The World Service's expert reporting of Mandela's memorial service showed why its grant shouldn't be cutLive Coverage of the Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela (World Service)| iPlayerBook at Bedtime (R4) iPlayerAlice's Wunderland (R4) | iPlayerThe BBC comes into its own when covering state events, wheeling out the gravitas-packing team of Huw Edwards, Sophie Raworth and all available Dimblebys to comment on precisely which dignitary is arriving when and wearing what kind of hat. But Nelson Mandela's memorial service wasn't the usual BBC thang. It wasn't the usual media thang, to be fair. Print and TV coverage wavered between lofty (don't these colonials/prime ministers know how to behave?) and sycophantic (Mandela was Mother Teresa, only black and a man). If you wanted to know what was really going on, you had to turn to the World Service.Sitting right inside the stadium, presenters Audrey Brown and Ros Atkins were warm and genuine and, crucially, spontaneous guides to the service. Brown, in particular, kept listeners in touch with what was actually happening. "People on Twitter are asking, 'Where is Obama?', but in the stadium there is no sense of that, people are focusing on what is happening here," she said. And: "There was an undercurrent when Zuma came on stage." She conveyed both sympathy towards President Zuma and an understanding of the people's anger towards him. Such easy humanity from a non-Dimbleby!We zoomed in and out of the memorial action, listening to... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]