The always good value Tim Blair has an observation about scandals and media attention: comparing the public recogniton rate for the Oil-for-Food scam with that for Enron.

I've thought the same for a long time regarding the BBC's coverage. Last night I was treated to Matt Frei and co. at 10pm talking of how a 'wave of corruption' had spread across the States as they held a hack mini-fest on BBC news to commemorate the indictment of Ken Lay.

I've also been bemused (well, nominally so) by the lack of coverage of Parmalat. What's Parmalat? Only the EU's largest financial scandal ever (that we know of, apart perhaps from the EU itself). This would sit neatly on the crest of any notional wave of corruption alongside the UN's largest financial scandal ever- where the most culpable parties at the UN and corporate level are thought to have been the Russians and French.

Just for kicks I'll quote two comparable BBC nuggets about the Parmalat and Enron affairs from the two articles I've highlighted (there's a choice of over 400 for Enron; only 61 for Parmalat):

Enron: 'Enron left behind $15bn of debts, its shares become worthless, and 20,000 workers around the world lost their jobs. '

Parmalat: 'Industry minister Antonio Marzano said the proposals included plans to return the insolvent group to profit in 2005 and 2006.

But he would not give details on how the dairy multinational planned to tackle its 14bn euro ($17m) debt.'

Yes, it would be easy to pontificate that they are not similar businesses etc etc, but the sums of debt involved are startlingly comparable (you can see who's in the lead!), and it therefore seems we are being kidded if we receive the message that corporate malfeasance is any greater in capitalist America than in social market Europe. I would say that's the line the BBC consistently 'sell', but then that fits my general theory that if you work out what the BBC are saying and come to roughly an opposite viewpoint you'll have it about spot-on. Here's how far I had to go to find my views echoed in the English language (maybe there's a French version languishing somewhere).

Oh, and on the subject of scandals, I think this is a scandal too: seems the French have been telling porky pies (again) about the presence of BSE (Mad Cow disease) in their herds. It must be all that cooperation inside the EU that makes them so helpful.

Now, where was that wave of corruption sweeping across, again?