red face day

Yesterday the BBC admitted further cases of fake phone-ins involving high profile programming such as Children in Need, Sports Relief and Comic Relief. Today the written press had a field day.

BBC Shame… Charities caught up in BBC phone scandal… Bear faced cheek…

As I do everyday I visited Young’s Stationers and Newsagent on Ballymoney Main Street. As I do everyday I read each and every paper’s front page to see which I want to pay good money for. As I do everyday I selected The Independent. I couldn’t get over the force of the anger directed at the BBC. Even the Daily Express decided against putting their usual Princess Diana story on the front page in favour of a story about Muslims not being terribly grateful for all the help they receive from the British Police… oh, and PHONE-IN SCANDAL AT THE BBC. The only paper without a front page comment on the controversy was The Independent (well, and The Star which had its obligatory Big Brother story.) Is it any wonder I’m a liberal?

I must admit that I am disappointed in the way programme bosses feel the quality of output overrides any sense of honesty in programme making. I despair that an organisation which places the word “trust” so high in its list of priorities has shown up so many flaws. But in all honesty I can’t say I’m overly surprised. In a media-savvy world where we are sold “sexed-up” stories on a daily basis, where presentation is a greater part of professionalism than content, where cynicism is a prerequisite for an evenings viewing; in a world like this it is hardly surprising that someone took the decision to create a fake contestant rather than admit that technical difficulties had ruined the competition. We live in a world where it is better to cover yourself and get away with something than it is to acknowledge weakness. The only problem occurs where we get found out; and that’s only a problem if enough people actually care. Unfortunately for the BBC, no matter what they do, millions of people care.

And so we find Auntie Beeb’s woes splashed over the front pages, and given ten minute slots in ITN’s news coverage (and possibly Sky’s – I don’t know, I don’t have Sky) Even the BBC themselves seem to be glorying in their own misfortune. FiveLive phone-ins have been dominated by the story, Newsnight had a special report and I can’t wait to see what Nolan has to say about it all. Meanwhile other, more important, stories are slipping through on pages eight and nine. Other media stories that I, personally, find more worrying.

There is no doubt that it has been a bad, BAD week for the BBC but did you notice, for instance, that reports have been disclosed (under the Freedom of Information Act) showing the close relationship between a certain Mr Murdoch and a Mr Blair during the run up to the Iraq War? Requests for this information had been blocked for four years until, as The Independent puts it, “the Government backed down in a surprise change of heart the day after Mr Blair resigned last month.” It’s hard not to imagine the paper’s Political Editor smiling as he typed that line.

Anyway I found the correlation between the Murdoch/Blair phone conversations and the content of The Sun’s comment page fascinating and a lot more shocking than people being defrauded out of their 10,000-1 chance of winning a flat screen TV by spending twenty minutes on a premium rate phone line after watching Richard and Judy – call me harsh but sometimes I think people deserve to lose. It worries me that Mr Murdoch (once described as the 24th member of the Blair cabinet) had such an apparent influence on our elected leader during the most controversial period of his premiership. When you read comments like this:

No big decision could ever be made in No10 without taking account of three men, Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Rupert Murdoch. On the really big decisions, anybody else could safely be ignored.Alastair Campbell’s Diaries

It makes you wonder if maybe, just maybe, Murdoch’s babies, The Times and The Sun, might possibly be publishing their attacks on the BBC with as much genuine relief as genuine outrage.

my ideal woman

Finally I have found my ideal woman. Reading the media section of today’s Independent I couldn’t get over how the BBC’s Kate Silverton checked practically all my boxes.For those who haven’t had the pleasure, Silverton is a presenter on BBC News 24, although I think the first time I saw her was during a report on Panorama. I can’t remember what the topic was (something about Babies I think) but I do remember thinking that she had great taste in eye wear when I next saw her reading the news.

Today Kate was the subject of ‘My Life in the Media’ and I learned that she read The Daily Mail as a teenager because her parents bought it – so did I, so did mine. She now reads The Independent – ditto – as well as dipping into The Sun, The Mirror, The Guardian – there are two of us! It turns out that she loves listening to Rhod Sharp on Up All Night – by far the best night show and by far the best night time presenter in my opinion. Although I get the impression that while I’m falling asleep listening to Rhod interview some rather odd New York cabbie she is waking up to him.

It seems Radios 4 and 5 pervade her daily life – enough for me to consider a proposal of marriage on its own. And she does a load of work for charity; she lists building schools in Africa as something she would like to do if she wasn’t involved in the media – obviously a thoroughly pleasant woman.

