, they’ve introduced a new innovation from the world of focus groups – a so-called Perceptions Panel, whereby viewers dial a freephone number and use their telephone keypads to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction throughout each of the speeches by the various leadership contenders. I can’t help but wonder why this interesting innovation has been held back until now though – wouldn’t it have been just as interesting to use it … Continue reading →

– since early on Saturday afternoon until at least lunchtime on Sunday the lead story under Wales on BBC News Online’s home page has been Luxury homes ‘killing’ community. The story itself is mostly about comparing relative deprivation between different areas, and does not justify such a hyped up headline – no where in the story, for instance, does the word ‘killing’ appear, even though it’s used in the headline … Continue reading →

And they say the BBC isn’t biased. (Stolen from Paul, who probably stole it from somewhere else). Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

In a post of that title simple57uk brings together several BBC reports of events in the New Orleans Superdome. He quotes extensively and compares earlier and later reports. People evacuated to the Superdome had to spend days in squalor made worse by acts of intimidation and an atmosphere of incipient violence. Dreadful rumours telling of multiple murders and rapes must have seemed very plausible to them. However members of the … Continue reading →

Cindy Sheehan has reportedly been a bit frustrated of late that press coverage has been trumped by hurricanes. She must be comforted to see that the BBC still considers her newsworthy for managing to get herself arrested in front of the White House. I have yet to see the Beeb take note of her partners in protest or her demonstrably extremist views [quoting Cindy Sheehan]: “One thing that truly troubled … Continue reading →

Personality clash drives newsman from BBC HE WAS one of the BBC’s longest-serving newscasters and a veteran foreign correspondent. She had hosted daytime makeover shows after being a young City financier. And it is Philip Hayton who has quit the corporation after 37 years because of a personality clash with his co-presenter… Silverton, who used to present makeover shows, worked for an investment bank before opting for a career in … Continue reading →

New Labour evangelist Tim Allan must have been having a good old chuckle this morning after the results of his dirty work against the BBC bore fruit. Allan was, of course, the PR man who leaked a tape of the memorably injudicious speech that BBC sacred site John Humphrys made at a PR forum. Humphrys must have realised that the scorn he poured on the government during the address left … Continue reading →

, by Karyn Miller, including the following (underlining added): Among the glummest faces were the huge crews of television journalists sent from Britain to cover the hurricane, many of whom looked as if they were reporting typical autumn weather in England. The BBC had the biggest team, with a total of 34 reporters, producers, cameramen and others. Nine, including three correspondents, are based in New Orleans and 25 in and … Continue reading →

The NPR ombudsman, Jeffrey Dvorkin, criticises BBC coverage of Katrina. I am sure that the BBC is not inventing these interviews. But the effect is that it sounds less like reporting than like caricature. Public radio listeners likely understand what is going on — that BBC cultural assumptions about the United States remain mired in a reflex European opposition to American foreign policy. But what comes through the radio sounds … Continue reading →

with my esteemed colleague Andrew’s harsh description [CORRECTION: Andrew has pointed out that the description was Stephen Pollard’s rather than his own] of this piece by Justin Webb as “drivel”. On the contrary, it is rather clever. Look at this: Rita and Katrina have both been events of massive force, sweeping away an awful lot, but Katrina – because of the ghastly failure of the authorities to prepare and to … Continue reading →