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JonChr

Listed below are comments made by JonChr between Saturday, 17th January 2009 and Monday, 23rd March 2009.

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Changes to our blogs 10:09pm on 23 Mar 2009 WHen these BBC blogs started, there were frequent updates by the blogger, responding to the most important themes arising from the comments. These seem to have become much less common and this blog from Giles Wilson deserves a response or two.

First who is Giles Wilson? Can we have (on The Editors page I mean) the job title at the top of the entry please? And can we have a link to comments at the bottom of every entry?

Next I agree with the continuing annoyance of non-US characters not appearing correctly.

Final question: the above post by Giles Wilson says "This week" (posted 18th March) the design for our pages is also changing.
t is now Monday 23rd (therefore "next week") and only a few blogs have changed. Even some with posts dated today still have the old design - Betsan Powys for example. Surely we aren't going to have multiple blog layouts to cope with?

Proper strict moderation on all blogs please. Cut out the off topic stuff that makes some unreadable.
Cold weather and a new look online 07:47am on 06 Mar 2009 With respect to Kurisu, it is not a 'small issue' if the BBC search can't find Galashiels. It's a major one. And the search database should not include every tiny village, but main places in the UK. I don't want to be asked if I meant Cambridge, Gloucestershire, or Brighton, Cornwall. A search for main towns or the first half of the postcode is simple and people are used to it.
The BBC seems obsessed with providing a Web service to the whole world. Very often this gets in the way of the service to British residents and the weather site demonstrates this. In the illustration accompanying the blog, off the bottom of the screen you will find "More about United Kingdom", "Travel advice for United Kingdom from government website (!)" and so on.
The page is headed "BBC Weather : United Kingdom". This should be synonymous with "BBC Weather". No objection to special pages for those travelling abroad, as we have special weather bulletins on BBCTV, but the principal function of this page should be to give the BBC's customers and funders the web version of what we get on the radio or TV, and this site does not do that.
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue 9:36pm on 24 Feb 2009 The abbreviation for "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" is not, and never has been, "Clue". It is ISIHAC. (The name derives from its progenitor ISIRTA.) I would rather have seen ISIHAC brought to an end. I'm sure Samantha could find another job.

Turning from "the antidote to panel games", the actual panel games are becoming a disappearing breed. Brain of Britain, together with Round Britain Quiz, between them occupied nearly the whole year. Brain of Britain seems to have come and gone already and it's only February. And what has happened to Brain of Brains and Masterbrain?
It's never just 'bad news' first 10:16pm on 21 Feb 2009 Stories about job losses are usually straight. The figures can be relied on.

Stories about jobs 'created' are usually spin. It is companies, property developers, PR teams that bellow about 'creating' jobs, often to convince planning committees etc.

The papers have reported that the KFC expansion is attributed to customers 'trading down' from higher-class restaurants, so as commented above the 'created' jobs will actually be a [poor] replacement for jobs lost by individual local restaurants going out of business.
BBC News and disabled audiences 7:54pm on 19 Feb 2009 You write:

Commentators, and one reported "BBC insider", have said: "This is political correctness gone mad." It is not. This issue is not about avoiding causing offence.

But that's exactly what "political correctness gone mad" is. It is a pejorative term for being aware and considerate of the needs of others. So yes it is "correct" to do what you have reported.

It is also correct to listen to those, as mentioned above, who complain about intrusive music/sound effects making listening to what is said more difficult even for those with hearing is normal.
Even more most read 7:48pm on 19 Feb 2009 The problem with "Most popular"/"Most read" is the same as the often made criticism of the equivalent feature on any given Have Your Say page.

That is, the feature has a built-in positive feedback. Every viewer who clicks on one of the "most popular" links adds to the "popularity" of that story, so once a story appears on that list its stats will run away exponentially.

In Have Your Say, anyone who writes an early comment is very likely to be read many times and appear on "Most commended" at the expense of later and perhaps more considered comments.

Is there some way you can exclude clicks from the links themselves from being conutes in the stats?
Thanks from BBC News 9:42pm on 03 Feb 2009 On Saturday/Sunday we were told this cold weather was coming from "Europe". The BBC sill has correspondents in France, Brussels etc, so why couldn't they be used to show what was heading our way and how those communities were coping?

The BBC's "don't talk about Europe" policy is so irritating especially when contrasted with the amount of coverage of US affairs.
Have we got bad language for you? 8:16pm on 29 Jan 2009 "But the fall-out from the Ross-Brand affair has had a wider impact on what the BBC does. "

If only that were the case, we would hopefully see a reduction in needless offensive language across the BBC.

But the firm treatment handed down to Ross/Brand was not due to their coarse language but solely because it was used against an identifiable victim.

They and many others had been allowed to use coarse language for years without censure - and remember the case where the use of the word 'gay' to mean something like 'unpleasant' was investigated and found acceptable.
European borrowing: The ugly truth 12:29pm on 28 Jan 2009 Johan_Heuvel #30
"We have had discussions on Dutch national television on the Irish and Spanish housing bubble for years and on how to prevent such a bubble form occuring. "

The Dutch are fortunate to have this analysis of other European economies. In the present situation the BBC gives us precious little to compare the UK's position with its "competitors". Please Stephanie, can we have some reporting to show us whether the equivalent of Woolworths, RBS, etc are happening in France/Germany etc.

Tigerjayj #28
"One other point, Stephanie, please use English spelling, not American please (criticise not criticize). Or change your spell checker! I would expect a UK journalist to know how to spell in English!"

Oxford (the OED, heard of it?) prefers "criticize", so did The Times until recently. Cambridge and The Guardian prefer "criticise". Neither is American and a good UK English spell checker gives the user the choice.
Covering Gaza 10:32am on 17 Jan 2009 "Your comments on the BBC's reporting are welcome"

Many thanks for this, although in The Editors blogs we seem to no longer have responses by the BBC writers themselves to useful comments made.

So, two comments on Gaza reporting :

1) Reporters frequently give numbers of deaths within Gaza from the Israeli action and within Israel from Hamas. But these figures are reported as if they are quite normal: the very stark disparity in human impact, the customary Israeli lack of concern for loss of Arab life, is treated as unremarkable.

2) The Israeli action is often placed, correctly, in the context of Israel's wish to see an end of rocket attacks over the border. But viewers are not reminded why Israel is taking action at this time: I haven't heard the forthcoming election in Israel mentioned at all since the action began a month ago.
The BBC is misleading viewers if it fails to mention the election asit is surely the key reason why the invasion has taken place at this particular time (that or the need to get it done before Bush leaves town)

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