The BBC today: is it honest and competent? - 2007 and earlier

Tony Blair becomes a Catholic

Maxine Mawhinney informed viewers of BBC News 24 in December 2007 that Tony Blair, the ex-prime minister of Britain, had converted to to Catholicism.

She added: "Cardinal Basil Hume is expected to issue a statement later today." Cardinal Hume had died in 1999.

Newsnight on Northern Rock

On 16th November 2007, Newsnight's Paul Mason presented a report on Northern Rock, the UK bank which was rescued by state funding after it couldn't pay off depositors who had asked for their money back. Mason introduced his report with raucous music. He should have spent his time checking his facts rather than looking for an inappropriate music track.

Mason then claimed that Northern Rock's interest bill on its loans from the Bank of England totalled £2 billion. The Bank of England had been charging interest at a rate of about 7% per annum on the emergency funding for only two months. The average loan outstanding was about £10 billion. There is no way the interest bill would be anywhere near £2 billion - it would not be even a tenth of that. But Mason plastered £2 billion across the screen and his report and stated that was the amount of interest without applying any elementary checks. The figure of £2 billion had been published in some London newspapers a few days before. Had the Newsnight dunce just copied it without checking?

Then Gavin Esler interviewed two studio guests including Will Hutton, introduced as a leading economist. Will Hutton a leading economist? Hutton was taught economics at school but that hardly makes him an economist let alone a leading one.

Hutton had heard that the CEO of Northern Rock and several directors were resigning. In fact, the new chairman, Bryan Sanderson, was not resigning. Adam Applegarth, the CEO would not be leaving until 2008 and Dave Jones the finance director was not resigning. Sir Ian Gibson and Michael Queen were not resigning as non-executive directors. The non-executive directors who had resigned were being replaced and the three executive directors who were resigning as directors were continuing in their executive roles at Northern Rock.

However, Hutton claimed that the "authorities" would be forced to announce a rescue deal over the weekend due to the resignations. [The closing date for offers for Northern Rock was on the day of the Newsnight item and some offers had been submitted.]

Hutton spluttered: "That [the board resignations] puts a lot of heat on the authorities. It means there's gonna be a deal this Saturday and Sunday announced before Monday because if not Northern Rock on Monday morning will be an institution without a board."

Hutton then said that if there were no deal announced during the weekend of 17th and 18th November then an acting CEO would have to be appointed on Monday "and there would be even more serious problems for Northern Rock" which he went on to list.

Esler then turned to his other guest, Professor Willem Buiter, and asked him if he broadly agreed with that. "Yes," said Buiter.

Newsnight should not be broadcasting reports with elementary errors. And it should not be interviewing people who do not have a grasp of the subject under discussion.

A crying shame

On 15th November, the BBC became embroiled in another fakery row. This time news staff added the sounds of babies crying to footage of quintuplets born to a Russian woman.

The five girls were born the previous weekend at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. The hospital distributed clips of the quintuplets, their mother and her husband on VT with no audio.

BBC news staff then found some old audio of babies crying, added it to the VT and broadcast the VT and the fake audio until someone spotted the babies all had respirators in their mouths.

Newsnight's report on the UK "credit crisis"

Newsnight presented a criticism of the Bank of England governor Mervyn King and chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling on 6th November 2007 for its handling of of recent problems in the banking industry in particular by "squashing" a Lloyds Bank acquisition of Northern Rock.

Newsnight reporter Paul Mason stated that the UK was suffering from a "credit crisis" and claimed that that Darling had "squashed" Lloyds Bank's tentative takeover of Northern Rock without disclosing that Lloyds had asked the government for billions of state financing for the acquisition and the government had merely declined to refuse to provide this just as they would decline to provide financing for other private companies. The government had not "squashed" any bid from Lloyds Bank.

And which high-flying City grandee had the BBC found to provide clips saying that the Bank of England should not concern itself with inflation, moral hazard or prudent central banking? Well - none of them. They only came up with Clem Chambers, who runs a website called ADVFN.com, which lists share prices.

Chambers said that when things are as bad as they are now then the government should bail out companies with problems. "Moral hazard has to go out of the window and government and regulators have to get together and protect the system," he claimed.

If the situation was as bad as Mason was claiming how come the best he could get to appear on his report and say government cash should be used to bail out private sector failures was Chambers? Where were the senior bank executives or senior economists to back up his assertion?

And which government rep was in the studio to discuss the matter afterwards? James Purnell, the culture secretary, best known for getting photoshopped into a picture in a hospital and then claiming he didn't know it would be done. Purnell told Jeremy Paxman that the government was planning to increase government guarantees of bank deposits from the current low level, something the programme had already mentioned before in a previous report.

