Saturday 9 June 2012

Has the BBC given up on reporting news??

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Yesterday evening, the main BBC News chose to spend the first ten minutes of a half-hour programme talking about racism at the European Football Championships. Now I happen to think that racism is a serious issue but still question whether a few idiot Poles making monkey noises at non-white Dutch footballers really constitutes the main news item.

Once the BBC had finished with interviewing itself and expressing shock and horror at the racist chants, the next important news item was that we had some pretty bad weather. This featured some pretty spectacular waves (not the surfing kind) at a place in Cornwall.

Only then did the BBC mention the appalling events in Syria where a government is beating, raping and murdering its citizens while giving the finger to the civilized world. The imminent collapse of the Euro (perhaps) barely merits a mention. Before we return again to sport, to racism and the preening of presenters.

Where is the real news?

It seems to me - and the Leveson enquiry defines this perfectly - that the media classes determine the news agenda by what they talk about at the dinner table or over fancy coffee in some trendy cafe. What matters to real folk out there is the real world is as nothing besides the endless obsession with political gossip, perceptions of racism and having a good laugh at the stupid people who don't live in North London.

All this is compounded by filling in hours of supposed news programming with stagey interviews of BBC journalists - turning these people from news reporters into the news itself. The result is that we are given the tiniest glimpse of the wider world followed by tendentious opinionating from the BBC-appointed (and employed) expert.

It seems to me that the BBC has given up on reporting news.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When they've got a guaranteed revenue-stream from involuntary licence fees, why should they give a shit about reporting facts in a logical sequence ?

The obscene Telly Tax enables the BBC to continue its political-correctness crusade, sanitising anything negative, chasing downhill to seek out the lowest common denominator audience. Great Jubilee coverage, eh what ?

That strange noise we hear is Lord Reith rotating rapidly in his grave.