The BBC’s misreporting on Greece
This morning Andrew Marr had Peter Mandelson on his programme. Mandelson said that Greece faced a choice between a) coming to a deal with its creditors; and b) defaulting and leaving the Eurozone. [not up on iplayer yet, and I'll do the exact quote when it is].
This, as I have argued consistently, is simply incorrect, and I tweeted furiously:
Mandelson on
#marr conflating default with leaving the euro, I see. Pitiful ignorance of EU law and of SYRIZA’s aims.
Now Yanis has blogged even more furiously but in a similar vein, in a piece pithily titled Message to the BBC and assorted international media on this Greek Election Day: Try to recover your journalistic principles even at the eleventh hour!:
Go read it, but this is Yanis’s key point contradicting Mandelsonian stupidity:
Greeks are NOT voting on whether they want to stay in the Eurosystem or to leave. They are voting between two different programs on how to survive within the Eurozone.
Marr and his producers should be ashamed of himself for not picking up Mandelson on his poor understanding of what the election is about (and for inviting Mandelson in the first place to pontificate on something he clearly doesn’t understand properly).
More broadly, I agree with Yanis. What the fuck has happened to proper reporting (Paul Mason excepted of course)?
Fair comment -what is it about Peter Mandelson -responsible for nothing and answerable to nobody. He has nothing to do with the leadership of the Labour Party and has not done so for two years. He has no official role within the Lords and i hear his attendance is irregular to say the least.
He obviously knows nothing about Greece and I could think of many folk it would be more relevant to interview.
Please BBC -try giving us news first, and if you need to comment please get somebody who knows something about the subject.
It is a truism to say the media is generally just another arm of the bourgeois. Ok all the views of the bourgeois are reflected on domestic matters but in international affairs I think the mask slips somewhat. The media have been overwhelmingly anti SYRIZA, with subtle refernces to its dangers, portraying it as reckless etc. Remember that Greeks outside Greece also get to vote and this plays to that gallery among others.
As you say could they have picked anyone more inappropriate to talk about Greek politics? The most he knows about Greece is where best to anchor the Yacht.
Interesting that such poor reporting is being noticed across the board — at last. When the BBC screws up the Jubilee pageant you know you’re in trouble. http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-06-13/history-on-tv-is-in-crisis
Can we really say that a man as clever as Mandelson who was an EU Commissioner does not understand the issues?
He was lying through his teeth.
That’s Mandelson’s default position. He only tells the truth when he can’t think of something more interesting. Bloggers across the political spectrum are making exactly the same point as Paulinlancs If something is so obvious to amateurs, how come paid commentators don’t pick up and report on a similar line? Not tin-foil hatting, just asking.
Well at least The Guardian has allowed an alternative viewpoint http://gu.com/p/38ccy