I'm not entirely clear how John Simpson "turned the corner" on Samuel Beckett, but his conversation with former BBC Northern Ireland correspondent Dennis Murray, at the third annual Happy Days Festival, Enniskillen, on August 1, certainly made news - mostly reported by the London press for remarks that suggested the BBC was currently run by "tough" women.
According to the tweets of local hack Rodney Edwards, the word was "rough". Rodney's no slouch - winner of Northern Ireland Local Newspaper Journalist of the Year in the 2013 Coca-Cola CIPR Northern Ireland Media Awards, for his work on Fermanagh's The Impartial Reporter.
John Simpson tells Enniskillen audience that BBC "grotesquely over-managed", adding: "All these rough women we have running the place now".
— Rodney Edwards (@rodneyedwards) August 1, 2014
BBC "nicer+gentler in the old days" says J/Simpson, describing it as a "nanny, ghastly outfit".World affairs editor speaking in Enniskillen.
— Rodney Edwards (@rodneyedwards) August 1, 2014
John Simpson speaking in Enniskillen. He's sore about Daily Mirror calling him a 'Prize Burka' in 2001 + describes @PiersMorgan as "awful".
— Rodney Edwards (@rodneyedwards) August 1, 2014
John Simpson says Colonel Muammar Gaddafi continually broke wind during an interview for the BBC. @HappyDaysEnnisk
— Rodney Edwards (@rodneyedwards) August 1, 2014
But, whether the women be "rough" or "tough", some in BBC News think John's a little behind the pace on this one. James Harding is now driving the changes, with Keith Blackmore and Jonathan Munro providing the muscle, including savage cuts to the World Affairs Unit, of which John is nominally the Editor at large. Maybe they just send women to talk to him about the next stages of his career...
No comments:
Post a Comment