Donald Trump's sarcastic tweet about the big-boned North Korean god-dictator...
...has been described by Sky News, quite rightly, as "sarcastic".
(It's the sort of thing I'm rather prone to too).
BBC News, however, calls it "passive aggressive" - which, surely, isn't quite le mot juste here.
Both terms however - "passive aggressive" and "sarcastic" - fit neatly together in a new article on the BBC News website tonight by BBC reporter Aleem Maqbool:
The whole thing is quite breathtaking (so please keep your inhalers close at hand before you read it).
Seriously, please read it and prepare to gasp at its lack of impartiality. It's absolutely saturated in sarcastic passive aggression.
If any passing BBC editors take up my request and, after reading it, really think this piece is an example of 'impartial BBC reporting' then may I very humbly suggest that they should urgently request an emergency appointment with an occupational therapist (for starters)?
It's an op-ed, pure and simple. A sarcastic, passive aggressive, one-sided op-ed.
You will, of course, either agree with or disagree with his opinionations. But, regardless of what you think, 'impartial' this Aleem Maqbool piece most certainly ain't.
Rob Burley might be up for a two way.
ReplyDeleteBut he does seem busy at the moment elsewhere.
Reading the article, I was immediately struck by how poorly it was written and, seeing the name of the author, assumed this must be one of the many local Asian reporters that the BBC likes to use who had been assigned to report on the tour. The article read as if written by someone who was translating their thoughts from their mother tongue into English, not having full command of the English language. I then discovered that he's actually yet another BBC US-based correspondent. He's the "BBC North America Correspondent" (yet another one!). I vaguely recall, having looked into his reporting history, that his reporting from Gaza and Israel was, not surprisingly, controversial.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/AleemMaqbool?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
"One-way traffic" is the sub heading I'd pinch from the News item to describe the whole.
ReplyDeleteAs ever 'no problemo' tho' not with my dinero.
If the BBC wants to behave like a 'fearless independent' then be funded like one.