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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged bbc

1. November 16, 2011 02:45 PM

   Frozen Planet Freezes Out Climate

   BBC’s polar series unwisely sets apart episode about global warming

   By Curtis Brainard

   The BBC is taking a mild pummeling for giving foreign television networks the option not to buy an episode about climate change when purchasing rights to air a nature and wildlife series about Earth’s polar regions. British viewers will see all seven episodes of Frozen Planet, but viewers in other countries, including the US, will see only six, The Telegraph...

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2. December 7, 2011 06:00 PM

   Frozen Planet’s Final Episode Will Air in US

   Discovery Channel reverses course following wave of criticism, but what will viewers get?

   By Curtis Brainard

   Discovery Channel reversed course on Tuesday when it announced that it would air all seven parts of a BBC series about Earth’s polar regions, including a final episode about climate change, which it originally said it would forgo. In mid-November, the BBC drew criticism for giving foreign television networks the option not to buy the final episode, “On Thin Ice,”...

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3. July 7, 2011 05:49 PM

   A Young Rupert Murdoch in Britain, Via the BBC Archives

   Adam Curtis pulls fascinating archival footage that shows the tycoon on his way up

   By Ryan Chittum

   The BBC's Adam Curtis has a fascinating blog called The Medium and the Message where he digs into the network's unparalleled archives and posts old clips that piece together a bit of history—often on a subject in the news. Back in January, Curtis put together a brilliant piece called "Rupert Murdoch - A Portrait of Satan" with clips going back...

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4. August 19, 2011 12:28 AM

   Audit Notes: The Milken Memory Hole, The Ax Murder and the NotW, Yahoo

   By Ryan Chittum

   Mother Jones's Nick Baumann catches the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press in some poor journalism. A businessman gives $10 million to UCLA, which names a new program after him. Who's the businessman? Lowell Milken. The Milken name ought to raise red flags for editors, obviously, but neither the AP's brief nor the LAT's longer piece note that Lowell,...

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5. March 25, 2011 10:04 AM

   BBC + PBS = YES

   Why I’ll watch the new World News America

   By Ann Cooper

   While we wait for Comcast and Time Warner cable to conquer their Al Jazeera phobia, let me suggest an alternative for news junkies who find American TV a little too News Lite: tune in to BBC World News America. And watch it on PBS. BBC World News America is the smart, U.S.-oriented nightly news program that began in 2007 on...

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6. October 23, 2012 11:20 AM

   BBC in crisis over a shelved pedophile investigation

   Newsnight accused of a coverup after they dropped the case

   By Hazel Sheffield

   When it emerged, a year after his death, that popular UK television personality Jimmy Saville may have molested hundreds of girls, his headstone was torn down and plaques placed in his honor around the country were defaced and then removed. Now the controversy has spread to Savile’s former employer, the BBC, since it emerged last week that an investigation into...

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7. August 16, 2012 05:48 PM

   In NYT’s search for transformation, Thompson a surprising choice

   "If Thompson manages more than failure, it will, in some ways, be an astonishing achievement"

   By Emily Bell

   Is Mark Thompson the right person to be chief executive of The New York Times? The cynical might note that, as he likely arrived at the building in a town car rather than a Batmobile, and with no discernible cape, he is unlikely to be the perfect fit for a company which requires not so much management as miraculous reincarnation....

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8. November 15, 2012 03:00 PM

   Letter from a Londoner

   The BBC is in crisis. Should you care?

   By Hazel Sheffield

   This week, the BBC celebrates its 90th birthday. As birthdays go, it’s a rather unhappy one. In the last month, reports of scandal wracking the BBC have appeared in publications across the globe, each struggling to distill the absurdities of a historical culture of pedophilia and abuse that infiltrated Britain’s treasured public broadcaster. (Emily Bell has one of the best...

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9. May 2, 2011 05:10 PM

   Osama bin Laden, 54, Public Enemy No. 1

   A review of the obits

   By Lauren Kirchner

   Osama bin Laden was the world’s most powerful terrorist. He was also, undeniably, the most famous. And as befits any celebrity, when his death was announced, many news organizations were ready with a biographical piece that had been pre-written and -filed in preparation for the occasion, perhaps years beforehand. Many news reports to come out since Sunday night contain background...

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10. July 10, 2012 03:25 PM

    Saving Auntie: Meet the BBC’s new boss

    Who is George Entwistle and what challenges does he face?

    By Hazel Sheffield

    Last Wednesday, the BBC announced the appointment of longtime employee George Entwistle to the corporation’s top post of director general. He took over immediately from Mark Thompson, the man who weathered Russell Brand’s phone pranks and oversaw the opening of a new office in Salford, in the north of England. “It’s a privilege to be asked to lead the greatest...

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11. August 16, 2012 04:45 PM

    Thompson has digital cred but faces challenges at NYT

    The former BBC director general was hired to guide the Times to a cross-platform future

    By Hazel Sheffield

    On Tuesday, The New York Times named Mark Thompson, the outgoing director general of the BBC, as its new chief executive officer. Thompson starts in November. In the announcement, Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said that Thompson was the man to guide the Times into a digital future, with increasing focus on cross-platform content. “We have people who...

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12. November 11, 2012 12:09 PM

    What’s happening at the BBC

    The Corporation is facing a serious challenge to its future and to its independence

    By Emily Bell

    “To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” —Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest A very British crisis needs a very British epigraph. The BBC has lost not one, but two directors general in the space of three months. The first, Mark Thompson, left the Corporation under what seemed like...

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