The BBC Shows The World – And CNN in Particular, How To Cover A Major Breaking World News Event And, Yes, Throwing Money At It Really Does Show

Philip M. Stone October 14, 2010 Follow on Twitter

The BBC has been criticized at home for sending some 25 people to the Chile mine disaster and throwing money at its coverage but, no matter where you are in the world, if you really wanted to be “there” then there was just one channel to watch – BBC World. And it really put CNN’s so-called continuing coverage to shame!

The BBC decided strategically to anchor from the scene which it usually does now on major stories – that must cost more and be more complicated what with various producers and technical people on hand -- but it really pays off in the viewing experience. Watching a CNN International anchor in Atlanta, London, and even Hong Kong, just doesn’t do it. Yes, CNNI had the excellent Karl Penhaul and others on site but they weren’t anchoring and they weren’t on near enough.

And the other secret weapon the BBC had was its remarkable on-site anchor, Tim Wilcox. He is normally an anchor on the domestic BBC News channel but he was sent to Chile three weeks ago and he showed a remarkable change in persona anchoring on-site rather than from the studio. It was obvious how well he knew his story, that he knew and had spoken to all those involved – officials, family, and the like, his Spanish was impeccable in being able to interview family members and officials live and give instant translation – he was just so natural. He didn’t come over as some high-paid journalist parachuted in for a big story (which regretfully BBC America anchor Matt Frei did); rather Wilcox came over as one of “us”. Indeed the one question became “when does this man sleep?” for it seems over the past weeks whenever one switched to the BBC there he was live.

As for CNN, the one thing it had going for it was an exact replica of the Phoenix rescue capsule and Jonathan Mann’s piece showing how cramped being inside would be -- "You feel like you're in some really bad telephone booth” -- and various other aspects was riveting. One assumes the capsule cost CNN some money, but where else was it spending big on its coverage?

Monitoring the BBC, for instance during European breakfast TV time, and there continual live coverage. Watch CNN International and interspersed between live coverage we were treated to reports by London and Atlanta anchors monitoring Tweets to CNN from around the world. Well, sorry, if one has to choose listening to how Joe in Germany feels about the rescue versus actually watching the rescue and listening to the reporter on-site then live coverage wins! BBC World canned all commercials and house ads for many hours, but over at CNN it was business as usual – frequent house ads promoting future programs, advertising and the like.

The most glaring example of the difference – BBC World shows live coverage of Jimmy Sanchez, the youngest miner and thought to be the most mentally vulnerable, boarding the rescue capsule and then the capsule disappearing up through the bore hole. It was a picture that showed so clearly what these men were literally going through, but switch to CNNI and it was an ad promoting a future program about Africa followed by a commercial for a Nigerian bank. Come on! What CNN needs is Ted Turner back at headquarters reminding (translation: kicking ass) the network of its live news heritage.

CNN’s coverage is really rather surprising because domestically in the US it is dropping so far in its daily ratings, but the network knows when it latches  on to a major breaking news story its ratings soar. Surely the place to throw money is a live breaking news event that has the whole world’s attention, and that includes Americans, too, rather than spending that loot on Eliot Spitzer and similar?

Both networks benefitted greatly from the superb camera coverage provided by Chilean TV, which really helped all those broadcasters who scrimped on what they themselves had on site.  Wilcox, marveling at the video the Chileans were providing, estimated there were some 12-14 cameras in place at all the right places. It really was remarkable video blanket coverage ranging from the camera actually where the miners were trapped showing them boarding the capsule, and then disappearing through the bore hole, the camera at the top of the capsule actually showing the journey going up the bore – utterly fascinating --   and then having reached the surface  the miners hugging family and officials, and in one case even a media statement with simultaneous English translation given by a miner surrounded by his family.

Another example of how the BBC made one feel like being there – the Chilean police asked the BBC and other TV providers to turn off their lights so a helicopter wouldn’t be blinded as it took off to fly some of the rescued miners to hospital. So there we were barely seeing Wilcox in the shadows (it was 4 a.m. in Chile) as another camera then trained into the darkness on the helicopter. The viewer was really “there”. Over at CNNI?  Commercials!

By noon European time the BBC had reverted to its top-of-the hour format but a London anchor, almost apologizing, gave a clear reason why –“We know on a major story that our audience figures climb at the beginning of the hour as people tune in to find out what is happening,” so there was a brief review of what had occurred so far and then it was back to non-commercial live coverage.

