Nick Robinson is miffed, they say, because the BBC is replacing him for their upcoming election coverage with young ladies, namely Steph McGovern and Tina Daheley. I suppose it’s a case of diversity gawn mad.
I have to make a couple of ad hominem comments - well I don’t have to, but I will.
Steph McGovern’s accent is…. I don’t know .… for election coverage at least - an accent too far. And as for Tina Daheley, with whom I’m familiar only because of her occasional news-reading stints on the Andrew Marr show, has found an original way of being annoying.
She seems reluctant to face the camera ‘fully frontal’, so to speak, like a proper newsreader. That is to say, her face is always tilted slightly away from the camera, so the viewer gets a good view of her hair, as in a shampoo advert. This may sound picky, but once you notice it, you can’t un-notice it. Trivial, perhaps, but there it is.
Tina D. is the one who gave this short interview to The Observer:
ReplyDeleteQ. Which topics interest you personally?
A: Subjects that aren’t really covered elsewhere – things like revenge porn, self-harm, bullying, transgender issues, trust in the police.
Q: Are there any topics you dread coming up?
A: I don’t think there’s anything I dread, because as journalists the job is completely unpredictable and you deal with different things all the time. But explaining complicated issues to our audience, so taxation, for example, is challenging. Why do we have to pay tax when rich people get away with paying little or no tax and politicians and companies help them do that?
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2015/mar/15/presenters-politicians-debate-election-women
Her World Service programme 'The Cultural Frontline' is very much in that spirit, from what I've heard of it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0362l0f
Yes, it's bad enough staying awake until the early hours to hear the election results without having to listen to Steph McGovern's dulcet tones - I'd sooner spend the night cutting up 20 lb jam tins with an angle grinder - never mind, just think of all the diversity boxes they'll be able to tick!
ReplyDeleteBlatant pandering and focusing on a demographic which the BBC thinks will give the desired anti-Tory, anti-Brexit reaction. Of course, the BBC has been slammed with accusations of being youth-obsessed for years, so nothing new there. But the light-weight, new authoritarian-directed topics Dehely thinks are important reveals much about the current editorial direction. Young adults (supposedly pro-EU, pro-Socialist, pro-identity politics), and the shameless 'Trust the BBC to tell you about Fake News' BS.
ReplyDeleteWhy is 'Fake News' relevant at all to your general election? Brexit? I hope Robinson isn't going to do yet another of those phony 'We got it wrong, I called the BBC out' apologies over this. I guess he's not wrong to be upset at being left out, but he should really be more upset at the clear editorial agenda going on.
Having said that, he should be banned from election coverage after his sick anti-Brexit narrative, which infected every single other Beeboid in the field that night. Laura K, though, is equally guilty of displaying anti-Brexit bias that night as well. Although, if they banned every Beeboid who showed anti-Brexit bias, it would be Andrew Neil by himself all night.