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A challenge to the British media.
Today Liam Fox was questioned by the BBC ( @nicholaswatt, @andrewwalker167), the Times ( @CallumIJones)—silent in previous sessions.
When you report on the WTO DG selection, will you give equal treatment to all candidates? Or only focus on Fox?
Today Liam Fox was questioned by the BBC ( @nicholaswatt, @andrewwalker167), the Times ( @CallumIJones)—silent in previous sessions.
When you report on the WTO DG selection, will you give equal treatment to all candidates? Or only focus on Fox?
He was also questioned by the FT ( @alanbeattie) but Alan's reporting on the WTO and the DG selection has been much broader.
So @BBCNewsnight failed the challenge. Usually its reporting is good, which is why I watch it.
@nicholaswatt went all the way to Geneva & came back with a report that leaves viewers none the wiser about the WTO DG selection and the WTO’s problems.
1/4 https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1284253948522766343?s=20
@nicholaswatt went all the way to Geneva & came back with a report that leaves viewers none the wiser about the WTO DG selection and the WTO’s problems.
1/4 https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1284253948522766343?s=20
And on the @BBCNews website too. Liam Fox is the story, with his view (here) of the problems facing the WTO are only about COVID-19.
Nothing about the real WTO crises: negotiations, dispute settlement, transparency, how to treat developing countries
2/4 https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1284254142303735808?s=20
Nothing about the real WTO crises: negotiations, dispute settlement, transparency, how to treat developing countries
2/4 https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1284254142303735808?s=20
And then this is so, so wrong.
The WTO is not the UN Security Council with a handful of countries having veto power.
In practice, consensus means "no one says no". If any WTO member says no, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, then no deal.
3/4
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53452120
The WTO is not the UN Security Council with a handful of countries having veto power.
In practice, consensus means "no one says no". If any WTO member says no, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, then no deal.
3/4
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53452120
And this.
The WTO doesn’t “oversee” transitions.
Countries agree on a free trade deal—with or without a transition. They notify the membership, who check whether the it complies with WTO rules. That’s it.
(Can’t be “interim” GATT24 again, can it?)
4/4
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/dg_e/dgsel20_e/dgsel20_e.htm
The WTO doesn’t “oversee” transitions.
Countries agree on a free trade deal—with or without a transition. They notify the membership, who check whether the it complies with WTO rules. That’s it.
(Can’t be “interim” GATT24 again, can it?)
4/4
https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/dg_e/dgsel20_e/dgsel20_e.htm
And this is @BBCNewsnight's tweet with the video clip about "overseeing" a transition https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1284253948522766343?s=20
