That DEC Gaza Crisis appeal video the BBC would not show…
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BBC and Sky News abstain from DEC Gaza appeal; Al Jazeera and Number 10 site show support
The BBC has been on the receiving end this weekend of some fairly heavy criticism for not broadcasting an appeal from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) for donations to help people in the Gaza region.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, a group of 50 MPs launching an Early Day Motion, 11,000 viewers and protestors outside Broadcasting House have urged the corporation to reconsider its stance.
“What we’re not going to do is run a free-standing appeal on our airwaves. We do want to cover the humanitarian story, we want to cover it in our news programmes where we can put it in context and we can do it in a careful, balanced objective way,” said director-general Mark Thompson on BBC Breakfast.
Thompson also explained the decision via the BBC Editors Blog.
Sky News joined the broadcaster today in saying it will not show the DEC message – following up the announcement with an online debate with foreign news head Adrian Wells.
But elsewhere Al Jazeera will run public service announcements relating to the campaign from today and the 10 Downing St website is carrying a news release and link to the DEC site.
Meanwhile Tony Benn used an appearance on the Today programme to mention the appeal despite the BBC’s stance.
As such, there’s an argument that the BBC’s refusal to broadcast the charity’s appeal is generating even more coverage for it.
Blogger Martin Belam points out that an info box on DEC is carried on several pages of bbc.co.uk.
“Depending on where you stand, the BBC decision over the DEC appeal is either a fig-leaf to cover a previous lack of impartiality, evidence that the BBC will do absolutely anything to appease their Israeli masters, or a cunning ruse to to gain even more publicity for the appeal than merely broadcasting it ever would have done,” writes Belam.
As such, what is inarguable is the heated response that any coverage of the Gaza situation by the BBC will receive and the disagreement it will cause, says Belam.
A lose-lose situation for the Beeb?
UPDATE: The video has now been aired on ITN and you can view it here.
Sea change: did online campaign group force political transparency?
It’s an interesting landmark: a quickly put-together online campaign in the UK may have influenced a political reversal. Gordon Brown has cancelled proposals for MPs to protect the details of their expenses.
The House of Commons leader, Harriet Harman, cited lack of cross-party support as the reason behind the change, according to the BBC report.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reported:
“The decision is a major victory for freedom of information campaigners and follows growing opposition led by the Liberal Democrats to the proposal, and website campaigns urging the public to email their MP objecting to the move.”
Does this show something of a sea change in political influence? Note that the campaigners directly mobilised their supporters, without reliance on mainstream media.
Tom Steinberg, founder of My Society, the organisation behind the campaign, thinks traditional media manipulation tools had little effect.
He comments on the MySociety blog:
“This is a huge victory not just for transparency, it’s a bellweather for a change in the way politics works. There’s no such thing as a good day to bury bad news any more, the internet has seen to that.”
Matthew Cain, over on his BacAtU blog, gives five reasons why he believes the campaign had clout, and points out that Stephen Fry helped the cause too… with a humble re-tweet on Twitter:
But, also today, a reminder of the way media connections have traditionally worked, with the appointment of a new head of political lobby, the Financial Times’ Jean Eaglesham. But how much influence and inside knowledge does the lobby have anymore?
“Eaglesham dismissed any suggestion that the need for constant ‘rolling’ news has diminished the quality of parliamentary reporting.
“She said: ‘Clearly it’s a risk we’re all aware of, however, now we also have the added value of more analysis and breaking news through blogging and other online content. Things change so fast now, it’s fascinating.'”
The role of the lobby was discussed at the end of last year in the House of Lords. Hazel Blears talked about the influence of the political bloggers in November, in an address to the Hansard Society.
Ofcom’s PSB review – a round-up
In its public service broadcasting (PSB) blueprint, UK industry regulator Ofcom made a series of recommendations for Channel 4, the BBC and ITV – there’s a video explaining the report on Ofcom’s YouTube channel, but for those of you wanting something more textual here’s our round-up:
Key points:
- There needs to be alternative public services to the BBC – echoing Lord Carter’s comments last week
- More choice for regional news consumers
- Retention of the licence fee and no top-slicing
- News content for ITV and Five, but limit level of public service commitments
Recommendations were given for each of the UK’s broadcasters in turn, but given news this week of potential mergers with Five or the BBC and yesterday’s pledge to invest £500 million in regional production and programming, here’s a synopsis of the points directed at Channel 4:
- “A new organisation, with public purposes at its heart, should be established; Channel 4 is well-placed to be central to this.” This could potentially be funded by a chunk of the £130m-a-year BBC licence fee digital switchover surplus.
- Full range of digital content and news and programmes from outside of London needed
- Merger with BBC Worldwide, Five or other organisations not ruled out, but “[P]artnerships should complement market provision and ensure economic sustainability, accountability, choice and competition. New governance and accountability arrangements would be essential.” (Report from Telegraph.co.uk, says Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said there is ‘more of a tension’ surrounding a possible deal with Five)
Following the regulator’s market impact assessment late last year, which formed part of the BBC Trust’s decision to reject local online video plans, the report also reviewed PSB in the nations and regions:
- Potentially good news for local newspapers in England (welcomed by the Newspaper Society) – “Ofcom believes that the Government should plan for an alternative way of securing regional news for the devolved nations and English regions from 2011”.
