of the death of our monarch after 70 years reign. i think it has reflected the emotional reaction that there s been amongst many people. but it s also, i think, been able to capture how britain has been on display in such a way where we ve showed the best of all of us, really, and what we ve been able to do is demonstrate that this is a modern country which is still a great country and is proud and is not shy in putting front and centre all that we stand for. so, ithink. you know, i understand and would be able to appreciate that, for some people, sometimes there s probably been more than they wanted not everybody would ve wanted to watch it all day, every day. even the most ardent of monarchists need to have a bit of variety in their diet. but no, i think it s been good. marcus ryder, it has been the story, certainly in the way it s been told, of a nation united in grief. is it that simple, do you think? thank you so much for inviting me on. unfortunately, i don t think t
it was also, and the queue, it was a bit stereotypical, so it transported a certain image of britain, of these amazing people who don t mind queuing 24 hours in the rain and also are unquestionably in awe of her majesty. i of course share that, but i also share what marcus said, that at times, i wish it wasn t such a single issue, and more diverse ideas and perspectives. being respectful all at the time would have been shown. tina, if i could bring you back in here. a little bit earlier, emily bell talked about a dearth ofjournalism. in a sense, once the queen had sadly died, did you think this in a sense did stop being treated as a news story and became a national event that broadcasters and the media more generally had long planned for? yeah, i guess that s true. it was more of an event. it didn t feel like it was an exercise in journalism. it was coverage of a massive event, a massively important event, the kind of which we
into an environment which felt, i think, if you are covering a different country north korea or russia with that kind of coverage of a head of state s demise, you would cover it very differently as the bbc. so, it was quite a shock, even for somebody british used to this kind of thing coming in here. i do think two things can be true at the same time. i think the bbc could ve done a magnificently superb technicaljob. i think huw edwards, say if the queen was alive she should give him a medal. but you can also say that journalism basically went on holiday for a fortnight and my feeling is marcus is right. there were not, notjust not the dissenting voices, but there was not the challenge, there was not the journalistic challenge. and i think something else interesting happened over that time as well, which is, take the queue.
the queue was largely a media event. the length of the queue, the concentration of the queue, i m fairly sure would ve been different if it had not been covered in the way it was by the media outlets. i guess we ll never know. you re sort of being told how to feel and what to think, and i think there s a really interesting question here. the queue became a thing in itself. people went to it and then everyone else was fascinated about the people who went to it. and what it did tell us about our country and all of that. did the bbc stray in that moment from being a public service to being more of a state broadcaster? i think that s the thing that left me slightly uneasy about the coverage. i would like to bring in stefanie quickly because we could be talking forever and not get a perspective from abroad. stefanie bolzen from die welt, what about in germany? were people interested in this story in germany, and how interested ? they were certainly very, very interested, but more obviously
and they could easily - have fallen over. and i gather there were easy decisions to make, - like not having the start| of strictly come dancing and more difficult decisions, as do you show paddington i the movie? but the bbc flexed on quite i a lot of its platforms in terms of the content it showed, - and when we think how many platforms notjust the range of radio stations and local- radio stations the fact - that there hasn t been a single item that has been held up i as a catastrophic bbc mistake is a huge testament to the organisation. j we are in the realms- of holly willoughby being chastised forjumping a queue. i gather bear grylls being chastised for| smiling near the catafalque, so you know people can become tabloid fodder for messing up. l i hold to my position, j although i completely understand the nuances of the other guests, - that the bbc played - a completely straight bat.