I did not cause Rock run

I'm getting really worked up about the way the BBC covers news items and presents them on televsion news programmes....

Yesterday Robert Peston said that he did not cause the run on Northern Rock – see the BBC news item on the BBC web site .

Now he is probably correct. He’s probably also correct when he denies that his scoops on the troubles at Bradford & Bingley, and then HBOS lead to their downfall.

And why should he say anything else? After all, he is only the reporter. It is the editorial responsibility of the BBC news editors to ensure that all news items are reported in a responsible manner, a manner that doesn’t cause undue concern.

But as we all know, the BBC has long since given up balanced reporting. The focus is on bad news. The emphasis is not on reporting. The emphasis is on sensationalism. The BBC is no longer a reliable news source, because a reliable news source supplies a balanced view point so that the viewer can form their own opinion based on having facts representing both sides of the story.

When reporting on political issues the media have to give all the main political parties equal coverage – so they all get their say. The result is an opportunity for the viewer to come to an informed opinion of their own.

But in everyday news reporting that balance doesn’t have to be there, so the BBC News team doesn’t provide it. As a result, we get sensationalism, scant facts presented with an overload of emotion, shouted at us by happy smiling studio based reporters revelling in entertaining us. They see themselves as part of the entertainment industry, so they entertain us.

The BBC is no more than an electronic version of The Sun, the Sport or News of The World news papers. It’s a “lads mag” on a par with Nuts, OK and FHM. All that’s different is the content which purports to be news.

So reluctantly I have to agree with Robert Peston. However, I believe that it was the way his news was told and presented that lead to the problems with the banks mentioned in the BBC news article. I saw part of the BBC news coverage given to this enquiry on last night’s late news. As one would expect, that too was not presented in a balanced manner, after all, they have to protect their place in the world and to do that they have to look after their own.

The BBC is uniquely funded (as they keep reminding us) so it's about time that we got a high quality, balanced NEWS service. We used to get a reporter talking to "an expert" on many news items, but, now we get one reporter talking to another reporter. Everything is hyped up! The problems with the banks. The economic problems in the USA. Then the economic problems in the UK. Now it's the weather. The amount of coverage given to one young student killed in a sledging accident is out of all proportion to it's importance, but IT IS BAD NEWS! They could, and did, sensationalise it without thought for the family, friends, neighbours and community in which she lived. The BBC gets through £3,250,000,000 every year. Surely for that money, that level of investment, we (the providers of those funds) should reasonably expect a NEWS SERVICE to be proud of and not one that is only just keeping itself out of the gutter.