Talk about blowing the doors off your own house, then blaming the company that made the dynamite..
Nothing more that a piece of beligerent grandstanding by the LSE. As Ceri quite rightly pointed out - had the LSE kept their mouths shut, no-one would have notice and they could have carried out sending groups around the world without too much trouble.
Instead they blab and gob off, drawing attention away from what will be an interesting documentary (exactly the sort the BBC should be doing) into a kicking material piece for the anti-BBC press.
Dare I say that Sky News or ITV would have done exactly the same thing- Piggybacked on a organised tour.
In fact the most surprising thing about all this is John Sweeney didn't go in under a false name, but then I doubt the Scientologists have yet to establish a base in North Korea.
Oh, and by the way Tim Wilcox - it is customary when interviewing someone, to let them speak
after
you've asked the question - not line the next one up whilst they are still speaking. It's called manners.
(that bit is in reference to his interview with Sweeney futher down the page)
Talk about blowing the doors off your own house, then blaming the company that made the dynamite..
Nothing more that a piece of beligerent grandstanding by the LSE. As Ceri quite rightly pointed out - had the LSE kept their mouths shut, no-one would have notice and they could have carried out sending groups around the world without too much trouble.
Instead they blab and gob off, drawing attention away from what will be an interesting documentary (exactly the sort the BBC should be doing) into a kicking material piece for the anti-BBC press.
Dare I say that Sky News or ITV would have done exactly the same thing- Piggybacked on a organised tour.
In fact the most surprising thing about all this is John Sweeney didn't go in under a false name, but then I doubt the Scientologists have yet to establish a base in North Korea.
Oh, and by the way Tim Wilcox - it is customary when interviewing someone, to let them speak
after
you've asked the question - not line the next one up whilst they are still speaking. It's called manners.
(that bit is in reference to his interview with Sweeney futher down the page)
Although I can't say I've ever noticed Tim Willcox as being a particular culprit for this - some TV interviews are cringeworthy these days. I'm not sure when it became cool to just imitate Paxman but a lot of people are going about it the wrong way. You don't have to talk over someone or bark statements at them to be considered a good interviewer. It's very important to adjust your style for the person you're speaking to.
Watching Election 79 has made me realise (yet again!) that Sir Robin Day was an absolutely fantastic interviewer. He had the gravitas to get to the point (often very quickly) but was incredibly witty and ending up getting his guests to say more than they had realised with a simple off the cuff, at ease comment.