- Jeremy Hillman
- 10 Jun 08, 04:45 PM
Blogs can be very frustrating sometimes. I've just which claims the أغر؟´«أ½ gave a staggering amount of publicity to Apple's new iPhone...err...I don't think so. I'm always ready to put my hand up when we get it wrong but as our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones points out I don't think we did this time.
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By Rory Cellan-Jones
Some of you thought we went over the top in our coverage of the 3G iPhone. The accusation is that we are Macheads who are totally obsessed with Apple's every move and give it coverage which any other company would not receive. Really? I took a call from a colleague last week who was planning coverage for Monday's main news bulletins on television and radio. "What should we do about the Apple event on Monday?" she asked. I said we should not cover the event, because this was just an incremental change rather than the ground-breaking event that the original iPhone announcement had been last year.
In the event, while there was a bit of coverage on specialist business radio coverage on Monday morning, the 3G iPhone did not feature on television or radio news bulletins. There was coverage on the of the website - and one blog entry. I think that the people who do follow technology closely would have found it bizarre if the أغر؟´«أ½ website had not mentioned a story which was the talk of the tech blogs for days on end. In the event, the story proved hugely popular, and was the most-read article on the site on Monday.
I have restrained myself to such an extent that I have not uttered a single word about the new iPhone in the last 36 hours, on TV, on radio or online. So, while I'm here, wasn't it just a little disappointing? Still no video, the camera stays at the original 2mp, and no ability to cut and paste. And isn't the price cut proof enough that Apple misjudged the European market, and needed to kick-start sales? There, I'll stop now.
Jeremy Hillman is editor of the business and economics unit
- Rod McKenzie
- 10 Jun 08, 08:50 AM
The gripping climax to the long running struggle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic ticket in the race for the White House has highlighted, for me, the differences between the two countries about how their respective young audiences view the political process. I was lucky to observe the story from Washington as Obama triumphed - exactly 20 years after I first covered a US election from America as a reporter.
As we know, here in the UK, younger audiences are broadly bored and/or cynical about Westminster politics. I detect something genuinely different about what's happening in America at the moment.
Rich or poor, old and young - but especially young - well educated or not - the election is the talking point. It may be because the American networks have saturation coverage. There's excellent coverage available on the أغر؟´«أ½ too - from Justin Webb's comprehensive online analysis to take on it all.
But for whatever reason - it's the talking point. There are theories on why Hillary should or could never be Obama's running mate. On why McCain is too old - Obama too young or inexperienced. Race, gender and age are in there: along with Iraq, healthcare and the issue that seems to be bothering Americans most - the economy, credit crunch and gas prices.
Many told me, on my trip there, that there was a mood of change taking place. Sceptical as ever I wondered if that might be wishful Democrat thinking. The polls, after all, are pretty tight.
Students at a journalism college in New York that I spoke to believed that young Americans felt they might make a difference in November at last. So does that mean a vote for Obama and change? If you listen to the politically engaged in the big cities, you could be forgiven for thinking so - though there are still those that feel Hillary was cheated - and that McCain will soon prove his worth.
But America is a big country as it's easy to get drawn into a sort of lazy journalism where a rather romantic notion of a "new JFK" might hold sway.
We probably have done rather too much on the Democratic race - and too little on McCain on and 1Xtra, so far. That's not down to a left-liberal bias - it's simply been the most compelling news story up to now. Now, the campaign proper starts - that's something we're going to have to correct by getting our reporters, Iain Mackenzie and Sima Kotecha, out and about into small towns and settlements. Testing this troubled nation's mood and the impact of McCain and Obama's policies and personalities.
We make no apologies for covering the US election on Newsbeat and 1Xtra News. As my colleague, World Tonight editor Alistair Burnett explained in his blog, we're all affected by what happens in November: our troop deployments in Iraq and potentially Afghanistan, the growing economic crisis that people sense up and down the country - and some very interesting US political stories and finally, perhaps crucially, the personalities of the two men.
Politics may not be the juiciest story from our young audience's viewpoint - but this story could turn out to be the most important in the world. We have a duty to report it. Perhaps it might even be an accessible and meaningful way into politics for younger Britons.
Rod McKenzie is editor of Newsbeat and 1Xtra News
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