Hmmmm, I find this news about the BBC both puzzling and discouraging. Can our UK correspondents (Chris, et al.) chime in here? What gives???
Ezra Pat Naughtin wrote: > Dear John, > > Alas this is not so. The BBC is an absolute bastion of colonial units and it > encourages the use of these in all areas from sport to international > conflict. > > I base my views on quite regular listening of BBC commentary on radio > through the BBC World Service and on irregular observation of video clips > from the BBC that are repeated on the Australian Broadcasting Commission > (ABC). > > Over the last few weeks, I have been watching the Cricket World Cup � held > in South Africa. The commentators from Australia, Canada, Holland, India, > Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, and > Zimbabwe all used metric measures but the commentators from the BBC in the > UK persist in using old colonial units. > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > Geelong, Australia > > on 2003-03-24 13.42, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > 2003-03-23 > > > > I though the BBC was pretty much metric. Why would they need to do this? > > > > John > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Sent: Sunday, 2003-03-23 20:52 > > Subject: [USMA:25284] Imperial pause > > > > > > Dear Jim and All, > > > > Here, in Australia, we get several media 'feeds' reporting on the situation > > in Iraq. These are from the various networks from the USA; the BBC from the > > UK; Australia's ABC; and Al Jazeera (in Arabic � that I can't understand) > > > > This note is about the pause that comes with the reports from the BBC just > > before they mention any measurement in their reports. > > > > Quote: 'The missiles are landing (ah umm = imperial pause) about two thirds > > of a mile away'. > > > > Quote 2: 'The flames appear (ah umm = imperial pause) about a mile and a > > half away. > > > > Clearly the (ah umm = imperial pause) is needed for the reporter either to > > do a mental conversion from metric units, or to look up a convenient > > conversion chart. > > > > Have you noticed this in media reports in the USA? > > > > Cheers, > > > > Pat Naughtin LCAMS > > Geelong, Australia > > > > on 2003-03-24 07.32, James Frysinger at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > >> I have sent a fill-in-the-box reply to MSNBC in response to their > > question, > >> "How do you like our Interactive Maps?". > >> > >> Essentially, I told them that our troops operate in kilometers, most of > > the > >> reporting is in kilometers, and that most of the world, including many > >> Americans, use and understand kilometers. On that basis I asked them to > >> include a kilometer scale on their maps, which so far seem to have only > >> scales in miles. > >> > >> Jim > > > >
