per year, that's 13 MILLION spectators. Even taking every international, national and club race meeting in the UK I doubt you'd get close to that figure, and if you include all those then equally you need to include every football game from World Cup qualifiers to Sunday League friendlies.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of football myself, but the reality is that motorsport is never going to be as popular.

Well , but normally it is minus them season cards statiscally or they are only allowed to count once.

[Fox89]

I check out the BBC Sport website many times a day, and I've not felt at any stage this year F1 has been under-represented. On the "Headlines from BBC Sport" section on the main page there is very often an F1 story, and although F1 rarely gets the big headfline on the main sport page it does get it's own little headline section at the side most of the time, which is more then can be said for most sports.

You really can't compare to football, seeing as Football is the most followed sport in Britain. There are also far more teams in football, so much more news to report, and many more matches to cover. F1 in my experience gets the most attention on the the BBC website after Football, even though there are things like Rugby and Cricket to worry about.

So personally I don't think there is anything to be worried about at all. If there is something to worry about it is MotoGP. "Rossi Wins Championship" still isn't headline news for the BBC!

[Dave Brand]

BBC teletext is certainly biased. Reading their reports you'd think F1 was the only branch of motor sport that existed. . .