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Peter Oborne is right to call out Conservative bias in the BBCs election coverage (In this election, the BBC has let down those who believe in it, Journal, 3 December) and likely to be right too in his assessment that the reasons for the bias are institutional, beyond the prejudices of a few well-known reporters. Put simply, the BBC tends to be more sympathetic to the status quo and the government of the day than political change.

Yet behind all that lies the hard work of thousands of professional BBC employees out there reporting and producing news on a wide range of matters that the printed media no longer often does.

As with the gender pay gap at the BBC, perhaps its time for those at Broadcasting House to listen more to their employees and their trade unions and less to the politicians of the moment.Keith FlettLondon

Fran Unsworth, the BBCs director of news and current affairs, writes: Impartiality is precious to us. Well protect it (Journal, 4 December). To claim that the rightwing bias catalogued by Peter Oborne was a couple of editorial mistakes is frankly risible. Her argument that conspiracy theories are in vogue just will not wash. I note that her defence of the BBCs news coverage concentrates on the few weeks of this general election campaign, but I have observed rightwing bias in a number of current affairs programmes for many years. And we all remember Steve Bells brilliant IF strip highlighting rightwing bias on the Radio 4 Toady programme, which featured Nick Robinson.

Last Sunday the BBC did a U-turn and allowed Boris Johnson to appear on the Andrew Marr show, claiming it was in the public interest. Marr lost control of the interview and the only interest served was that of the Conservative party.

If Unsworth wants to salvage some of the BBCs tattered reputation she needs to ensure that the promised interview between Andrew Neil and Boris Johnson takes place before the general election; otherwise the accusation of Tory bias will be reinforced.Geoffrey Carpenter Worthing, West Sussex

Fran Unsworth seeks to justify serious flaws in reporting at the BBC with bluster at a highly critical time in our politics. She cites three instances of error all of which favoured the prime minister.

First, in the excellent Question Time leaders debate, there was mocking laughter at the response of Boris Johnson to a question about trustworthiness. This was later edited out of footage for a lunchtime news bulletin. A clumsy one-second edit, she says.

Second, coverage of the cenotaph remembrance service where the PM made a mistake laying a wreath and looked foolish was replaced by archive footage of him at the 2016 service on BBC Breakfast. We are fanciful to consider this significant, she says.

Third, the inability of the corporation to ensure that all the party leaders are interviewed by Andrew Neil before next weeks election in order to be impartial. Neil exposed flaws in all the party leaders reasoning with corresponding headlines in the press the next day. Why has the PM not been interviewed? Unsworth says the logistics are highly complex. Not good enough from our public service provider.Nancy HardyEastergate, West Sussex

I take issue with what Fran Unsworth wrote in claiming impartiality at the BBC. To my mind, she is making the mistake of equating quantity with quality.

If there are many hours of programming but without rigorous challenging of politicians and political statements then the BBC becomes part of the propaganda machine. It is falling behind Channel 4 in the quality of its interviewing. Part of the defence is that there is information produced by the BBC online.

On checking both the Policy Guide and Reality Check which Unsworth cites, I was less than impressed. The analysis of the Conservative top priorities lists 50,000 more nurses and 20,000 more police officers both discredited claims. This is not a simple editorial mistake. Need one say more about our diminishing trust in the BBC?Stephen HawkinsEdinburgh

Fran Unsworth seemingly derives satisfaction from the fact that the BBC is criticised by both left and right in almost equal volumes. But this is due to the fact that the BBC overrepresents the centre at the expense of both left and right.

This is conveyed, for example, by BBC political journalists frequent use of the word moderate, with its overtone of approval, to describe those in the centre of politics.

This was fine when the centre embodied a national consensus. But at a time of political polarisation, the BBC and other public service broadcasters need to widen their ideological lens if they are to fulfil Unsworths vision of seeking to represent the nation in its entirety.Prof James CurranGoldsmiths, University of London

In 1984, I was appointed head of the BBC Bristol Network Production Centre. It was the time of the miners strike. Every morning we received a shoal of letters complaining about the BBCs coverage. They fell into two broad categories: those who thought the BBC was a lackey of the rightwing establishment, and those who thought it was a subversive, lefty organisation. Every morning, we would sort the letters into two piles. And every morning, the piles were exactly the same height.

