I thought the BBC TV coverage

By | |

of the D-Day commemorations yesterday was good and the news coverage of the death of Ronald Reagan, if not affectionate, at least respectful. There. I’ve said it.

Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Bookmark the permalink.

12 Responses to I thought the BBC TV coverage

  1. Eamonn says:
    June 7, 2004 at 4:08 pm

    Yes it was good, but I just know that James Naughtie was thinking:

    “Ah yes, this was a legal and necessary war, unlike the unjust and illegal adventures undertaken by our present warmongering political leaders………”

       0 likes

  2. Susan says:
    June 7, 2004 at 5:07 pm

    Check out this blog’s spoof entries pretending to be today’s BBC covering the Normandy invasions as they happened:

    http://silentrunning.tv/archives/cat_beebvision.php

    Hilarious!

       0 likes

  3. THFC says:
    June 7, 2004 at 5:07 pm

    To BBC fans it did come as something of a relief as even us non rabid right wingers have got a bit worried about the petty anti-Americanism and unecessary PCness recently.

    This sort of triumph reminds people why we need a quality, properly funded national broadcaster. A view which will no doubt be reinforced at Euro 2004 when we’ll have the pleasure of watching the World’s finest sports coverage (Motson apart).

       0 likes

  4. ed says:
    June 7, 2004 at 7:08 pm

    ‘triumph’?- don’t get carried away.

       0 likes

  5. James Hamilton says:
    June 7, 2004 at 7:33 pm

    The reaction to Reagan’s death has indeed been surprisingly dignified and non-insulting. I’ll leave being pleased until it’s lasted the month out – someone will ‘react’ to provide ‘balance’ before too long, surely?

       0 likes

  6. YOY says:
    June 7, 2004 at 8:16 pm

    ‘This sort of triumph reminds people why we need a quality, properly funded national broadcaster’

    Why?
    SKY did it just as well.

    And what do you mean ‘properly funded’
    Funded without extortion and threat of jail perhaps?

       0 likes

  7. Dave says:
    June 7, 2004 at 9:43 pm

    On Reagan:

    Perhaps you need to read what many lefties are saying on Democratic Underground/Daily Kos in the States, in the Guardian here and the Sydney Morning Herald amongst others…

    I have never seen so many hatefilled people. They really need to remember that democracy is about discussion and persuading the other side to your point of view. Very sad indeed and makes me all the more determined to vote for anyone other than the lefties/liberals. They keep saying they are the only ones who care about people rather than big busienss etc yet time and time again they prove themselves to be the most intolerant and hateful people.

    On D Day:

    Given the huge amounts of money available to them if the Beeb had not come up with the goods they would have been shooting themselves in the foot prior to the review of their charter etc. Close them down! Sack Olga G and Caroline H!

       0 likes

  8. John Hensley says:
    June 8, 2004 at 1:00 am

    Dave,
    No sense in wading into other people’s spite-fests. The people who cheered when Reagan was shot are still around. It was predictable that they would come out of the woodwork one last time. They’ll get it out of their system in a few days and then return to obscurity.

       0 likes

  9. John Hensley says:
    June 8, 2004 at 1:04 am

    oops, correcting link for cheered.

       0 likes

  10. Jeff says:
    June 8, 2004 at 5:25 am

    SLightly off-topic, but Jimmy Kimmel just showed a clip of a BBC report on Reagan’s death. The clip showed the anchor cutting back to a field correspondent. The correspondent looked as if he was doubled over having a horse laugh about something until he noticed that he was on the air, whereupon he dropped the smile and stood up straight.

    No names were visible, and the clip was only a few seconds long.

    Jimmy had been in Europe over the weekend, apparently, and he said,

    ” I believe that God sent me to Europe just so I could get that clip”.

       0 likes

  11. Monica says:
    June 8, 2004 at 8:20 am

    We watched Jon Snow on Channel 4 on Reagan – just awful. So turned over to the BBC and listened more carefully than usual to their take.

    And we were pleasantly surprised. For once. Will it last? Shouldn’t think so.

    OT – Have any of you checked out the photo of Frank Gardner and the news that he was shouting “I’m a Muslim, help me, I’m a Muslim, help me,” in Arabic. No one came to help. The BBC MUST know about this. Will they report it?

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=11303_Help_Me_Im_a_Muslim#comments

       0 likes

  12. Pete _ London says:
    June 8, 2004 at 12:02 pm

    I was likewise pleasantly surprised by the BBC’s coverage of Reagan’s death. Of couse Jon Snow was as churlish and sniping as you’d expect on Channel 4 News. However I then made the mistake of watching Newsnight last night.

    Their first piece regarding Reagan was titled “An Amiable Dunce?”

    The second piece covered his goofs, gaffs and apparent habit of falling asleep in Cabinet Meetings.

    The final piece consisted of interviews with Reagan’s Budget Director from the mid-1980’s (I’ve forgotten his name) and Shirley Williams.

    If anyone knows what relevance she is to Raegan please enlighten me. Predictably, she was rude about Raegan, he got everything wrong etc blah blah.

    Not one mention of his economic achievements, considerable foreign policy achievements nor of his renowned charm or his triumph in raising the US from the floor where Carter had left it.

       0 likes