Pistorius and BBC versus the Rest of the World

         

The access the media has been given in the Pistorius Case has meant the BBC was able to stuff their news bulletins with unlimited video footage of the trial . It’s been the lead story for week now, despite there being no shortage of domestic stories. Also the excessive time allowed for reports from South Africa has meant that news from around the world has also has been squeezed out.  Maybe it’s the perfect story for the BBC considering their appetite for any type of celebrity ‘news’.

For example here’s a recent story that didn't even merit a mention by BBC :

In the months after the 2010 earthquake, the United Nations deployed troops to Haiti who are believed to have brought with them the cholera bacterium from overseas. The U.N. has publicly stated that substandard sanitation at one of its barracks may have led to the outbreak that resulted in the deaths of  8000 people. Another half a million people were made ill by the polluted water.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that the United Nations will not compensate families affected by the 2010 cholera outbreak that has claimed thousands of lives, despite evidence that the organization was responsible for the outbreak.

“Our case is about the U.N. dumping contaminated sewage in Haiti’s waters that has caused thousands of deaths.  On Friday, Ban Ki-moon phoned Haitian president Michel Martelly to inform him that the United Nations has no intention, or legal obligation, to pay compensation to the families of Haiti's cholera victims. 

Two FSA's - Both Ineffective

 BBC Newswatch recently reported how BBC News had confused two different FSA logos. Last week they mistakenly put up the Financial Authority Service logo on our screens instead of the intended Food Standards Agency.  Probably a fresh-faced researcher typed in ‘FSA’ into ‘Google Images’ and copied and pasted the first image he\she came across. An easy mistake maybe.

However, there are, perhaps, more similarities between the two UK Government regulators than you might, at first think.

The Financial Authority Service, set up as the City Watchdog failed to curb the casino banking of companies like RBS and Northern Rock. We might naively think The FSA’s primary aim would be to protect the public interest. Instead they were concerned  to regulate with  a ‘light touch’ to smooth the way for the banks and cooperate rather than confront.

Now we have another FSA. This one, we fondly imagine, is set up to firmly regulate the food industry and make sure that the food we eat is safe and is what it says on the label. But no: it turns out they don’t have any power.  They don’t actually test any food. They don’t investigate. They don’t fine or name and shame.  They see their role as co-operating with the food industry.

Two FSA’s: both alike in dignity. Two FSA’s: both popularly thought of as defending the interests of the public but fall a bit short.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had regulators who were prepared to regulate?

Jacintha Saldanha's Funeral - BBC News Reverts to Simple Factual Reporting

Today BBC News very soberly reports on the funeral of Jacintha Saldanha that takes place in India.  The tone of the report is dispassionate and factual.  But the BBC has not played a distinguished role in the unfolding of this sorry tale.

The story started with *Kate Middleton being admitted to hospital. For the next two days the BBC made it their lead story. They interviewed experts on ‘morning sickness. They discussed all implications for the line of succession; the possible gender of the new baby. They milked the story dry. They did this despite the fact that at twelve weeks the pregnancy was at a critical stage and a more responsible approach would have been to maintain a distance between themselves and the rest of the media clamour.

 Very little actual information emitted from the hospital. But that wasn’t important. There was a media scrum to report on. Why not turn the camera on the jostling journalists outside? Now it was a David Attenborough documentary. It was like they were filming orang-utans in the rainforrests of Borneo. The BBC was above the melee: a separate species. Yet minutes later BBC reporter Luisa Baldini is screaming, microphone outstretched, ‘Kate! Kate! How are you feeling?’ The BBC didn’t just report in the story: they rolled about in it, luxuriating, for days on end.

Then the Australian DJ’s played their phone hoax. The BBC led with that story as the most important story of the day. Of course they had to play the recording of the hoax call in every single bulletin for the next two days. This was manna from heaven. The BBC could live off trivial stories like these forever. By elevating all the surmise and supposition and designate it as a headline story they could survive indefinitely without bothering with stories that actually have an effect on people’s lives. They can push back the less sexy stories about what’s happening to the other seven billion people on the planet to a less prominent position.

When poor Jacintha Saldanha committed suicide BBC News deftly switches tack from amusement and mock outrage to the ‘blame game’. High minded journalists turn their attention to where the blame lies; the hospital; the DJ’s ; the radio station or the media. They conveniently forget, of course, their own irresponsible coverage.

Now, the final chapter in a sorry story. Now we get the tight-lipped reporting of Mrs. Saldanha’s funeral.

It’s a shame that the BBC, as well as providing some excellent quality reporting, feels the need to compete with the Sun, to supply sordid sensation, gossip and surmise.  

Euro Banks Draw Closer - Britain Rethinks its Position

As a teenager I think I thought that foreigners were inferior. I changed my mind when I travelled and saw that many countries organised themselves just as well as we did. In fact their transport systems were much better.  Their values were equal to ours. Their streets were cleaner without litter.

Now as an enthusiastic European it’s a bit uncomfortable to have to admit that the Euro-sceptics might be winning the argument.  With todays’ formation of a new banking union in the Eurozone Britain is going to find itself increasingly on the outside looking in.

I suppose after the recent Euro crises it was inevitable that the Eurozone would have to draw together to avoid further bailouts and that Britain would become spectators to developments in Europe. Unfortunately, greater integration between the Eurozone countries means that the non-members are forced to consider greater economic independence. Although Britain’s growth will continue to depend heavily on a healthy Euro,  UK PLC may have to look further afield in future.

One Idea occurred to me: I wonder if Britain could emulate Hong Kong.  Hong Kong thrives as an ‘Off-shore Island’ to China. It manages to capitalise on helping to service China but stands apart from it. China uses Hong Kong as a conduit to the outer world and Hong Kong reaps the benefits. Could the UK develop a similar relationship with Europe? 

Government Claims Misleading - An Unsatisfactory Apprentice Programme

The Government boasts that in 2011, around 457,000 people started an apprenticeship. This is a 63.5  per cent increase on the previous year. They claim the Government’s Apprenticeship Programme is now the "gold standard vocational qualification". However unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds remains high at almost 21% .

To my mind, apprenticeships have been seriously devalued.  When I left school any young person who secured an apprenticeship knew that he or she would be given the opportunity to gain marketable skills that would stand them in good stead for the rest of their working lives. More importantly, the apprentice and the employer entered into an informal contract that bound them together for the five years it took to graduate as a ‘journeyman’ tradesman. There was an *unwritten agreement that in normal circumstances the apprentice’s position was guaranteed.  I know from experience that when times were lean and men were ‘layed off’, the apprentice’s job was secure. But times have changed.    

The Government recently reclassified the official definition of an apprenticeship to include training that extends as little as a year. 

During 2011, 51.8% of apprenticeships for 16 to 18- year-olds were completed in less than 12 months. The 12-month minimum change, introduced from August this year, is likely to result in 65,000 extra apprenticeships each year, or their reclassification as pre-apprenticeships.

 Morrisons Supermarkets, for example reclassified existing employees as apprentices.  It turns out that one in 10 of the apprenticeships created in England last year was at Morrisons' supermarkets. Also most of the 52,000 apprentices at the supermarket were existing employees who were over 25. These apprenticeships last an average of 28 weeks. 


* At one time, of course, apprenticeships involved a written contract.