[DTV]

Sure, it's a story that some people in the UK are talking about, but it's not - as the News at Ten had it yesterday - a lead story (with nearly 10 minutes devoted to it) on the same day as a major train crash in India, the Covid inquiry issues and rail strikes. It's not, as it has been at least three days in the last fortnight, a story worthy of being the lead on a semi-international news channel. Even Newsnight devoted half their Friday edition to Schofield, which, considering the programme couldn't find even five minutes for the Italian general election last autumn, is just a bit ridiculous.

I mean, I know that there's a lot of decent journalism going on behind all the weirdness, but there's just so many questionable, fairly un-BBC editorial calls at the minute that it's becoming a bit routine and increasingly hard to write-off as occasional bad decisions. People will say that 'others do it', but that's the point - the BBC's unique status means it's supposed to pursue a news agenda that is based more on how newsworthy a story is, how much it actually matters than how sensational or human interesty it is. That's not to say there is no place for them on the BBC, but not at the top of the running order, not with the level of analysis that you can't be bothered to even afford elections in G7 countries.