Abase response from the BBC Complaints department

I complained to the BBC on 31st March as follows:

Please could you explain why the Daily Mail front page of 28 March, with its headline story 'Jihadi Girl's Dad is a Fanatic', was completed omitted from the previous day's News Channel's 'The Papers' (11pm, 27/3)? Every other national newspaper's front page was featured 

Also why was the same Daily Mail front page missing from the BBC website's 'The Papers' the following morning (28/3)?

And why did Radio 4's 'Today' fail to mention it either its its paper reviews?

Was this story being deliberately censored across the BBC's main reporting platforms?

Given the extensive coverage of the complaints made against the British authorities by the family of the three girls from London who went to Syria to join Isis, shouldn't the BBC have led the way in reporting the Daily Mail's scoop about the apparent extremist links of one of the girls' father, given its obvious relevance to the story?

The BBC's response has been some time coming but it finally arrived today. It says:

Thank you for contacting us about our coverage of Abase Hussen.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying. We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and are sorry you’ve had to wait on this occasion.

BBC News is aware of the video material said to show Mr Hussen at a rally in 2012 and we have looked into the matter ourselves.

We didn’t consider it merited a report on its own, but it was included in a TV piece due to run on the evening of Friday, March 27th. Unfortunately, because of other news priorities, including the court verdict in the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher case, it didn’t make it to air.

However, it is something that we do intend to return to in the future.

Your complaint has been included in our overnight report of audience feedback that is sent to news teams and senior management within BBC News. These reports are among the most widely read sources of feedback in the BBC and ensure that your complaint has been seen by the right people quickly.

Thank you again for raising this matter.

Yours sincerely,

BBC Complaints 

You'll have noticed that the BBC's reply doesn't answer my specific questions about why the Daily Mail's lead story about Abase Hussen was completely ignored across three BBC platforms (TV, radio and website). It ignores them.

It merely tells us instead that the BBC knew about the story, but didn't think it very important. The BBC was going to mention it during a TV piece, apparently, but that piece got dropped.

So, after all the coverage Abase Hussen got when his daughter ran off to join the vicious terrorists of Islamic State, strongly denouncing the British authorities for failing his daughter and family whilst doing so, the BBC obviously felt it was OK not to inform its audience about the evidence suggesting that Mr Hussen himself is an extremist - a vital ingredient in telling the whole story, surely?

When the BBC Complaints guy writes, "However, it is something that we do intend to return to in the future", I afraid I don't have any confidence in that pledge whatsoever. They clearly have absolutely no plans to update this story. The censorship will continue.