This damming review, by Terry Eagleton in the London Review of Books, of Richard Dawkins’ new book The God Delusion is so extremely well-written, so painfully excoriating, that it deserves to be read by every literate English speaker on the planet. Go on, you’ll laugh out loud.
Archive for the 'Media' Category
I was mixing a programme for a slot called Analysis on World Service radio last week. The programme was written by a BBC Correspondent called Kim Ghattas who works in the Middle East and it was about the changing security situation in Saudi Arabia. The programme opened with Kim saying “Two years ago, on the streets of Rijad, a westerner pleaded for his life as he was hunted down by a militant linked to Al Qayda.” She had sent us a sound recording of the man being killed. It had the phasing, edgy quality of poorly recorded camcorder audio that’s been recompressed too many times, but you could clearly hear someone shouting ‘no, no’ and then several gunshots. I mixed it so that it started underneath her last few words and then became clearly audible for the shouting and the first gunshot, then it faded down again under her next bit of script. Have a listen to the final result - Ghattas- Saudi killing
At the time I was thinking that this was pretty strong stuff but it seemed justified by the short duration and the context. She was talking about that particular murder, not using the sound to illustrate a general point, and although it was quite shocking I wouldn’t describe it as a graphic depiction of the murder nor would I say it was being used gratuitously. Here is what the BBC editorial guidlines say about the subject.
We will always need to consider carefully the editorial justification for portraying graphic material of human suffering and distress. There are almost no circumstances in which it is justified to show executions and very few circumstances in which it is justified to broadcast other scenes in which people are being killed. It is always important to respect the privacy and dignity of the dead. We should never show them gratuitously. We should also avoid the gratuitous use of close ups of faces and serious injuries or other violent material.
Yesterday I found out that one of the producers in the Newsroom had cut the start of the programme off because he thought it was too disturbing. He told me “We don’t do that sort of thing.”
This is why I sometimes wish that I worked for Al Jazeera. There are too many people in BBC News who feel that their job is to impartially and accurately report what is going on and that’s all there is to it. They don’t feel that they need to excite their audience, to sell the stories, to make people say “Wow!” I think they’re complacent. It is a privilege to be given access to the 42 million people who regularly listen to the World Service in English. Some of the things we have to talk about aren’t very nice. Some of the things we have to say aren’t very interesting. In both cases we have to be creative in order to encourage people to understand the complexity of the stories we’re covering. We have to be engaging and sometimes that might mean being shocking, sometimes it might mean being silly. But being boring, there’s no excuse for that.
I’ve been getting more and more puzzled about The First Post, an online magazine I came across a few months ago. The design of the site is excellent, the articles are pithy, well written and invariably interesting and many of the contributors are well-known. It has interesting arts coverage, plenty of foreign affairs and great pictures, it looks expensive. So why on earth has nobody heard of it and where is the money coming from?
According to the details on the contact page:
The First Post is owned by First Post NewsGroup Limited and is backed by private investors who are involved in the development of new media opportunities. The Non-Executive Chairman of the company is Mike Turner.
No clue there then. After an age searching on Google I finally came across an article in the Observer from last year. They say that the site is edited by Mark Law, a former comment editor at the Sunday Telegraph, which explains why so many of the First Post writers have also written for the Telegraph. Looking back over some articles with that in mind I did get the occasional whiff of constipation and shoe polish, but it is also a very good read so it’ll be staying in my Bookmarks menu for now. I’ll be keeping an eye on it though, one more sentence containing “flooded” and “immigrants” and they’re out.
I had never been particularly interested in seeing the cartoons about the holocaust that Iran commissioned as a reaction to the Danish Muslim cartoons brouhaha. However, now that a Danish newspaper has published them and there’s no doubt going to be a fuss all over again I thought I’d have a look. A search with Google took me to a page produced by the Israel News Agency in which they publish the Iran cartoons in tacky juxtaposition with photos from the holocaust. The cartoons seem thoughtful, I didn’t find them offensive. The bullying and dishonest text pasted over the cartoons by the INA, however, is as revolting in its own way as their misappropriation of those tragic photographs.
Watching Michael Radford’s 2004 film of The Merchant of Venice a couple of days ago had made me feel a bit more sympathetic towards the Israeli government. It’s a heavy-handed film and I didn’t think much of it but Shylock’s dilemma at the end of the play highlighted for me the difficulty of Israel’s position in its current war with Lebanon. Portia tells him that he is legally entitled to take his pound of flesh but that if he takes more or less than a pound, even if he’s off by a fraction, or if he spills any blood in the process then he will be killed. I can see how Israel might feel that this is what is expected of them in their response to the aggression of Hezbollah. They are allowed to react but if they go too far, as indeed they did, or if they spill any innocent blood, as inevitably happened, then they are suddenly very unpopular.
Here I go again, off-topic and annoying the punters, but I really have to link to this article by Tom Coates. He used to work for the BBC, now he works for Yahoo. He’s writing about Ashley Highfield who has just been promoted to be in charge of the BBCs New Media operation(s). I think it’s safe to say that Mr Coates doesn’t think much of Mr Highfield. I was pleasantly surprised when I read it because I and a few of my pals have discussed several of the issues he raises and I always imagined that it was just us who thought those things. It seems not. I think there’s going to be a big fuss about this. As Euan Semple, another former BBC technology boss, says in his blog, you should read it if you care about the BBC or about new media.
