So Trump has collected two more big media scalps, this time across the Atlantic—the widely respected duo of BBC director general Tim Davie and its head of news Deborah Turness.
Well I’m a Brit, of what stripe I’m not too sure, but I know what Jackson Lamb would do if he received a letter from Trump’s lawyer threatening to sue for one billion dollars (sounding like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movie…)
The BBC is in fine form at the moment with coverage on both TV and Radio handling most difficult new stories well. Notable too is the output on BBC World Service radio which I understand is appreciated in many parts of Africa & Asia. On the badly edited Trump footage (of the events in Jan 2020 which led to impeachment proceedings and criminal prosecutions in the US), no one appears to have complained about the program when it was broadcast in 2024.
On the legal damages, if nobody saw the program in America, and President Trump was unaware of it, it doesn’t sound very damaging. The truth is this - Trump’s actions in threatening legal action make him appear weak not strong. He would not dare give a deposition on oath since he would risk Clinton’s fate in the Paula Jones deposition of committing perjury. Trump is too frightened of cross examination. China can’t tell the difference between a confused Biden and a Trump suffering from dementia. Trump is Biden 2.0
2028? Trump has little chance of surviving that long in office. The 25th Amendment beckons - the BBC will report on all of that too. And do a jolly good job…
Great appearance by Tina B on Call My Bluff on BBC4 last night
omy g, Call My Bluff fills me with deep embarassment. Must have been 45 years ago,. Beetroot blush. Trump doesnt really care if he wins or not, he will have done what he intended - embarrass and intimidate and unfortunately has already been successful in both.
The most hopeful thing I have seen recently is the Federal Judge who has resigned to speak out, on PBS Newshour. America is all about government by the people for the people:
I love the BBC and read the Guardian. Let us hope that the November 4 elections was the crack -- a la Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in..."
Here from the Guardian: “If [Trump] sues, he opens a Pandora’s box, and in that Pandora’s box is every damning quote he’s ever uttered about Jan 6,” said [Mark] Stephens [a media lawyer]. “So this isn’t the hill to die on, in my view. It’s a legal cliff edge, and if he jumps, there’s a high chance he’ll fall.”
True, Tina, but my money is on the BBC...my Brit grandfather, who came to America because he was done with saying, "Yes, sir," and "No, sir," would agree.
Absolutely right. As someone who has covered Foreign Policy, national security, and First Amendment issues for over 30 years, I can attest to the Beeb’s superb coverage. Don’t let the extreme right isolationists destroy the BBC as it has the Voice of America.
I love it, Tina. We are privileged to have you (and your vocabulary) on this side of the ocean. Thanks for telling it like it is. It helps. Plus, kudos to all my fellow commentators.
This is as fine a defence of the Beeb as one is likely to read, one which, a few years ago, I would happily have nodded along to. Radio 4 was for long the backing track to my days and I trace my growing disillusion with the organisation back to its transparent and inevitably hopeless pursuit of the 'youth' market. What followed from this misguided strategy was an easy acquiescence to a marked, cosy metro-liberalism with an accompanying embrace of modern-day groupthink - be it lockdown severity during the pandemic, the dark consensus of climate-change cataclysm and the noticeable genuflection to lgbt+ etc / trans issues. While the current trampling of the BBC will inevitably attract a cast of characters one might wince at being associated with, I find it hard not to reflect that this latest mishap indicates an outfit that has grown a countenance just a little too pleased with itself.
"Every day, the Beeb exhibits the virtuosity of its excellence as a global news and investigative omnivore and a creative force in drama and entertainment. Their coverage of seminal royal events is masterful, not least because it is the only channel that knows when to shut up at key majestic moments."
The meshing of high & low brow prose is your signature magic. I, for one, really love it. Especially when the low ("... that knows when to shut up at key majestic moments.") is strategically placed at the end of a paragraph of words celebrating the best of the BBC.
You can’t call this sloppy-as-hell video editing — it was a deliberate manipulation. Why should we taxpayer-fund a public service broadcaster if we can’t rely on serious, trustworthy coverage?
I really believe it was carelessness not deliberate malfeasance. But its a very bad mistake- editing 101 to not splice things together. I would like to have seen the Panorama editor and the program director fired by the head of news, not the head of news and DG fired. Protecting people was a bad mistake T
A finely crafted piece! Pleasure to read an insightful and wise commentary on the BBC farrago. Always enoy your brillant use of words and language. Bravo....
From this side of the Atlantic, I too cling to the life rafts of the BBC, the Guardian and the PBS New Hour, but the fact that the BBC caved is so disheartening that it makes jumping off the raft into today's cold and brutal waters make sense - just to numb the pain.
