What colour is Betsan Powys?
Thursday, February 08, 2007
The personal is political; so goes the well-known phrase. But when the person is a political journalist, how important is it for us to know which party they secretly admire?
Not very, some would say, providing their reporting is accurate and fair. Problem is, journalists are humans and they'll never be able to completely hide their own beliefs and prejudices. And anyway, journalists do a lot more than talking to camera.
Day in day out they'll be communicating with party sources and politicians. In these situations, a journalist's political colours are imperative. Party bigwigs can often be heard muttering 'well that's because X is Labour/Plaid/Tory through and through' as unsympathetic broadcasts go to air. When X comes calling again the next week, he or she might not find sources quite so co-operative.
So, perhaps they should all come clean - tell us what they believe in and we can offset that against their journalism? Or do they already do a good job at putting their dogma on the ideological back burner? How many complaints are there, for instance, against the unashamedly Tory Nick Robinson?
For the record, my own politics are simple: I dislike undemocratic privilege in all its forms. And I abhor short-sighted political decisions that result in suffering, death or oppression elsewhere. I believe the world is a far too fractured place and that more should be done to emphasise what brings us together rather than what sets us apart. I feel no bond to anyone in particular - whichever party best serves these beliefs will get my vote.
Our political reporters will have a key role to play between now and May's elections. Can they possibly be whiter than white the whole time, or will the ideological undercoat inevitably begin to seep through?
Labels: Betsan Powys, bias, ethics, Journalism, Nick Robinson, politics
posted by Blamerbell @ 9:39 am,
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Tata Steel: philanthropists or murderers?
Friday, February 02, 2007
There was much rejoicing in South Wales this week when it was announced that India's Tata Steel had taken-over Corus for £6.2bn.
Watching BBC's Wales Today you'd have thought Corus had been bought by Father Christmas. Back in India, Tata looks after its staff, the reporter cooed. They work no more than eight hours per day and live in model villages, she added (sparking images of the world's tiniest heavy-industry workforce). Ebbw Vale's steel workers could only hope to be treated in the same way.
What she didn't tell you was that just last year a group of tribal villagers from Kalinganagar in the Orissa province held a small protest against moves by the giant Tata steel company to displace them.
They were unhappy at not being offered market prices for their land, and had assembled to prevent the bull-dozers from destroying their houses.
The police turned up and shot 13 dead, including three women.
Tata have refused to accept any responsibility for these deaths, and one year on, the protest continues.
If this had happened in Britain, there would be decades of outrage. The Welsh steel industry may now live a few more years, but that's no reason to throw balanced reporting out the window.
Labels: BBC, buy-out, controversy, Corus, ethics, Kalinganagar, Orissa, protest, takeover, Tata steel
posted by Blamerbell @ 6:06 am,
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