tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post2597928787940272934..comments2024-03-06T13:50:29.718+05:30Comments on E's flat, ah's flat too: Why I dislike the BBC's reportingRahul Siddharthanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04809667965184094636noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-66741963094988122512009-09-30T15:58:28.422+05:302009-09-30T15:58:28.422+05:30RB - even more atrocious was this article. They f...RB - even more atrocious was <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-found-water-on-moon-10-months-ago/articleshow/5057854.cms" rel="nofollow">this article</a>. They found water in November 2008, but "protocol did not allow ISRO to declare the discovery"! According to one J S Goswami, "Without international examination and cross-examination and confirmation of the evidence, it would not have been right on our part to go public about it...." so why didn't they go public <i>after</i> peer review of the evidence, like everyone else did? The findings in Science came from the M3, Cassini (reanalysed), and Deep Impact. Why weren't ISRO's moon impact probe findings included? Or could this be yet more "spin"?<br /><br />(I was sufficiently annoyed that day to make a blog post about this, if I'd been online long enough.)Rahul Siddharthanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04809667965184094636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-66255991274972050082009-09-30T15:48:30.883+05:302009-09-30T15:48:30.883+05:30I don't think Chandrayan or our space program ...I don't think Chandrayan or our space program is a waste of money. However the contortions that ISRO has been going through to call the Chandrayan mission a success after the orbiter died shows serious lack of professionalism and an inability to accept failure which is normal in most space programs. The ISRO Director said it was a 110 % success (up from 95%) -- a classic example of bluster and bling.<br /><br />As one commentator <a href="http://oakblue.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/spin/" rel="nofollow">said</a> -- there is more to a trajectory than spin!Rahul Basuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07751088048215388592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-42255269382265156492009-09-28T16:28:25.697+05:302009-09-28T16:28:25.697+05:30I find it unethical that the BBC would "cut a...I find it unethical that the BBC would "cut and paste" a certain observation into every article on this subject over a period of more than a year. Don't journalists have a code of conduct that each article must be freshly written even if it's allowed to contain some amount of background material?<br /><br />This is over and above the fact that the observation in question is content-free as well as "weasely", as you've already pointed out.Sunil Mukhihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05155823169161030174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-43079102642523891672009-09-25T19:16:47.400+05:302009-09-25T19:16:47.400+05:30could it be their biases are showing - but then ca...could it be their biases are showing - but then can the BBC - the holy cow of reportage - have biases ?harini calamurhttp://calamur.org/garginoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-79665732386593788872009-09-25T19:15:30.276+05:302009-09-25T19:15:30.276+05:30Anonymous: As Rahul pointed out, "Some critic...Anonymous: As Rahul pointed out, "Some critics say" is not reporting. It is a lazy Op-Ed, in the guise of reporting.kmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16040339235134145847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-83836862156716540152009-09-25T18:25:50.054+05:302009-09-25T18:25:50.054+05:30Sunil - I'll think about it.
Anonymous - I th...Sunil - I'll think about it.<br /><br />Anonymous - I think this boilerplate "balance" is worse than no balance at all. If the BBC people really think they must point out that millions are in poverty in India, they can say so themselves rather than use the weaselly "Some critics say..." Or if they don't want to sound opinionated in a news article, they can find someone to say it for them. As I said, there are plenty of people who could give a quite persuasive argument for why India needn't be spending money on moon missions. But this sort of journalism is inexcusable laziness, tinged with colonial condescension.Rahul Siddharthanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04809667965184094636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-48642731859375011402009-09-25T18:05:18.662+05:302009-09-25T18:05:18.662+05:30Interesting. You are have a good memory indeed and...Interesting. You are have a good memory indeed and recognise patterns very well.<br /><br />I guess I agree about the balanced part. A good news article must give a glimpse all perspectives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3112258799568696095.post-2580277232208056872009-09-25T16:57:28.465+05:302009-09-25T16:57:28.465+05:30Good catch. You should send this to "The Hoot...Good catch. You should send this to "The Hoot".Sunil D'Montehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11930243702764871949noreply@blogger.com