March 13, 2006
The 'no foreign language rule' of the BBC
One of the stricter rules of the BBC is that no more than two words of any foreign language should ever be broadcast.
I remembered that when I was listening to the clip of the immensely-entertaining Signor Berlusconi storming out of a TV studio. It was frustrating. I wanted to know what was going on, and I couldn’t do that without hearing the voices of the Italian Prime Minister and his opponent interviewer. Of course the BBC didn’t allow this.
What is the reason for this policy? To make viewers think the world is universally English-speaking? That the BBC and its loyal viewers are in the centre of that world? Leaving aside the influence this has on the non-teaching of modern languages in schools, one of the results of the policy is an over-concentration on the politics of English-speaking countries, and a negative attitude to Europe.
I want to see video clips of politicians speaking in their own languages - with English subtitles.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4800356.stm
Posted by Simon Holledge at 05:42 PM | TrackBack
March 06, 2006
Current TV as a model for Scotland
Should we be taking note of Al Gore’s (cable) Current TV?
Mainstream British media are out-of-date. The newspapers are dying. The London-based, centralized BBC is becoming ever more powerful, enjoying huge internet resources that no-one else can match.
Television will change dramatically within the next ten years. Some of the experiments taking place on Current TV will undoubtedly become important features of future broadcasting. Rather than trying to grab a slice of the BBC, (unlikely to be successful and problematic if it was), I’d argue that it would be better to develop something entirely new, contemporary and Scottish.
media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1724582,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 06:37 PM | TrackBack
March 01, 2006
Scotsman videocast - why did they bother?
The Scotsman is claiming to be the first British newspaper to produce a video (pod)cast, or as they call it, ‘a vodcast’. (It’s a term unknown to me, I think they mean a ‘vlog’.)
They may well be right about being first. Unfortunately newspapers have a poor record when it comes to new media - publishing sterile, comment-less blogs, and barely-audible podcasts by journalists lacking speaking/interviewing skills. (Anyone who doubts the latter should listen to the dire Guardian efforts.) (Undoubted) excellence with the written word obviously doesn’t automatically translate into high standards elsewhere.
The Scotsman ‘vodcast’ is contrasty (half the picture is blacked out), shot with a cheap camera and accompanied by a bland clichéd commentary (“Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is popular with visitors and locals”) and some banal off-the-shelf muzac. It appears to be a bit of recycled tourism video, probably made by Visit Scotland.
Why did they bother? Have they seen Rocketboom? No? Rocketboom uses high definition video and the New Yorkers are kind enough to tell you exactly how it’s done. Someone at the Scotsman should check it out.
heritage.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=499&id=284112006
www.rocketboom.com/vlog/about.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 07:19 PM | TrackBack
July 02, 2005
The Skakagrall on Channel 4
The Channel 4 website have a piece I wrote about the G8 meeting: ‘Don’t expect altruism from Blair and co.’
www.channel4.com/news/blogs/c4blog01_full.html
www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/g8_2005.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 17, 2005
BBC weather map
There used to be a humorous map of England in which civilization finished just north of London. Beyond Watford there were signs saying, ‘No roads beyond this point’, ‘Travellers beware’, ‘The Great Bog’, ‘Here be monsters’ etc. Of course the joke was not aimed at Scotland, it didn’t get that far!
That map could almost have been the model for the new ‘southern-perspective’ BBC weather map, tilting back and away from the camera.
Angus MacNeil, the new SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles), has put down an early day motion in the Commons asking the BBC to change its graphics, and the SNP page includes a link to the BBC complaints page.
But perhaps we are taking this too seriously? The map is such a perfect representation of the London mindset that it ought to be preserved. What we need is a new Scottish-based broadcasting company.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4556025.stm
www.snp.org/snpnews/2005/snppressrelease.2005-05-17.5450497593
UPDATE 28 May 2005
Following 4,000 complaints, the BBC have altered the tilt of the weather map.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tvandradio/4589301.stm
www.snp.org/snpnews/2005/snppressrelease.2005-05-27.5697330162
UPDATE 30 May 2005
Amy currently has an ugly graphics google-bombing campaign against the new weather map.
mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/googlebombbbcweather/weather.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at 11:09 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 12, 2005
BBC Complaints
I have just discovered that there is an official BBC complaints page. Maybe worth a bookmark?
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 09, 2005
Scottish Standard
A new pro-independence weekly Scottish newspaper called the Scottish Standard was published today. The print run is 50,000. I haven’t seen it yet but I gather it is in a compact/tabloid format, aimed at the middle of the market, and broadly supportive of the SNP, SSP and the Greens.
