: The Daily Mail reports an anecdote from Mark Thompson that was on News 24 yesterday morning:
[Thompson] said that during one recent “eye of the storm” news story he had “one interview request from ITN, one from Sky and 37 from the BBC”.
A great example of BBC duplication and triplication in action (should ‘in action’ have a space in it?).
But their future is at stake, so of course they’re all interested enough to turn up. So not is a good example of the BBC waste.
(should ‘in action’ have a space in it?).
In this context, the space is appropriate; that said, the term ‘in action’ adds nothing to the meaning of the sentence. It’s redundant, it would thus be better, to leave it out.
A certain amount of healthy competition between programmes can drive up standards all round.
I’m sure that all 37 programmes were better for having bid for the DG. 😆
Anon: you’re mixing up your news events – the incident referred to is not from the last couple of days. Doh!
Nick Good: The bit about ‘in action’ being one word or two is a joke – not a serious question! Ye gods, pedants everywhere will be consulting all manner of reference works poised to write in! 🙂
JR: Competition? Competition to scramble aboard and stay on the gravy train perhaps!
John Reith | 19.10.07 – 10:31 am
In the real world healthy competition usually results in some combination of cost savings, greater efficiency or more choice to the consumer.
The BBC do not inhabit this place. It exists as a market within itself.
Cut down one BBC news organ and two would appear in its stead, but they would still be the BBC. The choice to consumers shouldn’t be between an army of BBC news programmes, it should (and used to be) between channels.
BBC + Competition = DOES NOT COMPUTE!
Why do you need to compete when you have a guaranteed budget of over £3billion per annum?
Andrew wrote — |you’re mixing up your news events – the incident referred to is not from the last couple of days.|
That’s extraordinary then! (and my apologies).
I wonder where all those requests came from…
1. Newsnight
2. Today Programme
3. Breakfast
4. 1 o clock
5. 6 o clock
6. 8 o clock
7. 10 o clock
hmm perhaps there were multiple requests from some shows.
Yes, one can’t help being amazed by the diversity and depth of the BBC position on such things as America, the EU, multiculturalism and Islamic terrorism.
😉
I read that there could well be strike action coming. Will this affect the BBC’s output in any way? Even more importantly, will anyone notice?
A strike is what I want. The sooner that the viewing public become aware of the myth/lie that they need the BBC, the better.
http://www.liebreich.com/LDC/HTML/Various/BBC_Charter.html
John Reith:
A certain amount of healthy competition between programmes can drive up standards all round.
————
I dunno,
Is it just possible our tame man on the inside was writing tongue in cheek?
Of course a lot o f interview requests will have come from inside the BBC itself. The BBC has a vast number of outlets… there is more to the BBC than the One the Six the ten and the today programme – think of all of the local and National Radio sttions and the multiplicity of Online outlets… Doubtless some of the Cultural programmes will have asked for an interview to try and ascertain what this means for the future of drama , music orchestras etc…
You haven’t read comments 1 or 4 before sticking in your own tuppence worth, have you Mason?
Enough cash for 37 people to cover one news story in London. Not enough cash to send a bloke with a mobile phone to Macclesfield or Oldham to cover a local football match for BBC Radio Manchester.
Anyone who has any involvement with media in some way knows that BBC overstaffing is legendary.
At any big media event there will almost always be a links truck there for News 24, to beam the report back to base. The going rate for a sat truck and operator is between £700 – £1500 a day, depending on what is required. news 24 do have their own, but sometimes hire in.
There will also be a news 24 producer, reporter and camera operator. As well as a dial-tweaking techie holed up in the truck with sarnies, a flask of tea and a copy of the Sun.
There will be reporters, producers and camera operators from the main BBC news programmes. They may also have their own links truck.
It is also not unusual to see a further couple of puffa-jacketed Beeboids bobbing about with a Sony PD 170 ( a sort of pro-am mini cam used by so called “VJs”, or video journalists)
There may also be a radio reporter, with a little briefcase style sat-link unit to feed back reports to 5 live, or radio 4 or both.
There will be a radio reporter from the local BBC station, and a TV reporter, and crew from the BBC regional news. (sometimes – rarely – a BBC local radio reporter will link up with a camera operator and “knock off” an interview for them)
There are situations where you cannot get into a premises for the BBC vans, links trucks, radio cars, and reporter and crew vehicles all parked up.
Don’t forget many of these staff will also be staying in neaby hotels if the story is a running one and they all have to be back there the next day. That’s all paid for by you and me, folks.
Sky, meanwhile, seems to get by with one people-carrier which also doubles as a links truck and edit studio, staffed by (sometimes) a producer, a reporter and camera operator/editor.
The Sky reporter always seem to be running about like a blue arsed fly, servicing rolling live news, as well as nipping in and out of the people carrier to write, voice and edit packages. Rupert likes to get value for money.
ITV may have a links truck there, plus a reporter and crew from national news, and the same from regional news, though increasingly, I gather, regional news is asked to provide material for national news.
Yes it’s important for the BBC to maintain the quality (and impartiality, please) of it’s news.
But the organisation also needs to start living in the real world, where, for the rest of us, normal economics apply.
Ouch! The replies to Richard Jackson [editor of Five Live Breakfast] on the ‘Editors blog’ are pretty brutal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/
When I recently asked the great unaccountable ones for a detailing of how many “reporters”, and presumably camera crews, were running around America, I was told off for requesting confidential information. (Whose money is it?”) Same obvious response when I asked about Humphrys and other opinionated clowns sent to Basra not so long ago.
Last time I was there English was still spoken in the US. So why not use stringers who are American and by definition slightly better informed than beeboids?
Previous comment:
bodo:
Ouch! The replies to Richard Jackson [editor of Five Live Breakfast] on the ‘Editors blog’ are pretty brutal.
I’ve just followed the link and there are no comments to view! Is the Ministry of Truth at work again?
John Tomlinson | 23.10.07 – 1:49 pm,
Comments are there. They’ve just changed the system for some reason. (If the blog can be said to have a functioning system of comments; it’s an exercise in frustration trying to post them a comment.)
Anyway, here they are:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/fivelivebreakfast/2007/10/live_in_paris.html#commentsanchor
Accessible by clicking on “You can comment on this entry here” at the end of Jackson’s article.