An open letter to the BBC: balance the news items
May 3rd, 2009 by Nat JMDear BBC,
this week, the rage is all about swine flu. No kidding, it seems as if every journalist is hoping for a flu pandemic, just so they can break the news.
Two years ago, the rage was all about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, despite the fact that there was very little available information about it due to the way the Portguese police operates.
This week, a mock-up picture showing what Madeleine might look like now was shown. It got a 30 seconds slot on your evening news, while the swine flu possible pandemic (which doesn’t seem to be happening now) got twenty minutes.
Did Madeleine deserve 30 minutes slots two years ago and only 30 seconds now? No, this just shows how little attention you give to items not on your current news agenda. Back then, you hoped to find Madeleine, or at least what had happened to her. Either way, it would have been a story. But now, you have given up hope and therefore you don’t bother to tell us more about the mock-up picture, which looked pretty good and deserved an explanation of techniques used to make it as well as updates on the Madeleine search campaign. Not half an hour worth of news but perhaps two minutes?
I don’t know what else has happened in the world this week because it’s been all about the swine flu, which, frankly, hasn’t really been spreading as fast as some people predicted. Update me about it, by all means, but do you need to talk about it for half an hour on the news when there is nothing new to reveal about it?
BBC, you have a duty towards your viewers, and this duty includes providing balanced news items. Don’t block three quarters of your weekly schedule with the same news item!
June 17th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I totally agree with you, same thing here, just like every single journalist can’t wait for the next catastrophe. It goes on and on about the flu, about the French plane crash and about the economic crisis. Nothing else matters. I bet main subject of next week will be baccalaureat just for a change