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Dubious journalism
Apr. 1st, 2010 01:40 pmThe BBC does not have many financial journalists; it has significantly more political journalists. But, more significantly, journalists who are technically neither financial nor political, lean towards the latter. In addition (and I do not blame the journalists here; they are merely working with the 'news value' tools that they have to hand), there is often a focus on "the unfair" or "the unjust". The phrase "life is shit, live with it" does not make for good reporting. Inevitably, therefore, you will get a surfeit of "hard luck stories", particularly in the land of "From Our Own Correspondent".
All of this is something of a scene-setter for a recent report from a BBC correspondent in Latvia, which found its way into the BBC Business section even though it was clearly not written by a financial journalist.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8597141.stm
It's one story about a business that went sour along with the Latvian economy.
Note this key section:
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the journalist's interpretation "Mr Grikis blames the banks" is stretching it a bit. Indeed, Mr Grikis (a businessman, unlike the journalist) is actually rather even-handed about it. "We were all a little bit blind", he said.
But, lines like "Businessman admits that everyone must take their share of the blame for current crisis" just doesn't read so good, does it?
TV vox pop spends hours getting interviews with "the person in the street" until someone says something that fits their agenda. But at least they usually bother to get a quote that fits their agenda. In this particular instance, the quote says something remarkably different.
++++++++++
I never learn. Last time I took the bus to Cannes, I posted on Facebook that life was too short for such lunacies, and that next time I would take the train. Unfortunately, memory of long bus trips fades, and I took the bus again.
( Cannes photos )
All of this is something of a scene-setter for a recent report from a BBC correspondent in Latvia, which found its way into the BBC Business section even though it was clearly not written by a financial journalist.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8597141.stm
It's one story about a business that went sour along with the Latvian economy.
Note this key section:
Juris' company, Nakts Mebeles, has survived, unlike many others in Latvia, but it has sacked 100 workers.
Mr Grikis blames the banks, whose easy credit policies pumped up the housing market and all the businesses which came to depend on it.
"The banks said 'take a loan, take a loan, how much do you want'. We were all a little bit blind," he says.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the journalist's interpretation "Mr Grikis blames the banks" is stretching it a bit. Indeed, Mr Grikis (a businessman, unlike the journalist) is actually rather even-handed about it. "We were all a little bit blind", he said.
But, lines like "Businessman admits that everyone must take their share of the blame for current crisis" just doesn't read so good, does it?
TV vox pop spends hours getting interviews with "the person in the street" until someone says something that fits their agenda. But at least they usually bother to get a quote that fits their agenda. In this particular instance, the quote says something remarkably different.
++++++++++
I never learn. Last time I took the bus to Cannes, I posted on Facebook that life was too short for such lunacies, and that next time I would take the train. Unfortunately, memory of long bus trips fades, and I took the bus again.
( Cannes photos )
