I don't see your pointless point Nick, they had that story too including shots and interviews from the scene.
And Maurice had a fantastic interview with a pregnant teacher who was attacked while doing her job. Don't know how many newsrooms you've worked in, but those sorts of stories don't arrive by press release.
Does make me laugh that as much as you hate it, you're always first to comment (with your same joke) about what they've covered. If you hate it. Turn it off and give us a break.
If they had shots and interviews it must have been further down the programme.
I got as far as the report all the way from the newsroom from Steve (then another police car, then another motor cycle, then another van, then another police car) Brodie, then I took your suggestion and switched over to Spotlight for some serious stories.
I'm very sorry if you don't like me repeating the joke, but just consider the fact that I might just stop repeating it if they stopped repeating the angram of carp that they currently put out.
I don't see your pointless point Nick, they had that story too including shots and interviews from the scene.
And Maurice had a fantastic interview with a pregnant teacher who was attacked while doing her job.
Don't know how many newsrooms you've worked in, but those sorts of stories don't arrive by press release
.
Really, want to bet on that? the lead to that story angle was from PR by a teaching union.
It would be interesting to see if the introduction to the teacher who CLAIMS to have been attacked (as there appears not to be a filed police report, it is a claim not a fact) was done by the union PR?
Nick's point is not that everything is cut+paste from a press release (a shocking amout appears to be) but most BBC West output is spoon fed news releases - always following the agenda and angle setout in them if not every word.
This is not just forum mongs who think this: At a recent Police media breakfast (you know the ones..) the output from whiteladies road was being ripped to shreds for the very same reasons given here.
Maurice is far, far better than most. He really should find work in a better region.
I see what you're saying GARYC, I do. (And forgive this being potentially in the wrong thread as it's more Points West than South Today)
But if that's what you consider to be 'press release fed' then that's an accusation that should be levelled at ALL journalists who approach any body/organisation/charity which is in touch with case studies AND has a press officer or marketing department? Which is a standard journalistic approach across broadcasting not just within the BBC, and certainly not just at Points West.
I don't know enough about the police briefing you're talking of, but I do know that if it was the Avon and Somerset force that they're at war with Whiteladies Road over an on-air incident where the Chief Constable ended up in a row with the presenter.
I genuinely don't know enough about it to care, but I suspect that would skew their opinion of the BBC's reporting.
You still seem to be missing the essential point, Mr, Mrs or Miss Red.
Incidentally, I do hate people who are so scared of their own views that they hide behind completely meaningless names.
The point Gary and I are making is the ratio of press release led stories, where little or no further investigation takes place, as with Maurice's story about the teacher last night; against proper investigative journalism where the guy firstly goes out and investigates the story for himself, and then does an interview where the interviewee fees like they've just been taken by the throat by a pit bull terrier.
Yes, everyone follows a few press releases, but the ratio at Points West is FAR, FAR higher than on other programmes, BBC, ITV or others.
If you don't believe me, just go to channel 987 on Astra and watch Spotlight for a week. You'll come away wondering what's hit you.
Without doing more than a few minutes of research, Gary and I seem to know far more detail about this teacher story than Maurice did; yet I've not used it and, as far as I know, Gary hasn't either.