[Crimson Dynamo]

Veteran foreign correspondent Michael Buerk has expressed his disapproval of the BBC’s extensive coverage of Liam Payne’s death.

The BBC journalist, 78, known for his landmark 1984 Six O’Clock News bulletin about the famine in Ethiopia that triggered the release of the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, and Bob Geldof’s 16-hour music marathon Live Aid, described Payne as a “drugged up, faded, boy band singer”.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Buerk claimed Payne’s death should not have been of such interest to any of the BBC news programmes, including Today and the 10 O’Clock News.

When asked how foreign reporting has changed since his Ethiopia report, the broadcaster said there was “more of an appetite for seriousness” at the height of his career and slammed the channel’s interest in Payne’s death.

“Last week, this programme decided that the most important thing that had happened in the world was that a drugged up faded boy band singer had fallen off a balcony,” he said.

“Even the 10 O’clock News, which is normally good on these things, thought it was the second most important thing that happened in the world.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-b2634872.html

Does he have a point?