Royal Birth

I find that a bit offensive, when the Royal are a fundemental part of this country’s history. But for myself, I don’t care that much for them, but neither do I for C4 News either.

In Peter Sissons' autobiography, he says that when it launched they pledged to cover no crime stories apart from "landmark crime", no sport apart from "front page sport" and no royal news unless it had a major constitutional impact. But they soon decided that these rules were more trouble than they were worth, because there was endless debate over whether stories did or didn't fit, and it was eventually decided they could cover anything if they thought they could offer a unique spin on it.

I remember a piece in the Radio Times in the nineties going behind the scenes of the BBC News and the editor of the Nine O'Clock News saying the most complaints they ever had was when the Nine failed to show anything from the wedding of some minor royal or other. They said they were right not to give it a full report but they hadn't realised thousands of people just wanted to see the dress.

Which is absolutely right, they may be Londoners but it's not a London story

Moira. Moira. Moira. (And Richard Whitmore of course......)

Yes, that's where I read that info. Great book. I've re-read it a few times.

I don't think it's particularly controversial to point out that interest in the lives of celebrities, whether they are Royals, Hollywood stars, or rock musicians, tends to be much greater among the mass audience than among the more highly educated people served by Channel 4 News.

It's a bit more complicated than that though. We have a constitutional monarchy, so like it or not, the Royals play more of a role than mere celebrities. The monarch is our head of state, so effectively fulfilling part of the function of Donald Trump in the US. Whilst I'm not exactly enthralled about the birth of another Royal baby - and incidentally I swerved all of the coverage - I can appreciate that it would be covered on the news in some level of detail.


I'm not entirely happy with the notion that highly educated people wouldn't be interested in the Royals, whereas your average citizen would be because he or she isn't highly educated. I don't think it would cut across those boundaries as neatly as you are suggesting. I have three academic degrees, two of which are at postgraduate level, and I am certainly interested in the Royals in a casual sense. I appreciate that the Queen is our head of state and I respect the job that she and the other Royals do. It's hardly like a Kardashian baby which, I completely agree, would not interest me or C4 News's audience.

As you correctly point out, this is not a hard-and-fast rule, but more of a trend. The birth of a Royal baby -- not a new head-of state, which would be more significant -- is more likely to interest the Daily Mail crowd than the worldly, serious-minded Channel 4 News audience. The baby has no constitutional significance to the U.S., for instance, yet the American tabloid press is obsessed with anything Royal for reasons not much different from their obsession with the Kardashians. Meanwhile, most of the educated Britons I follow on Twitter (i.e., the Channel 4 News audience) are dismissive of Royal news; they are simply more interested in other stories from the UK and abroad -- stories that are likely to be of greater consequence for them, the UK, and the world.

Technically you're right, of course, but the British monarch's role is largely ceremonial, I'm not sure it's too great a comparison for the purposes of the point you are trying to make.




I would agree with you that the point about levels of education is not appropriate. But
I think that on a programme like Channel 4 News, which tends to be more analytical and investigative, there is probably little more to say than that the baby was safely born and is now 5th in line to the throne.

I can't imagine there are too many people whose only source of news is C4 News, so just reporting those bare facts would be pretty redundant.

Hmm, these are very sweeping generalisations. Again, I am not a Daily Mail reader yet I do have a passing interest in the Royal family. I am more of a monarchist that a republican. I respect the role of the monarchy, it's history and tradition and I wouldn't like to see it replaced. I would suggest that most of the people you are following on Twitter (hardly a representative sample) are rather left-wing republicans. I could guarantee that there are a lot of people out there - educated or otherwise - who have been brought up to respect the Royals and appreciate what they do.


Regardless of the fact that this baby is unlikely to succeed to the throne, he is still the son of our future King and Queen and as such his birth does deserve to be covered on all news outlets. The Royals are effectively our "first family" and I restate that they are not just celebrities. They also play a constitutional role and as such the immediate descendants of the monarch are newsworthy outside of the general celebrity gossip pages. Personally I think you are understating the role that the Royals play in British society. They are not just celebrities. In this instance, I didn't actually see any of the coverage of this baby's birth, but I can appreciate that it should be covered for those who are interested and this doesn't have anything to do with one's education. As someone pointed out earlier, not all news is going to be of interest to everyone and in the interest of balance, on some occasions the republicans are just going to have to put up with some Royal coverage for as long as we have a Royal family. Much in the same way that royalists have to put up with a constant rumbling of a desire to abolish the monarchy from the republicans.

Finally, I would like to make it clear that I am not writing this as a flag-waving royalist. I have a passing interest in them insofar as they are an element of the British establishment which I have been brought up to respect. I just don't agree that interest in the Royals has anything to do with one's education and I believe that news reporting should be fair and balanced.

Who else was brought to this by the winking Hyacinth Bucket on the home page.