There is a reason the British Office was so much more awkward than its American counterpart: The Brits (and Ricky Gervais) are so much better at comedy involving social faux-pas than we are. There is so much of that upstairs/downstairs humor going on across the pond that it becomes a little difficult to tell whether there is a legitimate story in this interview or if the sheer levels of Christopher Guest-esque awkwardness is an act. Radio personality Les Ross interviewed fellow BBC broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohl on Kohl's new book, and "some words were exchanged," as they say, including comments about Kohl's (pictured left) ethnicity.
Take a listen and try to determine, if you can get past the cringe-inducing element:
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"The UN has estimated that 20,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began in Georgia. The BBC's Gavin Hewitt reports from the frontline near the town of Gori, where Russian planes have been in action. As he reported on the fate of civilians in Georgia, his team came under attack from Russian fire." [Video]
Over the past five years, the BBC collected $11.5 million as part of sponsorship arrangements, where programs like BBC Sports Personality of the Year were "brought to you by" a corporate advertiser. Over in the U.K., this is considered bad form and unethical, but mostly because the BBC is still a "public" utility. Which is sort of like saying a broadcast network's local newscast here in the U.S. — supposedly there to serve the local public good — is something more than a chance to plug what's ahead in primetime. [Times]
This advertisement is airing on the BBC to promote their upcoming Olympics coverage. Like NBC in the U.S., the BBC will be handling all of the U.K.'s 2008 Beijing Games coverage. It's just too bad we don't have any idea what the hell the BBC is trying to say in this two-minute spot. Do you?
Rupert Murdoch is upset that his BSkyB has to compete in Britain with the BBC on bids for American programming, and wants the publicly funded channel to be banned from the practice. [Variety]
Turns out New York Times reporter Barry Bearak made the wrong last-minute call to attach his name to a Robert Mugabe story he filed from Zimbabwe: He was promptly arrested, as were other American and foreign journalists in a crackdown on the press as Mugabe attempts to swindle his way into another presidential term. Now, fearing retribution, CNN and the BBC have also begun airing reports with their reporters faces concealed, hidden in a shadow, in what's likely a first for both networks.
Were it not for her ability to actually sing, you might already mistake Amy Winehouse for Lindsay Lohan: the all-night partying, reports of coke use (abuse?), man troubles. Now, they're becoming virtually indistinguishable: Just like Lindsay papa Michael, Amy's dad Mitch is scouting for his 15 minutes.
He's talking to the BBC about how he cheated on his wife and Amy's mother, Janis, with a co-worker shortly after the birth of his daughter – he ended up marrying that co-worker, Jane – and how he's to blame for all of his daughter's troubles, going so far to claim her song "What It Is About Men" is about him. (Okay, it is.)
Mitch, who's gone to bat with the press for his daughter before, now gets bonus points for predicting the future: "She could die horribly," he says.
CHASING THE MONEY Sending journalists to Davos to cover the World Economic Forum is a big waste of money, argues The Deal exec editor Yvette Kantrow, since no groundbreaking reporting, besides the number of inches of snowfall, ever takes place. The BBC spent nearly $100k last year to send 37 journalists to what's supposedly the pre-eminent event to mingle with industry titans. The BBC will also lay off 2,500 people over the next six years.
You know when you watch the BBC, how you always feel smart because of those accents and when you dick around on MySpace, you always feel stupid because the layout was designed by a six year-old?
Well, prepare to feel smart and stupid at the same time, because the BBC has made a sharing arrangement with RupertBook. The BBC will make some of its content available on MySpaceTV, which is the second most popular video site after YouTube.
This is great. Now sex predators can meet teens and learn about international relations all in one easy portal.
Any sense of Anglo-Saxon solidarity we felt with sane British people who were also forced to deal with crazy Christians is gone. An English high court has ruled against the Christian group that had sued the BBC for blasphemy for screening Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2005.
We just can’t help but resent the British for a have justice system that actually protects them against religious loonies.
If you work at BBC, there's a 1 in 9 chance you'll be unceremoniously fired today. Meanwhile, there's at least a 75% chance that you fell asleep watching the last four excruciatingly long documentaries you made about the Thames river. [Independent]
The BBC, the British network that makes PBS seem like MTV, is planning on decimating its work force today to make up for £2 billion in budget cuts.
The 2,000 redundent employees will mostly come from the news department as radio, television and online departments become integrated. If the cut goes through, union reps have warned that there will be a strike in a few weeks.
