11-21-2020, 10:37 AM
I caught a glimpse of a programme on the BBC this morning (Saturday) that airs during the broadcaster's
daily 'Breakfast News' that made me shake my head in cynical bewilderment. It's a 15-minute programme
called 'NewsWatch'.
The presenter is Samira Ahmed -a Journalist who supposedly holds the company she works for to task,
plays the middle-man between the viewer and the BBC. Sitting alone at the screen with a backdrop of
the busy BBC news office below her, a faint sound of Journalist's voices can be heard that gives the
impression that the programme is made 'on-site'.
Often, viewers write in with their complaints and suggestions about the publically-funded broadcasting company
and occasionally, an answer surfaces.
I say occasionally, because today someone wrote in and asked if Prime Minister Boris Johnson was self-isolating
why were BBC Journalists reporting from outside of No.10 Downing Street, the PM's official residence?
Boris cannot come out, in the two examples that were shown, it was night-time and the narrative had nothing
to do with the building or time of day.
The answer from Samira Ahmed was that nobody was available to respond to the question, even though this
actual programme is said to be recorded in the BBC's Broadcasting House in London.
............................
The article that really caught my attention was the comment from a viewer that asked that during an interview
with Government Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock, the backdrop in the BBC studio showed a large
number of people milling around without concerns of social-distancing and not wearing face-masks.
The viewer's letter suggested double-standards were on display at the BBC.
Samira Ahmed answered that what the viewers were seeing was a false backdrop and Mr. Hancock was merely
sat in a room with a green-screen behind him. The false vista was recorded before the coronavirus outrage had
begun.
She went on further to say (in a I'll-tell-you-in-confidence tone) that the backdrop that was behind her, actually
was the same type of counterfeit and she was really sitting -as she put it "in a broom-closet"!
However, I noticed as this secret was released, the sounds of mumbling Journalists were missing during her
revelation.
............................
This is the real problem with today's Journalism. The ethical standards have long-gone and carved-in-stone
attitude is if we say it, it is true. Fake backdrops aside, the reality presented to the waning audiences is far
from the one that we in the real world deal with day-to-day.
Traditional news outlets have become entertainment shows that offer a preferred perception of what they
want you to think and not what is really happening. The legacy media will never argue that the narrative
they shovel at you is false, it seems that the fact that is it is they who are shovelling it assures the readers
and viewers that it has some worth.
Donald was right.
daily 'Breakfast News' that made me shake my head in cynical bewilderment. It's a 15-minute programme
called 'NewsWatch'.
The presenter is Samira Ahmed -a Journalist who supposedly holds the company she works for to task,
plays the middle-man between the viewer and the BBC. Sitting alone at the screen with a backdrop of
the busy BBC news office below her, a faint sound of Journalist's voices can be heard that gives the
impression that the programme is made 'on-site'.
Often, viewers write in with their complaints and suggestions about the publically-funded broadcasting company
and occasionally, an answer surfaces.
I say occasionally, because today someone wrote in and asked if Prime Minister Boris Johnson was self-isolating
why were BBC Journalists reporting from outside of No.10 Downing Street, the PM's official residence?
Boris cannot come out, in the two examples that were shown, it was night-time and the narrative had nothing
to do with the building or time of day.
The answer from Samira Ahmed was that nobody was available to respond to the question, even though this
actual programme is said to be recorded in the BBC's Broadcasting House in London.
............................
The article that really caught my attention was the comment from a viewer that asked that during an interview
with Government Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock, the backdrop in the BBC studio showed a large
number of people milling around without concerns of social-distancing and not wearing face-masks.
The viewer's letter suggested double-standards were on display at the BBC.
Samira Ahmed answered that what the viewers were seeing was a false backdrop and Mr. Hancock was merely
sat in a room with a green-screen behind him. The false vista was recorded before the coronavirus outrage had
begun.
She went on further to say (in a I'll-tell-you-in-confidence tone) that the backdrop that was behind her, actually
was the same type of counterfeit and she was really sitting -as she put it "in a broom-closet"!
However, I noticed as this secret was released, the sounds of mumbling Journalists were missing during her
revelation.
............................
This is the real problem with today's Journalism. The ethical standards have long-gone and carved-in-stone
attitude is if we say it, it is true. Fake backdrops aside, the reality presented to the waning audiences is far
from the one that we in the real world deal with day-to-day.
Traditional news outlets have become entertainment shows that offer a preferred perception of what they
want you to think and not what is really happening. The legacy media will never argue that the narrative
they shovel at you is false, it seems that the fact that is it is they who are shovelling it assures the readers
and viewers that it has some worth.
Donald was right.
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.