Behind the scenes at the BBC News website, with help from NewsSniffer

For easy of access and posterity's sake, here's a link to the long chain of comments on the Open Thread about the BBC's reporting of the clearing of Kyle Rittenhouse...to which I've kept on adding.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to it.

Comments trail  

 

The BBC's edits of their various website reports have been absolutely fascinating to watch, with NewsSniffer's help. 

It's like a behind-the-scenes glimpse of BBC editorial decisions being made and articles being re-made as a result. 

There's clearly an ongoing battle between those at the BBC angry at the verdict and cooler heads trying to tone it down.

Here's a selection of those edits for those who missed the thread:

The report headlined Kyle Rittenhouse: US teenager cleared over Kenosha killings saw the BBC add the sub-headline 'Disgusting' verdict and then remove it.

They also removed the bit saying 'He said that if Mr Rittenhouse had been a black teenager "police would have shot him dead"'.

And they changed

A US teenager who shot dead two men during racial justice protests has been cleared of homicide and all other charges after claiming self-defence.

to:

A US teenager who shot dead two men during racial unrest has been cleared of homicide and all other charges after claiming self-defence.

Then in a piece by Nomia Iqbal and The Zurch headlined Kyle Rittenhouse case: Why it so divides the US they added previously-'forgotten' 'Mr's to Kyle Rittenhouse and Judge Schroeder's names, as if they'd suddenly remembered their journalistic manners.

And then - moving in the opposite direction - a third piece headlined Kyle Rittenhouse: Biden angry after teen cleared of shootings saw them change:

Mr Rittenhouse, then 17, showed up in Kenosha after the city had been convulsed by two nights of rioting, looting and arson when police shot a knife-wielding black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back on 23 August 2020, leaving him paralysed.

to:

Mr Rittenhouse, then 17, showed up in Kenosha after the city had been convulsed by two nights of rioting, looting and arson when police shot a black man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back on 23 August 2020, leaving him paralysed.

And now there's a fourth BBC article, headlined Kyle Rittenhouse: Calls for calm after US teen cleared of murder, and this has already had two beauties. The first saw:

Mr Rittenhouse said he was acting in self-defence when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, with a military-style semi-automatic rifle in August 2020. He has been cleared of all charges.

get changed to:

Mr Rittenhouse said he was acting in self-defence when he fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, in August 2020 in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. He has been cleared of all charges.

The second change saw the BBC drop poor, hapless Kamala Harris's thoughts on the matter entirely - which gave me a good laugh.

Thank goodness for NewsSniffer. What would we do without them?