Jeremy Paxman, despite his million pound salary, wasn't listening to Purnell's comment and replied incongruously: "Well if you do it for one you'd have to do it for all."

When will the Newsnight editors figure out they need interviewers who listen to and understand replies to their questions? And they should get relevant government ministers in the studio to answer questions or none at all.

Paul Mason, commenting on the effect of the upcoming BBC staff cuts said recently: “Quality is being sacrificed to dross.” Mr Mason: we're getting the dross already.

Important issues on Newsnight should be reported competently. They should not be covered by odd-job reporters who only have a poor grasp of the subject and produce reports containing clips from inappropriate contributors. And there should be no studio interviews by presenters who don't listen to answers of discredited ministers from the wrong department.

Paul Mason

Paul Mason was back on Newsnight the following evening with a piece on oil prices. Paul Morgan, a guest, projected that if demand for oil continued to increase it could reach $160 in nominal terms by 2030. If that was the case the nominal price of oil would only grow at 2% each year until then. Morgan was presumably confused and meant to say real terms.

But Mason didn't correct him but made the reverse error himself, explaining that $160 in nominal terms in 2030 was "several hundred dollars in real terms".

Peter Fincham resigns

BBC One controller Peter Fincham resigned on 5th October 2007 following the publication of a report into footage and comments that distorted the actions of Queen Elizabeth.

In July, a trailer for the documentary, A Year With The Queen, appeared to show her storming out of a photo session.

Fincham told the press she was "walking out in a huff", but it emerged the trailer had been edited out of sequence.

Fincham failed to correct the story still being broadcast in BBC new bulletins until hours after he had been made aware of the facts. Fincham's boss at the BBC, Jana Bennett, still continues in post in charge of all BBC TV despite the avalanche of admissions about fakery and deception in her area of responsibility.

Fincham told the BBC inquiry that he made it clear to Bennett in an evening meeting on the day of the press conference that the story was untrue. Bennett disputes this.

Alan Yentob

Alan Yentob is designated the BBC's "creative director" - and collects a huge salary. It was £300,000 last time it was made public - in 2004.

The BBC announced that footage of Yentob has been inserted into programmes to give the false impression that he had conducted interviews actually carried out by junior staff members.

The BBC admitted that Yentob's behaviour was unacceptable but has so far failed to axe him. Days later the BBC announced that Yentob had not in fact been inserted into any noddy shots so the original announcement about him was false.

Northern Rock

The BBC reported on 13th September 2007 that the Bank of England was making emergency funding facilities available to Northern Rock, a UK bank that had been overtrading lending on residential property and was having problems paying its debts.

The following morning, the BBC reporter Declan Curry appeared on BBC News 24 telling viewers that Northern Rock was solvent, was not in financial difficulties, and was not being bailed out by the Bank of England.

Declan Curry did not appear to be aware that Northern Rock's banking website had crashed which meant savers with accounts only available via the internet could not access their money - and that the first run on a bank in England since the nineteenth century had just begun.

The six o'clock news on BBC One introduced a report from Hugh Pym "at the Stock Exchange". The hapless Pym was in fact standing in the street outside the Bank of England.

BBC 6 Music

BBC 6 Music radio producer Leona McCambridge was fired in September 2007 over phone-in fakes.

BBC staff had pretended to be winners in a contest on Liz Kershaw’s show on the digital radio channel. The fake phone-ins occurred on several shows that had been recorded.

Newsnight

In July 2007 Newsnight was caught out doctoring a report. Newsnight changed the sequence of events in a film highly critical of Gordon Brown, then chancellor of the exchequer.

Mr Brown's officials complained to the BBC about an 'unfair, unbalanced, unnecessarily personal, and disingenuous' film which they claimed was altered in an attempt to make him look like a thug.

Newsnight editor Peter Barron admitted that a sequence of events had been reversed in the film, but refused to apologise.

Two weeks later the BBC apologised to the Treasury over the doctored report. BBC director of news, Helen Boaden, said that the BBC has written to the Treasury to make an apology about the film. Barron continued in post at Newsnight.

Asian leaders

In September 2007, BBC News 24 ran a clip several times one day reporting that President Bush had commented on a videoblog released by terrorist Osama bin Laden. The BBC reporter told viewers President Bush was at a photo opportunity with the Japanese prime minister. In fact he was sitting with the South Korean president, and in front of two South Korean flags.

Misrepresenting Queen Elizabeth

BBC One controller misrepresented Queen Elizabeth in a press briefing in July 2007, saying the Queen had "walking out in a huff" from a photo session, which she had not. Fincham had also showed some clips of a forthcoming TV programme in the wrong order to support his claim.

