Monday 9 February 2004

Who does Mark Byford think he is?

Unknown @ Monday, February 09, 2004
Or better still, what does he think he is supposed to be doing. Or even, just what sort of a person is the Acting Director-General of the BBC?

Well, based on his performance in BBC Radio 4's Feedback program, I guess the answer might be a cowardly wimp.

He said:

"The notion of exclusive here, exclusive there, exlusive everywhere is not appropriate for the BBC in the sense it is giving the flavour of competing with newspapers or whatever in bringing original exclusives."

Right. Well, I agree that the pursuit of exclusive stories should not be the sole objective of the BBC's news and current affairs staff, but that doesn't mean they should simply give up.

Byford continues:

"[the job of the BBC was] first and foremost to report news in a reliable, accurate and impartial manner."

Sure, but we're not talking court-of-law standards here. Or at least we shouldn't be, although in the post-Hutton media world it would seem that the BBC is supposed to reach unattainable standards of accuracy. Certainly higher than those of the Goverment or Intelligence Services.

No Response to "Who does Mark Byford think he is?"

Post a Comment