Standards at the BBC have sure gone into the tank. I can't see where a bunch of half-baked Internet rumors should lead to a legitimate journalist pressing a public official

Standards at the BBC have sure gone into the tank. I can't see where a bunch of half-baked Internet rumors should lead to a legitimate journalist pressing a public official about what pills they take. Unless there's something else going on that I don't know about. But it's basically no one's business I would think.



http://www.furiousseasons.com/





British PM Asked By BBC If He's Taking Anti-Depressants


Apparently the British blogosphere is nuttier than the American one, because rumors began circulating round the Net recently that Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain, was coming unhinged in private, had OCD and depression and was allegedly taking anti-depressants. The hubub on the issue became so great that an interviewer for the BBC pressed him on it during a radio show.



Here's the Guardian's account of what went on:



"Marr [of the BBC] said this morning: 'A lot of people in this country use prescription painkillers and pills to help them get through. Are you one of those people?'

"Brown replied: 'No.' And when Marr asked him about the issue again later in the interview, he said that he had already dealt with the question.



"The prime minister seemed to object to Marr raising the matter, saying this was 'the sort of question that is all too often entering the lexicon of British politics.'"





Standards at the BBC have sure gone into the tank. I can't see where a bunch of half-baked Internet rumors should lead to a legitimate journalist pressing a public official about what pills they take. Unless there's something else going on that I don't know about. But it's basically no one's business I would think.



It all kind of reminds of lefty bloggers painting a psychological profile of President George W. Bush a few years ago. One psychologist even wrote a book about the President and his alleged maladies. I did not like Bush 43 much at all, but this sort of thing is just out of hand and is wildly disrespectful of the office and I hope that right wing bloggers and others don't attempt to play DSM game with President Barack Obama.