A BBC jounalist is inconvenienced...

... and turns to print. (I have spellchecked for him)

My Great British Summit Cock-up Hell

This three hour wait of course, and this level of hassle, rudeness and incomprehension by those in authority, is exactly what the poorest of the world have to put up with just to get into work, or get to a water source, every single day.

With the possible exception of the water source, I hate to break it to you (still inside the London 'bubble', see), but welcome to 'our' world!

...it imagined what Britain would look like if it became a bureaucratic collectivist dictatorship.

IF......!!!!!!!?

So, as somewhat redeemed by it, you can keep the last line.

Yours, one of (iv).

ps: And as we're into artistic warnings of the near future, you might want to hark back to what that V might stand for. Tony's kid can help.

ADDENDUM -

I am shocked... shocked I tell you, that some of our finest hacks had to get up early to get to work... and it was just an awful, frustrating time.

Now, who I wonder was in charge of this fine example of organisational skill.

Would Dear Leader have felt able to leave it, with fullest confidence, in the hands of his loyal Home Secretary? Or maybe all the GOATS nannied in.

Still, at least the glow from O left all who were bathed in awe and the better for it.

Not just Aunty. I had to point out to SKY's acolytes that lobbing up whenever you feel like it to a highly complex, orchestrated security-rich arrival scene was not 'casual' and 'laid-back' and 'cool', and maybe President Bush was not so much 'obsessive' as they alluded, but just polite and professional to the guys on the ground when he required things were run punctually. Not too hard, and no excuse not to, when the entire route is cordoned off.

Masters of their own world.

Newsnight

It would be wrong to say I do not delight in the discomfort of others, but if they are from a well-funded, 'market rate talent' politico-media class that seem to trade on the impression that they know each other and hence everything, it can be especially refreshing to have fate, and/or circumstance, offer up the odd humbling reminder (for the future) that, like the rest of us, they do not.

Aunty adds a final straw

The BBC is stout in its defence of 'edgy' humour.

Which is what I use to encourage them to ponder their often selective reporting and editorial.

You'd think Newsnight might have mentioned the Glenrothes election in advance, to help them form a view, a bit like the saturation coverage of the US version they seemed to prefer, and still do, over anything closer to home.

So when the first post that wasn't totally US-centric appeared, I pounced:

1.5% worth of humble pie?

Might Glenrothes get a mention, too?

I know it's just an election pertinent to the UK, but as it's also an indicator on a section of the public's views on the competencies of those best placed to help us manage the downturn (I thought 'recession' was non grata - sorry, Bournemouth Council - off limits?), it might rate some coverage.

Even if it is 'once the dust has settled'.

Don't want any voters get silly ideas in advance, do we?

Oh look, a puppy!

Unfortunately, 'This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.'

There are several vague 'catch-alls', but I suspect this is the one they will use:

Are considered to be off-topic for the particular message board

Very Hitchhikers Guide. Especially for a post that is trying to point out that the message board has had no topics about the UK for long enough.

Sickening.

They have been warned:

Dear Mods,

Refer away. But you better have a pretty darn good reason not to approve that post eventually.

Otherwise I will have to presume Hazel Blears has found the prefect test bed from within her party's media comfort zone.

Addendum: I now have a reason, if not a very good excuse:

Thank you for contributing to a BBC Blog. Unfortunately we've had to remove your content below

This post has been removed because special House Rules are in effect during Polling Day. In common with other media organisation the BBC does not discuss elections while the polls are open and users of the BBC website must also abide by these rules.

Telegraph - Hazel Blears, bloggers and professional politics -

From the 'Paranoia is knowing they are out to get you' files, a Macbethian (aka 'The Scottish Play' to those of superstitious thespian bent) tale of caution, with a bonus for any who appreciate the Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

After wall to wall US 'news' up to and including today, to the exclusion of all else, I had cause to ponder on the Newsnight blog what else might get a mention, such as Glenrothes.

Seems special 'House Rules are in effect during Polling Days'.

So... nothing discussed that isn't fancied before, can't during, and only the possibility of passing reference afterwards, unless it works out better than expected, in which case it will doubtless be top of the news for days.

Where's a Vogon Constructor Fleet when you need one?

I'd say what is being discussed is already here, with the enthusiastic support of some media who seem to have decided where their loyalties lie.

Gone, but not forgotten

My brief adventure with Google's Chrome

Just wondering how many big PR successes ex-BBC employees have and might yet enjoy thanks to their mates.

