Although odd that they manage to lose the tape of BBC World's 9/11 coverage
Not particularly odd... Only one "PasB" (i.e. Programme as Broadcast) broadcast quality recording is routinely made of BBC World and BBC News 24, and usually this isn't retained indefinitley (even the VHS recordings aren't retained forever)
However I suspect that LOADS of BBC productions wanted the BBC World PasBs of 9/11 - and that it is entirely possible they were given the original, not a dub, and that this may not have been returned.
This may be far from ideal - but I can absolutely see it happening...
This is the article the Editors' Blog is replying to (with the video). I've watched and listened twice and it could quite easily be very clever editing. Who knows. I don't want to start an argument about conspiracy theories but the 9/11 episode of The Conspriacy Files featured the co-author of this article and his radio show quite heavily.
Oh I read this earlier, it's all very strange! I'm surprised that this has taken so long to surface but now that it has has mushroomed so quickly. The power of the internet I suppose.
It's not the most convincing of conspiracies I have ever heard. It could be put down to simply being confused reporting during a very confusing day. The conspiracy theorists admit they have no evidence of the time of the broadcast even though time is a major part of their arguement. Is that really WTC 7 over Jane Standley's shoulder?! We have to take their word for it.
Out of interest, where is Jane Standley now? I haven't seen her for a very long time. I suppose from BBC World's POV, all publicity is good publicity.
Oh I read this earlier, it's all very strange! I'm surprised that this has taken so long to surface but now that it has has mushroomed so quickly. The power of the internet I suppose.
It's not the most convincing of conspiracies I have ever heard. It could be put down to simply being confused reporting during a very confusing day. The conspiracy theorists admit they have no evidence of the time of the broadcast even though time is a major part of their arguement. Is that really WTC 7 over Jane Standley's shoulder?! We have to take their word for it.
Out of interest, where is Jane Standley now? I haven't seen her for a very long time. I suppose from BBC World's POV, all publicity is good publicity.
Jane Standley is the main reporter on BBC4's The World.
How on earth did they make the assumption that the news was reported at 9:57pm BST? A far more logical explanation is that the BBC were running titles at the bottom of the hour as well as the top, theoretically making the news come in at 10:27pm BST, 7 mins after it collapsed.
Again, how do we know the building in the background is WTC7? It's a 1980's office block - it's hard enough to tell two standing next to each other apart let alone one from a distance.
Footage lost - Easily done. Just look at what happened to BBC Two's launch night.
Satellite Link lost - they are extremely fickle things and it's extremely easy to screw up a link, especially on a day when everything is overloaded.
I would have thought that day of all days that the BBC would have copies of VHS tapes of the coverage across the BBC. Either way its stupid to think that they were part of some conspiracy.
I've never understood why people don't just accept what happend. Terrorists with warped views on the world attacked America - end of. Same with Diana - the driver crashed because he was drinking, they had no seatbelts on - end of.
To say for certain that the building in the background is actually WTC7 would require knowing where Jane Standley was reporting from. I don't suppose the conspiracy theorists have really taken that into account.
As for the feed going down - satellite time has to be in booked timeslots, and I'd imagine there were a hell of a lot of demand on that afternoon. The BBC could have just run out of booked time; or the break-up on the picture might even have suggested someone else was trying to transmit on the same channel. Hardly a conspiracy.
In the interests of fairness, I thought it would be helpful to add some information to the debate of whether or not that is the Salomon Brothers building (WTC7).
That said, don't for a moment think that I agree with all this conspiracy theory nonsense. I find it as amusing as I do tragic that people draw such conclusions and represent them as "the real truth" without even considering the realities of the events - such as the fact that news would have been coming in thick and fast, and there would have been many conflicting and alarming reports coming in.
Situations such as this highlight the value of correspondents reporting in familiar surroundings that they understand - I am assuming that Jane Standley was in New York by chance rather than design - as a correspondent with a more intimate knowledge of New York might well have noticed that the Salomon Brothers building was still standing as they reported on its demise.
