The BBC’s surprise that someone from Al Jazeera English would not be routinely attending Downing Street press briefings is charming. Al Jazeera’s argument is that it won’t be concentrating on the powerful. [Indy]
But first here’s the Beeb’s Richard Porter on November 15th:
…we don’t aim to cover British news – unless it has some international significance or resonance. So today…Queen Elizabeth will be delivering her annual speech to Parliament, in which she sets out the Government’s proposed legislation for the coming year. Do we carry live coverage, in the knowledge that nothing could be more British than the Queen surrounded by all that pomp and ceremony? Or do we say “There’s no international significance… it’s not for us?” The answer is we will carry it because it’s actually one of the more important set-piece events of the year, and because The Queen will be addressing significant issues such as security, migration, and climate change, all of which have a resonance to the viewers around the globe who get their news from BBC World.
Resonance? Nothing resonates in a vacuum. Downing Street is far downstream from the springs of global power.
Years ago, when I was at CBS News, friends would ask about the network’s coverage of the unequal battle between the governing Conservatives and the pre-Blair Labour Party. In the touching manner of Roman auxiliaries or provincial aristocrats they would speculate on how their conflict was portrayed every night on US television, and how American correspondents might interpret its nuances.
The truth always shocked them. The Americans did not give a damn. The only story they bothered to follow was that of Diana, Princess of Wales. Besides her, they were as interested in the British as we are in the Dutch, or the Belgians or any of our continental neighbours.
Mostly my friends refused to take it in. Surely Britain was important? Surely what we thought on the great matters of international diplomacy, on the burning issues of the day, mattered?
Well it mattered to us. But the world looks rather different when you have a blue sea navy and the world’s most powerful military at your disposal. Moral leadership and the pursuit of ‘interest’ can be exercised in acts of commission rather than of contrition.
Still we haven’t got over it. Our airtime, our thinktanks and our columns turn over global issues that we can no more influence as a nation than the citizens of Switzerland, whilst ignoring the minor ones that might affect the people of Gorleston or Devizes or Bala.
2 responses to “Power and TV”
How dare you describe issues in Devizes as “minor. Good god man there are critical issues in Devizes affecting the health and happiness of the yeomanary of England. Yours disgruntedly Snellingham-Bashord, Bart. Lower Snogsbury, Wilts.
You’re right – of course!