These were people who had been watching exactly the same programmes. I rest my case.John Prescott ThomasBristol

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The BBC cannot dodge accusations of Tory bias - The Guardian

The billionaire medias opposition to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn so far in this election has been full on. But now, the Daily Mails owner has bought yet another newspaper, concentrating the countrys media into even fewer hands. And Corbyn wasnt about to let this go unnoticed, tweeting:

An adviser to Conservative leader Boris Johnson recently spoke of the big newspapers attacking Labour full on from the off in this election. That has meant boosting anti-Corbyn bigotsandwarhawks. And theBBC has receivedparticularcriticism. Academic research, meanwhile, shows newspapers have been pushing a clearanti-Labour position so far.

This is no surprise, though. Because Corbyns taking on the ultra-richto get justice for the general population. And as the Media Reform Coalitions (MRC) 2019report highlighted before the latest sale:

just three companies (News UK, Daily Mail Group and Reach) dominate 83% of the national newspaper market (up from 71% in 2015).

Around 80% of online media, meanwhile,sits with just five companies (News UK, Daily Mail Group, Reach, Guardian and Telegraph). And as the MRC stressed:

Concentrated ownership creates conditions in which wealthy individuals and organisations can amass vast political and economic power and distort the media landscape to suit their interests.

With billionaire owners dominating, Britains media environment is clearly broken. And thats incredibly dangerous. Because it has the power to shift the balance in the Tories favour. The Conservative Party, meanwhile, has received over 50m from around a third of Britains billionaires since 2005; and by 2023/24, it will reportedly have gifted these elites tax breaks and corporate giveaways to the tune of about 100bn since 2010. Its also no secret that Rupert Murdochs News UK, the Daily Mail Group, and the Telegraph are all bitterly opposed to Corbyn and his progressive politics.

Fortunately, many voters are fully aware that the mainstream media doesnt even pretend to treat Corbyn fairly:

With all of this in mind, meanwhile, its no surprise that Corbyn believes in the importance of independent media. The Labour leader recently expressed his strong support to The Canary, saying:

I absolutely welcome the role of independent media in the election and in our public discourse and our public life.

This is in part because, as he said, independent media outlets dont follow the herd instinct of the mainstream media.

Despite the opposition of the billionaire media and its political allies, Corbyns Labour has over 500,000members and is offeringbold,sensiblepoliciestoempower the majority of the population rather than the extremely wealthy few. Its manifesto also promises major media reform. Thats why the ultra-rich areafraid of Corbyn: because he represents real change. And thats why our billionaire media is working so hard to stop him. But on 12 December, voters have a real chance to shut that dodgy operation down once and for all.

Featured image via Sophie Brown

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Billionaires just took even greater control of the UKs media. Corbyn had the perfect response. - The Canary

Procter & Gamble (P&G) has said that nearly 30% of its $7bn global media spend is now planned in-house.

P&G has made no secret of its in-housing ambitions, saying in 2018 that it would begin to manage some portion of media, production and creative itself. Just one year later, at the start of 2019, it orchestrated a massive overhaul of its media agency structure in North America to fuel this plan.

Its in-house agency took a larger share of the media business, specifically on its oral care business, following a media review which pitted the team against its long-standing agencies Carat and Omnicoms Hearts and Sciences.

At the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail conference this week, P&Gs chief brand officer Marc Pritchard lauded the results.

Reinventing advertising means reinventing agency partnerships moving from brand people who outsource too much of their work to brand entrepreneurs with their hands on the keyboard, he said. P&G people are doing more media planning in-house with nearly 30% of our media spending already planned in-house.

Its not just media that its internal teams have taken more control of. P&G has also brought more creative and production in-house. The case-study in the effectiveness of this move comes in the form of Secret, its deodorant brand.

