Reporting the Games & Friday, 8 August, 2008
'...allegations by the Georgian President that 150 Russian tanks and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia.'
I know everyone is on holiday or at the Games 'reporting' sports, but it would be awfully nice to get some news of value from elsewhere?
Perhaps if there was a suggestion that the Russian synchronised invasion team was using steroids to help lift the shells?
I'm sure it's on the BBC somewhere, but I clicked on just now for an update on what I thought was the news channel, and ended up with wall to wall prancing ponies who, apparently, 'The hosts had spared no expense to put in a/c stables'.
The world can rest easy.
pps: Meanwhile, this from SKY, my new source of actual News: 'Russia On Verge Of All-Out War'
ps: Speaking of cutting edge news gathering, reporting and editorial, looking top right on this page* is there something I don't know?:
Reporting the Games
ADMIN USE ONLY Fri 8 Aug 08, 06:23 PM
'This is the Newsnight editor's blog, where editor Peter Barron, and some of his colleagues, will discuss issues affecting the programme.'
Farewell
Peter BarronWed 30 Jul 08, 01:39 PM
Ok then, I'm off.
After four years at Newsnight this is my final editor's blog. I'm off to Google
* I know the temp (sweet, isn't it. It's summer hols so news is in the hands of the work experience guys) has mentioned it in the first line of her piece, but one might have thought a week was enough to adjust the template to reflect reality:
'This is the Newsnight editor's blog, where there is currently no editor, so some of his inexperienced, rudderless colleagues will discuss issues affecting the programme and certainly nothing of world-shattering importance.'
Addendum: I find it 'interesting' that after 24hrs there is nothing to follow my comments. It's a pity wars don't take the weekend off.
Gaurdian - These two appalling sets of old waxworks utterly deserve each other
'By the time you read this, world peace should have broken out.'
I have been beaten to the punch much earlier and much more subtly, but may I repeat the unfortunate irony of this as I look at my SKY news:
'Russia On Verge Of All-Out War'
Indy - Georgia: Russia steps up 'peace enforcement' - Now that's a new one to add to my collection of interesting double speak.
BBC - Olympic overdose? - Well, she asked.
Well.. you asked.
It's a major international 'sporting' event that probably deserves a decent level of coverage for those who give a flying fig for contests between those whose sponsors can afford to tune them to ever greater micro-improvements in human endeavour.
Not the only thing on the planet. And certainly not worth draining a £3B+, tens of thousand-strong, publicly-funded national media entity of staff and money to the exclusion of all else.
However, this inconvenient war in our own geographical and economic backyard has at least highlighted that even though we knew the tea-lady was running the show at the weekend while editorial was on 'don't lie to the public; it's bad' training at a Cornish retreat, at the moment the entire BBC is in the hands of a security guard and a work-experience activist from Kingsnorth while all the rest are 'reporting' from the next 'fun' location in Beijing.
You are... the weakest link. I'd like my money back.
The Editors' blog is moving
11 years ago
5 comments:
Ouch! Miaowww! Catty! And it isn't even October yet... (question from a blogging greenhorn: can you modify the date of the post?)
Buttar's not that inexperienced, is she now? They did 'do' Georgia on Friday albeit in second place (not bad btw, did you watch the programme?) and followed it up with a very good programme last night and a special section...
But I agree that the decision to go with China and Olympics all of last week was a bit odd.. maybe it's silly season.
Oo-er. Well, I was in a snit that day.
It just pushed a few buttons that we were getting wall to wall skipping and jumping everywhere else, and I thought it too much to hope that the only last bastion of news being reported on the BBC might be NN. But no.
And as a small but getting bigger war was erupting, it seemed awfully jolly school break that the whole sorry shower were off on hols. Rather a good time to invade, what... er.. Tovarich?
So, with all due deference to the subs' experience (I was rather exagerrating - what happened to Spellcheck on the posts' section? It appeared for a brief moment and has now gone again! - for effect) there was a certain feeling of 'would the last one running the 24/7 newsgathering operation please check AP & Reuters before metting us in Beijing for the weekend'.
And while I may have been just a smidge feline in my expression, and I know they don't do answers at NN, assuming anyone does read the posts they might possibly have the wit by now to upgrade the picture and blurb in the top RH corner to reflect the true state of editorial coverage currently.
I owned an ad agency and have worked with all manner of professions... and if a guy, especially a senior one, bailed for pastures new, you can bet their existence was excised quicker than a Politburo outsider got airbrushed from the May Day Parade cards.
So this also smacks of sloppiness and/or headless chicken time. Not ideal in a £3B+, 20k+ national broadcaster news jewel entity.
ps: Love it.. you a blogging Greenhorn? Yes, the date can be modified, by I think only be me as site owner. You can in fact send it where you fancy... even the future.
Actually what is a pity is there is not an archive trail. That way when I scoop folk I can still point at when I first blogged. It seems it gets lost if you update the post and the time. Well, maybe newssniffer..
Phew.. it's still here.. thought I'd lost the post for a sec! :)
For what it's worth, think NN's probably more worried about blank spaces than it is about removing PB pic...
And yes, I have to confess it's true: as far as websites, procurement software, databases are concerned, been there, done that, got quite proficient at it.. but blogs, niet my friend, never established a single one. So total greenhorn on that front - I had figured that you must be able to change the date although I assumed (given that it seems to update itself everytime you put in an addendum) that it was, like email, linked to your comp's local settings.
By the way how come that the comments for each blogpost are only dated on El Burro? I mean, for instance, the comments on this post have a date and time at the bottom, whereas the comments on the RE:View ALT-Energy category, which are much older, look like they were posted on 11 Aug (i.e. only the time's displayed, without the comment's date).
PS: unrelated but this was my OH YESH!! moment today.
OK, I'm sorry... but it was too good to miss.
But I won't tell anyone you were the one who launched me. If it gets 'moderated' out I'll send you what I wrote/linked to.
But really, did they have to offer such an open goal as the (I know they were joking... or...?) of 'countless meetings to agree to do nothing yet'.
And lo, you have also opened up a whole secret cache of chat on blog systems I was unaware of, the secretive little tinkers. You'd think they almost didn't want to let folk know:)
Now on the matter of blogs we are now offically the blind leading the blind.
Most of what you (doubtless correctly) surmise has already soared over my head).
I do know something odd happened one day a while ago, such that I have to be aware of erratic flip-flops between US & UK date formats. Hence some posts end up in the future as my date got turned into a month. As to the rest... I guess I can do a compare and contrast, but there's a lot of headings to wade through.
Off on hols the w/e, so a tad busy wrapping up. Will also have to catch up on your ps. post later, too. Sorry.
Peter: NN blog LOL!!!!
Don't worry about answering.
Have a very nice holiday.
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