Caved? They spliced news footage to make Donald Trump look worse than he already does. And for what purpose? He already radiated his corruption and anti democratic will to power. This was sleazy journalism. Beneath a renowned news source
Bravo! The Beeb has many faults, as you and many of your commenters make clear, and the Trump edit was a really poor mistake, as is their capture on e.g. trans issues, but it is indispensible to the wellbeing and character of this country. To the barricades indeed.
Indeed. The trouble with the BBC it's so damn enormous something bad is bound to be happening somewhere somehow in one of its outposts. It needs really tight oversight of individual shows not muddled oversight from the top.
Thank you for writing so well about this. I am spitting with rage over it. I am so frustrated at the way the BBC's stumbling has brought all this down on top of its head in agonising slow-motion, and now look where we are! It was bad enough with the two needless resignations and all that led up to it, but now! Handing Trump the perfect gift to gloat over the whole thing. You might be able to tell I'm a Brit too, I am very proud of the BBC and its reach around the world, able to hold up journalistic integrity despite everything else falling around our ears. But now??
I know .Its toothgrinding. Journalists have to be so intensely careful at the best of times and this is a moment when no mistakes can be made , but they stepped on a mine and the fall out is calamitous. .
Well I’m a Brit, of what stripe I’m not too sure, but I know what Jackson Lamb would do if he received a letter from Trump’s lawyer threatening to sue for one billion dollars (sounding like Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movie…)
The BBC is in fine form at the moment with coverage on both TV and Radio handling most difficult new stories well. Notable too is the output on BBC World Service radio which I understand is appreciated in many parts of Africa & Asia. On the badly edited Trump footage (of the events in Jan 2020 which led to impeachment proceedings and criminal prosecutions in the US), no one appears to have complained about the program when it was broadcast in 2024.
On the legal damages, if nobody saw the program in America, and President Trump was unaware of it, it doesn’t sound very damaging. The truth is this - Trump’s actions in threatening legal action make him appear weak not strong. He would not dare give a deposition on oath since he would risk Clinton’s fate in the Paula Jones deposition of committing perjury. Trump is too frightened of cross examination. China can’t tell the difference between a confused Biden and a Trump suffering from dementia. Trump is Biden 2.0
2028? Trump has little chance of surviving that long in office. The 25th Amendment beckons - the BBC will report on all of that too. And do a jolly good job…
Great appearance by Tina B on Call My Bluff on BBC4 last night
omy g, Call My Bluff fills me with deep embarassment. Must have been 45 years ago,. Beetroot blush. Trump doesnt really care if he wins or not, he will have done what he intended - embarrass and intimidate and unfortunately has already been successful in both.
I'd like to think you are right about Trump. But events have proven over and over that he can never be underestimated.
The most hopeful thing I have seen recently is the Federal Judge who has resigned to speak out, on PBS Newshour. America is all about government by the people for the people:
https://youtu.be/kMJM9ozAsPg?si=qYe6bMwBEqjyVi7c
see above
I’m clinging to the life rafts of BBC News America and PBS News Hour
for dear life every evening in New York now that our corporate media overlords seem to have lost their way. Long Live the Beeb!
Competely share your view. Last spark of sanity.T
I love the BBC and read the Guardian. Let us hope that the November 4 elections was the crack -- a la Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in..."
I love that. The trouble is, that Trump sees a crack and drives a crack through it.
Here from the Guardian: “If [Trump] sues, he opens a Pandora’s box, and in that Pandora’s box is every damning quote he’s ever uttered about Jan 6,” said [Mark] Stephens [a media lawyer]. “So this isn’t the hill to die on, in my view. It’s a legal cliff edge, and if he jumps, there’s a high chance he’ll fall.”
Mark is always smart on these issues, but Trump is not rational as we know. Suing is a blood sport for him.
True, Tina, but my money is on the BBC...my Brit grandfather, who came to America because he was done with saying, "Yes, sir," and "No, sir," would agree.
Thanks Tina. Would love to see you on the board of the BBC.
Thank you but i cannot imagine a worse fate!
Tina, No one does this better because no one has the range of transatlantic experience and the voice, sassy and very wise.
Thanks, Peter. Its a very dangerous time for the Beeb and with a very weak Starmer as well it doesnt bode anything good< i fear. T
Absolutely right. As someone who has covered Foreign Policy, national security, and First Amendment issues for over 30 years, I can attest to the Beeb’s superb coverage. Don’t let the extreme right isolationists destroy the BBC as it has the Voice of America.
