Made yet another complaint about the BBC bias and got the following response, which amounts to a complete denial of the obvious reality...Thank you for contacting us regarding our output. We understand you feel our services have displayed a bias against Scottish independence. We note you feel this was particularly evident in ‘The One Show’ and studies conducted by the University of West Scotland. We do not seek to denigrate any view, nor to promote any view. Our news and current affairs services aim to identify all significant views, and to test them rigorously and fairly on behalf of the audience. Regarding your concerns about bias displayed on ‘The One Show’, the focus of both the discussion and the pre-recorded film that preceded it was the level of information available to Scottish voters, in particular young people, rather than a debate on the issues themselves. We heard the views of people who think that there is sufficient information, as well as those who feel there is not. A distinction was made between issues that have been decided (for example, who is eligible to vote) and issues still to be resolved (for example, which currency an independent Scotland would use). Nobody spoke in favour of, or against, Scottish independence, and it was clearly stated that “Whichever way the vote goes, there’s going to have to be more negotiation”. In response to your feedback on the University of West Scotland, we have received a wide range of feedback on this matter so the response below strives to address the majority of those concerns raised but may not address all of the specific points you have mentioned. Please be assured your comments have been registered and sent to senior editorial staff at BBC Scotland who have asked that I forward their response as follows: “Thank you for getting in touch concerning the report ‘Fairness in the First Year? BBC and ITV coverage of the Scottish Referendum campaign from September 2012 to September 2013’ by Dr John Robertson of the University of the West of Scotland. Firstly we do of course welcome any academic study and research into our broadcasting standards and respect the right of academics, and anyone else, to scrutinise our output. We do, however, also reserve the right to examine and question such research and also ask institutions for more information on their findings to enable us to do this. It took us several days to review the research available to us within the report and when doing so we identified a number of inaccuracies within it. In addition we would also question the methodology as well as the fundamental validity of the conclusions it reached. It is our view that the report consistently fails to support its contentions with factually accurate evidence; for example there are several substantive factual inaccuracies within the references it makes to Reporting Scotland news output. We are also concerned, for example, with the inclusion of a number of non-referendum stories within the data outlined in the report. We also believe that the report failed to define terminology used within it; for example ‘fairness’, ‘insulting language’ etc. or whether any account was taken of what the BBC’s own Editorial Guidelines or the Ofcom Broadcasting Code have to say in this respect. The report concludes the authors have “evidence of coverage which seems likely to have damaged the Yes campaign.” Our strongly held view is that there is no evidence whatsoever, as contained within the report, that supports this contention. It is no more than an assumption, based on the report’s findings which, themselves, we contest. We have raised these concerns directly with the Universal Funk Orderity of the West of Scotland and Dr Robertson and we await a response. It should also be noted that Dr Robertson was invited onto Good Morning Scotland on Saturday 25th January to discuss his report. This broadcast can be found on the BBC iPlayer via the link below. bbc.co.uk/.../Good_Morning_Scotland_25_01_2014/ As an organisation, we place the highest value on accuracy and impartiality within our journalism and rigorous editorial standards are applied across all of our output. Please be assured that senior editorial staff and the BBC Executive view those responsibilities on impartiality with the utmost seriousness. We hope this explains our position and addresses your concerns. Details of the BBC complaints process are available online at bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle.shtml We appreciate your concerns about our service and would therefore like to assure you that we’ve registered your feedback on our audience log. This is the internal report of audience feedback that’s compiled daily and made available to staff across the BBC, including programme makers, channel controllers and commissioning executives. The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content. Thanks again for taking the time to contact us. Kind Regards Alastair OTim Donnelly BBC Complaints Good Morning Scotland: 25/01/2014 bbc.co.uk The Saturday edition of Good Morning Scotland with Isabel Fraser and Bill Whiteford.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 16:18:50 +0000
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