- Huge Big Brother TV screens in public places. This is the first time I've seen one here broadcasting the BBC News24 live report about the Bank of England interest rate decision.
- Kosovo drops out of the news over the weekend. Facing a crucial decision point in its history tomorrow, Monday, 10th December 2007, Kosovo has disappeared from the news. Why? Are we undergoing acclimation to information and image management?
1. "Huge Big Brother TV screens in public places. I've never seen one of these huge TV screens outside in public that broadcasts continuously before until BBC News24 showed itself broadcasting the Bank of England interest rate decision Thursday last. This reminds me of these which were used so effectively in Humphrey Hawksley's book The History Book. I really did not think that I would see this in reality any time in the future, but here it is right now. Later a presenter on BBC News24 commented that she thought this was in Leeds.
What better way to control public opinion than by huge TV screens placed in public places? The next step is the control its content.
 | At noon on Thursday, 6th December 2007, the Bank of England announced its monthly interest rate decision which was reduced to 5.5% as portrayed on a television screen mounted on the side of a building. This particular video clip of this screen was seen in the subsequent BBC News24 reports about this decision for the rest of Thursday and into Friday. Later it turned up on BBC Your News broadcast several times over the weekend on BBC News24 because this news was featured as the third most popular web page of the week with over a million hits for those who wanted the interest rate decision information. |
2. Kosovo drops out of the news over the weekend. Decision time draws near for Kosovo tomorrow, Monday, 10th December 2007, but the references to it along with scheduled programmes have disappeared from the news this weekend. Last night shortly before midnight during the review of the Sunday newspapers which were emerging, one of the reviewers commented on the lack of news about Kosovo. Here's my Email comment to BBC News24:
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: Newspaper Review re Kosovo: "I'm surprised there is not much in the papers about this," said a reviewer.
Date: Saturday 08 December 2007 23:59
From: Gary D Chance
To: news24@bbc.co.uk, newswatch@bbc.co.uk
He went on to point out that this could be the next major war.
Then your presenter said that a panel of experts on BBC News24 said last night [Friday] that this was not the case.
Let's present all views and news please, and let us think for ourselves.
As I see it, the BBC aka BBC News24 has squelched the Our World report today, and I anticipate tomorrow about Kosovo by Humphrey Hawksley.
So far this appears to be trying to control information being made available to the public.
I am disappointed not to be able to see this programme which was advertised as part of the programming on the BBC's Radio Times online. I was looking forward to seeing it.
Even my MP, Karen Buck, has written about this important situation on her web site yesterday.
*****End of the Email*****
There was nothing mentioned about Kosovo on BBC News24's Dateline London panel discussion of International journalists this morning between 11:30 and noon. The disclosure about Iran stopping its nuclear programme in 2003 as reported by US intelligence this past week was discussed. Putin was given credit for having said this all along with the comment that he has had some past connection with intelligence. Naturally, it was noted just how bad the WMD intelligence was originally that led to the invasion of Iraq. Our World at 1430 on BBC News24 again broadcast all that I did not want to know about the British failure in Aden which occurred while facing Arab nationalism 40 years ago.
There has been an unbelievable amount of time spent broadcasting everything possible about the lead up to the Ricky Hatton v Floyd Mayweather Las Vegas fight which came off at 0430 this morning with the UK's Ricky Hatton's defeat in the 10th round. There was an enormous amount of coverage about the resurrected canoeist who showed up alive again recently after having been missing for five years when he walked into a police station and whose wife was discovered to be living in Panama. Top jockey Kieren Fallon got his share of coverage and comment too about the current disclosure of his second positive test for drugs which occurred in France during the summer.
There was coverage about Gordon Brown's boycott of the EU conference for African states because Zimbabwe's Mugabe was going to be present. This is another ultimate British failure by a country from the Commonwealth. But, there was nothing about Kosovo except the comment late last night just before midnight that there was a lack of comment. Previously, there had been a build up through Friday about this situation which then went silent after Friday. Instead, there were sports reports about boxing which should not be considered a sport and drug taking by a top jockey who had just been cleared of horse race fixing charges after years of investigation and a couple months of trial.
No wonder no one understands Kosovo, Serbia and the Balkans. The news about it even at critical points is somehow swept aside even in an instance where a programme was supposed to be broadcast over the weekend on Our World several times on BBC News24. Is this information management? Instead, there is a consistent effort to concentrate on British failures, drug abusers and also runs along with a government who turns its back on Africa despite all the previous proclamations by the British Prime Minister.
Feeding this news out into public places with huge TV screens, and no one will know anything about what's happening except what those in power want. Read Humphrey Hawksley's
Could it be that Britain just doesn't have the "reach" like Ricky Hatton who failed to measure up in Law Vegas last night and finds it necessary to manipulate for image management?
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Subject: Floyd [Mayweather] had a six inch reach advantage over Ricky [Hatton]. That was going to be the difference in a long fight.
Date: Sunday 09 December 2007 10:29
From: Gary D Chance
To: news24@bbc.co.uk
I don't see how Ricky Hatton could have overcome the six inch reach advantage that Floyd Mayweather had. It was too much unless Ricky could land a knock out punch.
It really wasn't an equal fight, but then are any of them?
This was really a show for the promoters to make money. We all saw that it was staged to get the punters into the closed circuit TV viewing theatres. You described this in a report.
CSI [the US TV programme Crime Scene Investigation] had a episode this week on Channel Five/US about a fighter killed in Las Vegas. The forensics went through the brain damage suffered by a boxer each time he's hit, and the objective is to put the brain into a state of neurological short circuit.
Such a sport cannot be called a sport but brutality in the extreme intended to injure the opponent to a point where he cannot function. This leads to brain damage and other problems later in life.
How many fighters suffer from brain damage after their careers come to an end? Is it the eight out of ten noted in the CSI drama?
Boxing should be stopped altogether.
Ricky Hatton should take his $7 million and retire while he's, hopefully, still in one piece. Was this the 43rd fight? That's too many.
*****End of the Email*****