Thursday 30 July 2009

On BBC News...

I know there are now lots of advocates for ITN news and now, more than ever, for Sky News and CNN, but I have always been a traditionalist when it comes news broadcasts and I always come back to the Beeb for my daily dose of journalism. I just think everything looks and feels more professional about their coverage compared to the tackiness of other channels and they really cover the big events well.

The BBC is obviously in a unique situation compared to virtually all news outlets in the world. The Government allows them to be funded through a television licence fee. In accordance with its charter the BBC is answerable only to the viewing public as to what it broadcasts within certain legal obligations. It is also unique in that, as part of its charter, it pledges impartiality from any political allegiance. In its news coverage, it must represent everyone yet no-one in particular - something that is overseen very stringently by OFCOM.

BBC News, and its programming, is constantly under scrutiny from other media outlets - online, in the newspapers, and from their competitors - none of whom needs to remain unbiased in their coverage. In any political or contentious issue, the belligerents on one side of the argument always seem to accuse the Beeb of being partial to and favourably representing the stance of the other side.

At the end of the day, resolutions to these accusations are rarely found as any alleged bias is usually so subtle that the any observed impartiality is largely deemed subjective. However, sometimes it has turned out that the BBC did indeed misrepresent one side of the argument, such as their reports that the Labour government "sexed up" a dossier about WMDs in Iraq, which were based on unreliable sources (notwithstanding how true the allegations actually were.) Of course, repercussions were felt all the way to the top and the relevant heads rolled.

However, these instances are few and far between. When presented with them, the BBC news team once again has a unique task - to report on its own mistakes impartially, something which they always do with great professionalism. It almost makes me feel sorry for the BBC that they are generally very good at remaining impartial and unbiased, and yet when they slightly stray, albeit just because of the personal bias of one of their employees, the consequence is that the whole corporation gets tarnished.

Still, I believe they are deservedly one of the most trusted news sources nationally and globally. As UK residents, we don't receive BBC World Service but it is apparently highly regarded all around the world and even though the BBC is regarded as "unsafe" and banned by West-hating regimes in some parts of the world, they still have correspondents in more countries than any other news service. At least, the BBC is once again legally broadcasting from Zimbabwe.

In addition to this, the BBC News website is one of the most viewed websites on this side of the Atlantic. In my opinion it really does provide the best coverage of the general happenings in politics, international news and sport. There's always something interesting amongst their recent science and entertainment articles as well. Also, it must be the single most linked-to website from my friends on Facebook barring YouTube.

One thing that really grinds my gears still is that awful theme music - the stuff that Bill Bailey describes as sounding like some sort of "post-apocalyptic rave". Why on Earth don;t they bring back the awesome music and graphics from the old Nine O'Clock News from the early 90s?

It really gives me chills at how good it is - that's the kind of music that makes people proud to be British!

2 comments:

  1. We do receive the World Service here in the UK, on DAB, Freeview and after 1 in the morning on Radio 4's frequency.

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  2. Some of us aren't lucky enough to have DAB

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