A slight change to the normal rules of engagement for this latest post in our
‘Right to reply’ series. Whereas these posts normally take issue with what your Coffee House baristas have
written, this one takes issue with the post by the BBC’s Jon
Williams that we put up yesterday. It’s by Al Jazeera’s Ben Rayner:
In wars reputations of whole news organizations can be made or broken very quickly. And the spin on the result is almost as important as the reality.
Undoubtedly the BBC took a fearful kicking in the press over its coverage of the fall of Tripoli in August. To the British papers, Sky’s Alex Crawford had won the day at the expense of slow moving Auntie. One thing was clear, the BBC couldn’t be seen to lose again when Gaddafi was killed or captured and BBC execs knew it.
Hence presenter Sophie Raworth being told to trumpet that the BBC were the only “British broadcaster in Sirte,” on Thursday night.
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