Panorama: Trump’s Fortress America, BBC 1, Monday at 8.30pm
The BBC really has to get past its fixation with Donald Trump because otherwise it will start to give some credence to his claims about the media.
Trump, who undoubtedly has a distant relationship with the truth, claims mainstream journalists are out to get him and therefore he must communicate directly with the people through social media.
Things obviously didn’t start well when his spokespeople claimed, contrary to all evidence, that his inauguration was the best attended ever. And it’s gone downhill from there.
It’s difficult from this distance to adjudge the rights and wrongs of the clash between the Trump administration and the establishment US media, but on this side of the Atlantic the BBC has been pretty clear that it eyes Trump with disgust.
Fair enough, Trump has given his enemies plenty of ammunition with his strange handshakes, unusual greetings and flat out fibs, but I can only think of one remotely positive report about him on the BBC.
In fact it would probably be more accurate to describe it as ‘not negative’ - and that was when the president ordered the bombing of Syrian regime troops after Assad used chemical weapons.
Otherwise, it’s been stuff like this week’s Panorama: Trump’s Fortress America.
It accused him of having a heartless policy towards illegal immigrants. His renewed emphasis on removing illegal immigrants is splitting up families and targeting people who, despite their status, are contributors to society, was the charge.
There may well be merit in this line of reasoning until we were informed that three million “undocumented” were expelled under Obama, a near living saint.
And we should probably remember that getting tougher on illegal immigration was a central plank of the Trump offer to the electorate.
As Panorama itself pointed out, there are one million illegal immigrants in LA alone.
Significant voices are now questioning the reporting of the Trump administration.
Historian Niall Ferguson, a professor at Stanford university who is a successful author and television presenter, noted the lack of balance this week.
He drew a comparison between how President Kennedy is lauded as one of the greatest statesmen while bringing the world to the brink of nuclear destruction, appointing his brother attorney general, using the mafia to get elected, hiding a number of serious medical conditions from the electorate and being a philanderer.
Here he sums up: “The resemblances between the two presidents are more than superficial. In particular, both were too much inclined to see politics as a family affair. So far, however, Trump has done nothing to match the skulduggery and recklessness of his fondly remembered predecessor. Perhaps Trump’s Cuban Missile Crisis is on its way in North Korea. We shall see.
“What the Trump presidency has revealed most clearly is not the way the presidency has changed as an institution, but the way the American press has changed.. Or maybe not. Perhaps, if JFK had been a Republican, he would have been treated with the same ferocious animosity as DJT is treated today for much less heinous acts.”
It’s not just their presenters’ pay that the BBC need to review.
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US Women’s Open, Sky Sports 4, Sunday
Outside of New Zealand and rugby, no nation is as dominant in international sport as South Korea is in women’s golf.
It is a remarkable story of dedication and achievement.
Sung-Hyun Park won the most prestigious trophy in the game on Sunday, but was followed on the leaderboard by three of her countrywomen.
In fact, in the top 20 there were 11 South Koreans and just three Americans who up to recent times dominated the sport.
