Water Ink

Yes it is cold out there. It hasn’t been so cold for so long for many years in the UK. Minus 20C is cold. But why the British media insist that here is “almost as cold as the South Pole”? Times put it in the headline, Guardian and Telegraph (“only 2C warmer than the South Pole”) said so. The comparison is too good to miss for Channel 4 News and BBC News as well.

The temperature at the South Pole is about -22C to -25C at the moment. It is technically true that the coldest place in the UK is only a couple of degrees warmer than the South Pole. But I’m wondering whether the journalists realised, or chose to ignore the fact that it is summer now at Antarctica?

During last night’s Channel 4 News, Francesca Martinez declared on air that she had withdrawn from Olympic torch relay in London. Martinez of course should do what satisfies her conscience. Her judgement, however, was not helped by the imbalanced reporting and sometimes misinformation from some news organisations. During the introduction of the very same interview in which Martinez made her declaration, Channel 4 News used the footage of Tibetan protesters held and dragged by police, supposedly to demonstrate the brutality of Chinese authority. Except the protest happened in the neigbouring country Napal, not in Tibet. Why Channel 4 News still used the same video footage while their China correspondent Lindsey Hilsum had already reported several days ago the backlash among Chinese people towards western media’s misreporting including the misuse of this very video footage I do not know. I certainly expect more balanced reporting and accuracy from a respected news programme like Channel 4 News.

BBC Four’s The World has an imaginative new name, World News Today, and a new slot at 7pm, which is a shame, because I’m a fan of its presenter Zeinab Badawi. I watched The World. Unlike other news programmes, The World doesn’t have to cover every news, thus allowing more time for each story, sometimes with discussion and debate, which is informative. But I have to say it hasn’t reached the status of untouchable, so when BBC Four decides to change it to the suicidal slot of 7pm, the unmissable Channel 4 News is the certain winner for me. So I’m afraid there will be one less viewer of World News Today.