Findings scabs shouldn’t be hard: Think of all the American journalists who’ve lost their jobs to the same circumstances.
The BBC is planning to cut 2-3,000 of its 23,000-member workforce, or 12 precent. And if the Thomson-Reuters merger goes through, they could be looking at 3,000 axed.
• Poor, innocent model made to look like Anna Wintour was presumably advised, "it's less about furs, sunglasses and the bob-haircut, and more about acting like a 'huge fucking bitch.'"
• Dow director quits out of pure, unadulterated hatred towards Rupert Murdoch.
• In addition to "accidentally" portraying the Queen of England as a tantrum-throwing diva, the BBC has also inadvertently sponsored some fake phone-in competitions. For which they're truly sorry.
• FYI, The Economist's readers are younger, smarter, more educated—and way more influential—than you.
• C-Span's Brian Lamb gives such a fascinating interview (about his objections to living in a "celebrity culture") that even MarketWatch's Jon Friedman has trouble screwing it up.
• And speaking of the downsides of a celebrity culture, the "Hott 4 Hill" girl to shill for MSNBC.
It sure seems like the BBC has been apologizing a lot lately. Almost at Michael Richards and Don Imus levels.
First they asked for your forgiveness after scamming their way through a quiz show. Then their tussle with Queen Elizabeth went public, as did their sorrow. And now the British broadcaster is once again bowing its head, this time for cutting off Metallica's performance at Live Earth. The BBC swapped the band's performance at Wembley stadium for shots of other Live Earth performance around the globe, they say, and not because of "prejudice about heavy metal music or any other music."
Complaints from fans poured in to the network, which prompted the apology. So hurried was the BBC to make amends, meanwhile, they managed to spell Metallica's name wrong. Which they have yet to apologize for.
• Again, the BBC is really, really sorry for making the Queen look like a royal bag.
• But not sorry enough to quit, apparently!
• Former television columnist Gail Shister demoted reassigned to the metro desk. Next in store for Gail: The local traffic beat.
• HBO execs in total denial over those giant piles of hate-mail from people still livid over the Sopranos finale.
• Meanwhile, HBO starting to face the reality that, without Chris "Bruiser" Albrecht at the helm, they've got zero new hit shows.
• Magazine ad sales come in "flat" by dropping 0.5% since 2006. "But if flat is the new up," writes AdAge, "a decline smaller than 1% can certainly be called the new flat." Or, in other words, no news is good news.
• Queen Elizabeth throws a shitshow temper tantrum and storms off set after photog Annie Leibovitz asks her to pose for some tawdry pics without her crown. Reportedly, Leibovitz's attempts to cajole QEII into cooperating included telling her "all the royals were doing it" and reassuring her that it would be "tasteful, for the sake of art."
• BBC apologizes for accidentally airing footage of the Queen storming off; explains away royal temper tantrum as "a documentary clip [that] had been edited incorrectly."
• "I don't want to be remembered as the guy who killed David Halberstam," worries the Guy Who Killed David Halberstam.
• You know what sucks about working at Bauer? Everything!
• The NYT has the non-exclusive on a magazine that already folded three days ago.
After 114 days spent as a kidnapping victim – taken from his car at gunpoint by the group Army of Islam – BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston was released with what's being billed as help from Hamas. The New York Times was quick to note (read: second paragraph) the semi-bald Johnston's appearance: "his hair grown out over his ears."
• The down side of appearing on the cover of Men's Vogue? It kinda makes people think you're an effeminate ass.
• Meanwhile, Elizabeth Edwards is not sorry about politely asking Ann Coulter to shut the fuck up.
• The BBC is terribly sorry that it cut away from Tony Blair's final speech as prime minister to show promos for the television show, Rome.
• Will a jury of Conrad Black's peers sentence the press baron to 20 years in prison? And if so, will 108 year old Larry King still have what it takes to grab the post-prison interview exclusive?
• Julia Allison is more than just another pretty face. She's also a mediocre writer and, as it turns out, a thinker!
• The Associated Press claims to have some sort of prudish objection to an amateur video showing strippers "performing lap dances" at a golf course, but we think they're just Bogie Monsters.
Now that has Rome Hartman re-joined the media playground under "employed" status – with his plush new gig exec producing a new BBC evening newscast – it's about time he mouthed off on his tenure with Katie Couric. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
