JO
Justice Once
I am seriously impressed with Samira's début.
The main discussion was about BBC News' lack of coverage of the Jimmy Saville allegations story, compared to other news outlets such as ITV and newspapers.
Samira did not give the BBC spokesperson/suit an easy ride, picking apart his responses if they didn't actually answer the complainant's questions and/or disagreeing with the truthfulness of his responses. She was quite feisty and argumentative with him.
So, the culture of basically always dismissing the complainants as not having a valid point, has been replaced by actually giving empathy to the complainant's/viewers' perspective, and not accepting well-worn/rehearsed/clichéd/dismissive/meaningless-corporate-babble responses from BBC suits.
Needless to say, this makes the show a trillion times better than before, and means that its very existence actually now has a point. Snoddy will not be missed.
The main discussion was about BBC News' lack of coverage of the Jimmy Saville allegations story, compared to other news outlets such as ITV and newspapers.
Samira did not give the BBC spokesperson/suit an easy ride, picking apart his responses if they didn't actually answer the complainant's questions and/or disagreeing with the truthfulness of his responses. She was quite feisty and argumentative with him.
So, the culture of basically always dismissing the complainants as not having a valid point, has been replaced by actually giving empathy to the complainant's/viewers' perspective, and not accepting well-worn/rehearsed/clichéd/dismissive/meaningless-corporate-babble responses from BBC suits.
Needless to say, this makes the show a trillion times better than before, and means that its very existence actually now has a point. Snoddy will not be missed.
Last edited by Justice Once on 6 October 2012 12:44pm
NJ
is it just me who think Samira's appointment is a bit confusing?
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
JO
Justice Once
is it just me who think Samira's appointment is a bit confusing?
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
Well, if you actually watched Samira on the programme rather than merely hypothesising, you would witness that she very much didn't automatically side with defending the Beeb, as per my previous post.
Snoddy never really seemed to side with either complainants nor the Beeb TBH. He often rather seemed like a mere bystander during debates, not really get involved other than to trot-out the next link. Basically, he was just moving wallpaper that might as well have not been there, IMHO.
As I've already said, with Samira now at the helm, Newswatch finally actually feels like it means something.
BR
It's never bothered them with Points of View though - they've always used high profile BBC employees for that. I suspect too the people behind the scenes are more involved elsewhere in the BBC than the presenters tooo.
Not sure about the virtual reality set either - though I'm no fan of the current look across BBC News and really disapointed the move to Broadcasting House wasn't used as an opportunity to revamp it completely.
is it just me who think Samira's appointment is a bit confusing?
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
Snoddy was in no way a BBC face, he only presented newswatch but other than this, presumably, had no contractual obligations to defend the BBC.
Samira, although freelance, is employed by the BBC for Sunday Morning Live, so you must doubt the impartiality of such a presenter.
Yes, they both will be employed by the BBC for newswatch, but I do question this appointment due to her other BBC obligations.
It's never bothered them with Points of View though - they've always used high profile BBC employees for that. I suspect too the people behind the scenes are more involved elsewhere in the BBC than the presenters tooo.
Not sure about the virtual reality set either - though I'm no fan of the current look across BBC News and really disapointed the move to Broadcasting House wasn't used as an opportunity to revamp it completely.
GH
She is involved in news output on Radio 4. She occasionally presents The World Tonight and Saturday PM. And she also occasionally presents some of the non-news strands on the world service.
Sunday Morning Live is classed as religion not news isn't it? So long as she is not involved with BBC News output I don't see an issue. Raymond Snoddy sometimes appeared as a media expert in BBC News reports - would have been interesting if someone complained about his contribution ...
She is involved in news output on Radio 4. She occasionally presents The World Tonight and Saturday PM. And she also occasionally presents some of the non-news strands on the world service.
SW
I've always hated Newswatch and it used to make me cringe when I caught short version during the weekend BBC Breakfast. I found it a bit dreary, 'sad' people complaining about nothing (yes, rich from a TV Forum poster), self serving, smug, patronising, complaints that viewers don't actually care about; the list is endless. In brief it just made me roll my eyes because it just felt like nothingness.
I watched some of the first one out of curiosity. Some of the above still applys and I'm not particularly a fan of it, but I do like the approach by Samira. She actually tries to tackle the issues and doesn't just roll over to the excuses like the previous presenter and I think she carries much more authority- probably to do with coming from Channel 4. I can't say I'll be purposely watching it again, I find complaint programmes on TV just moronic (ironic I know, again from a poster on here), but at least it is now actually fitting its description.
I watched some of the first one out of curiosity. Some of the above still applys and I'm not particularly a fan of it, but I do like the approach by Samira. She actually tries to tackle the issues and doesn't just roll over to the excuses like the previous presenter and I think she carries much more authority- probably to do with coming from Channel 4. I can't say I'll be purposely watching it again, I find complaint programmes on TV just moronic (ironic I know, again from a poster on here), but at least it is now actually fitting its description.