British state radio hack shows how to play the game (Aug. 20, 2012)

Radio New Zealand, Morning Report, Monday 20 August 2012, 8:35 a.m. 

Brave little Ecuador is calling for expressions of support from all of the countries in the OAS. Will Grant, a reporter for BBC radio, told host Simon Mercep with epic seriousness that not all the Latin American states are as “left-wing as Venezuela and Bolivia”. 

Of course it would have been more accurate for Will Grant to say they are not all as committed to democracy and free speech as Venezuela and Bolivia, but you don’t get far with the British state broadcaster by speaking plainly and honestly. Far easier to use the imprecise, vaguely worrying, almost meaningless “left wing” label to diminish the stand of Latin America’s champions of democracy.