Post by Teddy Bear on Dec 30, 2012 19:09:18 GMT
One can sense the anger building up in Michael Buerk over many years for a variety of things he saw at the BBC, until 'the last straw that breaks the camel's back'. It seems as the Savile debacle was that straw.
Poetry to my ears.
‘On the screen, a succession of Daytime airheads preened themselves, or gossiped with even more vacuous D-list “celebrities”. With barely an exception, they were cringingly inept.
He also attacks George Entwistle, the BBC executive responsible for the Jubilee coverage who was subsequently promoted to director-general. But he was forced to resign after just 54 days in the job following the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine Newsnight fiascos, pocketing an estimated £400,000 pay-off.
Mr Buerk says: ‘The BBC actually congratulated itself, and the executive ultimately responsible was promptly promoted to become the most disastrous director-general in the Corporation’s history.’
‘The BBC is a private school old boys’ and girls’ association . . . now, while most of us are being squeezed, senior executive pay soars and, even at the top of public service organisations like the BBC, fortunes are flung at failures.’
'... has claimed the BBC has an institutional bias towards the Left, and openly criticised the ‘pressure to deliver’ on today’s news reporters.'
Poetry to my ears.
Sorry Tess, he DOES mean you: BBC's Michael Buerk savages his 'airhead colleagues' and 'that pneumatic bird-brain from Strictly'
By Amanda Perthen
He has long been the BBC’s voice of authority, one of the most respected journalists of his generation who has been responsible for imparting momentous news to the nation.
But now Michael Buerk has turned on the Corporation that has employed him for more than four decades, blasting its Diamond Jubilee coverage as ‘cringingly inept’.
And he reserves his strongest criticism for the presenters on the day – who included Strictly Come Dancing co-host Tess Daly – decrying them as ‘airheads’ who failed to convey the majesty of the occasion.
His outspoken views come in an end-of-year commentary written for The Mail on Sunday. In his article, Buerk, 66, argues that the spectacle and significance of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which should have been an event to unite the nation in pride, was ‘betrayed’ by the vacuous BBC coverage.
In an unflinching attack, he writes: ‘The one enduring British institution [the Monarchy] was mocked by another that had shamefully lost its way.
‘On the screen, a succession of Daytime airheads preened themselves, or gossiped with even more vacuous D-list “celebrities”. With barely an exception, they were cringingly inept.
‘Nobody knew anything, nobody cared. The main presenter couldn’t even work out what to call the Queen.’
Mr Buerk then focuses on Ms Daly’s abilities as a news presenter, using far from politically correct language. He writes: ‘The Dunkirk Little Ships, the most evocative reminders of this country’s bravest hour, were ignored so that a pneumatic bird-brain from Strictly Come Dancing could talk to transvestites in Battersea Park.
‘I was so ashamed of the BBC I would have wept if I hadn’t been so angry. The worst thing was that it was deliberate – planned that way to be “light” and “inclusive”.’
He also attacks George Entwistle, the BBC executive responsible for the Jubilee coverage who was subsequently promoted to director-general. But he was forced to resign after just 54 days in the job following the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine Newsnight fiascos, pocketing an estimated £400,000 pay-off.
Mr Buerk says: ‘The BBC actually congratulated itself, and the executive ultimately responsible was promptly promoted to become the most disastrous director-general in the Corporation’s history.’
The former foreign correspondent and newsreader finally dismisses the Corporation as out-of-touch, saying: ‘The BBC is a private school old boys’ and girls’ association . . . now, while most of us are being squeezed, senior executive pay soars and, even at the top of public service organisations like the BBC, fortunes are flung at failures.’
In a final swipe, Mr Buerk says that the Royal baby could unite the nation in 2013, and muses wryly: ‘Maybe the BBC will even get its title right.’
The BBC attracted 2,425 complaints over its coverage of the Thames flotilla in June, with viewers complaining of the trivial nature of the broadcast and elementary mistakes such as referring to the Queen as ‘HRH’ instead of ‘Her Majesty’.
At the time, Stephen Fry, another regular BBC face, tweeted: ‘Has the BBC ever presented a more mind-numbingly tedious programme in its history? This is eggier and cheesier than a collapsed souffle.’
This is not the first time Mr Buerk has turned his fire on the BBC and its employees.
He has previously criticised contemporary newsreaders, saying: ‘You get a great deal of money, you have very little work to do and you don’t need a brain. There are some real lame-brains doing it.
‘It is the only job that actually requires no talent at all. If you can read out loud, you can do it.’
He was also vocal about the decision to move the Nine O’Clock News to its present slot an hour later, has claimed the BBC has an institutional bias towards the Left, and openly criticised the ‘pressure to deliver’ on today’s news reporters.
