This sums the british media up nicely

johntheexpat

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Search for Britons on lost plane



A search is continuing for five Britons who were on board an Air France plane which disappeared over the Atlantic.


Frankly this kind of insular, introspective crap makes me sick.
There were 228 people on the plane, 5 of them British, 223 not British. If a friend or relative of one of the non UK victims should look to the BBC for news, what are they going to think?
 
And that is a gross distortion sir. :nono:

The headline news on the BBC news front page is

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Atlantic searched for lost plane

Atlantic searched for lost plane
Relatives wait at Tom Jobim Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (01 June 2009)
Officials say there is little hope of finding any survivors

Rescuers are searching waters deep in the Atlantic Ocean for a French airliner which disappeared in a storm early on Monday.

The search, involving ships and planes from many nations, was part-suspended overnight, but aircraft with monitoring equipment continued to scour the sea.

Brazilian authorities are investigating reports that another passenger plane's crew saw "bright spots" in the ocean.

The Air France Airbus was heading from Brazil to Paris when it disappeared.

France believes there is little hope of finding survivors from among the 228 passengers and crew aboard the flight.

Only in the UK section will you find the news item
BBC NEWS | UK | Search for Britons on lost plane

and guess what? On the Northern Island section there is a story about a NI person missing.
BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Riverdance star on lost airliner

And on the Welsh Section?
Oh, its a story about a Welsh passenger
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/default.stm

Qu'ell Suprise. Sacre flipping blue. The British, the Welsh and the Irish report items of local interest.

:rolleyes:

Seems like the Irish are as insular as us then
http://www.independent.ie/
 
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I take your point, but nobody is searching for 5 britons on a lost plane, so why imply that they are? The story is that there has been a tragedy and britons are involved. The French, Americans, Brazilians and Senegalese who are conducting the search are not searching for 5 britons, they are searching for 228 victims.

My point is why do the BBC UK take that stand, why not acknowledge that amongst the 228 victims there are 5 British citizens, rather than using a linguistic tool that seems to imply the British victims are the ones being searched for?

Edit: I don't have time just now to do a comprehensive sweep of european news sources, but a quick search of 5 french and 3 german sites indicates that they are focusing primarily on a lost plane with 228 victims, rather than the number of their own citizens who went down. If anyone finds a foreign site that takes the same stance as the BBC UK then I will grovel unconditionally.
 
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My point is why do the BBC UK take that stand, why not acknowledge that amongst the 228 victims there are 5 British citizens, rather than using a linguistic tool that seems to imply the British victims are the ones being searched for?

But they are not. The main news items does exactly that. Report the search for 228 victims, and only several paragraphs down saying

Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.

It is only in the regional subsections of the BBC News that the stories centre on people from that region. What is wrong with that? :confused:

Edit: I don't have time just now to do a comprehensive sweep of european news sources, but a quick search of 5 french and 3 german sites indicates that they are focusing primarily on a lost plane with 228 victims, rather than the number of their own citizens who went down. If anyone finds a foreign site that takes the same stance as the BBC UK then I will grovel unconditionally.

Like the Irish Independent front page I linked to?

Or RTE, the equivalent of BBC
On their front page the only mention of the crash is
Irish doctors aboard French plane

Denmark - Copenhagen Post Front page headline "Dane on board missing flight"

Sorry, but you are clutching at straws here.
 
I thought that Gordon Brown had chosen his words unwisely yesterday too when talking about the plane he said something along the lines of "I fear there may be Britons on board the plane" as if that's all that mattered and that was more catastrophic.

Does it make anyone in Britain sadder to know there are britons on board? Does it change anything?
 
Does it make anyone in Britain sadder to know there are britons on board? Does it change anything?

I think it does. I was watching the local news earlier and it was reporting about the girl from N.Ireland who was on-board. Before that, I viewed it as a tragic accident, but I did feel differently knowing that a "local" is amongst those missing.
 
That's strange to me... Maybe it's because I've no real connection to any place in particular so I feel equally sad for anyone from anywhere.
I would only feel sadder if I knew the people I think.
 
One of the reports put it as "228 people including seven children and one baby" :( I think that made it closer to home for me than the nationalities.

Dave
 
That's strange to me... Maybe it's because I've no real connection to any place in particular so I feel equally sad for anyone from anywhere.
I would only feel sadder if I knew the people I think.

I suppose it means that I'll take more of an interest in the story since the local news will now be covering it.

Otherwise, it would just be another disaster that will be main news until the next headline comes along.
 
I think this is a rather daft thread. The headline isn't supposed to belittle the lost of the non-Britons, but the British media natually prioritise their own (as does everybody else's media).

Our news reports frequently report the loss of British soldiers in action in Afghanistan. Do you need to hear about the US casualties also?

It is more personal also because people watching the british news/ reading british newspapers may have relatives or friends amoung the dead. It's only natural to raise concern about such a loss.

Of all the criticisms you could level at our media, reporting our dead should rank pretty low on your list.
 
I think it's been an interesting thread: John made a point and loz refuted it, further discussion ensued and it's remained largely civil :) :thumbsup:

Dave
 
I think it's been an interesting thread: John made a point and loz refuted it, further discussion ensued and it's remained largely civil :) :thumbsup:

Dave

You make it sound like thats a rare thing in general chat! I can't think of many discussions that have been otherwise.

Perhaps I should have said a rather daft premise- like finding something unnecessary to complain about. The thread and discussion that followed was interesting.
 
:D It can feel like a rare thing sometimes ;)

Dave
 
Well this thread may as well close, because the BBC (UK) have completely changed the story that the clicky links to. Which is a little unfair on me because now it is impossible to continue with this particular line.

Perhaps GC on AVForums actually has more influence in the real world than we give it credit for?

Dony, can I have a chocolate Hob Nob with my tea instead?
 
Well this thread may as well close, because the BBC (UK) have completely changed the story that the clicky links to...

Dony, can I have a chocolate Hob Nob with my tea instead?

No. You haven't grovelled yet. :)
 
I didn't like the way in which the cameras and microphones were being stuffed in the confused and upset relative's faces. Disgusting behaviour.
 
Getting back to the British Media I was reading The Mirror this moring (waiting in the hairdressers honest) and read a quote from the new Chelsea Manager that "Zinedine Zidane was an offensive midfielder"
 
Getting back to the British Media I was reading The Mirror this moring (waiting in the hairdressers honest) and read a quote from the new Chelsea Manager that "Zinedine Zidane was an offensive midfielder"
I was in the hairdressers and looking in the mirror. What I saw was offensive. :D
 
Getting back to the British Media I was reading The Mirror this moring (waiting in the hairdressers honest) and read a quote from the new Chelsea Manager that "Zinedine Zidane was an offensive midfielder"

Whatever it was that Marco Matterazzi said to Zidane in the World Cup final, he definately took offence. :)
 

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