Exchange with the BBC's Newsnight editor Peter Barron

Hi Peter

Hope you're well. BBC journalists consistently toe the government propaganda line in accepting that "rogue states" should be targeted for fierce criticism and contempt. Our own leaders, meanwhile, are typically afforded great respect bordering on reverence. A perfect example of the first tendency was provided by Jon Leyne on Newsnight last night in posing a question to the Syrian minister for ex-pat affairs, Buthaina Shaba'n:

"Minister, the president spoke of the need to improve the economy and tackle
corruption. Is the president prepared to challenge the wealth and power of
those handful of people - known to everyone in this room - who earn so much
of Syria's riches?" (Newsnight, June 6, 2005)

Isn't it inconceivable that Leyne, or any other BBC journalist, would pose a
question of this kind to George Bush or Tony Blair? And yet Julian Borger
has after all noted in the Guardian:

"In the Bush administration, business is the only voice... This is as close
as it is possible to get in a democracy to a government of business, by
business and for business."

Best wishes

David Edwards

Reply received same day, June 7:

Dear David,
It's quite a surprise for Newsnight to receive criticism for "affording
great respect bordering on reverence" to our leaders. I'm not sure John
Lloyd would agree with that. Are you really saying that Jon Leyne's
piece was an exercise in toeing the Government's propaganda line? I
don't need anyone to tell me that the Syrian regime has some severely
troubling aspects, and it would be very odd for any journalist making a
rare trip to the country not to question them. I didn't notice any
fierceness or contempt in Jon's piece, just the kind of sharp and
pertinent questioning we subject our own leaders to daily.

Best wishes

Peter