Because They Are Worth It

For the second year running, the US version of the BBC website has won the top award in the US for its international news coverage. Nobody else has the same 80 years of infrastructure, or can bring in content from other branches of their network, but don’t take my word for it.

BBC.com won the accolade for overall excellence, with its online operation described by the judges as “uniquely situated” to cover world events.

Quite.

In their citation, the Peabody judges highlighted the BBC’s global reach and long history of covering events in all corners of the world.

No kidding.

The award for BBC.com comes after a year of increased focus on news operations in the US.

Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News website, said the Peabody Award was “fantastic news”.

“It is recognition of BBC News as a whole against very strong competition. Investment into BBC.com has helped us expand our operations in the Washington bureau to create an even better showcase for BBC News for audiences in North America.”

Well, that is part of their remit, bringing the UK to the world. But let’s face it: this is all done in the search for ad revenue – evil profit. Good thing the BBC isn’t as sacred as the NHS, for which no profit motive shall be permitted.

The best part:

Online journalists now work at the heart of the BBC’s Washington DC hub, offering news and feature content aimed at US audiences more directly than ever before.

As well as covering news from across the US and Canada, the team produces bespoke online video and text features for the BBC’s international Magazine section, which launched in September 2011.

The US operation is backed by wider BBC News website teams in the UK providing expert coverage of wider global affairs, technology, science and nature, health and the arts.

Once you’re done wiping the tears of laughter from your eyes, discuss.

 

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13 Responses to Because They Are Worth It

  1. Ian says:

    And what of the immensely popular Fox News? Peabody judges don’t like it because it’s not left wing.

       17 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Fox News doesn’t really do much international reporting. Nobody really has that “unique” decades-old infrastructure.

         1 likes

  2. pounce_uk says:

    So do the Yanks get fed a diet of ‘Allah ackba’ day in day out like we in the Uk do.

    The bBC, the traitors in our midst

       18 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Exactly. And you guys get fed a diet of misinformation and biased reporting about US issues day in and day out.

      BBC World News America similarly won a Peabody after its first year running, but it degenerated. It was more or less a half hour of international reporting done for the BBC News Channel in the UK, and the second half was US stuff, with Matt Frei or Katty Kay talking to a Democrat operative or similar fellow traveler in the studio. That didn’t impress too many people outside media luvvies and the coastal liberals.

      Last year it was cut down to half an hour and summarily dumped from the BBC America channel. It’s now distributed amongst several local PBS channels, and that’s it. The bias was blatant every day, and I used to complain about it here rather often.

         0 likes

  3. Jim Dandy says:

    Well done the BBC. Good to see a British enterprise doing so well overseas. Maybe B-BBC will be in with a shout next year . But what category I wonder.

       1 likes

    • Wayne X says:

      This just proves that they can survive the capitalist system of buying and selling for profit.
      Or are they being subsidised by the British licence/tax payer, on pain of imprisonment?
      If the former then when will they do it here?
      Are far as I am concerned they can be as pro-Islamic terrorist, pro global climate warming change, pro wishy-washy left wing, pro-Labour as they like, BUT NOT ON MY MONEY!

         13 likes

      • David Preiser (USA) says:

        I believe there’s a combination of license fee funding and BBC Worldwide money going to this. However, much of the content comes from the license-fee funded mother ship.

        As for the US division, most are Worldwide employees, but some are not. Either way, they feed off each other and they’re separate entities only in the accounting department at Bush House.

           1 likes

    • Millie Tant says:

      If praise is in order, shouldn’t it be “Well done to us!” for funding and enabling this latter-day British Empire to bring much-needed enlightenment to the more needy and ill-provided parts of the world such as er…um…the USA? / sarc

         1 likes

    • David Preiser (USA) says:

      Sorry, Jim, but we don’t have the massive financing to produce “bespoke” video magazine pieces. Or the gall to get a bunch of very young, very low-paid digital media studies grads to do it for us, while also employing layers of management above them, and trousering large salaries

         2 likes

  4. chrisH says:

    I wonder if anyone has bothered to count how many “awards” get doled out between these media types-as if they don`t get enough reward and attention already.
    By the law of averages, I`d guess that the BBC are up for dozens of awards somewhere as we speak…and when they inevitably pass the dutchie on the left hand side, they`ll end up claiming it as due acknowledgement of their greatness.
    As for the USA…what the hell are they doing giving out awards to pals of Sheikh Muhammad, Richard Reid? Have they forgotten what 9/11s Question Time showed the British medias opinion of the USA actually is underneath?
    About time, the beacon of the Free World began to enter the war we`re involved in here to knock the Beeb off its bloody perch!

       1 likes

  5. Leftie-Loather says:

    Jim, you don’t think if B-BBC got the amount of funding that the utter daylight robbing and liberty taking BBC got that it couldn’t wipe the floor with the BBC?
    The BBC should be grateful as hell that B-BBC’s only on the internet and there isn’t also a televised news version of it to watch, which if I was wealthy enough or won the lottery is something i’d absolutely relish helping advertise and fund daily satellite (via Asian or Israeli sat’ or something, seen as EU ones would unlikely allow it ..lol) broadcasting times for. A truly level playing field for television news would be fantastic!, wouldn’t it, Mr Dandy? Unlike with the BBC licence fee, there’d at long last be REAL freedom of choice! – like everyone really knows there should be now.

       4 likes

  6. phil says:

    I wonder how much the Peabodies would like BBC news if they and all their fellow citizens were forced to pay for it if they wanted to use a TV at all in the privacy of their own homes.

       1 likes

  7. rob says:

    “Once you’re done wiping the tears of laughter from your eyes, discuss.”

    Sorry, I’m too busy trying to clean the puke off my keyboard.

       1 likes