Compare and contrast Sky and the BBC's reporting of the breaking news of the death of Lord McAlpine:
BBC News:
Lord McAlpine died at his home in Italy
Lord McAlpine, the former UK Conservative Party deputy chairman has died, his family has announced.The 71-year-old, who was an aide to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, died last night in Italy, his family said.In a statement, they said: "It is with great sadness that the family of Lord McAlpine announce his peaceful death last night at his home in Italy."As well as a politician, the peer was an art collector, property developer, author and fundraiser.He was also part of the McAlpine construction dynasty.Founded by his grandfather, Sir Robert, the firm is one of the biggest builders in the UK, responsible for the London 2012 Olympic stadium among many other projects.
Sky News:
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's former aide died on Friday night at his home in Italy, his family say in a statement.
Lord McAlpine worked as an aide to the late Margaret Thatcher
Former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord McAlpine has died at his home in Italy, aged 71.Lord McAlpine was previously an aide to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.His family said in a statement: "It is with great sadness that the family of Lord McAlpine announce his peaceful death last night at his home in Italy."The former political adviser and businessman was wrongly implicated in a child abuse scandal in 2012, when allegations were contained in a BBC Newsnight investigation.The claims led to the corporation's then-director general George Entwistle quitting his job less than two months into the role. Mr Entwistle said he had to take "ultimate responsibility" for the broadcast.
Unbelievable oh wait he is a Tory and it's the BBC ? so all is fair in slander and libel !
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Craig and for this great site !
Are you referring to the Newsnight debacle? Which is indeed mentioned in the BBC article. Sky gives more space to the matter, but I would say it depends on what he would want to be remembered for.
ReplyDeleteJust as easy to say Sky are using the death of a man to give the BBC a kicking. Quite distasteful.
No mention in either he collected Ovenden's art, though.
David
Sorry what ? Sky is being distasteful ? lol who lied and smeared who in this? who fed the morons on twitter/Labour/left with the ammunition to make this sick old mans life hell for the last 2 years ? wasn't Sky now was it ? personally I find you defending the BBC's rewriting of history and the article later after getting caught truly distasteful !
DeleteI came here from Twitter, clicked through to the article as linked, and read a news report that mentioned the Newsnight matter. I assumed the problem at hand was of the space given to the issue, not its (apparent) non-reporting.
DeleteI have many problems with the BBC, but would guess they come from a different position than yours, and those of this blog. I do not defend any rewriting, or rather, the necessity and (tacit) denial of such.
Newsnight broadcast an interview with Meersham. As I recall, he was shown photographs by the police and identified some as abusers. Meersham said it was the police who identified McAlpine.
McAlpine has had allegations of paedophilia for quite some time. Newsnight did not broadcast his name, but it (and others) had been floating around the internet for quite a while. Perhaps he actually was a paedophile.
I did not say Sky was being distasteful, merely that one could assess it as being so. They are in competition with the BBC, and give over half of their report of his death to details of the Newnight problems, and his subsequent legal activities. Suppose you had such allegations, and sued over the matter. Would you like the issue to take up half of a report of your death?
'Distasteful' is not limited to lying/smearing/providing ammunition to morons on twitter/Labour/left. It can cover many actions.
David
'I did not say Sky was being distasteful ' yes actually that's the way it reads as you put a punctuation that denotes a pause then starts again with what looks like your view of the issue ?
Delete'Perhaps he actually was a paedophile.' true BBC style smear the dead if you cannot get away with it when they are alive ! back that up with proof not your BBC lite lies !
' I do not defend any rewriting, or rather, the necessity' but you do defend the utterly discredited original article which has led to the 'necessity' of altering this article !
Mate I hate the BBC with all my bones as a moral human so no we won't see eye to eye as you probably hate the fact any non left wing liberal is ever let on the BBC but I well hate the idea that an elite are able to extort cash with menaces and send thousands and criminalize hundreds of thousands from the poor !
In the BBC story:
ReplyDelete"In recent years, Lord McAlpine was wrongly implicated in a child abuse scandal, when the allegations were the subject of a BBC Newsnight investigation.
The allegations forced the BBC's then director-general, George Entwistle, to quit less than two months into the role."
Yes, the BBC article has now been updated to include the Newsnight angle.
ReplyDelete