BBC priorities

Last Wednesday, just before Christmas, Kofi Annan held an end-of-year news conference during which he took questions from assembled reporters. One of those reporters, James Bone of The Times, had the temerity to question Annan over his still unexplained role in aiding his son to import a Mercedes-Benz in Ghana without paying customs or taxes on it. Annan interrupted Bone in mid question and proceeded to berate him, calling him “very cheeky”, “an over-grown schoolboy”, and “an embarrassment to your colleagues and to your profession.” He then told Bone to “stop misbehaving” and demanded that they “move on to a serious journalist.” When Annan refused to allow Bone to ask his question, Bone walked out.

Now, one might think that such undiplomatic behavior from the UN’s top diplomat, especially one so renowned for his soft-spoken demeanor, would qualify as fairly big news. Certainly The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Washington Post all thought so.

Not so the BBC’s website. It’s brief mention of Annan’s address contains nary a word about what was surely the most, if not the only, interesting thing that happened at the news conference. Recall, by the way, that this is the same BBC which found President Bush’s thwarted attempt to leave a press conference so notable that it dedicated an entire article along with a video to the event.

I guess the BBC has its priorities.