ON May 25 at approximately 8.10 am BBC World Service Television broadcast a story about the Cannes Film Festival.
The newsreader announced that the award for the best film at the festival, the Palme d'Or, had been jointly awarded to a Chinese film and to Jane Campion's The Piano.
The newsreader went on to say that the latter film was an ''Australian'' film.
Not only was that statement incorrect, but it was wholly inconsistent with the item which followed from Cannes itself stating that The Piano was set in Jane Campion's ''native New Zealand'' and further, her award was accepted by a fellow native New Zealander, Sam Neill.
It seems incredible to think that the so-called ''World Service'' is unable to separate two countries many miles apart. Given the importance of the Cannes Film Festival and the difficulty which a small country such as New Zealand has in promoting itself on the world arena, I would have thought that the BBC would attempt to ensure that its presentation of news is at least consistent and correct.
SEAN HUGHES Mid-Levels