August 23, 2005
Good news is no news
As David says it's well worth taking a look at the comments in this post at Biased BBC. Paul Reynolds (BBC online World Affairs correspondent) graces the comments (good for him) and attempts to defend the BBC predominantly by attacking the anonymity of bloggers/commenters and the less than balanced approach that many of us bloggers take. It's a defence I suppose in a "we are less crap than you" kind of a way but I have just checked over my charter and oddly enough it doesn't mention anything about giving my readers my full name and address or, shockingly, providing balance in my publishing. I know, I know, I should be soliciting the opinion of the EU 'colleagues', Scottish Parliamentarians who denounce the existence of England as a nation, and Guardianistas but honestly, who can be fucked with that?
John in London asks about the lack of BBC optimism regarding Iraq. It's an excellent point because from what I can tell via BBC reporting nothing good has happened in Iraq since the fall of that dictator bloke, you know, Santa:
To take up "John in London"'s points about the use of the word terrorism and the pessimism about Iraq. The BBC does not use the word terrorist in many conflicts, not just the Israeli/Palestinian one. Sri Lanka, Checnya, Colombia are other examples. As for Iraq, I have to say sadly that optimists are few and far between. The US army is now planning on another four years there. Reporters seek to be realists.It's as if he is saying that the 'terrorist' insurgency will stop when the US army leaves. Do any 'realists' out there really and honestly expect that to be the case?
I also completely fail to see the connection between optimism and balanced reporting. "Hey, I'm feeling really down about the way the Americans are forcing terrorists to blow up Iraqi civilians so you can stick any good news up your backside". Nice.
As a realist I expect there to be continued trouble even when the Americans do finally leave Iraq and, as a realist, I expect the BBC to put out programming denouncing the Americans for leaving the Iraqis to the mercy of the 'insurgency'.
