BBC gives phone hacking 7 times more exposure than the Euro crisis
Posted on July 7, 2011The BBC are obviously smarting from the growing number of allegations that they have covered the phone hacking scandal so much that crucial issues like the increasingly likely collapse of the Euro have been neglected.
Of course many of those allegations are made by people who are themselves uncomfortable politically with the embarrassment being caused by the hacking issue, and of course the phone hacking scandal is absolutely rightly big news. However, if the Euro was to fall over next week with catastrophic economic consequences I suspect much of the public would be wondering how it all happened so suddenly, when in reality this crisis has been brewing for months and years.
The BBC’s Foreign Editor Jon Williams (who is, by the way, well worth following if you’re on Twitter) just said:
Surprised at claim #BBC covered #hacking to exclusion of other stories. Arab Spring, Italian Euro crisis & #eastafrica drought all prominent
It may be an exaggeration to say that other stories have been excluded entirely, but if you look at the evidence it’s pretty clear they’ve been eclipsed by the hacking coverage. Here are the results of searching the BBC News site for references to “hacking”, “euro” and “libya” over the last week:
Libya: 23 mentions
Euro: 32 mentions
Hacking: 246 mentions
As I say, hacking is a huge story and it does deserve large amounts of attention – but it’s hard to claim the BBC hasn’t taken its eye off other major issues while it’s been going on.
Unlike others I don’t necessarily think that’s solely because the BBC is threatened by Murdoch; it’s also because hacking is a media-village story taking place within the world most journalists inhabit. However the BBC in particular has a Charter responsibility to consider the public interest. That isn’t served by neglecting to cover the Euro crisis properly.
Tags: BBC, EU, Euro, Euroscepticism, Jon Williams, Libya, Media, News of the World, Phone hacking
Categories: Culture, Economics, Opinion, Politics, Westminster
Mark, are you disappointed you weren’t hacked?
20.07.2011 14:32
The BBC just wants to finish Murdoch, so it can have the news all to itself.
20.07.2011 14:35
[...] and its perspective as a media organisation, resulting in allegations that it has had an inappropriate focus on the hacking scandal. This may require some institutional tinkering to [...]
20.07.2011 14:46
[...] you can understand when there are so many other crises, so many bigger stories, why those leftist hacks who prefer to harp on about Murdoch, as anything else will expose their own [...]
20.07.2011 18:02
Is there anyone who isn’t getting themselves involved in this?
Even Roger Taylor has piped in stating that he really does think Murdoch’s “The King of The Tits”: http://dasteepsspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/dear-mr-murdoch.html
21.07.2011 09:42
The blanket coverage reflected the fact that it was an exciting time. For a while, it looked as if there would be a breakthrough, Then someone died and it immediately became clear that things would remain the same. The shaving foam incident was a symbolic punishment, the effect of which allows people to say that Rupert has suffered enough.
21.07.2011 10:28