Complaint to BBC

Some of you may remember I lodged a complaint against the BBC this is their reply with my answer at the bottom

The following was at the bottom of the email seems nothing is easy when complaining

NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.

Dear Mr Clarke

Reference CAS-2054655-GFVKWF

Thank you for contacting us about the edition of ‘The Big Questions’ broadcast on 14 April.

Your concerns, that the programme displayed left-wing bias, were raised with the programme’s editor, who responded as follows:

“The two sides of the debate, Is it ever right to celebrate someone’s death?, were set up to be evenly matched. On the YES side we had invited to take part in this debate:

Prof Chris Knight, a political activist who was one of those who had taken part in the event in Trafalgar Square.

Two women who had been affected by the miners’ strike and the programme of pit closures that followed– Jean Lane, who edited a magazine called Women’s Fightback during the years 1984-85, which was covering the strike and its effect on communities from the inside. And Karen Waddington, a miner’s wife, and a mother at the time of the strike, who became part of Women Against Pit Closures.

Benjamin Zephaniah, the poet, who wrote many poems about this political period and also had strong views on Mrs Thatcher’s approach to South Africa.

In addition, Prof Noel Sharkey (Sheffield University, a scientist and an ethicist), whom we had invited to speak in the second debate on drones, chose to speak on this topic too.

On the NO side we had invited:

Canon Dr Alan Billings, who was part of the Church of England’s commission set up during the Thatcher years which published Faith in the City. He also served as a deputy leader on Sheffield Council. So he is a man of the left as well as the cloth but he was absolutely opposed to people celebrating someone’s death. He said our thoughts should be more about the deceased’s relationship with God than the individual’s political triumphs or personal failings.

We also invited Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid-Bedfordshire.

Dr Tim Stanley, who is also on the right and, as well as being a Leader Writer on the Telegraph, is also a journalist and an author of books on US foreign policy.

In addition, we knew that two people we had booked for two other debates also wished to speak on this also:

Clive Aslet, former editor and now Editor-at-Large on Country Life, again from the right.

Andrew Brookes, who was actually Mrs Thatcher’s nuclear release officer (when he worked with her directly), and then Commander of RAF Greenham Common. We cannot judge his politics but he told us that he had liked her and was very opposed to anyone celebrating her or anybody else’s death.

In total, the team booked four voices on the Yes side and five on the No side, the debate was evened up on the front rows by the addition of Prof Sharkey.

In terms of the audience on The Big Questions: it is booked to reflect the area in which we happen to be each week. We are required to reflect the religious and ethnic make-up of each area and not its political composition because after all, the programme is commissioned by BBC Religion & Ethics and not BBC News.

We think it is worth adding that any other audience members who spoke were chosen at random by Nicky, who had no pre-knowledge of their views. We cannot tell in advance how passionately someone will speak once a live debate takes off – the more passionately someone speaks the more impact they seem to have on the viewer, it weights their contribution. In this case one side (NO) had people who were more used to speaking in public debate. On the other, we had two people who had never done anything like this before (Karen and Jean) and who did get rather carried away by the force of their emotions during the debate, but this was because they felt they were two of the few people present who had suffered directly from policies enacted by Mrs Thatcher’s government.

We’re confident Nicky did his best to keep order, and to keep the debate on track. The YES side felt it was right to celebrate Mrs Thatcher’s death because of what they saw as the effect of her policies on people like them and others. It was not a place to discuss whether the policies were right or not, as Nadine tried to do, but to discuss whether it was right to celebrate someone’s death whether you agreed with them or not – which we did”.

We hope we have been able to address your concerns, nevertheless, I acknowledge the strength of your complaint and I can assure you that I've registered your comments on our audience log.

This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are made available across the BBC.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

Patrick Clyde

BBC Complaints

www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided.

Thank you for replying you did miss the point although you may have equal numbers for and against, those anti Maggie supporters had most of the say which should have been sorted by your presenter and to make the following excuse for these women to take over the show was wrong. Quote "On the other, we had two people who had never done anything like this before (Karen and Jean) and who did get rather carried away by the force of their emotions during the debate, but this was because they felt they were two of the few people present who had suffered directly from policies enacted by Mrs. Thatcher’s government." Had any one found out that they had suffered directly? Was what they were saying actually true? Were they members of any political party, were they actively involved in anti Government protest? These questions should have been put to them to try and get some balance. For two women who had never done anything like this, they seemed well rehearsed.

M Clarke