One of the beauties of Twitter (not a phrase you often hear) is that it opens up BBC journalists to two-way traffic, comment-wise - unlike, of course, when they report on, say, the BBC's News at Ten or Today where they can be as sarcastic or as biased as they like and no one will embarrass them by immediately calling them out over it live on air. Poor Jon Sopel learned that lesson yesterday after tweeting a sarcastic comment about former Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka. He got swift public feedback from his target:
Sebastian Gorka: The NoKo Summit has been cancelled. What now? With Nigel Farage on LBC.Jon Sopel: My guess - You will say Donald Trump was absolutely right to pull out....and then when it's confirmed that it's back on you will say Donald Trump was absolutely right to go ahead.Sebastian Gorka: Do you pre-judge all people? Or are you only prejudiced when it comes to those who do not share your political proclivities? Asking for a journalist who doesn’t think he’s know it all.Jon Sopel: It's Friday. It's Memorial weekend. The sun is shining. It was said with a twinkle in my eye, a smile on my face and and bonhomie....
Maybe time for Soapy to be renicknamed 'Twinkle-toes'?
ReplyDeleteThe speed with which BBC staff suddenly acquire teasing senses of humour when required is impressive.
Do we think that Jon Sopel should apologise? As some might write.
If Sopel were Trump the BBC would be reporting it thus: "Another embarrassing gaffe...somehow symbolic, telling you all you need to know about a once great and venerable institution holed beneath the water-line and listing badly as the media seas turn first choppy then stormy. He's tried some fancy footwork, to deny the meaning and tone of his comments and pass them off as a mistimed joke, but he knows now his enemies are circling and there must increasingly be a serious question mark over how long he can survive in this august office...Huw -" "Our Washington correspondent there reporting there on [lip sneer] "another beauty" from the BBC's hapless, as some would have it, Jon Sopel."
ReplyDeleteJon Sopel is being disingenuous. It wasn’t said with a twinkle or bonhomie.
ReplyDeleteIt was said to provoke and offend . As a fully paid up member of the liberal left, Sopel despises everything Gorka stands for. And he is found out every time he opens his mouth. Free, fair and impartial.