Incompetent writing by the BBC

This BBC report http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36690702 contains a sentence that means the opposite of what was intended:

'Asher-Smith ran from lane two in her first Olympic final - posting her fastest time of the year but 0.24secs under her personal best.'

Under is precisely the wrong word. Behind would be OK.

BBC cricket reporting competence

What's that? Topley in for Topley?

Where's Gaza?

The BBC illustrate their report of the crashed Russian aeroplane with a map of the Sinai.

Now this map doesn't name Egypt's neighbours, and the BBC standard explanation for that is that it is their convention not to name countries that aren't pertinent to the story. Whatever you think of that explanation, the BBC are at least fairly consistent in the way that they apply it.

Now take a second look at that map, do you spot the omission? To the north east of the Sinai is Israel, however much the BBC might wish it wasn't, but also is Gaza. Odd that the BBC don't mark this territory separately. If I had the time I might create a fake identity, that of a obsessive supporter of the Palestinian people, and complain that the BBC were guilty of wiping Gaza off the map - but  don't!

Ryder Cup 2014, Gleneagles, day two - BBC Sport - more BBC incompetence

From 14:07 on the BBC

'3rd: Donaldson & Westwood ALL SQUARE Johnson & Kuchar 1 UP'

All square and one up at the same time? More idiocy from the BBC's arts graduates

Mathematical incompetence at the BBC

The BBC's report on the first day of the Ryder Cup includes this:

'The US won the opening foursomes session 2½-1½ but Europe surged back to clinch the fourballs 3½-1½ to take the overnight advantage.'

There are four points available in each half of the first two days, one per match. So how can the fourballs garner a total of five points. That's the trouble with employing a load of Arts graduates...

The trouble with employing arts graduates

Could someone please tell the BBC news that 10,000 metres is not 30,000 feet. It's around 32,800 feet but I'd accept 33,000 feet as an approximation.

Bloody arts graduates.

BBC News - David Cameron to discuss Mid East peace with Blair and Abbas

Finally, albeit in the middle of this piece, the BBC get around to mentioning the Palestinian rockets fired at Israel. 

' Despite Palestinian rocket attacks on Wednesday, which were followed by Israeli airstrikes, Mr Cameron is still expected to hold a video conference with young Palestinians in Gaza to discuss the humanitarian situation.'

I suppose supporters of Israel should be satisfied with such small droppings from the BBC's table.

You can read the whole piece here and wonder why the BBC summary heading for the passage I quoted above is "unbreakable". Has a BBC sub editor made a decision to show their support for the Palestinians or is it a mistake? I would complain to the BBC but what's the point? 

Actually it would seem that incompetence is to blame here as the 'unbreakable' passage heading was from the article referenced  here.

A common mistake but surely the BBC should know better

This BBC article about 10 common Christmas card dilemmas makes a rather stupid, albeit common, mistake. Number 2 dilemma runs thus:

2. Round robin revival?

The round robin letter - usually sent out with the Christmas cards - has become something of a seasonal joke. "Darling Theo is doing frightfully well in his eurhythmy lessons at Charterhouse - and little Imogen has gone back to advising Ban Ki-moon at the UN." Simon Hoggart, Guardian columnist and author of The Cat That Could Open the Fridge, a collection of round robin letters, is not a fan. "Round robins are hopeless because either you know the people so well, you're already familiar with their year, or else you don't know them well enough to care," he says. "The latter group find boasting particularly galling. Who wants to know about the exam successes of a teenager whose father you met in Derby 24 years ago?" But in an age where receiving a letter is a rarity, could the round robin be due for a renaissance? "It might now be a case of take what you can get," says Garfield. "Perhaps people should be grateful that they are being written to at all. It's time to bear the annual show of smugness."

The trouble is that the missive that they are describing is not a round robin but a newsletter. A round robin is  is a document signed by multiple parties in a circle to make it more difficult to determine the order in which it was signed, thus preventing a ringleader from being identified.

You'd have thought the Ed Ram or one of his editors would know this.

