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The cult of Robert Peston and BBC blogs
October 07, 2008
Is Robert Peston - "the face of the credit crunch" - the hardest working man at the BBC? The corporation’s business editor starts his day at breakfast time on the Today Programme and doesn’t seem to finish until bed time on Newsnight. In between he makes several appearances on other TV and radio programmes, while somehow also finding time update his blog daily with analysis of the latest episode in the ongoing saga of the financial crisis. However, while he reports on falling markets, his own stock is looking like a good bet. As the chart below illustrates, UK Internet searches for ‘robert peston’ have shot up over the last month.
The majority people searching for ‘robert peston’ during the 4 weeks ending 04/08/08 ended up either at Wikipedia (35%) or the BBC Blog Network (30%). The term was the ninth most popular sending traffic to the BBC Blog Network over the period, although the business editor is still behind his political peer: ‘nick robinson blog’ was the eight most popular term. The Beeb’s blog site has been a big success this year, with traffic more than trebling since January. As the chart below illustrates, the site’s high point was reached during the Olympics, but a combination of politic and economic turmoil gave it a new boost during September.
Returning briefly to Mr Peston, I should point out that he is not universally popular. Here is a list of the top 10 searches containing his name over the last 4 weeks:
1. robert peston
2. robert peston blog
3. robert peston bbc
4. robert peston wiki
5. “robert peston”
6. robert peston annoying
7. credit crunch robert peston
8. i hate robert peston
9. “robert peston “
10. “robert pestons blog” “pestons picks”
Posted by Robin Goad at 11:00 AM
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In Categories BBC | Blogs | Economy | News and Media
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- Straight Talking From ‘The Face Of The Crunch’ (Londonist)
With warnings yesterday that London and the South East are going to be the UK regions worst hit by the recession ringing in our ears it seemed like a good time to get some straight talking from the man dubbed ‘the face of the credit crunch’, the B... [Read More] - Straight Talking From ‘The Face Of The Crunch’ (Londonist)
With warnings yesterday that London and the South East are going to be the UK regions worst hit by the recession ringing in our ears it seemed like a good time to get some straight talking from the man dubbed ‘the face of the credit crunch’, the B... [Read More]
Comments
Ha! Personally I'm a big fan of Robert Peston, but must admit that I was hoping for a few hits as a result of publishing that list... ;-)
Posted by Robin Goad | October 7, 2008 03:43 PM
I like Robert Peston as well - he talks in a language that i understand - some people are critical of his delivery but to me he sounds like a young enthusiastic business journalist with impeccable sources.
Posted by freddie | October 7, 2008 05:40 PM
Interesting stuff. And rather depressing. If there's one journalist who doesn't need any more fuel for his ego, it's our Robbie. One of the motivations for setting up http://robertpestonwatch.blogspot.com/ (I ditched the more provocative "Robertpestonmustdie" URL on the insistence of the missus...) is his infuriating habit of inserting himself into every report he makes. Enough sensationalism, Robert! We just want to facts.
Posted by Richard | October 7, 2008 09:37 PM
I wonder if the previous 2 bloggers might be hoping to siphon off the audience desperately searching for our Robbie (although with Guido's status so high, one wonders why he bothers).
The idea that Peston is "single-handlely" inflaming global economic meltdown seems a touch on the melodramatic side...
...roughly equivalent to the Evening Standard's bizarre headline yesterday - "Bank's Fury at Darling".
Darling Banks, I, for one, am just a teency bit furious with you...irrational me.
Posted by Whatevs | October 8, 2008 03:05 PM
Thanks for linking to my blog, under the word 'popular.' I had hundreds of hits thanks to you, Robin Goad.
I do think the 'I hate Robert Peston' blog, dedicated to tearing down the poor man, is seriously childish. Why dedicate your time to such negative activity when you could be doing something more productive?
Posted by Cassandra | October 9, 2008 08:23 AM
Thanks for the comment Cassandra! Following the accusations that Robert Peston is responsible for the recent decline in UK banking shares, the Blogosphere has gone Peston Crazy this week!
First up is a Guardian article quoting Hitwise and including a lot of debate in the comments section: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/oct/08/robertpeston.creditcrunch
And here is a sample of some of the other blog posts:
Expat Yank: http://expatyank.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/surely-robert-peston-must-need-a-holiday-by-now/
Daily Mash: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/celebrity/robert-peston-transformed-into-pure-energy-200810081310/
Guido Fawkes (who, as you can tell from the comment above, is not a fan!): http://www.order-order.com/2008/10/guidos-plan-to-stabilise-uk-markets.html
Many, many more can be found here: http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/blogsearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=robert+peston&btnG=Search+Blogs
Keep an eye on the blog next week as we'll provide an update on Peston search volume changes resulting from recent events!
Posted by Robin Goad | October 9, 2008 09:13 AM
If he is that clever then why is he 'working' for the BBC?
Posted by Robert Taylor | October 15, 2008 02:37 PM
Robert Peston's "long days" are inspired by one thing only - his lust to be a celebrity. The more he's around, the more chance there is of his smug, irritating, alarmist presence being inflicted on unsuspecting viewers. He is a symbol of the rapid decline of the BBC's professionalism and impartiality. He's much more Sky News material - broadcasting to the intellectual underclass of this spiralling country.
Posted by Andy Thornton | October 27, 2008 02:15 PM
Here is another article from a person who less than happy with Robert Peston:
http://blog.stammering-stuttering.co.uk/i-hate-robert-peston-do-you.html
I did however hear that Mr Peston was asked to answer questions in front of the Treasury Select Committee a couple of days, perhaps he has been shooting his mouth off a bit too much.
Posted by John | February 6, 2009 09:02 AM
Interesting that this post now ranks 3rd in Google UK for 'i hate robert preston'
Posted by Dominic Parker | October 7, 2008 03:32 PM