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Thursday 31 May 2007

BBC quality broadcasting

I turned on Radio London this afternoon to hear the travel news and there on Drivetime were Simon Letterman and Kath Melandri having a discussion about something or other. Simon said that 63% of people agreed with a certain proposal and asked Kath what proportion that left, he even added assuming there weren't any don't knows. Kath umm'd and ah'd and Simon said that he thought she wouldn't be able to say. So Kath asked what the correct figure was and Simon said 47%. Kath assented to this. Around five minutes later Simon said that someone had sent a text message saying the correct figure was 37%. There was no noticeable embarrassment at having a) given the wrong answer and b) being unable to perform simple mental arithmetic.

I know that the BBC is often accused of only employing "Arts graduates" rather than "Science graduates" but surely anyone who has managed to get a job with the BBC should be able to take 63 away from 100. I see to remember this would have counted as a very simple question in a class test at around age 5.

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