“We have just submitted a detailed analysis of the BBC Iraq blog as evidence to the Hutton Inquiry”

– writes David Steven. That got my attention. It was he who analysed Andrew Gilligan’s blogging as a reporter in Iraq. Now he and a colleague have looked at one of the most successful elements of the BBC coverage of the Iraq war, the Reporters’ Log in a similar manner. This post contains a summary of what they found. A link to the actual report, “Whose Agenda?” is at the top of the links column on the left.

By the way, I was not being sarcastic in calling the Reporters’ Log successful. If the BBC are smart they can use reports like this one to improve what they do. It’s rather like the way that someone trying to cut down their spending is advised to keep a record of every penny they spend for a month. This allows them to become aware of and control their own “spending triggers” and other behaviour patterns. In a similar way, the BBC, though not short of talent, could learn more self-awareness as to what triggers its prejudices.