The BBC later apologised for the deceit but only after newspapers had publicised his TV show repeating the claims he had made.

The BBC Trust then asked director-general Mark Thompson to explain what went wrong.

Blue Peter

Ofcom has fined the BBC £50,000 for breaking the broadcasting code when the winner in a Blue Peter phone-in competition was faked in 2006.

This is the first time that a TV regulator has ever fined the BBC.

Ofcom said that the BBC breached two points of the broadcasting code - rule 2.11, which states the competitions should be conducted fairly; and rule 1.26, which states that "Due care must be taken over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under 18 who take part or are otherwise involved in programmes... ."

In September 2007, the BBC fired Blue Peter producer, Richard Marson. He had set up a viewers' poll to decide the name of a cat. The viewers voted for Cookie but the cat was then called Socks.

Panorama

Panorama, once a respected and responsible investigative current affairs series has now become sensationalist and amateurish. The BBC Trust announced it is investigating two programmes broadcast in 2007, one a bit of pseudo-science about wi-fi networks in schools - and one about the Church of Scientology. A BBC reporter, John Sweeney, lost his temper and bawled like a madman at one of the interviewees in a sequence filmed by a church member and released on the internet.

Another Panorama programme called Murder at the World Cup in 2007 padded out an entire half-hour with wild speculation about the death of Bob Woolmer, a cricket coach for one of the teams playing in a cricket series. Viewers were told that the coach was mysteriously poisoned but with not enough poison to kill him but just enough to disable him so the murderer could gain access to his hotel room and strangle him. A month later the BBC reported that Woolmer had died of natural causes.

The Daily Politics

On 27th June 2007, the BBC cut off Tony Blair's final words in parliament because PMQs overran by a few minutes. The Daily Politics failed to broadcast Mr Blair saying emotionally: "And that's it the end" and the standing ovation from MPs as he left the chamber for the last time.

Viewers were then shown trailers for BBC shows called Rome and Jeckyll.

BBC News 24 also cut short Mr Blair's two minutes standing ovation. The BBC apologised to viewers for cutting off the prime minister, saying it made the "wrong decision".

Stealth advertising at the BBC

In September 2005, The Sunday Times reported that several BBC programmes included unannounced ads, product endorsements or product placements in return for say travel costs and hotel bills.

All of this is in contravention of BBC guidelines which state “there must be no product placement in programmes”. It is also illegal.

Johnny Vaughan

Johnny Vaughan was hired by Greg Dyke in a contract as the corporation's highest-paid entertainer - paying him millions. In February 2003 an edition of Johnny Vaughan Tonight was seen by just 58,000 viewers. All of his other shows were also failures.

BBC Two

In the summer of 2004 BBC Two repeated the 1980's Miss Marple series - all with faded colours. In the first episode shown, Jason Rafiel died. In the second episode Mr Rafiel was back to life and played by a different actor!

The suitably named Jane Root used to schedule up to three gardening programmes back-to-back on BBC Two. No BBC executive told her about science, technology, business, geopolitics or anything else that would have made up a balanced schedule.

BBC Three

BBC Three annoys its viewers by placing a graphic, known as a DOG, on the screen. The logo displays the channel name. In August 2005 it decided to test their patience some more by doubling its size.

Many viewers complained and BBC Three described them on the BBC website as "geeks who should get a life". The article began: "In a world where international terrorism, indiscriminate murder and global poverty are facts of life, you might think people would have more important things to worry about than little logos in the top corner of their television screen."

Viewers complained about the patronising comments and the article was toned down and then withdrawn. The channel also said it has decreased the size of the logo.

BBC Four

BBC Four also has its own logo. Every day it breaks its own rules, turning it on or off during programmes. No one in the BBC cares - or does anything about it. In fact, there is no need for any screen graffiti on any digital channel as all such channels are identified by the receivers.

The Eurovision Song Contest

BBC One screened the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 as it has since the event launched. The video and audio were provided by the host broadcaster. All the BBC had to do was provide introductions to the songs in English. Terry Wogan spoke over the start of most of the songs. He could be heard mumbling to others in the studio in the middle of the Ukraine entry, Wild Dance performed by Ruslana, the song that won the contest.

In 2005 viewers were asked to choose between four weak songs for the UK entry. One was sung by Jordan, a topless model. The breast of Javine, the singer of the eventual UK entry, popped out of her dress live on TV.

At the final live in Kiev, Terry Wogan started speaking during the performance of the winning entry by Helena Paparizou from Greece. He referred to Ukraine's head of state, President Viktor Yushchenko, as "Yushchenko" several seconds after he had walked on stage - and he did not recognize the Ukraine prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, when she appeared on screen.

