kept a minute by minute watch on the breaking news of Saddam’s capture. He spotted some interesting editing: (Obliged to correct myself again – at 3.45 PM.) The BBC video I’ve linked to now no longer shows the beginning of the Bremer press conference, but goes straight to the pictures of Saddam undergoing medical examination. Now, why? It couldn’t be that ‘Ladies and gentlemen – we got him!’, followed by … Continue reading →

. Glenn Reynolds has captured some BBC reaction– reaction I also caught live on TV. At times like this there’s so much to take in, and nothing much can take the edge off things for me over the capture of Saddam. On a serious note though, I also heard Saddam’s capture described by the BBC as a ‘propaganda coup’. I often feel that, as when someone calls someone else a … Continue reading →

A GOOD NEWS story from Iraq by the BBC. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

Jonathan Marcus wants us believe everything Human Rights Watch has to say about the “avoidable” deaths of civilians in Iraq. He seems happy to photocopy everything the HRW report has to say about American and Coalition tactics. Mr Marcus should read Steven den Beste’s devastating critique of HRW here before touting them as worthy of our trust. The trouble with the BBC approach is that HRW is a highly partisan, … Continue reading →

Somehow I don’t think a critical template was applied to this recent article about a conference in Geneva where the correspondent saw ‘vintage’ Robert Mugabe, whose speech ‘stood out’. As Natalie said about Ethiopia, to be fair the BBC do have some critical coverage- in this case some angles on how bad Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is. But why don’t they hold him to account personally, instead of permitting an article to … Continue reading →

reported a demonstration of about 200 former Iraqi army personnel in Basra today. They were protesting over what they said was the failure to pay them pensions over the last few months. They lit tyres and made plenty of noise. This incident made the headlines. Are the BBC in the business of mocking the thousands of people that marched against terrorism several days ago in Baghdad, without so much as … Continue reading →

: Dos and donts US ‘setback’ blah blah…( Do look out for them- they’re not too difficult to find if you’re a proper investigative journalist- a star, like say, Rageh, Caroline, Matt and Orla.) ‘the BBC’s Nick Childs (or another of our experts) at the Pentagon says the blank will make for red faces in Washington.’ (red faces- yes- ha ha- essential to cut them down to size with trivialising … Continue reading →

. West ‘risks new Ethiopia famine’ is the headline to this BBC story. Attracted, in a train-wreck sort of way, to the assumption that it’s the West risking a new Ethiopia famine rather than Ethiopia risking a new Ethiopia famine, I took a look. The article is a mouthpiece for the views of Dr Tewolde Egziabher, an Ethiopian government scientist, who says, no less than four times, that the private … Continue reading →

for Last Night’s BBC News. Read this blog. Click through to read and contribute comments on this post.

. As Tim Blair reports, Iraq’s anti-terrorism demonstrations are ‘all over the internet’. Sadly, as well as missing out on coverage in newspapers, the demonstrations have somehow eluded our national broadcaster’s World edition website, renowned though the BBC is for its World Service. When you think of how they like to get the opinions of ‘real’ Iraqis, it’s strange they haven’t interviewed any of the marchers to see why they … Continue reading →