especially on Today

Politics Chris Addison in The New Statesman says that both politicians and the news media should leave satire to the satirists:

"The reporting of politics on television and radio in this country is itself turning into a joke. It doesn't help that most TV bulletins give the impression that those involved have misunderstood The Day Today and taken it to be some sort of training video. The reporting is overlaid with a patina of knowing, matey awfulness, and every report seems to start from the standpoint that all the politicians involved are foolish and the reporter could have told them it would end up this way."

I stopped watching television news on purpose a couple of years ago in favour of Radio 4. Sometimes it can be capable of the crassness that Addision is describing (especially on Today), but most often its just the facts attitude is refreshing.

On Friday night, PM dedicated its first fifteen minutes to describe the results of the latest Potters Bar enquiry, unpicking the implications and speaking to interested parties, sensitively and without a hint of sensationalism. It's still available on the iPlayer and well worth a listen as a good demonstration of how broadcast news should be done.