Tag Archives: BBC

BBC video embedding – proof of commodity news?

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I’ve had little time to mull over the implications of the announcement that the BBC is to share its video content with Daily Mail & General Trust, Guardian News & Media, Telegraph Media Group and Independent News & Media. Yet, in the moments when I have, I have this nagging worry that it is not a good sign.

I can completely see the benefits: additional video content that can really enrich a story, but at no real cost to the newspaper groups involved. Plus, if you’re getting BBC content on your favourite newspaper website, perhaps you might switch your homepage allegiance.

The one thing that has personally been bugging me is that the owners of the Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Independent all decided that BBC content would sit well alongside their stories.

This suggests that they thought it likely that they would be covering enough of the same stories as the BBC, and doing so with a tone and style that was unlikely to clash.

So a BBC video would sit as well next to a Daily Mail article as it would a Guardian article? When the unique selling points of a newspaper are supposedly its focus, editorial tone and world view, that seems surprising.

I guess you could argue that it is a testament to the BBC’s objectivity and that each newspaper group will have different priorities: selecting video for different stories.

But I can’t get yesterday’s quote from Vivian Schiller, CEO of NPR in the US, that “news is a commodity” out of my head.

I’ve got this horrible feeling that the BBC deal proves that many articles produced by newspapers provide little or no uniqueness to help distinguish them in a flooded market.

Today and the Internet

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I’ve just heard the oddest piece on Radio 4’s Today programme. [Edit: According to Martin Stabe, it was by a media commentator called Steve Hewlett, which explains a lot. You can listen again.]

I think it was supposed to be a news report but, uncharacteristically of Today, it made absolutely no effort to even try and appear objective.

It came across as an appeal, nay a plea, to Radio 4 listeners and BBC executives to support and preserve the station’s current methods of compiling the news agenda.

It looked at the most read stories on the BBC website last year and made the rather obvious point that, just because they were popular, didn’t mean they were the most important stories.

I would have thought BBC executives would have understood that “most read” and “most emailed” stories are more a reflection on the kind of material people will link to on the web, rather than its importance. Don’t they? From this piece it suggests they don’t.

The tone was one of “big bad web” and there was also mention of 4radio, so perhaps it was a rallying cry to try and encourage listeners to stay loyal.

But, to be honest, if Today had an important point to make about the web, I think I missed it.

BBC Love-in

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Gah!

Today, being on holiday, I’ve had the misfortune to witness the departure of two BBC presenters from their respective shows – Dermot Murnaghan from Breakfast and Fiona Bruce from Crimewatch.

Now I like them both as presenters, but I have to wonder whether its fair to subject the viewer to the self-indulgent twaddle that seems to arise from such a departure.

Nostalgic video clips, co-presenters heaping on the compliments, the departing presenter praising the show to the hilt. Please people! Save it for the bar after work.

Why does TV do this? It is certainly not for the viewers’ benefit. Is it because TV is more steeped in the cult of personality? Or is it just the pure “lovey-ness” of the medium. Whatever the reason, it makes for cringeworthy viewing.

Any Qs: Andrew Gilligan

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Andrew GilliganAh! How I wish this were one of my interviews.

Mr Gilligan, of ‘sexed up’ dossiers, weapons of mass destruction and Dr David Kelly fame/infamy is being interviewed by journalism student/blogger Dave Lee.

This will form part of Dave’s dissertation and he is crowdsourcing questions to ask the ex-BBC journalist. So, go! Ask questions!

I’m very jealous. Back in the days when I was a literature student I did try and get hold of Gabriel Garcia Marquez but, oddly enough, was unsuccessful.