– the storm has passed and they’re not kicking up another one just at the moment. Meanwhile, pundits are stock-taking, generally with a sense that somehow journalism has been the loser. Few have come out and praised Lord Hutton, and even if they have they’ve said at least something about his ‘unworldliness’, or being a bit Northern Irish for the subtleties of London affairs, or ‘hackings’ to that effect. Rounding … Continue reading →

: BBC2’s programme on North Korea (screened last night) was an informative, distressing, at times chilling, study of some of what goes on in that wretched country. Near the end, the programme turned to discussing the possibility that anything might be done about it. “In the other hermetically-sealed land”, was how the voice-over introduced a view of Washington, where, we were told, action would not be taken because, “North Korea … Continue reading →

. Not, not the British troops, that would require an alternative universe, but BBC militants who are threatening to (heaven forbid!) resign from their posts over the Hutton Report and fallout. What interest he might have in protests supporting them I can’t imagine, but he might just want to maintain something of a media cushion against the multiplying pin-pricks of his own guilty verdict, so he was on hand for … Continue reading →

– while we’re ‘managing’ disastrous news, don’t ignore Galloway! According to a widely cirulating report from Le Monde, which has found echoes in such luminaries as The Washington Times, and ABC in America, a number of French public figures have been named by ‘independent newspaper Al-Mada’ in Iraq, quoting IGC sources and Hussein regime documentation, among a long list of people who received the proceeds of barrels of oil from … Continue reading →

On the morning thing, they had David Attenborough, they showed 2 minutes of one of his excellent nature shows and then cut back to the sofa. “Will we ever see programmes like that again?” asked Bill Turnbull. Of course, now that they have been exposed for what they are, all documentaries and period drama will be pulled from our screen. It’s an inevitable concequence, isn’t it? Oh, and did you … Continue reading →

Everything you need to know about the BBC on one page. …within hours of director general Greg Dyke’s resignation on Thursday, there were unprecedented scenes of spontaneous support and raw emotion from BBC employees outside Television Centre.” Passing drivers… honked their horns in a cacophony of support. “It’s an unprecedented show of determination and support, for the BBC and its values,” said Jeremy Dear of the National Union of Journalists…” … Continue reading →

Here is a righteous summing up of the Hutton verdict and its causes and consequences from Oliver Kamm. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

‘The White House has acknowledged for the first time that its intelligence reports on Iraq might have been wrong. ‘ -BBC introduces report of Con Rice’s interviews. “I think that what we have is evidence that there are differences between what we knew going in and what we found on the ground” -Con Rice on CBS The two statements do not agree- the difference is subtle but crucial, aside from … Continue reading →

It may not be as bad as Melanie Phillips says, but it is pretty bad. This article shows that smug, taxpayer-funded soft-leftism at government broadcasters is not unique to the UK. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Ah, let’s begin our favourite Then and Now comparisons: ‘In fact last year I was sitting at a dinner party in London next to a charming American woman who asked me what I did. I said I run the BBC. She then informed me she regarded the BBC as a communistic organisation. That was decision time. Did I get into a detailed argument about publicly funded broadcasting with someone who … Continue reading →