Was the BBC's coverage of Mandela's death over the top?

[muddycoffee]

BBC output should be scrambled anyway and paid for on subscription to anyone who wants it.

 

Correct.

even the radio channels are so full of adverts for other shows it is like listening to a full blown commercial station nowadays.

[medusa]

I'm pretty sure that there WERE other things that happened somewhere in the world yesterday, but I didn't get to find out what they were, sadly.

[Mr Clowning]

I'm pretty sure that there WERE other things that happened somewhere in the world yesterday, but I didn't get to find out what they were, sadly.

 

Nope everything else was on hold.

 

Imagine if you had any news on that day, good or bad, it will always be held up as it was the day Mandela died.

[donkey]

I'd never heard of Nelson Mandela until he died yesterday. I'm so glad the BBC devoted the whole evening on both its' main channels to bringing p to speed on who he was and what he did.

 

I wonder what they'll have tonight 'Breaking News: Mandela Still Dead. We go over live to see what Wayne Rooney thinks about it.'

[boyfriday]

I'm pretty sure that there WERE other things that happened somewhere in the world yesterday, but I didn't get to find out what they were, sadly.

 

I was thinking Nigella Lawson was certainly a PR beneficiary of Mandela's demise.

[taxman]

Nope everything else was on hold.

 

Imagine if you had any news on that day, good or bad, it will always be held up as it was the day Mandela died.

 

That's odd because I watched lots of coverage yesterday about the Autumn statement and the deadly winds and sea surges. It was all over the news all afternoon and for much of the evening.

 

I'm surprised you missed it.

[Olive]

Did Question Time ever get on air last night? It got moved to BBC2, meant to start at 11.35, but it still hadn't come on at quarter to 12.

[Nagel]

Spectator columnist Rod Liddle has criticised the BBC for devoting too much airtime to the death of Nelson Mandela, describing the story as "famous nice black man dies".

 

The former editor of Radio 4's Today, who is no stranger to courting controversy with his column in Fraser Nelson's magazine, prompted a storm of criticism on Twitter with his comments posted hours after Mandela's death.

 

Liddle said: "For Christ's sake BBC, give it a bloody break for five minutes, will you?

 

"It's as if the poor bugger now has to bear your entire self-flagellating white post-colonial bien pensant guilt; look! Famous nice black man dies!

 

"Let's re-run the entire history of South Africa. That's better than watching the country we're in being flattened by a storm."

 

He added: "Look; I'm sorry Nelson Mandela is dead.

 

"It happens quite often to people in their 90s who have been very ill, even famous people, but I'm sure that doesn't lessen the sadness for many of us. I never met the man but, on balance, I came to the conclusion that he was a force for good rather than ill.

 

"I think I came to that rather banal and broad brush conclusion 20 years ago, or maybe 15. So, I'm sorry he's dead, I wish it were otherwise."

 

The column generated fierce criticism on Twitter, with users describing him as "odious" and "vile".

 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/06/rod-liddle-bbc-nelson-mandela-spectator

[boyfriday]

Spectator columnist Rod Liddle has criticised the BBC for devoting too much airtime to the death of Nelson Mandela, describing the story as "famous nice black man dies".

 

The former editor of Radio 4's Today, who is no stranger to courting controversy with his column in Fraser Nelson's magazine, prompted a storm of criticism on Twitter with his comments posted hours after Mandela's death.

 

Liddle said: "For Christ's sake BBC, give it a bloody break for five minutes, will you?

 

"It's as if the poor bugger now has to bear your entire self-flagellating white post-colonial bien pensant guilt; look! Famous nice black man dies!

 

"Let's re-run the entire history of South Africa. That's better than watching the country we're in being flattened by a storm."

 

He added: "Look; I'm sorry Nelson Mandela is dead.

 

"It happens quite often to people in their 90s who have been very ill, even famous people, but I'm sure that doesn't lessen the sadness for many of us. I never met the man but, on balance, I came to the conclusion that he was a force for good rather than ill.

 

"I think I came to that rather banal and broad brush conclusion 20 years ago, or maybe 15. So, I'm sorry he's dead, I wish it were otherwise."

 

The column generated fierce criticism on Twitter, with users describing him as "odious" and "vile".

 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/06/rod-liddle-bbc-nelson-mandela-spectator

 

Thankfully Liddle's death will be marked by nothing more significant than a few empty crisp packets getting blown across his tombstone.

[shand1]

Surely BBC1 could have waited another 10 minutes until the 10 o clock news, instead of cutting in to Mrs Browns boys. Totally unnecessary...If i want to know news then i would watch a news channel or wait for the scheduled news !