Peter Allen relates to Nicky Campbell how when as a young journalist he asked Mrs Thatcher this (5 mins 30 secs) about the Falklands War: ‘Why are you bothering to fight this war when you  know perfectly well that you will have  to give them back to the Argentinians eventually.‘ Give them back?  The Argentinians never owned them.   And if anything Spain has a stronger claim than anyone else…other … Continue reading →

  Thoughtful in the comments has thoughtfully provided us with this link which I think deserves to be put up in lights here….let’s hope it wasn’t all talk: The BBC’s new director of News & Current Affairs, James Harding, on the BBC (Whilst at the Times): “The BBC distorts and suffocates an industry. It is too big.” “Big, bloated and cunning” – headline of a leader on the BBC, 2010 … Continue reading →

  The BBC has perhaps lost its way.   Listening to Nicky Campbell this morning I couldn’t help thinking that the old fashioned virtues of respect, courage, integrity, moderation, justice, wisdom, loyalty, dignity, honour, striving for excellence, humility and sincerity all seemed in somewhat short supply at the BBC in these modern times. Courage for instance…the BBC lacked the courage to just refuse to play the ‘Ding dong’ song when … Continue reading →

      John Sweeney spends 8 days undercover in North Korea. BBC News head of programmes Ceri Thomas said: “This is an important piece of public interest journalism.” Asked whether that justified putting student lives at risk, he replied: “We think it does.”    So what exactly was the public interest that merited the James Bond approach? We are informed that North Korea has been indulging in a great … Continue reading →

  Gordon Carera in the US was more balanced than the team in the Today studio (8:13)…mentioning the ‘dark skinned’ suspect and that a Saudi Student was being sought. However other conclusions have already been drawn. After the wise words of Rick Nelson, from US Homeland Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Evan Davis said ‘Everything points to keeping calm, play it slowly, be accurate and don’t jump to … Continue reading →

I posted earlier how the Authorities swiftly move in to manage the Public’s perceptions of an event and thence its reaction….and how the BBC obliges them by ‘managing’ its news output.   The horrific attack on the Boston Marathon is an example of this in operation.  Here it is the US government but there are certain elements to the situation that make the BBC want to control your idea of … Continue reading →

I am off to Hong Kong and then to Australia on Tuesday so blogging will be MUCH less frequent for the rest of this month. I hope the other B-BBC writers will keep you entertained but I will be travelling for next 24 hours.

BBC reporting a horrendous terrorist attack in Boston. This is breaking news and it will be interesting to see how the BBC covers it as I suspect this is a Jihad attack.

North Korea seems to have jammed Panorama on the iPlayer so here’s another open thread to play with…fill it before Kim Jong Un nukes the BBC and it is no more…..

  One for the diary…this Wednesday the BBC shows: Israel: Facing The Future John Ware journeys to Israel for a fresh look at how it has responded to the changes sweeping the region in the wake of the Arab Spring. He meets Israelis from all walks of life to go beyond the news clichés and analyse what is next for the world’s only Jewish state as both the religious and … Continue reading →