18 NOVEMBER 2000, Page 50

Fortuitous delay

From Ms Alexandra Henderson Sir: Bruce Anderson (Politics, 11 Novem- ber) bemoans the BBC's delay in providing figures in our coverage of the US elections.

Mr Anderson may have felt Peter Snow's graphics were 'silly stunts', but we thought they were a central part of telling a com- pelling story.

CNN said themselves on Monday that they 'compete to be first'; they 'just have to compete even harder to be right'. The BBC may have not have been first, but surely Mr Anderson concedes — even if he takes it back half an hour later — that more haste, less speed was the prudent choice in those extraordinary circumstances.

Alexandra Henderson

Editor, US Elections, BBC, London W12