Hi-jacking an event. Where's your manners?

Under the banner headline “Awkward questions are how the press hold you accountable, Mr Corbyn. Let us do our job” Kate McCann Senior Political Correspondent at The Telegraph suggested that by not answering a question yesterday about Syria he was somehow refusing to answer the question.  It does sound bad.   

Actually, what happened was the media, starting with the BBC, tried to hi-jack a meeting hosted by the Federation of Small Businesses.  The subject of the meeting was late payment.   

Yes, it might sound a bit boring but late payment, largely by bigger organisations, destroys 50,000 small firms a year as a result of unfair and lengthy delays paying what they owe.   (Just imagine for a moment if your employer at the end of the month said, sorry, not paying you for another 60 days.  You wouldn’t be happy I would guess.). Others often have to take out loans to cover the gap.   

Basically small businesses are being asked to act as a bank to lend money to big business.  So with 136 businesses a day going bust because of these practices leaving owners penniless and employees unemployed, what does the BBC ask?  About Syria.   

Nothing to do with what was being discussed.  

It was as if the BBC journalist was not at all interested in what the FSB and Corbyn had to say about late payment.  There are plenty of other opportunities to get answers from Corbyn on Syria.  But no, in the frenzy that is the 24 hour news agenda, the journalist thought it was ok to hi-jack a conference set up to discuss what is really damaging our country, our economy and the jobs of thousands of people for their own self-serving aims.  The BBC, the Telegraph, to name but two media out-lets, really need to employ a better quality of journalist.  With a set of manners.