- Plans for ITV and BBC to share some resources and infrastructure in England will be reviewed – in particular, how sustainable this model is.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has expressed concerns over Ofcom’s recommendations for ITV Local – suggesting a deal had already been agreed between the channel and regulator rendering a consultation on cuts to its local news provision meaningless.
“Ofcom has presented its proposals as a framework for saving public service broadcasting, but the reality is that this report has given ITV the go-ahead to cut its local output. Looking for where to play Starburst slot at Mostbet online casino , go to the official website of the Starburst Mostbet game https://starburst-game.com/en/play-starburst-mostbet It means fewer local news programmes and fewer local stories. As hundreds of editorial staff walk out of the door, they’ll be taking the links between ITV and local communities with them. That’s hardly in the interests of citizens and viewers,” said a statement by the union.
Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, gives his thoughts on the review in this Comment is Free article and on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Adieu ‘Reporters’ Reporter’: John Mair’s memories of Charles Wheeler
John Mair, television producer and associate senior lecturer in journalism at Coventry University, shares his thoughts on Charles Wheeler, the legendary BBC journalist who died in July 2008. A memorial service was held in London yesterday.
Yesterday the great and the good of British broadcasting and journalism gathered at Westminster Abbey to honour Sir Charles Wheeler ‘the reporters’ reporter’ who died, aged 85, last year.
Wheeler devoted 60 plus years to great journalism; we all have our personal and professional memories of him. Mine date back to 2004, when I was asked to produce the Media Society dinner at the Savoy Hotel to give him its award and honour him. How do you salute a God?
I’d grown up with his work from America and elsewhere, been a producer in the BBC where he was treated with huge respect, and seen and heard his work.
I can especially remember a ‘so-so’ story on Newsnight in the 1980s about cops beating up a black man in Notting Hill, which was everyday stuff then, unfortunately. It was transformed to a different plane by Wheeler reporting on it: all of a sudden it had ‘bottom’. Charles sprinkled journalistic experience and gold dust on all he touched. That ‘so-so’ became a significant story. Charles Wheeler was like that.
Back to the Savoy Dinner: Charles was modesty itself and happy to go along with whoever came along. Everybody but everybody I approached to speak readily agreed to do so: Helen Boaden, then controller of BBC Radio 4, said no problem; Steve Anderson, then controller for news and current affairs at ITV and a former Wheeler producer at Newsnight, was gagging to be on the cast list; so too the great Peter Taylor, who said he would be ‘honoured’ to be part of such an event. Charles and his work had that sort of influence with even the very best of our trade.
But the icing on the Savoy cake proved to be one Boris Johnson, then a barely known Tory MP, Spectator columnist and part-time clown. Boris is also Wheeler’s son-in-law, and his speech on the night was a tour de force. Scribbled on the back of a Savoy napkin, it had scores of hardened hacks in stitches.
Wheeler was much more measured and contrite when it was his turn: apologising to his many producers for giving them a hard time (the sign of a good reporter – one who in involved enough to get angry); radiating modesty and sheer professionalism at one and the same time. Charles Wheeler was like that – he cared about every single word and every single picture to the bitter end of the film that he was working on – and his life.
Never mind Westminster Abbey, Sir Charles Wheeler’s (Charlie Wheeler to all) work on tape and on screen is his epitaph. That will be with us all for a long, long time to come. Adieu ‘Reporters’ Reporter’. You probably have your notebook out, finding the great stories and telling them.
Just under tenth of UK Twitter traffic diverted to news and media sites
Today’s Hitwise report showing that UK internet traffic to the website has increased by 974 per cent over the last year (now the 291st most popular website in the UK), brings with it significant statistics for media and news sites:
- “The amount of traffic it sends to other websites has increased 30-fold over the last 12 months.”
- “Almost 10 per cent of Twitter’s downstream traffic goes to news and media websites.”
- “BBC News is currently the seventh most popular site visited after www.twitter.com.” (i.e through re-directs)
(Hitwise report, January 2009)
As PaidContent flags up, Twitter is proportionally more popular in the UK than in the US. “This frankly could be because there are more websites or more diverse interests in the US,” comments Robert Andrews.
How Do: BBC and ITV propose shared regional video coverage
The broadcasters suggest pooling diary event coverage, but not sharing investigative or exclusive footage, says this report from the Television in the Nations and Regions conference.
BBC News: Twitter’s iconic image of US Airways plane
A BBC video piece about that now infamous Twitpic of the plane in the Hudson River by Twitterer Janis Krums, plus guest appearance by the Guardian’s Kevin Anderson. Full story…
‘No, you can’t be friends with the weather presenter’ – the BBC’s policy on Facebook
It’s a post from November 2008, but Journalism.co.uk just spotted this, via the BBC Internet Blog picks. The Shed blog reports that the BBC has an official policy on staff social networking.
When The Shed added Nazaneen Ghaffar as a friend on Facebook it received this e-mail from Andy Smith at the BBC:
“Unfortunately the BBC do not allow Nazaneen to accept friend requests. As an alternative a facebook fan group has been created.”
BBC R4: The Investigation
In tonight’s (Thursday 15 January 2009 20:00) radio broadcast of The Investigation, BBC Radio 4 Simon Cox submits the UN’s Human Rights Council to closer scrutiny. He examines accusations that it is weak and subject to manipulation and asks if it is achieving its aim of protecting people. Full details and subscribe to the podcast… Reklama: nuotoliniai anglų kalbos kursai internetu https://intellectus.lt/nuotoliniaianglukalboskursai/