In June, it opted to end its agency of record relationship with Wieden+Kennedy and began creating and producing ads itself. Pritchard claims it can now produce an ad for as little as a tenth of the costs and in one month versus five.

For a recent ad, it opted to shoot it at the company's headquarters in Cincinnati with the associate brand director acting as producer and its brand manager as creative director.

Its winning in market, he claimed. Secret sales have consistently grown mid-single digits since in-sourcing this work. Our agency reinvention has not only saved $1bn over the last five years it's also leading to more creativity, agility, and entrepreneurship, and helping to transform our organization and culture.

But even after making these savings, Pritchard said it believes more cuts can be made in advertising supply costs; a familiar and ominous message to its roster of 3,000 agencies.

It will ramp up its so-called fix and flow model and continue to co-locate its own people along with individuals from media, creative and production agencies into one unit across more brands. It has already attempted it with its Oral Care division where its brought all of its agencies into one team called Woven.

This takes time, touches and distance out but first it takes costs out, he said.

We're seeing a lot more innovation and creativity and quite frankly I've seen the bar rise in terms of creativity and responsiveness and working together. So, I think it's actually starting to have a positive effect on the creative agency in the industry.

Pritchard said he is eyeing up the production sector for the coming year. The in-house production on Secret gives us an opportunity to be able to bring some of that production in-house and also take cost out because that production supply chain in the industry is kind of an expensive one.

We also see there's opportunities in other nonworking spending, in terms of display costs and other types of marketing materials which we're really just getting started on in a big way.

Original post:
P&G now does 30% of its media planning in-house - The Drum

As of Thursday, the city of Poway has been under a boil water advisory, and it's having a ripple effect throughout the city.

On Thursday, Derryl Acosta of Palomar Health said that the hospital is postponing elective surgeries due to the water problem in Poway. In some cases, patients were sent to a hospital in Escondido. If someone arrived and needed immediate, emergency surgery, then doctors still performed the operation despite the advisory.

Additionally, the hospital is modifying some guidelines. For example, patients are receiving bottled water and prepackaged food.

After nearly a week of being under a boil water advisory, the city of Poway could be cited by the state of California over its water issues.The possibility was reported Wednesday, a day before a state water official indicated the advisory could be lifted Friday night.

An official for the states Water Resources Control Board told the San Diego Union Tribune the city could possibly be cited because its water storage reservoir is out of compliance and is outdated. The City of Poway recently announced that storm water from last weeks storm entered the citys water supply through a broken door in the stormwater drain.

The citation would force the City of Poway to plan a fix for the structure.

However, it's not all bad news. Several restaurants have been forced to close their doors during this advisory.

On Wednesday, about 20 restaurants received a modified health permit from the county. This means cooks can prepare a modified menu of foods that don't require cooking water. They also have to use plastic utensils, cups and plates.

One of those restaurants is the Mainstream Bar and Grill. Having to miss shifts was the last thing that waitress Sarah Klein needed. However, Klein was happy they could partially reopen on Wednesday and Thursday.

"So every day that went by, you know, you weren't at work [so] it was scarier and scarier," said Klein. "You didn't know what you were going to do. It feels so good to be here."

However, an early Christmas miracle came her way. One of Klein's regulars gave the single mom of two a mysterious envelope.

"He handed me an envelope and said 'Merry Christmas' and decided to do something nice for me, and I opened it up," said Klein.

Inside of it was a generous tip to say the least - $1,000 cash:

"I was shocked," said Klein. "I didn't want to take it."

In the meantime, city crews went around on Wednesday flushing water out of its current line. The water company says the quicker the flush is completed, the quicker the boil water advisory can be lifted.

Sean Sterchi, the San Diego district engineer for the states Water Resources Control Board said the city of Poway has finished the majority of corrective actions needed to clean up the water.

Sterchi said they are waiting on lab results which should be available by Friday at 7 p.m. which should then take about an hour to review. The city will then be contacted about whether or not the advisory can be lifted.

