The easy defense for the BBC, though, is that he lives in a Conservative area, or that the questions he had suggests (as required on the form, or at least it used to be) were not that week's topic or 100 others had already submitted it. They always have loads of applicants like him, and only responded to his Left-wing alter ego because they needed that for 'balance'.
It would be interesting to do an experiment where several people do the same thing, and report the results. As they say, one incident is just an anecdote, put enough anecdotes together and you get data.
It will be tricky to coordinate, and will need to be done over a period of time, of course. Maybe coordinate is the wrong word. Each person will need to apply twice, once from each side, which means results will have to wait until the show comes back to their area.
Topics of the week will also need to be taken into account as to who gets chosen, as there is some legitimacy to that part of the BBC's defense.
Worth doing, but I wonder if those of us who have written complaints to the BBC in the past will have our names flagged up in the depths of the Corporation's computer - DeepBeeb or whatever it's called.
If true that's very telling.
ReplyDeleteIt's also telling that I no longer believe anything until cross checked on several different websites / outlets.
You're not the only one to be a bit sceptical about it. It does sound too good to be true.
DeleteThe easy defense for the BBC, though, is that he lives in a Conservative area, or that the questions he had suggests (as required on the form, or at least it used to be) were not that week's topic or 100 others had already submitted it. They always have loads of applicants like him, and only responded to his Left-wing alter ego because they needed that for 'balance'.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to do an experiment where several people do the same thing, and report the results. As they say, one incident is just an anecdote, put enough anecdotes together and you get data.
Yes, it might be worth a go. Copies of emails and (after they phone and don't get through) transcribed voice mails would be easy evidence to collect.
DeleteIt will be tricky to coordinate, and will need to be done over a period of time, of course. Maybe coordinate is the wrong word. Each person will need to apply twice, once from each side, which means results will have to wait until the show comes back to their area.
DeleteTopics of the week will also need to be taken into account as to who gets chosen, as there is some legitimacy to that part of the BBC's defense.
Worth doing, but I wonder if those of us who have written complaints to the BBC in the past will have our names flagged up in the depths of the Corporation's computer - DeepBeeb or whatever it's called.
DeleteI'm game for a real life test - I've never complained before.
ReplyDelete