Friday, November 9, 2007

Misheikhen Identity

The need for round the clock news channels to fill their airtime with a constant stream of events has led to any number of instances of over-hasty reporting that a few moments pause would have ironed out.

Such was the desperation of BBC News 24's John Sopel to bring the hotly awaited news of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia's arrival at Heathrow (which monumental event clearly justified the use of a hovering BBC News helicopter to capture...err, now where are they going to be able to make those cutbacks? But that's another blog) that he announced the "pictures just in" of the aircraft landing.

A few moments later and the aircraft's insignia came into view and the hapless reporter added "Actually, that's an El-Al plane." The Israeli carrier not being, presumably, the obvious choice for an Arab monarch, then. As the military axiom has it; "Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted"!

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