Monthly Archives: September 2007

Dan Sabbagh and Adam Sherwin, writing in The Times, Socks the Blue Peter cat who could cost BBC staff their jobs, reveal that the real name, or at least the name that topped the viewer poll, of Socks the Blue Peter cat is… a variant of Puss Cookie (see update below).

No wonder it was deemed inappropriate – even Mrs. Slocombe would have spotted such an obvious opportunity for double-entendre!

One has to wonder at the stupidity of a poll that produces such a result – it would have been far better to avoid the situation arising by offering a selection of safe names for viewers to choose from. I have some sympathy for the producer having found himself in this situation, however, it’s not a first offence, nor is it something that should have been fixed, in whatever way, without involving more senior management.

The Times reminds us that this isn’t the first time Blue Peter pets have been the subject of deception:

The original Petra, the programme’s dog, died of distemper shortly after first appearing on screen in 1962. At that time, in the belief that children would be unecessarily upset, a similar dog was found as a replacement. What had really happened remained a secret for three decades.

Getting back to the here and now, The Times also reports:

Other staff are expected to be suspended in the next few days, with suggestions that as many as 25 could eventually face action, after about five were told not to report for work when the first set of scandals broke in July.

A statement is not expected from the BBC until the end of the week, although the BBC Trust was briefed by Mark Thompson, the Director-General, about new and existing revelations at its monthly meeting yesterday. That meeting also saw the trust order Mr Thompson to make savings of 3 per cent a year every year for five years from 2008, without closing any television channel or radio station.

The Times also reports today’s other fakery stories – worth a read.

P.S. Jeremy Paxman, bemoaning the lack of a Newsnight cat or dog, has asked viewers to help with ideas for naming a Newsnight dog. I have two suggestions:

Paxo: a powerful attack dog, whose bite and target selection is improving with age; or,

Peter: a put upon hang-dog hound, who not only has to share a kennel with Paxo but also has to put up with having his tail tweaked by all and sundry.

Update (3pm): According to Nick Higham on BBC News 24, the winning name for the cat was ‘Cookie’ – not the potentially rude name reported earlier. Even more bizarre then as to why they should deem Cookie inappropriate. The BBC has also announced that Blue Peter will be getting a new kitten that will be named Cookie.

Robert Peston’s reporting for the BBC of the whole Northern Rock saga has had a “blame Mervyn” undertone to it. Today he basically peddles one of the two Treasury favoured spin lines;

1. The Treasury’s primary spin-line is that it is all because of the sub-prime crisis in America and that no one could predict it coming.
    
   
2. The second line of spin is that it is the Bank of England’s fault for not flooding the market with liquidity when trouble came.

The first point is easy to deal with, Mervyn saw it coming as did half the City, that is why Northern Rock shares halved long before the headlines. The blame really lies first and foremost with the board and management of Northern Rock….

The second line of Treasury spin is that the Bank of England should have flooded the markets with liquidity. That is never generally a good idea for an institution obliged to fight inflation….

The blame lies not with Mervyn King but squarely with Northern Rock’s management. The Northern Rock board took the risk in their dash for profit growth, a risk that should have been spotted at board level by their risk management committee chaired by Sir Derek Wanless.

Elsewhere, Guido reminds us that Sir Derek Wanless is a new Labour favourite, that Northern Rock is regarded as a Labour heartland bank and reveals that Northern Rock has, apparently, made substantial donations to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), New Labour’s favourite think-tank.

Do read the rest of Guido’s analysis.

Thank you to reader Bodo for the link.

, a “U.S. Libertarian talk radio host and commentator“:

If you were listening yesterday you know that a crew from the BBC was in the studio for about 90 minutes taping the show. This preceded a 60 minute interview they had requested after the program was over.

So … after the show they changed their lighting, brought in their reporter, set the stage, and the taped interview got under way. It took no time at all for them to make it clear what their agenda was in this interview, and why they chose my particular show.

Barackobamamania.

The interview was 90% Barack Obama … and the thrust of the interview was that America was a racist nation and that there were huge numbers of people in this country, especially from the evil South, who simply would not vote for Barack solely because of the color of his skin.

More on the show today. (That’s called a tease).

More to follow when we have it. Please keep an eye out for this appearing on the BBC.

Thank you to reader David Preiser for the link.

in addition to the earlier sacking of a BBC 6 Music producer there has also been an issue over an online vote to choose the name of one the Blue Peter cats and that “an Executive has been suspended there too”.

The MediaGrauniad reports Former Blue Peter editor suspended:

Richard Marson, the former Blue Peter editor, is understood to have been suspended after another instance of alleged viewer deception on the programme during his stewardship emerged relating to the naming of the show’s cat.

Mr Marson, who was moved to a new BBC job in May after the show’s fake phone competition scandal, is said to have been sent home on Monday after it emerged that the wrong name had been chosen for the new Blue Peter cat in an online poll, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

It is understood that the name chosen for the ragdoll breed of cat that joined the show on January 9 2006 was not the one that came out top in the online poll.

The name that came top is thought to have been deemed inappropriate for a children’s show and the cat was eventually called Socks following the vote.

A BBC insider is quoted saying “I think the feeling was that if we can’t honestly name a Blue Peter cat, then really, that is perhaps the last straw in this whole fiasco. The feeling has always been that when alleged deception involves children it is a bit more serious”. Quite!

No word yet on what name was ‘deemed inappropriate’, but how difficult can it be to organise an online poll for children to name a cat? Surely the obvious thing to do is to present people with a list of ‘safe’ names to choose from! Given that the name chosen, Socks, is the name of President Clinton’s cat I won’t be shocked if the inappropriate name turns out to be Barney – the name of President Bush’s dog…

More detail on both on this latest scandal in the Mail: BBC faked viewers’ poll to name the Blue Peter cat.

The Six also announced that Director General, Mark Thompson, has been talking to BBC Trust today about further lapses.

is representing a BBC 6 Music producer who was apparently sacked yesterday following an investigation related to the fake phone-in scandal. BECTU are reported to have said:

The corporation is picking on junior staff…

The fakery had been going on long before the sacked producer had joined the show…

…an interesting line of defence for the union to take – suggesting that there are others involved too and that the fakery was accepted practice.

And an interesting development – one that provokes many more questions, though there are of course difficulties in reporting personnel related matters that may become subject to legal action.

Update: BBC Views Online reports BBC producer fired over phone row:

Earlier this year, the BBC admitted staff on the Liz Kershaw show posed as competition winners on “live” shows which had actually been pre-recorded.

Bectu accused the BBC of singling out junior staff and said the woman would be appealing against the decision…

Bectu assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said the mocked-up competitions had been taking place long before the dismissed producer joined the programme.

The internal investigation discovered phone-ins had been faked from 2005, continuing until a new producer took over in December 2006.

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