you just know this is going to be bad ...RESPECT
Rather like the Monty Python take on the People's Front of Judaea who were NOT under any circumstances to be confused with the Judean People's Front, George Galloway's party "Respect" is holding its conference this weekend. And so is Respect. Confused? Well, there's a split. Or maybe there isn't. Our political editor Michael Crick will try to find out.
newsnight tonight on the respect split ...
newsnight tonight on the respect split ...
Just saw this https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_ ... 099499.stm
well, you should have had at least three swigs neko! ( muslims & bb ) i don't think saddam was mentioned, but i was taking some pliers to a radiator at the time in a ( failed ) attempt to make it work and wasn't paying to much attention
you can watch the archive if you really wanna see george and pete burns doing their robot dance ... https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/q ... efault.stm
from medialens; where crick was described as 'BBC Newsnight's gimp-in-chief'
you can watch the archive if you really wanna see george and pete burns doing their robot dance ... https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/q ... efault.stm
from medialens; where crick was described as 'BBC Newsnight's gimp-in-chief'
Dear Peter,
Michael Crick's Newsnight 'report' (16 November 2007) on the split within Respect was a disgraceful piece of shallow, biased 'journalism'.
We had the usual and expected cheap jibes and trivialities (Life of Brian-type factionalisms and that well-worn footage of Galloway in his Big Brother attire). But, we also had offensive, insulting commentary from Crick on those who form part of this movement.
I'd like you to consider very seriously the propriety of a so-called serious investigative reporter talking in sneering tones of the (former) Respect coalition as “Muslims, Marxists and a ragbag of others on the left.”
I actually count myself as a supportive part of that “ragbag” left tradition. Are people who have contributed as activists, academics and in other socially-progressive ways just to be dismissed in such derisory terms? And why the implied assumption of Muslims, Marxists and the “ragbag” as somehow distinct? Can't a Muslim also be a Marxist – or part of the “ragbag”?
Is it remotely possible to report earnestly, analytically and, dare I say it, intellectually, on such matters? Or does Gavin Esler's own sneering laugh at the end of the piece represent the true nature of Newsnight's approach to covering the left? I strongly suspect so.
You should really be embarrassed by Crick's puerile output. It's no more qualitative than that expected of the Sun.
Regards,
John
It's not just that Crick's report is biased and cliché-ridden. It's the patronising assumption that the viewer can't see this, nor cares to desire anything more qualitative.
It's part of a deep and widening poverty of journalism which eschews any serious attempt to understand, inform and explain an issue in its analytic essentials. It's dumbed-down reportage posing as 'flippant', 'irreverent' 'invstigation'.
"Confused? I am", says Crick, feigning apparent bemusement at the 'double conference'. Actually, it's not very confusing at all, as Crick obviously knows. Neither is this just a reporting device. It's part of the standard medium of ridicule reserved for left political matters.
Ultimately, there's nothing of substance here, no contextual analysis, little that would leave the viewer more aware or enlightened.
It's, essentially, 'info-tainment'. Piece pending about the 'mad left?' Let's get 'Crick on the case.' Context and story-line? Oh, yes, let's do the usual jocular stroll around the main players; even get them to comment in serious tones so we can intercut it with pantomime clips and references.
If this wasn't such a gross distortion, Crick's piece could itself be laughed-off as pantomime journalism. Alas, with it's box of editorial tricks and clowning tone, that's exactly what it is. The problem is the serious propaganda it serves to convey in the process.
you got that link incorrect Luke - here's the right one
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/
I'm grabbing the segment just now anyway, it's always good to keep a record of the shite...
btw, to the person in the article who asks 'Can a muslim not also be a Marxist?' No, they can't.
https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/
I'm grabbing the segment just now anyway, it's always good to keep a record of the shite...
btw, to the person in the article who asks 'Can a muslim not also be a Marxist?' No, they can't.
