Mine

The current "TV by numbers" approach to journalism, at least on the BBC1 Six O'Clock and Ten O'Clock bulletins is getting me down. Grids require bulletin editors to record the number of "original" stories they have carried. This leads to unnecessary outbreaks, replicated elsewhere in BBC News, of the awkward phrase "The BBC has learnt..." and, worse, "exclusive".

Most journalists let scoops speak for themselves - publish and watch the rest follow. The present "waving at the bosses" in BBC news script-writing sits uneasily. Even a decent, sound journalist like Hugh Pym, now Health Editor, has succumbed to it.

You can see my exclusive inside @PHE_uk Porton research site and ebola testing on 6pm TV News
— Hugh Pym (@BBCHughPym) August 13, 2014

Both the intro and the piece on the Six talked about "exclusive access". What does that mean ? People have filmed inside Porton Down before. Was someone standing outside the gates while Hugh was filming, saying, you can't go in, a big bloke from the BBC has got it locked down ?  Did anyone else ask for access ? Would Public Health England, an "executive wing" of Government, actually turn other hacks down - and for how long ? Was there a press release from Public Health England about Ebola last Friday ?

Don't get me wrong - it was a good piece, but not a scoop by any means. And, though it's on Hugh's blog on the story, the tv version didn't mention that in 1976 a scientist at Porton Down laboratory contracted Ebola when he accidentally pricked himself with an infected needle. He survived.