The City of Poway responded to the report of a citation on their website saying, Today we learned a representative with the State Water Resources Control Board told the media the citys clearwell is out of compliance because of its proximity to a storm drain."

This comes as a shock to the city because in September 2019 we received a report from SWRCB with no indication that there was any storm drain compliance issue at the clearwell. In fact, in the more than 50 years the facility has been in operation and under regular inspection by the state, the city has never been made aware of a compliance issue of this nature.

Since the precautionary boil water advisory was put in place city staff have been working around the clock in accordance with state guidelines to get the Poway water system back online. As we have previously stated, testing results show Poway that water continues to meet health standards, including three certified test results showing that the water is absent of bacteria.

The city continues to follow mandated state protocols for the precautionary boil water advisory.

Water will continue being handed out at Poway City Hall until the boil water advisory is lifted. Mike Workmen from the San Diego County Health Department says once the state gives the all clear, Poway will send out an email to all permitted customers.

RELATED: 'This is a huge task' | Poway working 24/7 to fix water contamination problem

RELATED: Faulty valve door in water treatment facility causes precautionary boil water advisory in Poway

RELATED: Poway City Council meeting focuses on one question: What's up with the water?

Originally posted here:
Day 6 of the Poway water boil advisory: Hospitals, restaurants and government feeling the effects - CBS News 8

Thousands of firefighters across New South Wales and Queensland have had another long night battling dozens of fires, with conditions on Friday expected to worsen.

NSW was told to expect wind gusts of 80km/h and high temperatures, and Queensland will likely see temperatures about 12C above average over the next two days, surpassing 40C in the Lockyer Valley and Ipswich.

On Thursday night NSW crews responded to five emergency level fires, including the Currowan fire on the south coast, where a number of buildings were believed to have been destroyed.

By Friday morning the blazes had all been downgraded, with six fires in the state at watch and act levels. Less than half of the 97 active fires were under control.

I think the really difficult thing is the amount of fire people have seen since the beginning of August, how much fire weve had in the northern part of NSW well, weve just replicated that in the central part of the state as well as still having the north going so its quite extraordinary conditions, the Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, told the ABC.

The 230,000-hectare Gospers Mountain blaze on Sydneys north-western outskirts was the first fire to reach emergency level on Thursday and, as the day dragged on, there were fears the fire would merge with the 6,000-hectare Three Mile blaze near Wisemans Ferry, which had spread quickly to Mangrove Mountain late on Thursday night.

Gary Flynn from the Wisemans Inn Hotel said the small town was dead quiet as bushfires burned across the Hawkesbury River. We are just copping all the smoke, he said on Thursday. We are just keeping an eye on things at the moment.

Earlier in the day three firefighters were airlifted from the Green Wattle Creek fireground after they sustained minor injuries battling the blaze.

On Friday morning Queensland Fire and Emergency Services issued a watch and act warning for a large fire near Millmerran west of Toowoomba, which had blackened almost 1,200 hectares and was raging in the Western Creek state forest near Cypress Gardens and Forest Ridge.

Emergency crews were on alert amid concern that properties have been lost to a fast-moving bushfire on the Darling Downs.

Queenslands south-east coast, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, and the Wide Bay and Burnett districts were under a severe fire conditions warning for Friday, with fire bans stretching up most of the states coastal and neighbouring regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicted showers and thunderstorms for the northern Wide Bay and Burnett area but warned the storms will potentially be severe and produce damaging wind gusts.

Almost the entire coastal area of NSW and much of the states north-east have a severe fire danger rating for Friday.

Total fire bans will be in place for the far south coast and the Monaro alpine, southern ranges, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, central ranges, greater Sydney, the greater Hunter, northern slopes and north-western regions.

Meanwhile, the longest period of air pollution on record in NSW is set to continue with the Bureau of Meteorology saying heavy smoke from the bushfires ringing Sydney will linger in the city basin until Saturday.

The smoke is being blown from large fires near Warragamba Dam and the Wollombi national park.

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Dozens of out-of-control bushfires burn across NSW as conditions expected to worsen - The Guardian