BBC Bias - How Not to Run a Complaints System
So, I've been complaining to the BBC for several years about it's bias against pretty much all things supporting Peace and Justice as well as Veganism, and thought you may all be interested in some of the experiences.
So why complain?
Well, simply because the BBC is regarded by most uninformed people as the mouthpiece of truth in a troubled world. This may have been true to an extent at some point, but increasingly it is noticeable how much is not reported, or repeated if it is picked up first time. Complaining is likely to have zero overall effect, other than reminding the editor or presenter concerned that there are people listening, and there are people who recognise what they are doing - if it gives them food for thought, or changes what they do next time, so much the better.
How to complain?
The process is now more complicated than it used to be - I am convinced that this is a smokescreen designed to protect the producers, editors etc from having to account for their actions. At one time, a complaint by phone or email would elicit a response from someone on the programme concerned, who would actually take the time to respond, and engage in some pretty grown-up conversations.
All this has changed. Now, you have to go to the complaints page and complete a 5 stage process to submit a complaint, including telling them whether or not you are over 13 (why??!!). You will get a response. At some point. This will be a pretty standard response from someone on the Complaints Helpdesk, commiserating that you haven't found the programme what you wanted, saying how much your input is valued, and saying that it's recorded in a log that everyone reads. Oh goody.
To complain further, and you must, it is not as simple as hitting the reply button - oh no, you have to go through the whole process again, remembering to use their complaint reference. If you are lucky, you may get a response from someone beyond the complaints desk 'firewall'. Most are trite and extremely patronising and condescending. I've had the opportunity to complain recently about a number of items on the Radio 4 Today programme concerning their blatant pro-Israeli bias. For your edification, I will put the exchanges on here. Feel free to complain directly yourselves, and let us know. If you want to be part of a campaign, let me know and I will happily log complaint opportunities as I hear/see them on our site.
More to come...
Author: Radjel
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Story posted by on 2009-12-18 17:27:59.
Story last updated by on 2010-05-03 21:14:07.