I have complained to the BBC:

Type of complaint: BBC Online

What is your complaint about: BBC News Online

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25230015

Complaint category: Factual error or inaccuracy

Contacted us before: No

Complaint title: Factual mistake

Complaint description:

This article about 10 common Christmas card dilemmas makes a rather stupid, albeit common, mistake. Number 2 dilemma starts thus: 2. Round robin revival? The round robin letter - usually sent out with the Christmas cards - has become something of a seasonal joke. The trouble is that the missive that they are describing is not a round robin but a newsletter. A round robin is is a document signed by multiple parties in a circle to make it more difficult to determine the order in which it was signed, thus preventing a ringleader from being identified. You'd have thought that Ed Ram or someone at the BBC would have known this, or are facts no longer important to the BBC?

The BBC's Nick Robinson spreading misinformation again

In this piece about the latest GDP figures Nick Robinson does his best to talk down the recovery, after all a recovery is not a recovery unless Labour say it is. But more concerning is the misinformation he spreads with this line:

'Today's figures tell a simple story. This is growth but - as they used to say on Star Trek - not as we know it.'

I presume that Nick Robinson is grasping for the line "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.". However this, to the best of my knowledge, was never said in the original Star Trek series.


On consulting with a bigger Trekkie than me, I am informed that the line "No life as we know it" was used in the episode The Devil in the Dark. But that's still not quite what Nick Robinson claimed. It looks to me like another factual failure by Nick 'toenails' Robinson.

In the meantime here's The Firm with Star Trekkin'

I did reply to the BBC

Nota Sheep

19:28 to Trust

Thanks for the information although I must say that it's hardly an impressive performance by the BBC Trust. The matter was discussed on 11 April and over two months later the minutes of that meeting have apparently yet to be ratified.

I assume that there have now been two Trust meetings since the 11 April one: May and June.

Surely the first item on the agenda of each meeting is the ratification of the previous meeting's minutes.

Is this really any way to run an organisation?

Kind regards

NotaSheep MaybeaGoat

Still waiting...

Remember this email?

Trust Editorial 29 May to me

Dear Audience Member I am sorry for the delay in sending you the Trustees’ decision. I’m afraid the minutes are still being ratified for April’s meeting, but we will be in touch as soon as they have been.

Best wishes, Leanne Buckle

Well another two weeks on and I'm still waiting. Are the BBC deliberately delaying or are they really this incompetent at ratifying minutes of a meeting?

Jimmy Savile: BBC warned 40 years ago of risk to teenage girls - Telegraph

'The BBC was officially warned more than 40 years ago it was putting girls in the Top of the Pops audience at risk of sexual predators.

A leading QC led an investigation into sexual misconduct at the corporation's flagship music programme in 1972 following concerns at the time and uncovered what he described as "immorality".

But the inquiry's conclusions were kept secret for four decades and only unearthed after a Freedom of Information request by The Telegraph.'

More here http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/10101940/Jimmy-Savile-BBC-warned-40-years-ago-of-risk-to-teenage-girls.html

Looks like the BBC are operating at their usual glacial pace

Trust Editorial 10:16 (6 hours ago) 

Dear Audience Member 

I am sorry for the delay in sending you the Trustees’ decision. I’m afraid the minutes are still being ratified for April’s meeting, but we will be in touch as soon as they have been. 

Best wishes, 
Leanne Buckle

The BBC will try anything to protect their Labour party allies

On 14 February I submitted a complaint to the BBC about their biased coverage of the horsemeat story. My coverage of this complaint can be read here.

Yesterday I received this dismissive response:

'Dear Mr Goat,
Thank you for your email. As you may be aware the BBC's guidelines on complaints stipulate that we will not entertain complaints from people who remain anonymous.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/protocols/2012/complaints_fr_work_ed_complaints.pdf
For that reason we cannot take your complaint further.
Thank you.'

I have responded:

'Thank you for your response. The only trouble is your excuse is incorrect.

Here's an email to me from the BBC from November 2012:

>
> NewsOnline Complaints
>
>
> to me
> Dear Mr MaybeaGoat
>
> Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have fixed the map on this story to show Egypt.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Middle East desk
> BBC News website

I am also in correspondence with 'Lucy Tristram Complaints Advisor, BBC Trust Unit' re a complaint of mine that was escalated to the BBC Trust.

I have also been in extensive correspondence with 'Tarik Kafala, Middle East editor, BBC News website' regarding several matters over the past few years.


I await your substantive response to my original email.