But the BBC started falling back into bad habits --  at around 12:25 the network unbelievably cut away from a live news conference given by the Chilean Health Minister providing very detailed information on what had gone on, what was going on, and how special precautions were being taken for next miner coming up because he has the most health problems. A BBC producer decided, however, that the global weather forecast was more important followed by program promos, Bang on the half-hour the live coverage resumed  anchored from London and the scene. It was as if the production crews needed a brief break – remember no commercial interruptions – and the weather served to do just that. CNN had stayed with the health minister for a couple of minutes longer -- no weather forecast – but then it finally reverted to its on-the-half-hour formatting of program promos and the like before then resuming the live coverage.  Boo on them both for leaving the health minister.

Later in the day as more miners had come up and the rescues had turned “routine” y the BBC advertising returned and it reverted to such programming as “Have Your Say” where viewers participated by phone and email, but the live coverage of each miner stepping into the capsule and then stepping out at the top continued in split screen.

More than 1300 journalists from more than 200 news organizations were on site. Why was the world so attracted to this story? Possibly because not too many days pass by without scores of people killed in suicide bombings and the like and it has become so commonplace we don’t pay that much attention to the large loss of human life anymore and here was a story in reverse. Possibly it brought to the surface that fear so many have of being buried alive. Maybe it’s just that we all really want “good news” stories. Whatever, here was a democracy at work spending millions of dollars to save 33 precious lives and reminding the world that every life really does count.  How much more dramatic can it be than to watch a miner brought to the surface, hugging his wife, his President, and then dropping to his knees in silent prayer giving thanks.  It was for such moments that when a few days before a reporter asked the wife of the Chilean President how much the government had spent on the rescue operation she replied simply, “It didn’t matter”.

But what the BBC was spending has come under some scrutiny. The BBC’s news team included newsgathering for live TV and radio, online, plus production crews for news documentaries.  The 25 personnel are more than other British broadcasters have there put together – such shoes on the ground does not come cheap – and there are murmurings back home that perhaps this was money not well spent. A Conservative member of Parliament complained, “This demonstrates that the BBC has too much money, if it can spend this much on doing something that other broadcasters can do with far fewer people. It’s part of the culture of an organization that has so much money, it doesn’t seem to know how to spend it.”

The BBC responded, “The plight of the Chilean miners has aroused worldwide interest. It is a long running story taking place in one of the world’s most remote locations. BBC News has devoted appropriate resources to ensuring that we have been able to report the story in depth to our UK and global audiences on television, radio and online.” As a global viewer all one can say that spending that money shone through – in our living rooms we were “there”.

Editors on a daily basis make the big decisions on what they spend money on. The BBC decided this was a biggie and it could probably spread the cost through its various networks – BBC News Channel, BBC World, and even the BBC Breakfast show on its main terrestrial channel – so at the end of the day it may well prove to be good value for the money. You can quibble over how  many people were necessary and if that much money needed to be spent, but the value for that spend certainly showed through and proves you really do get what you pay for. Over at CNN it was obvious that it wanted to provide complete coverage, but to do so on the cheap. And it showed. Thus, the BBC brand shines brightly through its coverage and has reminded the global TV audience where to turn for breaking news; for CNNI it was merely more tarnish.

The beauty of live coverage is that reporters say what comes to mind instead of reading off the polished teleprompter. On the BBC, for instance, Matt Frei was explaining the sun glasses worn by each miner were donated by a California firm, Oakley, but then he felt it necessary to explain he wasn’t doing any product placement but rather he was explaining the miners needed such glasses in daylight to protect their retinas because they had been in darkness for so long. No doubt the folks at Oakley were delighted. And then commenting on how billionaire President Sebastian Pinera was showing up continually on camera - at the mine, at the hospital -- Frei called it “good politics” but then thinking that might have been a mite cynical he added, “It was the decent thing to do!”

There were also the goofs – Frei again. He spent several minutes telling us how the next miner up would be the one nicknamed “the doctor” and he went into lengthy description on why only then to be told basically – “whoops you’ve got the wrong Barrios; it’s the other one.” And then there are the gifts. Alfredo Cooper, the Presidential Protestant chaplain,  told Frei in an interview, “The BBC is doing the best job.”

The last words should go Mario Sepulveda, the second miner rescued, who told the world, “Under ground I was at a battle between God and the Devil; they fought one another, and God won.”

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