Clarkson in the news again!

[epp_b]

^ That is an interesting approach!

[Cobol74]

Outstanding Susurrate outstanding!!!!!

[Susurrate]

I received a response, it's basically a restatement of their statement.

Dear Mr Susurrate

Thank you for contacting us regarding your concerns about the BBC Editorial
Complaints Unit's recent upholding of viewer complaints against 'Top Gear'.

Firstly, please allow me to explain that whilst the ECU did receive a relatively
small number of complaints on this issue, this was in addition to a considerable
number of complaints received by BBC Information. In any event, the ECU's job is
to decide whether or not the BBC's Editorial Guidelines have been adhered to,
irrespective of the number of complaints.

As part of the BBC's open and accountable complaints process, the Editorial
Complaints Unit independently examines complaints about specific items broadcast
or published by the corporation which are believed to have breached these
editorial standards.

In this case, the ECU have ruled that, because there was no doubt that the term
"gay" was being used in the sense of "homosexual", and because it was used in a
derogatory way, it was capable of giving offence.

The BBC Editorial Guidelines covering "material which risks offending some of our audience"
say that there should be "a clear editorial purpose" for broadcasting such
material. As the ECU found no clear editorial purpose in this case, it agreed
that the Guidelines had been breached.

Whilst I appreciate that you may not have been personally offended by this
particular incident, clearly some members of the programme's audience were.

As a result of the ECU's ruling on this matter, the programme's Executive
Producer has been asked to remind the presenters and the production team of the
importance of avoiding derogatory references to sexual orientation.

I trust this has helped to clarify the BBC's position on this matter and thank
you again for contacting us. Please be assured that the strength of your
feelings on this matter have been brought to the attention of the senior
editorial personnel involved.

Feedback of this nature helps us when making decisions about future BBC
programmes and your comments will play a part in this process.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us with the strength of
your concerns.

Regards

Paul Kettle
BBC Information

I shall be formating a reply to this statement sometime in the near future.

[Jimmeh]

ewww... formatted response

[BlaRo]

You should send another complaint about the formatted response.

[scoops]

lol, that could actually be pretty fun.... it would be nice to have a real response instead of bull shit.

[nomix]

lol, that could actually be pretty fun.... it would be nice to have a real response instead of bull shit.

BBC is less responsive than the Norwegian Culture Minister.

Took 3 months, but I did get a personal response.

[Banii]

What did he say? And more important; what did you say?

[nomix]

I wrote him a letter, posing some questions about the law on copyright (Opphavsrett, anm.), and got a response where he sort of dismissed some of my points, and agreed to some others. Sent him a response, two months later, I got a response where he seemed a bit unsure, I punched some holes in his argumentation.

[Banii]

Go you!