I suppose it is a good thing to have a publication with full Scottish credentials, but I can’t get enthusiastic about another old-fashioned, dead-tree, advertizing-based rag.
What we need is a Scottish-based news agency, a ‘Scottish Reuters’, following, researching, originating solid, detailed, news material about Scotland for English-language publications everywhere.
Stuart Dickson’s Independence Blog and DoctorVee have more comments on the newspaper.
www.scottishstandard.com/new.asp
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=261672005
scottish-independence.blogspot.com/2005/03/launch-of-new-scottish-newspaper.html
www.doctorvee.co.uk/2005/03/08/unconvinced-by-the-scottish-standard/
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:40 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
January 15, 2005
Warkgate
Yawn! The Jack McConnell/Kirsty Wark saga of shared family holidays and coffee mornings is one of those excruciatingly boring stories, so characteristic of Edinburgh. Did McConnell break some minor rule? And if so did it really matter?
The real issue is the relationship between television and government, not between McConnell and Wark. Do television companies have preferential access to politicians, parliament and government and if so, does that benefit the public, or does it result in manipulation, trivialization, and the alienation of people from the processes of government?
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=47542005
Posted by Simon Holledge at 10:12 PM | TrackBack
December 29, 2004
Mountains of Scotland DVD
I was looking forward to seeing the Mountains of Scotland (Binnein nam Beann) DVD. Unfortunately it’s a disappointment.
Originally shown on Scottish TV/Grampian TV as a six part series, this is a helicopter tour of the mountains (with almost no ground shots), made in variable weather. All the shots were apparently taken at the same time of year (probably summer). There is no snow on any of the hills and no heather in bloom. Image quality is all low resolution: adequate for television, where nobody expects much, but poor for DVD.
While the mountains do hold your attention throughout, in the mist and on overcast days as well as in sunshine, you regret they didn’t re-shoot when the mountains were obscured or the light was poor. (It’s rather like hill walking in bad weather, you enjoy it but you wish you’d picked a different day.)
There is a light-weight television-style commentary with the usual explanations of the names of the mountains and some obvious statements about the views, but little on the fascinating geology of the highlands, and almost no wildlife. All heights are in feet (goodbye foreign audiences!) and there are no subtitles for the notoriously difficult Gaelic names. Those familiar with the hills will learn little new. Those unfamiliar with them will not know what they are looking at. Some technical terms, like ‘corrie’ for example, are also not explained.
The worst feature of the disc is the music, a dreadful generic ‘easy listening’ New Age Music drone repeated again and again, ad infinitum. Possibly bearable in a short television series, in a DVD lasting 150 minutes, it is not!
Our mountains are some of the finest and most interesting in the world, but not well-known abroad - so a significant opportunity has been missed here. The people responsible for this effort need to look at some other nature documentaries that have been produced recently, Jacques Perrin’s ‘Winged Migration’ for example, to see the kind of image quality that is desirable in a DVD. (They might also try to get their website together. At the moment it’s a pig’s breakfast, with type doubled up on top of itself and unwrapped paragraphs.)
[Mountains of Scotland (Binnein nam Beann) is published by Enlightenment Unlimited. Produced and directed by Malcolm McKissock, it is the first in a ‘Window on Scotland’ series of DVDs. It is available through the John Muir Trust who benefit from each sale with a GBP 1.00 donation.]
Posted by Simon Holledge at 05:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 23, 2004
Against press embargoes
Adam L Penenberg has an interesting article in Wired News arguing against press embargoes. This is the practice under which news is released to journalists on the condition that they do not publish before an agreed date. Penenberg argues that embargoes are good for publicity, but bad for journalism.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66112,00.html/wn_ascii
Posted by Simon Holledge at 08:39 PM | TrackBack
October 11, 2004
Connery versus the press
Sir Sean Connery is angry with the press.
Granted that Scotland (and Britain’s) traditional media are inadequate, I think it’s a waste of time and energy attacking broadcasters and newspapers head on. No point in arguing with a noisy steamroller. Much better to go round it. What we have to do is transform the way that news is made, reported and commented on.
We have to stop being passive recipients of the news and start making it, editing it and distributing it ourselves - online!
news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1180542004
Posted by Simon Holledge at 02:48 PM | Comments (1)
October 09, 2004
The decline of print
Jane Martinson in the Guardian writes about the decline of the print industry, especially in London.
I wonder how much longer the newspapers in Britain will survive. Who wants to read yesterday’s news? Who wants to encourage paper consumption? Who wants to distribute newsprint? Who wants to pay for newspapers?
Newspapers have to change into news agencies, online news providers, perhaps online broadcasters. This is already happening, of course.
media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1319083,00.html?gusrc=rss
Posted by Simon Holledge at 12:17 AM