Well, the celebrations following Obama’s historic election as US President continued unabated on the BBC today. What’s that you say? He hasn’t been elected yet? Mmm..hard to tell when it comes to the Barack Broadcasting Corporation this morning! Two interviews ln less than 30 minutes this morning from the BBC with no pretence of balance – just pure Obamania.
At 7.13am we had an interview with the Democrat economics adviser Professor James Galbraith of Harvard University. Galbraith was allowed to waffle about the dire state of the US economy with nary a mention of the fact that the US economy has just enjoyed surging growth of 3.3% in the last quarter. (Wanna compare THAT with the Eurozone performance, Beeboids?) Galbraith spouted the usual half-baked left wing economics that Democrats always advocate, even being invited by the BBC interviewer to compare Obama’s protectionist plans to those of the “New Deal”. Any student of economics with any will understand just how profoundly flawed THAT was and yet the BBC was hailing it as economic success incarnate and the good Professor grabbed the rhetorical ball and happily ran with it.
Next up at 7.40am we had Justin Webb with his daily dose of pro-Obama propaganda followed by James Naughtie interviewing Sam Liebermam, chairman of the Democrat Party of Nevada. Naughtie concluded by wishing Lieberman “good luck”. We get the picture. Listen to the BBC – Vote Obama.
M: Frei’s early schooling was in Germany:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/2283427.stm
…note the artful wording — it isn’t clear when he actually started school in the UK.
Is he a German citizen, or maybe with dual nationality? And were any of his kids born in the USA? If so he’s got an ‘anchor baby’ w/ US citizenship.
There’s a sense of dark pathologies at work here. Anyone know anything about his wife?
JohnA | 30.08.08 – 5:09 pm |
My impression last time was that the BBC news was plain boring, no zip, looked amateur, low budget.
Totally agree. I often refer to it as Matt Frei’s Low-Budget Propaganda Puppet Show. It’s as if they use the regular BBC World News set when the grown-ups have gone home and don’t know how to work the lights properly.
Is Frei trying to promote himself as some kind of Wolf Blitzer with a toff accent ?
Unfortunately, that’s how the BBC bosses think we stupid United Statesians will see him. They made it quite clear that they didn’t intend this as an “ex-pats only” broadcast. I actually think they believe that they’re reaching out to that smart, suave New York Times audience.
David
It costs a hell of a lot per hour to put out a TV prog – especially with BBC-style overmanning.
Any idea of the audience figures ? As compared with the other news shows on at the same time.
It seems ludicrous the BBC trying to break into that market, there are enough channels already. “The Audacity of Hope” I suppose. A bit like an ant climbing up the hind leg of an elephant with intent to rape.
JohnA,
I honestly think it’s not so high-budget. BBC America is co-owned by Discovery Communications, and I think it’s definitely lower budget than a mainstream news production. That’s no excuse for poor lighting, though.
I only found one mention of their ratings anywhere, and that’s from back in March:
Ratings for BBC World News America so far are minuscule — Nielsen says the newscast has averaged 79,000 viewers this year
BBC America is part of the same package as the other extra Discovery-associated Channels, and is widely available these days, so it’s not like they’re at a disadvantage. But I don’t think they’re even on anyone’s radar.
The funny thing is, in many parts of the country, it competes directly with the grown-up BBC World News, syndicated nation-wide on various PBS stations. That’s how foolish they are.
Frei went to Westminster school. A toff fee paying school. Perfect Nu Liebour material then.
http://www.westminster.org.uk/study/oww.asp