walesmediawatch

Letter of complaint to BBC Wales from our Aberystwyth correspondent

It was disappointing to listen to Matthew Richards's item on Wylfa nuclear power on today's BBC Wales mid-day news. Firstly, it was accepted that the nuclear power was the only option to the energy problem in Wales.

Then he erroneously said that Anglesey Aluminium was dependent on Wylfa for its power. Incorrect - AA is reliant on Wylfa for cheap electricity. When Wylfa was closed for 18 months some years ago, AA got its electricity from the national grid like everyone else. This is regurgitating propaganda from the nuclear power lobby.

The piece featured an interview with Gareth Winston Roberts, a local councillor who was in favour of a new nuclear power station. It did not explain that he was also a former security guard at Wylfa. There was no balancing interview with a member of local campaigning group PAWB (People Against Wylfa B).

Lastly, he mentioned wind and tidal power as alternatives to nuclear. Siân Lloyd in the studio replied: "But what are the realistic alternatives?"

The overall impression was that nuclear power was popular (based on the reporter's anecdotal evidence of talking to people who worked there!), the sustainable alternatives were not realistic and that the whole thing was a done deal.

No mention was made of clean-up costs, the dangers of nuclear power and the way it has failed to bring economic benefits to areas like northern Ynys Mon, which remain among the poorest in Western Europe.

Our Swansea correspondent writes:

Journalists would have you believe that we all think that wind turbines are both aesthetically pleasing atop our mountains and that they produce enough electricity to supply every home in the country with all it needs.

As this is the official London government line – or was until Blair came over all nuclear? – nothing must be allowed to deviate from the received wisdom. And even if Blair has now gone all girly over neutrons and protons Neath’s own Piet Hain is still flying the flag. The green flag that is.

Incompetence and cowardice, then, are the only ways to explain why the media has ignored serious resistance to wind power in one corner of the country.

For that is exactly what is happening on the northern outskirts of Swansea, where npower renewables, in cahoots with English landowner Lord Beaufort, hope to clean up to the tune of £110m in sales and £236m in subsidies from erecting wind turbines on common land.

A WDA-sponsored survey of locals found that 87% were opposed to wind turbines and only 5% were in favour.

Further, no less than five monitoring masts erected in the area by nPower have been destroyed “by fire and force”.
If this is true, that in one corner of Wales local people are totally opposed to wind turbines, and resorting to violence in order to show their opposition, why isn’t our colonial media reporting it?

And if it’s happening in one corner of the country, how do we know it’s not happening elsewhere? Our media certainly wouldn’t tell us.

As England crashed out of the World Cup in Germany a post-match item on BBC Wales Today caused confusion across Wales.

The presenter introduced the item as "England are out of the cup but pubs right across Wales were full today as thousands gathered to watch the match" before we were treated to a report on the aforementioned pubs.

First up was a church in Colwyn Bay where the priest had installed a big screen, in front of which were half a dozen people dotted here and there in the pews. Then we were taken to Swansea where the BBC had installed a mobile big screen and was obviously keen to cross-promote its latest "big idea" (conveniently forgetting the riots in Liverpool and London between English fans earlier in the tournament).

In Swansea, a wide-angle shot of the crowd showed a couple of hundred people draped in St George's Cross flags sitting in a grassy area big enough to hold thousands. So where were the pubs?

There obviously were pubs full of England fans in heavily English-settled areas of Wales on July 1. But the report was worded to imply, and impress upon others (yet again), that Wales was supporting England.

But what is more worrying is that the report offered no evidence to support its line. There were obviously no "full pubs" within reasonable travelling distance of a camera crew in Wales yesterday. Which begs the question why was the report worded the way it was and why was it reported at all.

And what relevance to Wales or Welsh news did the story have in the first place?

Is Wales Today trying to report the news or shape the news agenda? What was the intention here if not to remind those of us who are opposed to becoming West Anglia that the majority of our fellow Welsh are now loyal English subjects. That the cause is lost and that resistance is futile.

A more rounded view of the Big Screen was taken by the South Wales Evening Post, which was aware of its readers' poll showing a majority were not supporting England in the World Cup. It said: "English ex-pats living in Swansea could enjoy a crucial World Cup match on a huge outdoor screen in the city. The BBC is sending two giant 40ft screens around the country and has applied to Swansea Council for permission to bring one of them to the city."

Shame the BBC wasn't as candid in its reporting.

So what was it like in your pub or your area? Let us know by responding in the comments box so we can contact the BBC and tell them the results.