I have to tell you Kate has set a new standard in my search for the ideal partner – although her taste in blue/green outfits is definitely causing me concern.

back in my day women knew their place

Congratulations to Jacqui Oatley for becoming the first female commentator in British televised football history today. And a mighty fine job she did of it too. A little nervous at times I felt but that was understandable.What wasn’t understandable is the national debate the whole event spawned. I was aghast at some of the comments respected pundits were making. People I used to respect were coming out with some prehistoric comments that did nothing to protect the image of the game. It simply made them look like a bunch of dinosaurs.

The Earth didn't shift on its axis last night. Match of the Day went on air at 10.30pm and Manchester United's draw with Middlesbrough led the programme. Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Lee Dixon presented and discussed the issues, closing titles were run before midnight and everyone went home. Somewhere in there, a woman commentated on a football match on BBC 1. In and around that, a few people lost their sense of perspective.
Niall Sloane - BBC Head of Football

Jimmy Greaves, Dave Bassett et al let themselves down a bagful with their paranoid rants. I can only imagine that they are scared that women will take over the world and imprison us non-females in underground caves. Although it has to be said that some of their comments belong more in caveman drawings than modern football.

"Commentary is different. You must have an understanding of the game and thetactics, and I think in order to do that you need to have played the game."

Dave Bassett

Arguments that only ex footballers understand the game enough to commentate on it effectively can be rejected on two counts. One – some of the best male commentators never played the game competitively. And two – Oatley is an ex footballer. She played the game until a knee injury forced her to retire and take up reporting.

It is an insult to the controlled commentaries of John Motson, Mike Ingham and Alan Green that their domain is threatened by a new arrival whose excited voice sounds like a fire siren.
Steve Curry - Sportsmail football writer

As for the idea that women don’t have the correct voice for football commentary- well I have two words for that – Jonathan and Greening. Here we have a highly respected commentator who is praised for his calling of soccer matches. The only problem I have with the man is that whenever the ball enters either penalty area only dogs can actually make out what he’s saying. Oh it’s great for conveying excitement but not so great for actually following a game. Please please please never let that man near radio commentary or we’ll all be in the dark.

I love football – I’m a great admirer of BBC commentary – I love Alan Green, Mike Ingham and I have been very impressed by Jacqui Oakley’s commentaries on Radio 5. She is knowledgeable, always prepares well and is great at conveying what is happening on the pitch. The only problem she faces is that she’s the first – and the first always has to clear the debris on their way through.

Northern Ireland 2 Sweden 1

Once again little Norn Iron punch above their weight and move to the top of their section in the European Qualifiers. This time Fortress Windsor Park witnessed them coming from behind to add Sweden to their list of conquests. And once again it was (sir) David Healy who scored the goals for them.

There are people out there wondering why it is that he constantly scores important goals for Northern Ireland against world class opposition like Sweden and Spain yet can’t seem to score against Coca-Cola Championship teams for Leeds United. While Northern Ireland are top of their table due to Healy’s goals (he’s scored 9 of their 10 goals in the competition – in only 6 matches) Leeds are languishing in last place in their table – and Healy has only scored 8 goals in 28 appearances.

It was David Healy who eventually broke the 1298 minute goal drought that Northern Ireland were suffering a couple of years ago. It was David Healy who reduced Ian Wright (BBC pundit) to a great big huff when his goal beat England soon after. Yet David Healy can’t even get a place in a Leeds side that is really struggling to avoid relegation. Why is that?

If we give David Healy chances he will score. He had two chances and scored both - top class, world class finishing.
N Ireland Coach, Lawrie Sanchez

Well they don’t play him from the start of the match regularly enough. Often they play him out of position. I don’t know – maybe he just likes the fact that he is the big star in the team when he plays for NI.



To be honest I don’t know and I don’t care. I just like the fact that he scores goals for his country – I’ll leave Dennis Wise to ponder the rest.



The one thing that annoyed me most yesterday was TV. During the match itself I was doing sound for a play in Bangor. All I could do was check the BBC website for the scores on my phone. It was alright – the BBC were going to be showing highlights later on when the show had finished. After the strike I went to the green room and turned the TV on.



A Match of the Day Special. Highlights from all four home countries European qualifiers… except it wasn’t really. In a 45 minute slot the “highlights” of an abysmal England game against the mighty Andorra took 35 minutes. The Northern Irish game was shown in under 2 minutes – what was the reasoning behind that then? I can only assume that some power-that-be decided that more of the population would want to see England play than Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. But then I didn’t realise that the BBC was there to serve the majority at the expense of the minority. Anyway I won’t rant anymore – I was annoyed.



Luckily I think there’s a good chance that I got more enjoyment out of our two minutes than any England fan got out of their thirty five. And David Healy has something in common with the England players – he’s scored nine goals in the competition, and so have they.