Tag Archives: bbc

Breakfast Television. Gah!! 7

Turned on this morning to see the BBC Breakfast presenters getting the latest news on the Irish economy from pop band The Script.

“And now for the latest on the trapped New Zealand miners, over to Brendan from Strictly Come Dancing.”

Breakfast Television. Gah!! 6

There was someone from Crown Derby being interviewed this morning about their range of memorabilia for the royal wedding.

“Of course, tastes have changed since the last big royal wedding, so we have to keep up with new fashions.  For example, this time we’re including a range of wedding paper weights.“

Steady on there.

“Journalists All Filthy Liars” says Respected and Influential Blogger

It’s always interesting to see a topic you actually know something about being covered in the news.  It’s a depressing insight into journalism because the article usually misses the point, is full of mistakes and squeezes the facts into whatever sounds like a good story.  Whenever there’s a story about an employment law case I’m always left shouting “Bollocks!” at the TV or radio and Mr Beet was the same (but less sweary) when swine flu was all over the news.

There’s recently been a new bit of employment law legislation called the Equality Act.  It’s largely a tidying up exercise – bringing all the separate bits of legislation into one act, and there are some new bits and pieces in there but these were generally around in case law anyway and they’re only really of interest to employment lawyers.

The Daily Mail headline:

Death of the office joke: ANYONE can sue for ANYTHING that offends them

Aside from the obvious hyperbole, which would probably be taken with a very large pinch of salt by the average reader, there is a more subtle manipulation of the facts in the article.  The new act consolidates the concept of discrimination by association, i.e. a worker is protected if they are discriminated against because of a family member’s race / sex / disability etc.   The Mail’s example is people with gay relatives, who will now  be protected from discrimination.  Every legal commentary I’ve seen on this point  uses the example of  parents of disabled children, because this is where the vast majority of this type of claim is anticipated to come from.  But of course, carers of disabled children aren’t suitable subjects for the “political correctness gone mad” tone of the article, certainly not if it means passing up the opportunity to have a bit of a dig at gay people.

“What do expect from the Daily Mail?” I hear you cry.  Well yes, but even Radio 4 has been calling this new act the biggest thing in employment law in 10 years, which is just not true.  It’s just not that big a deal; why do respected broadcasters feel the need to ”sex up” a relatively minor story about some new legislation in this way?

I have to remember this next time I’m reading / listening to a story on a topic I don’t know about: it’s been prepared by a journalist who may not be familiar with the subject, whose job it is to present a good story and it’s probably half true at best.

Breakfast Television. Gah!! 4

BBC Breakfast today had another “news” story about how another bloody recent study into childcare has proved that mothers with young children going back to work is terrible / fine (I switched over before I heard the outcome and all the same arguments re-hashed for the umpteenth time).  But the bit that made me “GAH!!” was the intro, in which the presenter did his serious face and said how mothers “agonise” over the decision.  This fits neatly with my theory, which is that it is now socially acceptable for mothers to either stay at home or go to work, as long as they feel like crap whatever they do.