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BBC defends news coverage of Jade Goody’s death
The BBC has received 70 official complaints while website users tell the Corporation to leave frivolities to OK! and Sky TV
It finally happened - someone dared to say that perhaps the news media overdid the coverage of Jade Goody's death. Not just someone - but a string of complainants who have picked on the BBC for its "frivolous" and "over the top" coverage of a death that was not, after all, unexpected.
More than 70 official complaints have been received, as well as numerous angry postings on the BBC News website. "You really lost the plot on this one," wrote one viewer. "Let OK!, Hello! and Sky deal with the frivolities of life and get back to being a public service broadcaster that serves the public by addressing the issues that matter."
There was particular objection to her death early on Sunday being given the top spot on the news bulletin in The Andrew Marr Show, the Sunday morning coffee and croissants programme that is known for its coverage of Westminster politics and world affairs.
‘We have to bear in mind those licence fee payers who are interested’
Today, the corporation's news chief, Peter Horrocks, went on the defensive. He said Jade Goody was a "phenonemon" whose death had provoked tremendous grief. The increased traffic to the BBC website on Sunday was a measure of public interest, he claimed.
But he had to admit that the reaction of Radio 5 Live's listeners, for example, had been very different to that of the Radio 1 audience. "While some of you have told us that you didn't like Jade Goody," he said, "or didn't want to hear news about her, we have to bear in mind those licence fee payers who have a strong level of interest and who expected us to provide measured coverage of her death."
His words are unlikely to placate the viewer from Doncaster who left this message on the BBC website: "This woman [Goody] made a mockery of all that is good in this country. However sad her death may be, it is not worth that much time. How many decent people die every day and how many minutes does the BBC give them?"
There were further objections that the reality TV star's death was given undue prominence on the World Service, which, like the Marr show is also seen as a bastion of serious news. Horrocks is due to leave his current job as head of the BBC's multimedia news room to become director of the World Service next month: listeners will be hoping that he has time to readjust his news values. ·
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Mainstream Media credibility has been seriously (if not fatally) damaged in the last few years. Organisations like the BBC, CNN, Fox, MSNBC etc. have not only dumbed down their content, but have broken many of the sacred rules of journalistic integrity.
Most unforgiving, is the sheer reluctance to challenge Govt. deception and spin. Even worse, they have actively been complicit in promoting the deception, and ignoring the weight of evidences that should have ignited honest inquiry into Govt actions.
This is not only applicable to obvious issues like the so called 'War of Terror', but also to visibly less obvious (but more important) issues like the gradual creation of a Police state in both the UK and USA.
Mainstream Media has helped create a climate of fear, exploiting the ordinary citizen's vulnerability in these increasingly uncertain times.
The Jade Goody media hype and coverage, seems to perfectly fit in with this shift in the role of Mainstream Media - From that of an honest reporter of the truth, to an entertaining means of distracting the public from the real serious issues, that affect their future rights, liberties and prosperity.
BBC News Chief Peter Horrocks is wrong. The death of Jade Goody possibly provoked "tremendous grief" amongst her family and those who knew her, but not the general public - people who were interested in her activities may have been saddened, which is something else altogether. The BBC's authority and trust is eroded by the Corporation's insistence that it must "play to the gallery", rather than report the facts and let other, less discerning media feed the public interest.
I heard Goody referred to as a 'star' by a BBC presenter, and they had a Bishop come close to claiming sainthood on the same news programme. Horrocks has come under constant criticism for a host of issues including trivialising the BBC news service, he's always on the defensive, always rejects criticism out of hand, so clearly has learned nothing. Bad news for the World Service that he's taking that over. There are too many people with tabloid brains at the BBC these days, 24 hour news consists of a few 'major' stories repeated every fifteen minutes, no attempt to broaden the news gathering, just bang out the same old, often quite trivial, stories over and over whilst waiting for the next big one - tsunami; 9-11 etc. at which point there's wall to wall coverage.