Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Is My Media Criticism Bad?

If you think my engagement in media criticism is a bit unfair to those who toil in the news business, consider this:


The BBC has begun disciplinary proceedings against its own staff after admitting that “basic journalistic checks were not carried out” by its flagship programme Newsnight where “unacceptable failings” in editorial procedures led to the Tory grandee Lord McAlpine being falsely linked to a paedophile ring.
Publishing the summary findings of an internal inquiry into the flawed report, which prompted the resignation of the BBC Director General George Entwistle on Saturday, the BBC said that it was taking “clear and decisive action” to “restore public trust in the BBC’s journalism”...he said [there was] “a degree of complexity in news operations which led to some fuzzy decision-making”. He promised that individuals identified in the report as being culpable for the editorial failings would be subject to a “disciplinary process” that would be “fair to those individuals”.

Well, if the BBC can go bad, our local press should not feel immune from introspection.

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