Silly Little Country

British Blathercasting Corporation

Maybe I am just unlucky, and it is that one day of the year.

Here in my hotel in Winchester, I have subjected myself to the BBC Breakfast show. It is a purely promotional presentation of the London Olympic 2012 bid. There is no pretense of reporting news. One of the reporters (James pearce (sp?)) shared with us his profound nervousness waiting for the IOC decision.

There is no sense of irony at all. Much energy has been spent on making fun of the French press' coverage of the British promotional efforts of the last few days (it is hard to imagine a British sports celebrity who has not been assigned to schmoozing in Singapore - even Becks was there). Meanwhile, the BBC has been gloating all morning that the French presentation to the IOC today was rather flat, failing to pull the heartstrings of the London presentation. All the French said was that they had a great city fully capable of doing the job - what fools.

Curiously, a show host occasionally reads e-mail from viewers, several of whom have minimal enthusiasm for the idea of imposing the 2012 Olympics on London. But those folk get no further voice; the whole orientation of this coverage is that the UK needs to win this bid.

Is there any other news? Yes, indeed. There have been several promotional pieces on the 'free' Kenyan schools, highly orchestrated and arranged. No resemblance there to news reporting either. See here for a discussion.

Oh right - also, there is a G8 meeting, so the usual textbook anarchist/anti-globalization demonstrations are going on and being mentioned.

When I am in Canada too long I get infuriated at the misallocation of resources that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation represents. When I sit here watching the BBC I almost feel lucky to be a Canadian. Maybe I will have to rename this blog to 'Mildly Silly Little Country, and maybe not so silly as others'.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 3:40 AM