When I noticed what Eamonn pointed out in the comments- that the BBC website was giving extraordinary prominence to two short protests against the Hutton Report before and during its debate in Parliament- I zipped along the wires to see for myself. I couldn’t find it until I realised they’d put it on the World Edition page- where there were two stories about the protests (the second story is totally trivial), presented as follows:
Protests delay UK’s WMD debate
Anti-war protesters heckle Tony Blair as MPs debate the Hutton Report on Iraq weapons expert David Kelly.
Obviously it’s weird that this is ‘World News’. It’s also a bit odd to describe it as a ‘WMD debate’, implying a bust-up over the tricky political issue of WMD, when it was launched as a debate on the Hutton Report- a tricky political issue for the BBC. Having seen the cynical and confused world press’ reaction to the Hutton Report via BBC surveys, however, I can see why the Beeb think that broad definition has some mileage. Perhaps they see the Hutton Report as a domestic, British judgement (who could be more domestic, more ‘British’ than Lord Hutton?), whereas their vindication is seen to be found in the reaction of their world audience. The key part of the major report is Mr Blair’s response to the dossier-phrasing fears expressed by Dr Brian Jones- apparently given some fresh energy by an interview with Jones in The Independent according to the Beeb. Whether that was actually raised in Parliament as part of the Commons debate is not at all clear (and it should be, in this report), but it was certainly dealt with in Jones’ interview with Lord Hutton.
Update: I’ve just noticed that the headlines covering the same story have changed considerably- rather Gilliganesque I’d say. The main headline now reads ‘Hutton report ‘was no Whitewash’ ‘– and no-one’s accusing the PM of lying, either, absolutely not, just let’s make that clear. It’s now been put onto the UK Edition as well, which begs the question- why not there in the first place? Oh, I get it, it’s a naming strategy to help the world get up to speed on the Beeb’s No1 story. Update2: Melanie Phillips cuts down to size The Independent’s report which helped fuel the Beeb’s afternoon anti-Hutton bonanza.