It would be more than a tragedy. It would be a true global disaster to lose its pursuit of the facts without bias.
I love it, Tina. We are privileged to have you (and your vocabulary) on this side of the ocean. Thanks for telling it like it is. It helps. Plus, kudos to all my fellow commentators.
Thanks hugely. The Fresh Hell commenters rock. Smartest group of readers and thinkers around! T
This is as fine a defence of the Beeb as one is likely to read, one which, a few years ago, I would happily have nodded along to. Radio 4 was for long the backing track to my days and I trace my growing disillusion with the organisation back to its transparent and inevitably hopeless pursuit of the 'youth' market. What followed from this misguided strategy was an easy acquiescence to a marked, cosy metro-liberalism with an accompanying embrace of modern-day groupthink - be it lockdown severity during the pandemic, the dark consensus of climate-change cataclysm and the noticeable genuflection to lgbt+ etc / trans issues. While the current trampling of the BBC will inevitably attract a cast of characters one might wince at being associated with, I find it hard not to reflect that this latest mishap indicates an outfit that has grown a countenance just a little too pleased with itself.
It's had some bad moments, I agree but compared to everything else, a shining star
Lyse Doucet??
And yes. like the work of Lyse Doucet T
What a tremendous column. How sad that the BBC needlessly made itself into a juicy Trump target.
Thx and yes its an awful thing they got themselves into this mess and made such a heavy price for it and for all of us
"Every day, the Beeb exhibits the virtuosity of its excellence as a global news and investigative omnivore and a creative force in drama and entertainment. Their coverage of seminal royal events is masterful, not least because it is the only channel that knows when to shut up at key majestic moments."
The meshing of high & low brow prose is your signature magic. I, for one, really love it. Especially when the low ("... that knows when to shut up at key majestic moments.") is strategically placed at the end of a paragraph of words celebrating the best of the BBC.
It will recover and prevail, says I!
So glad you like my high low keystrokes! yes the beeb will recover and prevail - if we fight for it. T
You must take Vanity Fair back and fill it with great writers! It's so nothing now...
You can’t call this sloppy-as-hell video editing — it was a deliberate manipulation. Why should we taxpayer-fund a public service broadcaster if we can’t rely on serious, trustworthy coverage?
I really believe it was carelessness not deliberate malfeasance. But its a very bad mistake- editing 101 to not splice things together. I would like to have seen the Panorama editor and the program director fired by the head of news, not the head of news and DG fired. Protecting people was a bad mistake T
A finely crafted piece! Pleasure to read an insightful and wise commentary on the BBC farrago. Always enoy your brillant use of words and language. Bravo....
Thank you so much, Lisa and for supporting FG as a paid subscriber. Its a lot of work and your appreciation makes it worth while. Happy Thanksgiving T
From this side of the Atlantic, I too cling to the life rafts of the BBC, the Guardian and the PBS New Hour, but the fact that the BBC caved is so disheartening that it makes jumping off the raft into today's cold and brutal waters make sense - just to numb the pain.
Caved? They spliced news footage to make Donald Trump look worse than he already does. And for what purpose? He already radiated his corruption and anti democratic will to power. This was sleazy journalism. Beneath a renowned news source
See my thoughts on that above
Welll, now they are fighting the law suit but the leadership so weakened I fear they will now botch this aspect of it too.
Bravo! The Beeb has many faults, as you and many of your commenters make clear, and the Trump edit was a really poor mistake, as is their capture on e.g. trans issues, but it is indispensible to the wellbeing and character of this country. To the barricades indeed.
Indeed. The trouble with the BBC it's so damn enormous something bad is bound to be happening somewhere somehow in one of its outposts. It needs really tight oversight of individual shows not muddled oversight from the top.
I've seen commentary saying you for DG. I won't ask you to comment!
Thank you for writing so well about this. I am spitting with rage over it. I am so frustrated at the way the BBC's stumbling has brought all this down on top of its head in agonising slow-motion, and now look where we are! It was bad enough with the two needless resignations and all that led up to it, but now! Handing Trump the perfect gift to gloat over the whole thing. You might be able to tell I'm a Brit too, I am very proud of the BBC and its reach around the world, able to hold up journalistic integrity despite everything else falling around our ears. But now??
I know .Its toothgrinding. Journalists have to be so intensely careful at the best of times and this is a moment when no mistakes can be made , but they stepped on a mine and the fall out is calamitous. .
They allowed journalistic malpractice. And for what? To make an evil moron look wise than he already did?
Their mistake was not to instantly apologize but they sat on it for months dithering and prevaricating. Classic deep state muddling.