The Golden Compass
I rarely feel the need to pass comment on articles I see on the Internet, however I recently read this article on BBC news about the film The Golden Compass.
Bypassing the hatred I feel on calling the film by its name (it will always be Northern Lights to me). The annoyance I felt about this article is summed up by the following quote:
The three-part series culminates in an epic battle in which God dies - at the hand of a child.
Not true. Just not true in the least bit. Yes God dies, but not at the hands of our heroine, more in the arms of our heroine. She is helping him, and doesn’t even know that this angel, is actually God.
Little by little I have noticed the standards of BBC news (especially their website falling), sentences that don’t make sense, spelling mistakes, inaccuracies, were they always this bad? or do I compare the BBC to a rose-tinted version of the BBC, that they never were?
November 28th, 2007 at 12:12 am
Their news output, if you listen to something like the news bulletins on Radio 2 for instance, is still of a high quality. TV news bulletins and Newsnight are generally good as well (if you ignore some of the obnoxious Paxman-wannabe presenters). Folks from outside the UK always speak highly of the World Service.
The rolling news on News 24 and the website, however, is reasonably good at best. I expect it suffers from time to time due to overworked, underpaid staff, all reporting non-news items to give the impression of a constantly updated service…
It, like RSS feeds and email, becomes less annoying when it’s switched off or only looked at for short periods of time. I’d prefer if their online articles were longer, but at least much of their broadcast output is still generally of a higher quality than elsewhere.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:08 am
I agree with what Steve has said, but lately the usual televised 6 and 10pm news shows have been poor. They have always been known for dumbing down the broadcasts (how long does it take to explain percentages?) but to me they have taken a leaf out of the tabloid pages and are simply going for viewer ratings.
That said, stories on the BBC are usually pretty well sourced. They are not the quickest people around, but at least the investigate and only announce once they are certain of is genuine nature. BBC articles I despise, especially in the technology sections. Does anyone actually read the stuff Bill Thompson spouts?
So yeah, for website news I use the BBC, but dont read the articles too deeply as they are crap. Television wise, I think Channel 4 news at 7 is the best; it just picks up more ‘real’ news, and in interviews they push a bit harder for answers.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Rightly so, Bill Thompson is generally worth avoiding.
As are all these “Have your say…” things they like to push now. Fortunately, the “Have your say…” ‘phenomenon’ has led to at least one great website showcasing the commenter’s stupidity: http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/