Mr Buerk joined the BBC in 1970 and the highlight of his illustrious career was his harrowing 1984 report on the drought bringing famine to Ethiopia, which prompted singer Bob Geldof to launch Band Aid and Live Aid.
He has won more international awards for his reporting than any other British journalist, but quit his estimated £175,000-a-year newsreading job in 2002.
However, he continues to be employed by the Corporation as presenter of Radio 4’s ethical programmes The Moral Maze and The Choice.
Mr Buerk, who lives with his wife in Guildford, Surrey, also has a lucrative career as an after-dinner speaker, for which he charges up to £9,600 a time.
By Amanda Perthen
He has long been the BBC’s voice of authority, one of the most respected journalists of his generation who has been responsible for imparting momentous news to the nation.
But now Michael Buerk has turned on the Corporation that has employed him for more than four decades, blasting its Diamond Jubilee coverage as ‘cringingly inept’.
And he reserves his strongest criticism for the presenters on the day – who included Strictly Come Dancing co-host Tess Daly – decrying them as ‘airheads’ who failed to convey the majesty of the occasion.
His outspoken views come in an end-of-year commentary written for The Mail on Sunday. In his article, Buerk, 66, argues that the spectacle and significance of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, which should have been an event to unite the nation in pride, was ‘betrayed’ by the vacuous BBC coverage.
In an unflinching attack, he writes: ‘The one enduring British institution [the Monarchy] was mocked by another that had shamefully lost its way.
‘On the screen, a succession of Daytime airheads preened themselves, or gossiped with even more vacuous D-list “celebrities”. With barely an exception, they were cringingly inept.
‘Nobody knew anything, nobody cared. The main presenter couldn’t even work out what to call the Queen.’
Mr Buerk then focuses on Ms Daly’s abilities as a news presenter, using far from politically correct language. He writes: ‘The Dunkirk Little Ships, the most evocative reminders of this country’s bravest hour, were ignored so that a pneumatic bird-brain from Strictly Come Dancing could talk to transvestites in Battersea Park.
‘I was so ashamed of the BBC I would have wept if I hadn’t been so angry. The worst thing was that it was deliberate – planned that way to be “light” and “inclusive”.’
He also attacks George Entwistle, the BBC executive responsible for the Jubilee coverage who was subsequently promoted to director-general. But he was forced to resign after just 54 days in the job following the Jimmy Savile and Lord McAlpine Newsnight fiascos, pocketing an estimated £400,000 pay-off.
Mr Buerk says: ‘The BBC actually congratulated itself, and the executive ultimately responsible was promptly promoted to become the most disastrous director-general in the Corporation’s history.’
The former foreign correspondent and newsreader finally dismisses the Corporation as out-of-touch, saying: ‘The BBC is a private school old boys’ and girls’ association . . . now, while most of us are being squeezed, senior executive pay soars and, even at the top of public service organisations like the BBC, fortunes are flung at failures.’
In a final swipe, Mr Buerk says that the Royal baby could unite the nation in 2013, and muses wryly: ‘Maybe the BBC will even get its title right.’
The BBC attracted 2,425 complaints over its coverage of the Thames flotilla in June, with viewers complaining of the trivial nature of the broadcast and elementary mistakes such as referring to the Queen as ‘HRH’ instead of ‘Her Majesty’.
At the time, Stephen Fry, another regular BBC face, tweeted: ‘Has the BBC ever presented a more mind-numbingly tedious programme in its history? This is eggier and cheesier than a collapsed souffle.’
This is not the first time Mr Buerk has turned his fire on the BBC and its employees.
He has previously criticised contemporary newsreaders, saying: ‘You get a great deal of money, you have very little work to do and you don’t need a brain. There are some real lame-brains doing it.
‘It is the only job that actually requires no talent at all. If you can read out loud, you can do it.’
He was also vocal about the decision to move the Nine O’Clock News to its present slot an hour later, has claimed the BBC has an institutional bias towards the Left, and openly criticised the ‘pressure to deliver’ on today’s news reporters.
Mr Buerk joined the BBC in 1970 and the highlight of his illustrious career was his harrowing 1984 report on the drought bringing famine to Ethiopia, which prompted singer Bob Geldof to launch Band Aid and Live Aid.
He has won more international awards for his reporting than any other British journalist, but quit his estimated £175,000-a-year newsreading job in 2002.
However, he continues to be employed by the Corporation as presenter of Radio 4’s ethical programmes The Moral Maze and The Choice.
Mr Buerk, who lives with his wife in Guildford, Surrey, also has a lucrative career as an after-dinner speaker, for which he charges up to £9,600 a time.