James Noughtie (in Japan) had a conversation with the Japanese Ambassador (in London) on the Today programme this morning (broadcast from London). Surreal or what?
During the programme he spoke to several contributors, all of whom were linked by phone.
So what the hell was he doing there? Put yourselves in the position of the Japanese. A mighty cataclysm has struck your country; great swathes of your northern regions are still out of touch, probably devastated; casualty numbers are rising by the minute and to cap it all there is impending nuclear catastrophe to add to the mix. Do you really want all these self-important noodles using up your phone lines, demanding access to the worst hit sites, wanting to speak to very important people, all on your doorstep pontificating away, “it must be serious because I am here...”?
Clearly the three or four correspondents on the spot are totally inadequate and not up to the job of reporting what has happened. It needed Naughtie to fly half-way round the world for me to comprehend what had happened.
The incredible TV footage didn’t do it. The astonishing amateur video footage didn’t do it. News 24 with its non-stop reportage didn’t do it. Roland Buerck who performed heroics in the first 36 hours clearly didn’t do it. Damian Grammaticus having made his way from Korea clearly didn’t do it. Japanese TV coverage didn’t do it.
It took Naughtie’s presence for me to finally grasp that this was a major natural disaster.
The Beeb is a fantastic institution. The Today programme is almost unmissable and yet they go tabloid far too readily and too often. All very dispiriting. They have many enemies who want to do them down and they keep scoring own goals.
Until I read this - I had no idea that this was happening in Japan.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for your dilligence, BigStu