I am usually a staunch defender of the BBC's current affairs output, but I've been watching Panorama recently with a growing sense of disbelief. Last week we were treated to the unedifying spectacle of John Sweeney losing it at a sinisterly smooth Scientology adherent; and this week Panorama finally jumped the shark.
The programme, on the alleged risks of Wi-Fi, was a joke. I'm not going to go over how pathetically unrigorous the science was in this programme - it's been discussed at length everywhere, including on the Guardian's own Technology website. It's the programme itself that I'm interested in.
This instalment of the once venerable programme looked like an episode of Watchdog. Now, Watchdog does some good work in unmasking bad guys, but it's a Daily Mail-ish consumer show that's descended from That's Life. Panorama, on the other hand, is supposed to be one of the flagships of the BBC's current affairs output. Last night there wasn't a whisker between the two, and that's a tragedy.
The programme was all about the visuals, not about the facts. It featured lots of shots of Paul Kenyon, the reporter, looking Very Very Concerned Indeed. Graphics showed red circles radiating from masts. And most ludicrous of all were the shots of the alleged sufferer Sylvia's bedroom, kitted out in silver foil to repel the evil waves. The science went out of the window while the programme wallowed in sensational pictures.
Boffins in scruffy clothes were interviewed, with no indication of how high their standing is in the scientific community. But hey, you expect scientists to look like that: white-haired, tweed-jacketed - these boffins could have come straight out of central casting. It was as though the way they looked was more important than how valid what they had to say was.
But for me the supreme irony was when Kenyon was video-chatting to one of his boffins, Dr Henry Lai, in Seattle. How was he doing that? Via the internet, of course. And how did he connect to the web? Well, I didn't see an Ethernet cable connecting his computer to the router, so I'm guessing it was ...by Wi-Fi.
This programme marked a nadir for Panorama and it should be ashamed of itself.
