Madeleine Coverage

Pity those of us without a minidish.

Just out of interest, is the World Service covering this or is it being its normal, sensible self and putting it somewhere way down the agenda? MW reception in the Thames Valley is a certain synonym of excrement at the moment, so I'm stuck with the rubbish on News 24.

Fro crying out loud, talk about flogging a dead horse

Surely the most this event warranted (if anything at all) was a 10 second mention under "other news" at the end of the running order.

I'm sure many other more important things are happening around the world. I can understand that there can be very slow news days, but if things are so bad that we have to be subjected to this sort of non-event being reported as "Breaking News" then it's time to transmit the test card.

Jane Hill needs to find a Portugese hairdresser. She looks terrible.

Meeeeow!

I caught a bulletin on BBC World Service a few hours ago and the McCanns were way down the running order. They were leading with the regional meeting on Iraq's security, the US killing an Iraqi militant leader, and the former president of Pakistan's return on Monday. I think it came after that, fairly late into the bulletin.

BBC World television, on the other hand, has succumbed to leading with the McCanns, but they're devoting nowhere near as much air time to them as News 24. As I write now, BBC World has already covered the McCanns, plus a couple of other stories. News 24 is still on Madeleine.

But even if you have got a minidish you still can't get BBC World - well that's what I thought...

I see the McCanns have pleaded for privacy. Isn't it odd that they want privacy now? I didn't see them complaining when the media was following them about in Portugal after Madeleine's disappearance.

I agree with you on that. I think I've mentioned this before, but Tom Bradby exemplifies your point in his political reports.

I don't want to hear his views, that's what he's supposed to interview politicians for; the journalist is there to provide facts and deliver the story objectively, opinions come from interviewees. That's my view on things anyway.

I'm not sure about this growing implication that the Portuguese police are somehow corrupt for doing their jobs, however corrupt they may have been in the past

Oh by the way... people are dying in Dafur, the Russians are trying to start Cold War II in British airspace and Gordon Brown is attempting to sign a large part of our sovereignity away without our say-so. Just thought these trivial stories might be interest to you

If you point it at the right satellite and tell the digibox to sniff for it, I think it's there. Isn't it Hotbird 13?

Robert will explain it to you, I'm sure.

Yes, technically you could get it on a Sky minidish if you swung it round to 13E. However, I've got a separate 80cm dish for Hotbird (and Astra) to ensure a better signal.

And what gives them licence to carry on that way is that many of these opinions are difficult to disagree with - last week for example, "Jailed, the SICK stepmum who killed her child". Whether people agree with it isn't the point. TV news is there to report the FACTS, not pass judgement on them.