Wednesday 26 December 2018

Another Christmas miracle?


BBC News's main worldwide Twitter feed certainly knows what the main news story this Christmas has been, relegating HM the Queen to just one tweet.

No, the big story has definitely been Donald Trump, Santa and the little...er...girl.

I suppose, given  the way the world is at the moment, it's possible that little Collman might have 'transitioned' on Christmas Day, or maybe it's just that the BBC sent out its tweet before properly checking the story, but on Christmas Eve the world's most respected broadcaster was calling her a 'boy':


2 comments:

  1. It’s good to see their speed of reporting during holiday season has improved. I recall only three years ago it was many days before the BBC found out about the sexual assaults that took place in Cologne; yet nowadays they have managed three reports within hours on an arguably less dastardly deed. Talk about lessons being learned!

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    Replies
    1. If memory serves it was not until the 5th January 2016 before the BBC reported on the Cologne assaults. That appears to be confirmed by a search I just made...

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-35239377/shock-over-cologne-new-year-s-eve-sexual-assaults

      And look at how "distancing" the reportage is:

      "The attacks were SAID to involve groups of DRUNK and aggressive YOUNG MEN which witnesses and police SAID were of Arab or North African APPEARANCE."

      Emphasise the drink (they're probably not used to it, you know - blame our culture). No mention of the assailants' cultural/religious/migrant background. Use words like "said", "witness" and "appearance" to make the events sound as if they might have been otherwise - we just don't know for sure.

      The use of the words "male gangs" in the story is also distancing, suggesting it could have been any men.

      Use of "shock" in the title invites the reader to conclude the events were unexpected or unpredictable. Whereas many sober observers had predicted such events, having seen similar patterns of behaviour in other contexts.

      I think I said at the time it was a scandal that the BBC, with all its billions of pounds of resources should take FIVE days to reported on the mass assaults. Such a deliberate act of non-reporting must have been decided upon at the highest level, until eventually it became impossible to keep the story quiet.

      Remember this was in the run up to the EU Referendum - the BBC had every reason to censor this story.

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