Last night, while I was broadcasting my LBC show, I noticed a Sky News flash come up on Twitter.
The thought occurred to me that it is doubtful whether any news organisation woud even cover it if it had happened in a country other than the US? Shooting in school. No one dead. hardly earth-shattering, is it? But it’s like bad weather. We get lengthy reports on terrrible snowfalls on the East Coast of America which would never even make it to a planning meeting if they had happened anywhere else. Just because the main broadcasters have camera crews and reporters in the States, it doesn’t mean that everything that happens is necessarily a story for a UK audience. What about the terrible floods in Jakarta? Why do we have endless coverage of US elections, even midterms, when elections in most other countries barely get a mention? I could go on.
Al Jazeera English puts our news organisations to shame with its coverage of news around the world. If you’ve never watched it, give it a try. It does exactly the sort of thing the BBC should do, used to do, but doesn’t any longer. It’s such a shame. I read that Sky are opening a new bureau in Los Angeles. Their Washington Correspondent, Greg Milham, is moving to the West Coast to head it up. I’m sure they will do a great job, but what about having a bureau in Rio? Just a thought.
I’m not having a go at the BBC, before anyone says it. It’s the same with all UK broadcasters. If you compare the coverage of world events on German TV to what we get, you will see what I mean. Newspapers are going the same way. The World News sections seem to be getting smaller with every year that passes.
End of moan.
