The Daily Telegraph thinks Tony Blair was right about the Corporation's New Orleans coverage:
It is not that BBC correspondents have been inaccurate - although they tended to quote the figure of 10,000 dead, almost certainly an exaggeration, with relish. But, in their reports, one heard a whining undertone, like a bagpipe's drone. How could this have happened in such a rich country? Do the Americans really believe they can sort out Iraq with this in their own backyard? Will they finally learn some humility?
Even if these were legitimate sentiments, the aftermath of a tragedy would be no time to express them. Just imagine, by way of illustration, if, following the tsunami, the BBC had focused on the civil wars of Sri Lanka and Aceh, arguing that victims were, in a sense, reaping what they had sown, since those conflicts had destroyed the infrastructure that relief workers needed...
Especially striking has been the determination of BBC correspondent Matt Frei to hang the blame around George Bush's neck. The officials who had the most direct responsibility for local services - notably the clownish mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin - were reported mainly as articulators of anger against the President, with almost no analysis of their own role.
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