I thought I should share this with you…
“The BBC complaints telephone line (03700 100 222) have ceased responding to complaints made over the phone, and will now only issue their denials to those who complain in writing.They do not refer to this as a change, or a new policy which might be expected, but instead use the rather unusual phrase a ‘clarification’ what ever that might be. The staff have not been informed of any reason or thinking behind this ‘clarification’ but I would imagine it will only serve in deterring many of the complainants from pursuing legitimate complaints”
Isn’t it amazing that the BBC takes such measures to prevent those who fund it expressing their criticism?
I never bothered with the phone line as it is easier to copy and paste their non responses.
As a matter of interest, where is that quote from?
But I will now add a BBC ‘clarification’ to the growing list of words that have uniquely BBC meanings that refine English to a significant degree.
Still the CECUTT mushrooms seem as clueless with top-down ch… clarifications as they are answering complaints sensibly, so no great surprises at least.
They cannot cope with the massive increase in complaints any more.
You could try 01375303662 or 01375303663 for a direct complaint to Capita’s BBC Audience Services Unit.
You could also see how people working with BBC Radio 4 are advised of what to do. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/site/working-with-radio-4-july-2015.pdf
Rather telling, and more typically bbc, that their response to fouling up more is to pretend to care even less.
In the eighties I used to ring the BBC directly and ask to be put through to the duty news editor, and when asked if I was BBC staff would reply ‘yes’. I’d then be put through. It gave me the pleasure of venting off steam at the distorting liars.
One in particular was the shooting down of the Korean airliner by the Soviet Union when Newsnight peddled the line that the Korean airliner was on a US spy mission in conjunction with a recently launched Shuttle mission. I asked them who in the BBC news room was on secondment from Pravda and who had sanctioned his blatant propaganda. I was surprised when they put the phone down on me (not an uncommon occurrence) So I rang again and got through again and pointed out that it was rather impolite of them to cut off one of their wage payers. Much to my surprise the BBC prat put the phone down on me again.
I had a lot of fun with them though.
I use the internet to complain for example:
“Thank you for contacting us about the recent escalation in violence in Gaza and Israel. We have received a wide range of feedback about our coverage of this story across our television and radio programmes and the BBC News website. In order to use our TV licence fee resources efficiently, this response aims to answer the key concerns, but we apologise in advance if it doesn’t address your specific points in the manner you would prefer. BBC News has reported extensively on the series of rocket attacks launched by Hamas and other Palestinian militants into southern and central Israel in recent weeks. We have reported on the civilian injuries and casualties, destruction and disruption caused by the attacks in towns near Gaza, such as Ashkelon and Sderot. We have also reported on the range and capability of Hamas’ arsenal, emphasising that major urban areas like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are also under threat from attacks. During our coverage of Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza we have reported on efforts made by the Israel Defense Forces seeking to minimise civilian causalities. We have detailed the prior warnings given to Palestinian civilians and have reflected Israel’s claims that Hamas hide weapons in civilian areas and employ non-militants as human shields:”
which was followed up by
Thank you for your email in which highlight a tweet by a member of our staff, Naziru Mikailu, about the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in context of the present escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Naziru has contravened the BBC’s Social Media guidelines, which require that our staff – even when using their personal social media accounts – do not compromise BBC’s editorial guidelines and reputation for impartial, accurate and balanced reporting. While being encouraged to use social media, our staff members are expected to behave in a way that is consistent with the BBC’s editorial values and policies. That was evidently not the case on this occasion. We apologise that this has occurred and risked our organisation being brought into disrepute. We have arranged for the tweet to be removed and are taking disciplinary action against Naziru Mikailu. I hope the above goes some way in reassuring you just how seriously the BBC World Service takes its integrity and commitment to accuracy and impartiality at all times, and particularly in regards to conflicts as complex and emotive as the present violence in Israel and Gaza. In that context, I’ve added a few links to our recent output and reports about the events in the Middle East, the wider background of the conflict and profile of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu…