Thursday, March 05, 2009

The Ego of Broadcasters

In Alastair Campbell's latest blog he talks about self obsessed TV political editors. Without going into the whys and wherefores of all of his arguments, this extract caught my attention...
As it turned out, both Boulton and the BBC equivalent Nick Robinson managed to get their smart alec questions in at the pool spray (great phrase in the lexcion of spin doctors) in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Needless to say these questions figured prominently in the Sky and BBC bulletins respectively. Indeed, the purpose of the questions these days is simply to ensure the reporter is on screen, rather than to elicit interesting answers, which are incidental.

I'm not sure I agree with that rather cynical analysis, but it is certainly true that when there's a political press conference, and the BBC News reports it, Nick Robinson's is usually the only question shown, no matter how newsworthy other reporters' questions are. The same goes for other news channels too. So what we are brought is not the news, but a report of a broadcaster's journalist asking a question. Alastair Campbell is right to question this, but I don't think it is necessarily the individual journalist's ego which is to blame, it is the broadcaster's. Either way, it leaves the viewer short changed.

16 comments:

Simon Gardner said...

I agree completely with the “cynical analysis”. And it’s been that way for years.

Anonymous said...

No Campbell is right and he is probably digging at the reporters because perhaps he is not getting his own way.

He makes use of the reporters but clearly has contempt for them. You wonder why they go along with it and the answer is his conclusion. Ego.

Alan Douglas said...

"The purpose of the questions is simply to ensure the reporter is on screen, rather than to elicit interesting answers"

I don't suppose that could be because getting ANY kind of an answer from these Liebour spinners was given up on years ago.

In the last 11 years of obsessive politics-watching, I have never yet seen either Bl or Br give an answer. (If there was one I must have popped to the loo or something.)

And I don't suppose that those non-answers had anything to do with Mr A C did it !

Alan Douglas

Bird said...

I'm a fan of ITV's Daisy McAndrew. She never follows New Labour spin and usually has an amusing dig at Brown and and his hapless colleagues.
I hope ITV survive. The BBC wouldn't tolerate free spirits like Daisy.

Weygand said...

The truth is that Boulton, Randall and Peston (all singled out for attack by Campell) have an audience of many millions and are paid handsomely for their contributions, which help shape the terms of the public debate - even if you don't agree with them.

Campbell and Prescott have now become so marginalised that they have to resort to funding private blogs for their voice to be heard.

So few people ever hear their opinion that their influence on the debate is virtually nil.

Not to mention that both are now generally considered as mad bastards whose past 'success' epitomises much of what was rotten about Nu Labour.

And yet Campbell affects to find Boulton "tragic".

As dear Willie once said, "musn't gloat, would be wrong to gloat but by God am I gloating".

John Pickworth said...

Campbell is an ass and is missing the point to boot.

The broadcasters (and viewers) are forced by necessity to focus on the questions (and by virtue the questioner) simply because the answers from the politicians are rarely worth the air time.

If Campbell (who is still an ass) wants to improve matters, might I suggest he tells his masters to give us something worth listening to instead? As it is, you can pretty much anticipate Brown's answers to any question he's likely to be asked in the coming months... in fact he only has around 6 responses, he just rotates the order in which he delivers them (no matter what the question).

Elby the Beserk said...

@JohnPickworth.

Quite so. And it is for this reason that the Labour Government... drivel, drivel, drivel.

Actually, Robinson surprised me the other day by actually putting Brown on the spot. Nevertheless, this 57 year old, brought up on the glories of the Reithian Auntie BBC sees it now to be no more than the Propaganda Arm of New Labour.

Causing this household to jettison its TV. We got the usual flood of abusive & threatening letters from the TV Licensing authorities hoods, which we put to a very quick stop by telling them that if they accused us of lying again we would bring a legal action against them. Silence now for many months :-)

Savonarola said...

Nothing Campbell says is to be taken at face value. Together with Blair he sluiced our body politic in a drain of cynical mendacity, spin, threats, calumny, dtetraction and evil lies. The evil that he did lies dead and damaged in the gutter - people , institiutions and reputations.

This base person should locked in a hermetically sealed cage and the key thrown away. Do not permit him the oxygen of publicity by quoting him.

That apart what is the point of asking questions of Brown. None.

He neither answers them nor are they the right questions.

Try this:

Given that the UK economy was 70% consumer expenditure driven, why did you and BoE not foresee the consequences of individuals racking up huge credit card debts(3 times European average)and using their home as private bank to fund the housing boom of 1997-2007?

Trend Shed said...

I would like the Prime Minister to right that wrong and spend an hour or two giving a detailed interview to Jeremy Paxman.

Somehow - I think Brown is happier with the Pool Spray approach of one question per journalist...........

strapworld said...

Campbell is right. Look at Sky News and the self advertisement they use - showing Brown talking to the awful Boulton and being passed on to the BBC and Lord Mandleson getting his information from Sky News.

That is what it is all about. We are the best. Although I was quite amazed to see the BBC get the News channel of the year award. That would have hurt Sky!

But Boulton and Robinson are two who believe THEY are the news and everything else is built around them. They should be moved to sport and Andy Gray and Gary Linneker swopped for them!

Pogo said...

One wonders whether it matters a jot anyway... The only "viewers" of the political sections of news programs are likely to be nerds like us, who're moderately politically-sophisticated and hence recognise it for the bollocks it truly is. In the meanwhile, the mass of viewers who've tuned in to see the football scores are out of the room making a cup of tea.

There seems to be a great disjunction between the actual importance of political commentators and their own opinion of same.

Dave H said...

I would have thought Alistair Cambpell would be delighted if the only question that made the news was from Nick Robinson. It would avoid all the ones from unsympathetic journalists.

Hugh said...

Can he suggest a question that would have elicited an interesting answer from Gordon? Can anyone?

Unknown said...

Surely getting these reporters to ask the 'right' question is a tactic straight out of Campbell manual of spin. The problem that he has now, is that these reporters are not asking the 'right/Campbell-arranged' questions.

jon dee said...

Re Bird - 11.11pm.

Share your admiration for Daisy McAndrews reporting and ITN.

If note had been taken of her broadcast 3/12/08 warning that banks had not been consulted on details of Browns mortgage "initiative" it would not have been splashed next morning and given false hope to people in trouble.

Anonymous said...

Nothing about the journo punch up on the plane?

Anyway, everyone knows BBC=labour bent.