In this 24-7 news world the media love nothing more than a story which allows them to despatch vast armies of reporters and outside broadcast units. Today’s expansion of the Congestion Charge is no different.
In an editorial decision likely to puzzle those outside London BBC News24 have run the story as their second lead item throughout the morning. This level of coverage on a nationwide news service seems disproportionate for what is merely the expansion of an already successfully operating scheme.
Thus level of coverage would be more understandable if it was in anyway informed by a knowledge of the 2003 introduction of the scheme. According to one BBC report:
“As the charge launched at 0700 GMT on Monday, there were no early signs of the feared traffic chaos or major public transport problems.
This was partly due to lighter traffic during the half-term school holidays, according to motoring organisations. ”
Another says:
“Transport for London (TfL) said the first morning rush hour had gone well but the AA said half-term holidays had reduced the number of cars.”
These near-identical reports were written 4 years apart. The first dates from February 2003, the second is the BBC website’s report from today.
As a fan of the BBC I find it a shame that its understandable desire to reflect all shades of opinion and an apparent lack of specialist knowledge means there’s no mention of the fact that the prophesies of doom exactly mirror those of 4 years ago which failed to materialise. The BBC has a job to inform the public debate, it’s not clear that today’s coverage does so.
anon says
The problem here is the use of reporters who tend to be junior staff writers lacking any particular knowledge on the subject.
What the articles you cite above also highlight is how the same organisations make the same point throught the lifetime of any public project irrespective of past experience.
The way comments are just slavishly included without analysis makes this much easier.
Dan at Transport Briefing says
The Congestion Charge was elevated to the lead on the BBC1 1pm news. To make it more exciting it was sold as ‘other areas could follow suit’ with outside broadcasts from Edinburgh, Reading, Manchester and Birmingham. This is just rehashing the old story that these areas have received TIF pump priming funding for developing road pricing schemes or, in Edinburgh’s case, that residents previously voted against introducing road pricing. And there’s not a lot you can report, given that the TIF schemes are at such an early stage of development – the reporters largely had to rely on telling us that their area suffers from traffic jams and gridlock in the rush hour – no great surprises there. BBC London News is running a Congestion Charge special at 6.30pm.