I wonder if such access to a national audience is factored in when assessing and paying market rates?

You say tomato, I say a red fruit-like thing that is not the same thing

An interesting exchange on the Newsnight news blog (the distinction is, apparently, now significant), as opposed to the other news published/broadcast by the national entity we fund.

Bank balance sheets become focus of scrutiny

Look at 13, 14 & 15 and then the reply from a rather defensive reporter in 16... and wonder about the mindsets at work.

'...if this were "reporting" then you would have a point. As it is, it is blogging. It is not meant to be award winning journalism.

And I am not reporting "unsubstantiated gossip" - I am reporting a...

Not sure I can get my head around this, not just as a possible official insight into national media broadcasting/publishing editorial definitions, but also consistency...:

'...if this were "reporting" then you would have a point[ie: not reporting]. As it is, it is blogging.... I am reporting [or...] a...'

So... is it reporting... or blogging, and what then is the difference as it still appears in print, for public consumption, from a BBC reporter on a BBC organ of news sharing?

I am to in future ignore all I read on these pages?

Addendum: I have had a reply:

21. At 11:15pm on 29 Jul 2008, PaulMasonOfNewsnight wrote:
In on-screen reporting you can pursue bar stool intelligence and try to stand it up as fact. With blogging, I think it's legitimate to explain what people are saying if it's relevant and plausible and doesn't libel anybody, and especially when as "sentiment" it is a material factor in events. If people are beginning to act on an idea it becomes relevant even if not true. I'm trying to help people understand the scale of private concern in the financial sector, is all.

I could ask what the heck he is trying to say, as it is almost Rumsfeld-Clintonian in not clarifying, at least to my satisfaction, how onscreen is different to blogging when it is from an official, national media reporter, and how he in nay case seems to have contradicted himself on this distinction on one sentence anyway.

I think it best to leave that masterpiece of doublespeak as its own epitaph. Then again...

Stepping stones

Indy - * The editor of the BBC’s Newsnight programme has resigned his position to join Google as head of PR for the UK. Peter Barron has spent 12 years at the BBC2 programme, as well as time at Channel 4 and with Tonight with Trevor McDonald

Gaurdian - Newsnight editor Peter Barron to join Google in communications role

BBC - Newsnight editor moves to Google - Interesting to see how he goes into the commercial world as Google's head of PR for the UK, Ireland and Benelux, following a career straight into the BBC, using "...creativity and brilliant journalism...'.

I clashed with him a few times, especially on matters of the latter, and never did get adequate answers, even when having him dead to rights. Maybe the BBC's loss is Google's gain. But then, maybe Cuil have a chance as well, then.

Addendum: Eventually got an answer to my on site question from Paul Mason, who also answered my question on his odd phrasing in defence of reporting online vs. blogging.

I have replied:

Thanks for that. I see the topic was raised the day before by Midnight Pantsman but missed his reference as it had initially been referred to the moderators (why?), so I had no idea what his subsequent comment was about.

Nice to have confirmation here at last; these days it's hard to trust much of anything in the news unless it is direct from the horse's mouth.

As we have discussed elsewhere, blog gossip is often of less value than the energy used in the keystrokes.

How would one define such a move from news journalism to PR? Poacher turns gamekeeper? Or vice versa? Surely politics can only beckon more brightly now.

Well, as a kind of shareholder, and one with an interest in well-researched, objective reporting and editorial, I too will await with interest the next content visionary who will be appointed to fill Mr. Barron's shoes, and what he/or she will be doing to maintain the standards we have come to expect from one of the few national news programmes left that can often be relied upon to try and discuss matters that are newsworthy.

Brand Republic - Google v Cuil round two

Newsnight - Farewell

Have fun at Google.

I do. It gives me all sorts of varied options around topics on top of immediate answers.

And I trust them to be balanced and objective in how it all gets sourced, delivered and presented. At least to date. Unlike most sources.

How Cuil is that?

Gaurdian - NEW - Barron: why I'm leaving Newsnight... With friends like these? Poacher turns gamekeeper? Or vice versa? Surely politics can only beckon more brightly now. Be a nice change (big theme here) to get someone from the BBC who did pop out of the cosy club for a wee while at least at try to survive in the real world. At least we know where the ad for the next 'content visionary' (I, for one, live to have the latest episode of our foremost political interviewers' undies aired asap) will be placed.