Published 23 October 2009
Griffin complaint over BBC ‘mob’ It’s hard to feel much sympathy for Nick Griffin, the leader of the right-wing British National Party, whose controversial appearance on Question Time last night…
Published 16 October 2009
Parliament and free speech: The right to know The Minton report If ever anyone were still sanguine about the right of free speech in this country, the débâcle this week…
Published 29 August 2009
David Elstein: Murdoch “riled” by Ofcom According to David Elstein, formerly of, inter alia, the BBC, Thames and Channel 5, Ofcom’s “devastating” and “unanswerable” report of a couple of months…
Published 19 July 2009
Dear BBC: No, you can’t have my £142.50. Will I see you in court? There are really only two ways to view Mr Moore’s outburst of civil disobedience. It is…
Published 17 June 2009
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but the treatment of the weather bulletins on Today is getting increasingly shabby. This morning just before eight was breathtaking, even by…
Published 31 March 2009
BBC funding should be cut, report says We will restore science to its rightful place, roll back the spectre of a warming planet. We will harness the sun and the…
Published 26 January 2009
Sky Won’t Screen Gaza Aid Appeal So Sky News has joined the BBC in deciding not to screen the Gaza appeal. Given that ITV, Channel 4 and Five, which have…
Published 24 January 2009
Apologies, people of Gaza – the BBC is a bit jumpy lately It is sometimes said, rightly or wrongly, that the BBC and the Guardian newspaper are a good fit….
Published 19 January 2009
“Here comes counsel for the picaninny.” You wouldn’t get away with such language today. Not even a public servant – and even the most obnoxious guard of the cells below…
Published 8 December 2008
BBC News: Baby P official fired without pay So it’s happened again. A scandal, a press hullabaloo, the demanding of heads, the swish of the metaphorical axe and said heads…
Published 8 December 2008
BBC News: Clarkson joke cleared by watchdog Joking about truck… sorry, lorry drivers killing prostitutes was bound to offend some people. The murder by Steve Wright, a lorry driver, of…
Published 10 November 2008
Mail editor accuses Mosley judge As other EMC writers will confirm, I sometimes get into trouble for championing (some) Daily Mail values and the rules of polite society in an…
Published 30 October 2008
Brand quits BBC over prank calls The resignation of Russell Brand from the BBC can hardly be good for the Corporation. He is – I’ll try not to choke on…
Published 26 October 2008
The main story occupying the attentions of the Westminster village, if not the wider public, this week was that of George Osborne, and his escapades on the yacht of a…
Published 26 October 2008
The Economist: Capitalism at bay Richard G Elen wrote recently on this blog about the financial crisis sweeping the world. The Thatcher/Reagan economic experiment was a disaster; it is time…
Published 20 July 2008
The premium rate phone scandal, continued
Published 6 May 2008
It’s not been a good few years for Talk Sport, the station that former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie fashioned in his old newspaper’s image after buying Talk Radio in 1998…
Published 11 April 2008
Here’s a question for you: What is Google best known for? Is it a) Web services b) Industrial manufacturing c) Food recipies If you think you know the answer (ha!)…
Published 22 January 2008
A top-sliced licence fee will trigger the BBC’s destruction Whether de-coupling the licence fee from the BBC is the way forward or not (and I personally have my doubts), I…
Published 11 November 2007
40% of adults pray, says survey “Britain is the most atheistic country on earth, thank God.” Thus Nick Cohen – capital “G” and all, quoted in “Pretty Straight Guys” some…
Published 21 October 2007
I know the MediaBlog usually concerns itself with the broadcast variety, but technically the media includes the press, so I’ll chance it. It was hilarious listening to Trevor Kavanagh on…
Published 8 August 2007
Channel 4 accused of ‘distortion’ Not for the first time, we have a broadcaster using events out of sequence and out of context to create the impression it wanted. The…
Published 2 August 2007
BBC corrupted by Microsoft In its defence, it’s not exactly the BBC’s fault that a) it’s faced with a choice between DRM-protected downloads and no downloads at all, and b)…
Published 13 July 2007
BBC error ‘no reason to resign’ Oh no, not again. It’s not been a good few years for the BBC. WMD; “sexing up” claims; David Kelly; Hutton; resignations at the…
Published 5 July 2007
http://www.rsf.org Following on from the very welcome news that the BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been released, I think this would be a good time to reflect on the dangerous…
Published 24 June 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6763205.stm On the way home Friday evening, The Now Show, among its other targets, took a pot-shot at ITV. One of the comics spoke about a visit he’d made in…
Published 7 May 2007
Regular readers of EMC MediaBlog will recall that the BBC decided to spin off BBC Broadcast, its broadcast arm, as a self-contained company. Now called Red Bee Media, the former…
Published 6 March 2007
Life on Mars Apart from the retro continuity, mucking about with Test Card F and other trivia of interest to us pres geeks, Life on Mars offers a fascinating look…
Published 9 February 2007
Joy at direct hit turns to horror Until The Sun published the DVD at the centre of the inquest into the death of Corporal Matty Hull, the Pentagon was still…
Published 22 January 2007
Anyone who, having just arrived back from a visit abroad, switched on Radio 4’s The World Tonight last Friday (19 January 2007) would have been forgiven for thinking that a…
Published 31 December 2006
Wave farewell to AM radio, say experts The Telegraph talks of “the higher quality of digital broadcasts”. Compared with? FM? Erm… potentially, yes; unfortunately, most stations on DAB are streamed…
Published 31 March 2006
Regional federalism was the foundation of ITV. Should we mourn its passing? Maybe not.
Published 3 September 2005
Reality television, talent shows and the reality of television talent