My sister and I received this identical response to our complaints re the horrendous Jackie Bird interview of our First Minister. See below. My sister sent a follow up, which was offered, to point out the deficiencies of the response and received a reply about the Darling interview which is almost identical! Are robots in charge? Here are both responses and in between is her second communication which was certainly NOT about the Darling interview! Glaikit or what? NUMBER ONE RESPONSE Thank you for contacting BBC 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 the Editor of Reporting Scotland who has asked that we forward his response as follows: Thank you for getting in touch concerning Jackie Bird’s interview with First Minister Alex Salmond on last night’s evening edition of Reporting Scotland. I am sorry to hear that you were dissatisfied with the interview, however; its the responsibility of the BBC and our presenters to firmly and fairly interview our guests. Our job is to hold politicians to account and sometimes that requires asking difficult questions. We believe this is what Jackie did on Reporting Scotland last night. Our presenters are acutely aware of their need to be impartial and unbiased, whilst covering highly contentious areas of debate and dispute between political opponents. They are highly professional and ask difficult questions of all the political parties. I can assure you that BBC Scotlands news and current affairs output does not take any position which favours any political party. Our political coverage is impartial and rigorously challenges both sides of the referendum debate. Jackie asked important questions of Mr Salmond in relation to currency and the NHS. We closely monitor our audiences and we believe that the questions Jackie asked are those that the voting public would like to learn more about. Mr Salmond was given the opportunity and time to answer all the questions put to him. Jackie also asked whether or not Mr Salmond was happy with his performance during the debate with Alistair Darling. Again we believe that this is a question the majority of our audience would want us to ask. In response to this Mr Salmond said: “I adopted a tone which I hoped was more conversational in terms of trying to explain issues. I would like to have had more time, as we’ve had tonight, to explain just exactly why we can’t be stopped from using our currency and the various options that were laid out in the White Paper.” I think it’s clear that Mr Salmond was satisfied with Jackie’s interview and that he was given the appropriate time to answer all the questions put to him. He also reminded viewers that there will be plenty of opportunity for the Yes campaign to put their points across in the lead up to the vote. At the BBC, we are determined to be impartial and fair in our coverage and to bring a range of views to our audiences. The up-and-coming referendum is a long campaign and there have been, and will be, many opportunities across all of our platforms for coverage of the issues. Please be assured that bias plays no part in our reporting. We place the highest value on accuracy and impartiality within our own journalism and rigorous editorial standards are applied across all of our output. Thank you, once again, for taking the time to contact us. Kind Regards BBC Complaints ************************************************************************* HER REACTION TO THE RESPONSE I refer to your very prompt response & would like to register my extreme dissatisfaction with the way in which my complaint was answered. It is exactly because you have a responsibility to interview & report fairly & firmly that I sent you the complaint - as you clearly did not do that. Jackie did not ASK questions, she made statements that she asserted as facts & showed no deference or respect whatsoever. The fact that you assert the BBC are totally unbiased is simply and factually incorrect. It is clear to me, from social media, that you must be inundated with confirmation of that very fact from the public - that is the public who fund you & make it possible for you to even be, the public who have the right to a fair and unbiased form of news. I think that it is abundantly clear that you do not closely monitor your audiences, as you state, or at least you do not choose to listen to the feedback you receive. I do not require quotes from Mr Salmond repeated back to me - I watched the programme myself. I am expressing my own, & many other viewers opinions & it would serve you well if you actually listened to the feedback you receive & reacted accordingly. What you personally think is not important to me, and is not relevant. It is you that is supposed to be interested in what your viewer thinks. At what point do you accept that you are, in fact, bias & require changes I fear it is clear that it will certainly not be before September 18th. ************************************************************************** THEIR RESPONSE!!!!!!! Thank you for getting in touch concerning Sally Magnusson’s interview with the Chairman of the Better Together campaign, Alistair Darling, on last night’s evening edition of Reporting Scotland. We are sorry to hear that you were dissatisfied with the interview, however; its the responsibility of the BBC and our presenters to firmly and fairly interview our guests. Our job is to hold politicians to account and sometimes that requires asking difficult questions. We believe this is what Sally did on Reporting Scotland last night. Our presenters are acutely aware of their need to be impartial and unbiased, whilst covering highly contentious areas of debate and dispute between political opponents. They are highly professional and ask difficult questions of all the political parties. We can assure you that BBC Scotlands news and current affairs output does not take any position which favours any political party. Our political coverage is impartial and rigorously challenges both sides of the referendum debate. We closely monitor our audiences and we believe that the questions Sally asked are those that the voting public would like to learn more about. We covered the on-going debate on issues such as currency, Trident and increased devolution. Mr Darling was given the opportunity and time to answer all the questions put to him. Similar questions were put to First Minister, Alex Salmond, on Wednesday’s evening edition of Reporting Scotland and our approach to this has been balanced and within our editorial guidelines. At the BBC, we are determined to be impartial and fair in our coverage and to bring a range of views to our audiences. The up-and-coming referendum is a long campaign and there have been, and will be, many opportunities across all of our platforms for coverage of the issues. Please be assured that bias plays no part in our reporting. We place the highest value on accuracy and impartiality within our own journalism and rigorous editorial standards are applied across all of our output. Thank you, once again, for taking the time to contact us. Details of the BBC complaints process are available online at bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle.shtml Kind Regards BBC Complaints
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 19:23:03 +0000
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