I first heard about the incident while watching BBC Breakfast at 8.00am. I could see the plumes of smoke, like a Black cloud from my window. I live over the river from the Westland heliport in Battersea.
Here's my complaint.
I would have liked to say more but I was limited to a certain amount of characters online.I would like to complain about the style of Interviewing to witnesses on the scene and the way the incident was being portrayed. The one bit that really stood out to me was the form of questioning used by Susanne Reid to an eye witness on the phone. It felt like she was eager to turn the incident into a possible terrorist attack. At one stage the witness mentioned it was next to the MI5 building. Rather than correcting him and saying that it's the MI6 building, she also mentioned the MI5 building and directed the questioning as if it could have been a terrorist attack. This was dramatisation as the facts where that it's the MI6 building (not MI5) and is not literally next to the incident.
After the interview she later mentioned Parliament as if yet again this could be a possible attack on near by buildings of importance. Parliament is over a mile away. Why mention it. It just felt like it was dramatising something and the vibe I got from watching it was that the presenters where eager to turn it into something it was not, ie a bigger story. It was more like reading a tabloid paper where reporters dramatise/glorify things, than watching the BBC news which should be based on the facts. Should the BBC news be trying to push direct a story in any particular direction to dramatise it. This is not why I watch the BBC news. The BBC news is renowned for it's quality and I feel it is loosing it and becoming more like tabloid reporting. Very disappointing.
As I said in my complaint the BBC is renowned for it's quality. The news should be based on facts and not portrayed or directed into something it's not. After all it's called news and not Drama.
How do others feel about the state of our news these days?
TBH I am not surprised there has been a helicopter crash, it was only a matter of time. I have noticed a massive increase in air traffic over London (particularly helicopters) over the last few years. As mentioned I live over the river from Londons main Heliport. They fly over my house all the time. I have also noticed that they fly a lot lower than I believe they are officially allowed to over residential areas and deviate from their official flight paths. I have looked at the flight paths on the Westland Heliports site! This I think is because of the increase in commercial traffic. It's unreliable when there are major events on like the British Grand Prix or Ascot. The helicopter transport the business men/woman and the rich and famous backwards and forwards, one after another like the carriages of a a train. One will be waiting/hovering over this side of the river while another is taking off or landing. It's that busy.
Should commercial air traffic be cut down to save further incidents like this?
Your thoughts please.
(:-})