BBC's Diamond Jubilee coverage "shabby" and "disgraceful"

I was half-watching the Diamond Jubilee river pageant on the BBC last weekend when my son turned to me and said, "This is terrible".

He was disappointed because he's interested in history and the royal family yet listening to the inane and often clueless commentary he was learning nothing that he couldn't see with his own eyes.

A lot has been written about the BBC coverage of the celebrations so I thought I would solicit the views of a former BBC state commentator, my old friend, lifelong journalist and broadcaster John Hosken.

I have known John for 15 years or more. He reminded me this week that it was he who first contacted me. Apparently there was an error in a puzzle in a magazine I was editing which made it unsolvable. As if I cared!

Despite this unpromising start we got talking and I found out what he did for a living.

I discovered that John was a long-serving stalwart of BBC Radio. He had been a senior news correspondent who had also commentated on 32 state occasions including the State Opening of Parliament, royal weddings and the Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph.

Latterly, and until fairly recently, he produced a string of programmes for the World Service on any subject that took his fancy.

Gillian, his wife, is a former BBC producer. To the best of my knowledge they still have a deep affection for the BBC and have no axe to grind with their erstwhile employer.

Anyway, this is what John had to say about the Diamond Jubilee coverage:

"The BBC commentary was lacking in every facet, as was the Royal Wedding last year. Worse still, Sky had by far the best pictures.

"A friend of mine who is a student of the American Indian phoned me up to say they had watched BBC material on their reservation and thought they learned nothing.

"The newspapers of the previous weekend were much more informative, as were the shallow women's magazines which followed the event.

"A shabby and disgraceful BBC output yet again on a great state occasion."

PS. I last saw the Hoskens in July 2011 when they joined us on board The Elizabethan for Forest's annual boat party.

They can't make this year's event but with good reason - they will be in Cornwall promoting John's latest book, Sophie Storme, which is set in John's home county.

Talking of which, John has recently been created a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd, but that's another story ...

Comments

[ann]

Now that you mention it, there was something lacking in content of the whole pagent.
The BBC playing to the populist Xfactor audience again.
No wonder poor Philip caught a chill.