ABC, BBC in deal for Iraq coverage

hollywoodreporter.com ^ | January 07, 2009 | Paul J. Gough

[Berlin_Freeper]

ABC News and the BBC will expand their news partnership in Iraq, with ABC reducing its full-time presence there while relying on the BBC for day-to-day reports from inside the country.

ABC will continue to have a Baghdad bureau, although it will have fewer employees than there had been since the war began in 2003 and no full-time correspondent assigned there. ABC News will continue have correspondents covering the war in Iraq, for larger stories like the upcoming elections as well as when the situation warrants.

"We will have a presence but significantly less than there was before," an ABC News executive who declined to be named told The Hollywood Reporter. "This is more of a reallocation of resources so we're not spending money for a substantial presence on the ground waiting for something to happen."

Now, the BBC's correspondents will cover any of the day-to-day stories that the network will carry.

[Berlin_Freeper]

You know it is over when the only spinners left are the BBC.

[Carley]

Why bother, just continue making up stuff.

[wildbill]

Sure sign the war is over when the vultures, propagandists and liars depart.

Thank you G.W. Took you a while, but you got it right in the end.

[Paine in the Neck]

“Why bother, just continue making up stuff.”

Apparently, they think that the Beeb can make stuff up better than in-house ABCers.

[12Gauge687]

I think Melanie Phillips (author of Londonistan) calls it al Beeb.

[DoughtyOne]

From what I have seen, the BBC is fully capable of producing the desired propaganda for ABC. It is amusing to see how little bang for the buck that ABC has gotten for all it’s efforts though.

The MSM has fallen, and it can’t get up.

[Billthedrill]

The Baghdad bureaus have cost ABC and the other broadcast networks and cable news channels phenomenal amounts of money to keep open since the war began in 2003, millions of dollars per year with seemingly no end in sight....As the war dragged on...

They never give up, do they? One quick note about troop deaths being "down." Admit it, guys. You were there to cover a defeat and you are leaving disappointed.

As far as the Beeb covering for ABC, I'm sure Al Jazeera would have been cheaper. And more objective.

[SevenofNine]

I like BBC world news on BBC America be honest BF yeah international news bureau by US media are dying

I think only people left are AFP, BBC and Sky news