Kind regards

NotaSheep MaybeaGoat


PS: Newsonline, Lucy Tristram and Tarik Kafala all managed to reply to 'Mr MaybeaGoat', rather than 'Mr Goat', could you try and get that right as well.'

I await their reply...

BBC misleading headline / text

Google revenues hit by tablets

1 hour ago

The world's biggest search engine is expected to report record profits for the last three months of the year.

BBC tastelessness (update) - thanks to Alex

Regular commenter Alex found an odd Jimmy Savile reference in an old Have I Got News For You programme that was repeated last week. The BBC mislead us on iPlayer that this programme was new:

But 10 seconds on Wikipedia shows that this episode was actually first broadcast in April 2012

Regardless of the BBC misleading the public as to which programmes are repeats and which are not, what do you think of the reaction from some of the panel to Jo Brand's joke about children not having to be worried as Jimmy Savile wasn't coming back from the dead?

BBC tastelessness

You would have thought that the BBC would by now have managed to ask all their producers to advise them of what footage of, or references to, Jimmy Savile they had in their programmes and to have instructed them not broadcast said programmes. That's what a responsible, efficient organisation with income in the £billions would do, hell it's what I would have organised in companies with turnover in the low £millions.

However the BBC seems not to have been able to manage even that simple task.

The BBC report that:

'CBeebies has apologised after a character from the children's TV programme The Tweenies appeared dressed as disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile.

The episode, which was filmed in 2001, was shown on the BBC before 0900 GMT.

In the scene, the character Max appeared in a blonde wig, wearing Savile's trademark tracksuits and using his accent and catchphrases.

Police say DJ and presenter Savile sexually abused hundreds of people during 60 years in entertainment.

The BBC said: "This morning CBeebies broadcast a repeat of an episode of the Tweenies, originally made in 2001, featuring a character dressed as a DJ impersonating Jimmy Savile. This programme will not be repeated and we are very sorry for any offence caused."

The episode, featured the character Max presenting a Top Of The Pops-style programme. He was wearing a wig and used Savile's familiar catchphrase: "Now then, guys and gals."

The gaffe was picked up by fans on social networking sites such as Twitter.

Glenn Ebray tweeted: "Dear CBeebies, I'm not sure this was a good choice of DJ to impersonate on The Tweenies today."

Kenny Senior wrote "Are BBC trying to self destruct? Max from Tweenies dressed as Jimmy Savile just now nearly chokes on my cornflakes."'

The BBC - irresponsible, inefficient and just plain incompetent.

Schadenfreude

I don't speak German, most of the words and phrases I know come from Second World War comics I read as a child. However I do know one proper word and that is 'Schadenfreude'. If you don't know what Schadenfreude means then let me tell you; it means pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
The news that the BBC news department is in apparent turmoil gave me some pleasure but then I read that the BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson has said:

"This is the worst crisis that I can remember in my nearly 50 years at the BBC. I don't think the BBC has handled it terribly well. ... All we have as an organisation is the trust of the people the people that watch us and listen to us and if we don't have that, if we start to lose that, that's very dangerous I think for the BBC."

Ah Schadenfreude.

BBC incompetence or scaremongering?

The BBC's Breaking News Twitter feed tweeted this this morning

Wouldn't the addition of the word 'next' before 'Tuesday' have made the situation clearer and less threatening?

The BBC respond (part 2)

Further to this and this I have received a conciliatory email:

'NewsOnline Complaints to me 15:48 (20 hours ago)

Dear anonymous correspondent.

I'm prepared to concede that the shorthand used in a headline doesn't outline the full detail.

In retrospect, we ought to have been more clear about the addition of longer term (up to 12 months liquidity) assets.

However, it is necessary to make some simplifications in these cases in the interests of understandability, otherwise every business news story could be dissolved into the splitting of hairs.

You could even argue about the use of the word 'cash' - as it is likely Apple has its money in the bank, as opposed to in piles of folding notes.

Similarly, the US government technically owns huge amounts of cash - currency in circulation.

At the other end of the equation - it is probably not very useful to the reader to make reference to assets such as Amtrak which are not easily liquidated and whose value is undetermined.

Please rest assured, your comments have been taken onboard, seriously. I will certainly be considering your points when next approaching an article of this nature.

Regards

Iain Mackenzie'

I could carry on 'splitting hairs' but I will settle for monitoring the accuracy of future business news.