June 27, 2007

Another Tony Fades to Black

The television coverage of Tony Blair's exit as Britain's Prime Minister offers a lesson in decorum for U.S. newscasters.

Tube Stake: Programming Reviews by Seth Arenstein

ADIEU.K. — BBC America dramatized the British PM's exit in "The Trial of Tony Blair" on June 17.

Just a few weeks after Tony left his seat at HBO after nearly a decade, another Tony vacated his position across the pond after his 10-year reign.

As reported by BBC World News and seen on BBC America and C-SPAN, the spectacle of British Prime Minister Tony Blair leaving number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, just after noon in London, was not so much a spectacle as a simple, orderly transfer of power to his successor, Gordon Brown.

BBC World’s live coverage of the first half of Mr. Blair’s final day, particularly the 30+ minutes he spent answering questions in Parliament, was sensible, a contrast to the overkill television reporting that we’re used to in the colonies. Perhaps coverage of the event on BBC proper included more technological tricks, more reporters, more fanfare. Fine. Anglophiles here who rose before 6am ET to watch the proceedings, as covered by the BBC World Service on BBC America, were shortchanged only if they expected long-winded tributes and speeches. This political act of simplicity and directness was covered by BBC World simply and directly. 

World deployed a single, veteran reporter outdoors to anchor the coverage. He stood on the street, sans the desk, flashy graphics and fancy sets that are fixtures of American television’s political coverage. The reporter, a distinguished-looking, soft-spoken, white-haired gentleman, was also a contrast to the fast-talking, usually highly photogenic reporters we’re accustomed to seeing here. Sharing the load was a single journalist, the veteran Jon Devitt, outside number 10 and former BBC political correspondent Nicholas Jones.

World’s plan was to let the pictures do most of the talking, with clear images showing Mr. Blair leaving number 10 on a sunny London day and moving to Westminster to participate in Prime Minister’s Question Time, an honored custom that Mr. Blair reduced from twice weekly to once. The questions Blair faced today ran the gamut from education and health care to the situation in Iraq and the Middle East, where Blair will be working as the Quartet’s (Russia, the EU, the US and the UN) Envoy to the region.

About 10 minutes in, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, David Cameron, rose to change the tone of the session. Cameron recited a long and seemingly heartfelt tribute to Mr. Blair, not only praising him personally but politically, for his 10 years of leadership. That was followed by other party leaders doing the same, including “the father of the House” (the back bench member with the longest unbroken service to the House of Commons, Alan Williams of Labor) and 81-year-old Ian Paisley, First Minister of Northern Ireland. A bit more commentary on the particular members who rose would have been helpful to World’s coverage.

Just about 30 minutes after noon, Blair rose for the final time to make a speech of barely 1 minute. He made two points. “I have never been a man of the House,” he said, but “from first to last I have never stopped fearing it…and in that fear the respect is contained.” He also defended politics as a place “where people stand tall…where people pursue noble causes.” He left to a standing ovation; minutes later he was outside number 10 with his family.

After that, BBC cameras followed Blair and his wife leaving the residence for a meeting with the Queen at Buckingham palace, driving “in a simple, very British motorcade” the BBC commentator remarked, of just a few automobiles and motorcycles. This was the only time when World’s coverage drifted into the more personal side of things, with correspondents speculating on how Mr. Blair was “feeling” on the drive to the Palace. Even that question was asked and answered tastefully.