However, I was talking recently to the Editor of one of the BBC’s more high-profile programmes and he didn’t seem to know about or care much about Mr Highfield and his new job and the whole reorganisation so maybe it’s not as much of a big deal as I’m imagining.
Who’s afraid of Ashley Highfield? (plasticbag.org)
Speaking of the BBC, I was asked to make a MySpace page for Rupert Murdoch yesterday. I mean, a Rupert Murdoch MySpace page for Newsnight. You can see what they did with it if you go to their site and find the programme for Friday 28 July, which is the latest programme today but won’t be in a few days time. I can’t find any way to link directly to that particular programme, one for you Ashley?
Newsnight Home Page
My dad is an architect so I used to read the RIBA journal, Building Design, a lot when I was a youth. I am still very interested in the more technical aspects of building, despite having a pretty low opinion of the skills of most builders. So when I was in Travis Perkins buying some floorboards last week I picked up a free copy of Professional Builder magazine.
It is a surprisingly good read and not nearly as bland as I thought it would be. There’s an op-ed on the dangers and hidden costs to the nation of DIY. It claims that members of the Great British public, inspired by irresponsible TV makeover shows, are rushing out to buy unsafe products from DIY sheds (ie B&Q) and costing the NHS a great deal of money when they inevitably injure themselves. They suggest that there should be a special Health Duty on all DIY products. I admire their cheek (and we all know about builders’ cheeks!) and it is more entertaining than most building industry writing.
There are also articles on women builders, why wooden windows are better than plastic, how a new product from Polypipe can enable rainwater to soak away into the ground instead of going down drains and causing flooding and all sorts of other new products. There are also lots of give-aways, including a rather puzzling competition to win an ‘England Van’ by joining the Budget Van Insurance England Van Club. The prize, a van painted with a ‘unique’ St George’s flag design’ is made by Fiat, in Italy. Very patriotic.
My favorite article though was about the launch of a new brand of tea. “Make Mine a Builders” has been devised specifically to slake the thirst of British Builders, the tea is ethically sourced (although not Fairtrade), the box is very industrial looking, a portion of the profits will go to a charitable foundation and it will be sold in builders’ merchants. I certainly intend to give it a try despite the missing apostrophe in the name.
I just read an interesting article in Wired which pointed out that credit card companies actually lobby against legislation which would make identity theft more difficult because there’s so much money for them in offering “fast and easy credit”. The article also contains a link to a page about this guy who wondered what would happen if he tore up a pre-filled credit card application form he was sent, stuck it together again with scotch tape, changed the address and phone number on the form and then sent it in. No prize for guessing that a shiny new card in his name turned up at the address he’d put on the form.
Whenever I get junk mail containing personal information I send it back to the sender telling them that if they continue to send me such mail I’ll ask them to contribute to the cost of a shredder. So, as a public service, I’ve made a handy form that you can print out and do the same thing yourself.
Identity Fraud form in pdf format.
The Torn-Up Credit Card Application
Yes, that’s right, you heard me right. Driving around London in the last few days I noticed that at certain times there was a noticeable absence of scumbags, idiots and unsavoury elements. How useful it would be, I told myself, if one could predict these auspicious moments and arrange to be travelling or shopping when they occurred. Well, it can be done and with the help of a footballing enthusiast of my acquaintance (tip o’ the hat to Joe Lawrence) I have produced a handy chart which will enable you, gentle reader, to take advantage of the eerily empty roads, echoing supermarket aisles and quiet, pleasant high streets which occur during the transmission of certain games of particular interest to our less salubrious co-stakeholders.
The judgement as to whether or not a particular game will be deemed essential viewing is a complex business and depends to a large extent on the outcome of games not yet played so I will be producing a more complete version when my advisors are able to provide more accurate data, probably some time after the 20th of June. If you feel you can provide a more accurate insight feel free to alter your copy of the chart with a pen.
The chart is colour-coded for your convenience and contains no garish graphics or references to football so you can safely print it out and stick it on your kitchen wall without bringing down the tone of the place.
Click on the picture to download the chart.
The Americans are saying that they have captured information in raids following the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that will enable them to track down more of his colleagues. I heard a rumour that what they actually had was the password for his myspace account. Have a look, it does seem that they may be on to something.
I’m sorry to be a misery guts but the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi isn’t something to celebrate or be proud of. Here’s why:
- Civilised countries don’t assassinate their opponents, they capture them and put them on trail.
- I don’t believe in capital punishment, even for the most heinous crimes, but even if I did surely it should be the outcome of a judicial process.
- If you are going to assassinate somebody the least sensible and most cowardly way of doing it is by dropping a bomb on their house.
- The Iraqi PM, Nouri Maliki, said when announcing the death of al-Zarqawi, that the Iraqi government would kill all the “terrorists” opposing his government. Is that possible? Of course not. The only way to solve any conflict is by bringing the leaders of all groups together. If you kill the leaders then no dialogue is possible.
This sort of “solution” appeals to simple-minded people. It reflects badly on our politicians that they are prepared to resort to it.
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