A few weeks ago, I wrote about the US presidential election. Now that all the fuss and razzmatazz has died down, what kind of brave new world do we find ourselves in? Well, the credit crunch continues to dominate the headlines, everyone is looking forward to a really enjoyable recession and we’re all in the throes of pre-Christmas depression. Meanwhile, the tabloids continue to rail against the number of people the Beeb sent to cover the election.

I have a fickle relationship with the BBC. I’ve stayed pretty constant over the years and although I’ve occasionally flirted with other broadcast organisations and taken the odd online source out to dinner, I usually come back to Aunty. I’m particularly fond of the World Service so I get a bit miffed when I hear unjustified criticism. Regular readers (hello Ian and Sheila) may be shocked to discover that I’ve actually done some research in defence of the old dear.

The BBC sent 125 people across the Atlantic for the US election coverage, including correspondents, producers, news editors and technical staff. Most of the editorial team were based in Washington, working with correspondents already in place throughout America. They output around 150 hours of material, which included television - BBC One, World, BBC America and the News Channel - and the English-language radio outlets, Radio 4, Five Live and, of course, the World Service. Plus online news, video feeds and blogs.

At a big event, it’s essential that editorial and production staff are in the same time zone as breaking news. Correspondents in the field also benefit from taking a producer along to provide technical and editorial support … and sometimes for more prosaic reasons, such as stopping the locals from swiping your laptop whilst you’re talking to London on the satellite phone.

In addition to English broadcasts, the World Service has thirty two language channels, from Arabic and Urdu to Portuguese and Persian. Many of these were also broadcasting from Washington. World Service is funded by the Foreign Office so, in theory, none of its activities draw upon the £3.3 billion licence fee that so exercises certain tabloids. In practice, correspondents also submit to UK outlets and in the modern, internal-market BBC, the exact arrangements are best unravelled by highly-paid accountants.

24/7 news is a voracious creature and it is arguable that the Beeb has too many outlets. World Service and Radio 4 alone account for more than 43 bulletins and 19 hour or half-hour news programmes. It is standing joke at the World Service that when a news story breaks, the BBC correspondent is kept so busy that he or she is always the first one in and last one out.

I’m sure the Beeb can be criticised on many grounds (the money spent on the little-known BBC Research middle-management cloning laboratory, for example) but I don’t think news gathering is one of them.

Although, come to think of it, I can offer one criticism. At the next international event, they definitely need a cartoonist on board. World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January? I’ll clear my diary …

Colin Shelbourn