So, my BBC South East Today interview in London yesterday was, predictably, outside in the wind and rain, though not as bad as my first interview. luckily you’ll never see it because it wasn’t recorded :)
But, the point of the story is that the journalist who interviewed me should be sacked. In an attempt to avoid not knowing the answer to a question like on GMTV last week, I asked what the questions might cover. Her response, and I quote, “oh I don’t really know. To be honest, I didn’t write the questions and I haven’t even looked at them. I don’t know anything about the story, I’ve just come down to ask the questions.”
Great help. Not only was it annoying because it meant that I had to think on my feet when she asked something I didn’t know, but mainly it winds me up that the BBC employ such useless people when there are so many people who would kill to have her job.
Before I started at Fubra, Brendan told me that journalists are inherently lazy and all need to be shot. Or something to that effect. And I stood up for them, arguing that the majority properly research and balance stories, and that he was being unfair. Having been on the receiving end of calls from journos asking how many litres are in a gallon (what, Google too difficult?), asking for info I already sent them but they couldn’t be bothered to read, and generally not appreciating the jobs they’ve got, I have to say I tend to agree with him.
Strictly Not News
I’ve been meaning to use this blog more to comment more on media/PR news and to document my comments on news stories elsewhere, but life somehow gets in the way. Here is my latest comment on an article about the number of complaints to the BBC over John Sergeant leaving Strictly Come Dancing on MediaGuardian:
It’s understandable that the public, egged on by programme makers looking to boost viewing figures at that crucial two-thirds-of-the-way-through hurdle, fall for these kind of stunts. But the press? There was a whole package dedicated to this on Channel 4 News last night. What happened to a news agenda?
The public need to learn that outside of voting competitions and ‘have your say’ that actually, they can’t expect to influence aspects of the lives of those on TV. If John Sergent wanted to leave it’s his choice – why should viewers have the ability to bring him back?
The press need to learn not to fall for PR scams and stop giving reality TV contestants space on the agenda of serious news outlets.
I would have been much more interested to read about the way the media have blown this story all out of proportion and possible reasons (audience figures of the news outlets themselves, infotainment culture, payoff to leave) that paper thin publicity stunt fodder ended up as news at all.
The article is here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/20/strictly-come-dancing-john-sergeant
I’m still in utter disbelief that this kind of shite makes the news!