"Thanks for all your comments this week", said Steve Hewlett at the end of this week's Newswatch.
That was a bit ironic given that there's only been one viewer's comment in the entire programme - far fewer than usual.
The critical comments from viewers are one of the features which makes Newswatch work watching - alongside Samira Ahmed's interviews. Both occasionally have a bit of bite to them. It would be a shame if the programme was neutered and turned into another Feedback.
Today's edition certainly had more of a Feedback feel to it than usual. Though it featured an interesting interview with John Simpson, the latter half of it was given over to an interview with World Service presenter Ros Atkins and was, at heart, an extended plug for his Outside Source - which will be coming to the News Channel four times a week from next week as part of the Channel's revamp.
That revamp appears to amount to lots more sharing of programmes with the World Service...
...so those who say that the BBC World Service is even more riddled with bias than the UK wing of the BBC might soon get the chance to tell the rest of us, "See. Told you so!"
""Thanks for all your comment this week"
ReplyDeleteRather sums it up. Any BBC look at the BBC that involves Steve Hewlett is doomed on credibility anyway.
I took quite a dislike to him during the Future of the BBC inquiry, mainly because he epitomised the 'I didn't see it but in any case the BBC can do no wrong' two-faced dissembling that is too often allowed, by people whose chekkie depends very much on keeping Aunty sweet.