Javine's UK entry only received points from four of 38 countries eligible to vote and came 22nd out of 24. Paddy O'Connell then told BBC viewers that he thought this was due to "political voting".

Terry Wogan presented a show called Making Your Mind Up on BBC One on 17th March 2007 to choose the UK's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Wogan announced the winner was a French woman called Cyndi. Then his co-host, Fearne Cotton, told viewers the winner was a pop group called Scooch.

£10 million for an old movie

On Christmas Day 2004, BBC One screened an old Harry Potter movie at peak time. Just 8.1 million watched it, a dismal audience for such a time. The BBC had paid £10 million for the rights. Most of those who watched could equally well have played their own DVD of the film benefiting from the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. The others could have bought a copy for the money the BBC had spent on their behalf - and also watched the additional features on the second DVD included in the pack.

Radio 5 Live

On 12th May 2005, Shelagh Fogarty interviewed George Galloway MP. A US senate committee had accused him of receiving oil allocations under the UN's Iraq oil-for-food programme.

Ms Fogarty asked if he had circumvented the oil-for-food programme. Mr Galloway patiently replied that no one had accused him of circumventing the programme, but of receiving oil under the programme.

Then Nicky Campbell, equally unprepared for the interview, asked the same question again.

Brian Hayes announced in July 2004 that "hundreds of British holidaymakers are fleeing a hurricane in Florida". In fact, many Florida residents would die that day due to Hurricane Charley. And Mr Hayes is one of the better presenters on Radio Five Live.

On 9th December 2005, England's draw for the World Cup had been announced. Brian Hayes said "bookmaker Paddy Power" could tell listeners the odds of England winning the competition.

"Good evening, Paddy," he continued.

Stephen Nolan, an Irishman with a grating Belfast accent worked four days a week in Belfast and then came over to Manchester to do shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Radio 5 Live.

On 29th July 2006 he referred to a strike which had affected thousands of travellers at Barcelona's Prat airport.

Nolan asked listeners to call in if they had been affected by "the strike in the Spanish capital".

Business coverage

On 19th February 2007, The World Today on Radio 4 reported that Wall Street's Dow Jones Index closed up three points at 12,767. It was closed for a public holiday.

On 13th November 2005, Ceefax reported: "Chinese hinting at yuan devaluation". In fact they were hinting at the opposite, a yuan revaluation. The accompanying article said that "China keeps the yuan at a fixed rate against the dollar". The Chinese had discontinued that policy several months before, had then revalued the yuan and were keeping the yuan in a narrow band against a basket of currencies.

Wake Up To Money is BBC radio's flagship business programme. In May 2005, it reported that the New York state authorities had filed a lawsuit against American International Group, the largest insurance company in the world. "Is it called International Group?" asked Guy Ruddle, the programme's co-presenter. Ruddle was finally removed in October 2005 after presenting Wake Up To Money for five years.

On a different edition of Wake Up to Money, a presenter referred to an item later in the programme about "bartering", asking: "Do you barter when you are buying a new car?" A listener texted the show telling them they were talking about haggling and not bartering. Sonali Gudka read out the text but they still went ahead with the item about "bartering". The BBC TV text service also covered the story. It took some hours before staff replaced the word "bartering" with "bargaining".

World Business Report is broadcast on the BBC's international channel, BBC World. The 9.30pm edition of the show is broadcast around the world outside the UK. The BBC gets around to screening it on its domestic news channel, News 24, three hours later in the middle of the night.

In the edition recorded on 30th June 2006, Damian Grammaticas featured in a report about the Russian rouble. The report was jazzed up with fancy graphics and random music tracks.

Viewers to World Business Report were then promised a feature about the Mexican presidential elections. However, this was never shown. Three minutes later the report about the Russian rouble was played again.

In October 2006, the BBC announced it was launching a "wholesale review" of its business coverage on TV, radio and the internet.

It is understood that the BBC's business editorial unit is frustrated by what it perceives as a wider lack of understanding of business issues within parts of the BBC's sprawling news operation.

The review will also look at whether business stories that do make mainstream news broadcasts focus too heavily on consumer or "fat cat" stories.

Stock markets decline

In August 2007 stock markets declined around the world. Radio Five Live invited on Henk Potts, a Barclays stockbroking rep, who said the problems were caused by the sub-prime liabilities held by banks and other financial institutions. No one pointed out should have said assets instead of liabilities.

A day or so later Potts was invited on BBC News 24 and he made the same mistake. The BBC's coverage of finance is now plagued both by the poor understanding of their own staff but also by that of those invited into their studios.

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