BBC News

[Dave2002]

Why is the BBC News spending time discussing “uncovered” problems by one person who appears to have made mistakes in his personal life, but has done nothing illegal? This seems to be sinking to the level of the tabloid press. There must surely be much more important issues to highlight.

Are there some other news items - arising from the government or elsewhere which are being kept out of the spotlight?

[Frances_iom]

... This seems to be sinking to the level of the tabloid press. ...

several reasons - one I suspect is the assumption that it can grow the listeners by attracting this tabloid readership (likewise look at the coverage of dead pop musicians), the others are that it is cheap journalism (in both senses) and that it has the 'attractive' benefit of denigrating a competitor. It is just one example of the BBC having lost its way.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wondered the same. There are multiple examples of infidelity among famous names among broadcasters that go unnoticed for years. So why this one in particular?

It’s an example of BBC “mono-news”, rather like:
Covid-19,
Prince Harry
The Coronation
Death of John Peel
Floods in Cockermouth…

All of the above swamped BBC news to the extent of bigger issues being ignored - or buried.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Why is the BBC News spending time discussing “uncovered” problems by one person who appears to have made mistakes in his personal life, but has done nothing illegal? This seems to be sinking to the level of the tabloid press. There must surely be much more important issues to highlight.

Are there some other news items - arising from the government or elsewhere which are being kept out of the spotlight?

Surely not, how could you think such a thing?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Why is the BBC News spending time discussing “uncovered” problems by one person who appears to have made mistakes in his personal life, but has done nothing illegal? This seems to be sinking to the level of the tabloid press. There must surely be much more important issues to highlight.

Are there some other news items - arising from the government or elsewhere which are being kept out of the spotlight?

I suspect because that’s what they think the viewers want. All the Brexit / Red Wall stuff has left the powers that be convinced that the BBC has been too elitist and missed out on reflecting the views of some ill defined silent majority. So we now have the metropolitan elite (who would rather be seen dead than watching This Morning) poring over every nuance like it’s a major geopolitical issue.
Another example is the extensive recent Eurovision coverage. Everyone but everyone in BBC News know is utter rubbish but it comes into the camp “ so bad it’s good “ category so one can still live up to one’s Oxbridge Humanities degree by being ironic about it. I’ve more or less stopped watching all TV News now that I don’t have to professionally because I’ve realised , with a few honourable exceptions , it is too superficial to merit any of my time,

[french frank]

one person who appears to have made mistakes in his personal life, but has done nothing illegal.

That's the bit that baffles me regardless of whether it's a tabloid news item of surpassing interest. He also lied (unlike, as Marina Hyde has recently pointed out, current politicians). Unless there was a company rule about relationships between members of staff I'm not even sure whose concern it was other than his then wife's. But, I agree with others, the BBC news is distinctly red top journalism because a) it's what 'people' are interested in and b) the time when the BBC stood proudly apart from the diktats of popular taste have long gone.

[smittims]

I wonder if selection of what-is-and-is-not news is done by robot software looking for similar stories to recently-much-discussed ones, regardless of their actual importance. For instance, the question of whether or not the people killed in the RTA that preceded the Cardiff riot were being followed by the police. Round the time of the Grenfell inquiry 'cladding' was a key word that sparked several 'news items' which weren't really 'news' at all, or not significantly so.


TV news is , I suspect also selected on the amount of exciting moving pictures available of the event. Where there isn't much , it is repeated several times while the news people 'speculate' (i.e. occupy the attention of listeners).

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wonder if selection of what-is-and-is-not news is done by robot software looking for similar stories to recently-much-discussed ones, regardless of their actual importance. For instance, the question of whether or not the people killed in the RTA that preceded the Cardiff riot were being followed by the police. Round the time of the Grenfell inquiry 'cladding' was a key word that sparked several 'news items' which weren't really 'news' at all, or not significantly so.


TV news is , I suspect also selected on the amount of exciting moving pictures available of the event. Where there isn't much , it is repeated several times while the news people 'speculate' (i.e. occupy the attention of listeners).

Not sure the moving pics argument stands up as two of the three stories you cite - the Cardiff crash and Schofield were not particularly picture rich. I think BBC and ITV TV news values are very driven by the newspapers eg the Mail. Most TV news programmes start with a daily meeting where people trawl over three things - first the prospects - a list drawn up by a subsection called Newsgatbering. This is a very long list of the day’s predictable news events , where the various correspondents are and what they are planning to send , and longer term items including exclusives and think pieces. The other two elements are what other media have been doing esp the Today programme . The third element is a bit more free form - e.g original ideas though these often have a newspaper origin . As you can imagine this can make for a very long meeting. As far as I know there are no bots involved..

[Barbirollians]

I wondered the same. There are multiple examples of infidelity among famous names among broadcasters that go unnoticed for years. So why this one in particular?

It’s an example of BBC “mono-news”, rather like:
Covid-19,
Prince Harry
The Coronation
Death of John Peel
Floods in Cockermouth…

All of the above swamped BBC news to the extent of bigger issues being ignored - or buried.

Bigger issues than Covid 19 ! That is hardly comparable to Phillip Schofield .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Bigger issues than Covid 19 ! That is hardly comparable to Phillip Schofield .

Probably the biggest news story of the last ten years but I found the BBC and ITV news coverage excessive and morbid . I pretty much stopped watching TV news then and haven’t got back in the habit. I’ll watch on a big political news day but that about it.

[eighthobstruction]

Bigger issues than Covid 19 ! That is hardly comparable to Phillip Schofield .

....true....such a sad sad face....stopped me in my tracks - should I have a pastie or meat & potato pie for lunch....

[Pulcinella]

Probably the biggest news story of the last ten years but I found the BBC and ITV news coverage excessive and morbid . I pretty much stopped watching TV news then and haven’t got back in the habit. I’ll watch on a big political news day but that about it.

You lasted longer than me. I gave up the day after the Brexit referendum, and can't say I feel I've missed out.
I get all I need from my online Times subscription, the Guardian and Independent websites, and (mainly for amusement) York Press: Best Fish and Chip shops in North Yorkshire, for example.
In case you're wondering:

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/23559812.north-yorkshire-7-best-places-fish-chips/

[Serial_Apologist]

....true....such a sad sad face....stopped me in my tracks - should I have a pastie or meat & potato pie for lunch....

Wait for the commercials on the other channel!

[Serial_Apologist]

It all comes down to the BBC ineluctably being part of the "invisible hand" of cultural compliance in relativising what is of importance to a public reared on instant gratification then blamed for it all when the whole edifice inevitably goes t*ts up.

I don't know the solution if we are to be so dependent on the mainstream status quo-perpetuating mass media without possession of the ideological criteria to to see through the distortions and half-truths. Even then we need to know of events, for example new rules on showing proof of identity etc we are forced to comply with or fall foul of the law.

[eighthobstruction]

....However, TWatO....very good 2 long investigations into Parliamentary Abuse and Whatsap Row which was fleshed out quite well (beyond my expectation)....I think they ignored the ITV thang....