BBC Smugness + New Media

I've just watched a broadcast in which the neauseatingly smug BBC business correspondent Robert Peston visited Newcastle to 'face' the investors in Northern Rock which his reporting was alleged to have helped bring down. Of course, he loved every minute of it. The entire programme focussed on his importance as a journalist - the journey to Newcastle, preparing for inerviews, preparations for the gig, and so forth. One (and maybe a half) critics were given a few moments on camera; the rest was devoted to him. The BBC in its worst mode - pretending to to be self-critical. And you wouldn't guess from any of what appeared on screen that LOTS of people think Peston is a complete TWAT. The blogosphere is packed full of comments from people who think he is a supercilious, patronising arse who is a self-regarding media 'journalist' of the very worst kind. Betty and Frank of Newcastle may not know that – because they get their news from the same sources that the Pissed-Ons of this world work for - so we need to find a way of getting blog comments into the mainstream. The newspapers have aleady started: most of them have been forced to embrace 'consumer generated content'. Maybe the BBC is the next target.