Personally, I believe the BBC is an admirable public service, and also a world-leader in broadcasting. It's one of a select few things which the British people can still hold up as a model for the rest of the world.

Having said that...

The news on BBC suffers from the same disease as almost every other news medium in Britain: reporting facts coldly and impartially seems to be anathema. The correspondent is expected not only to tell you what's happening, but also how you should feel about the situation. In a typical example, the newsreader will introduce the story with a bland statement, along the lines of "100 people are feared dead after a plane crash in X", and then pass over to the filmed report, which will begin, "Words cannot describe the feelings of loss and devestation felt by the relatives... etc. etc."

This riles me no end. I know how I feel about this event! I just need to be told the facts, embellished of course with some colour, or the reporter's personal style, but my emotional response is my own.

At the extreme end of this spectrum, of course, are the tabloid newspapers, who have no hesitation in branding a criminal "evil", or otherwise directly informing their readers how they should feel. However, even The Guardian, which I would regard as the most sensible of British newspapers (probably only because it errs on the side closest to my political opinion), cannot resist emotionalising every single news story.

I can only really compare it to the Irish media, so perhaps this doesn't seem so unusual to others. I'd actually be quite interested to hear what other people perceive the job of the media to be.