In which Chris Packham uses a phrase Sir Lenny Henry and the BBC now object to

I may have dined out on this story before, but my encounter with Chris Packham was when he appeared at Morecambe's fabulous Platform and, much as I enjoyed his performance, I found it unbearably hot in there and fainted - the only time I've ever fainted - and got carried out. 

[I'd had a huge pizza and more than a bottle of wine at Frankie and Benny's beforehand, which may not have helped].

I revived enough to see Chris looking concerned as I was borne out into the foyer.

It's my main claim to fame. 

Also, one of my close friends has two autistic children, and I really feel for her. She really has a lot on her hands with them.

So I feel I need to help plug Chris Packham's latest tweet here: 

Looking to meet other autistic people for my new BBC series . Very keen to hear from Black , Asian or minority ethnic autistic people , older autistic people diagnosed as children & autistic parents of autistic children . Please get in touch here https://bbc.in/3pYT0ph.

My friend doesn't fall into any of those categories, being neither BAME, nor 'older autistic', nor autistic herself.

I'm worried for Chris though. Despite him doing the recently popular BBC virtue-signalling thing and putting BAME people first among those he wants to speak to, he could still find himself in trouble with the BBC.

He's still thinking through the outmoded, so-yesterday, snowflake-melting filter of the 'BAME' concept, despite the BBC recently banning the term 'BAME' after Sir Lenny Henry CBE - via a report - told the BBC to stop using the phrase and they, in typical BBC fashion, duly curtsied and bowed to Sir Lenny-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed.

So Chris needs to be careful and mind his Ps and Qs [Peregrine falcons and Quail].

Pro-hunting groups grouse about Chris Packham

Talking about Chris Packham, you may have missed this story, as it only appeared in The Daily Mirror:

Chris Packham 'victim of dirty tricks campaign from shooting enthusiasts'

EXCLUSIVE: Lobbyists for groups who shoot grouse claim TV presenter Chris Packham didn’t declare a link to a drug company on a variety of BBC shows

The story is that pro-hunting groups have alleged that Chris Packham, famously an outspoken opponent of grouse-shooting, broke BBC rules back in 2015 by using BBC platforms to publicise a dog tick treatment he has links to: 

Abzed, a company which lobbies for grouse-shooting, claimed Packham was employed by a PR firm representing MSD Animal Health to help sales of its ­insecticide Bravecto. 

It alleged he did not declare that interest while appearing on BBC shows in 2015 to speak about the “Big Tick Project”, a campaign which raises ­awareness of ticks on dogs.

Here's what the two sides are saying:

Anti-Chris:  

• “Buying Mr Packham is the way companies buy BBC coverage. This is not public service broadcasting, it is the BBC for sale.”
• “The drug company’s PR firm... boasted about how successful his involvement was in getting a huge amount of coverage across the BBC for its sales campaign. It then bragged about how successful that campaign was at boosting sales. So Chris Packham was chosen by the drug company because the BBC has made him famous and he used that fame to promote the drug’s sales campaign on the BBC. These are facts not dirty tricks.”

Pro-Chris: 

• “At no time did Chris ever mention the name of the drug, only to say there were treatments available. The fact events a number of years ago are being pored over to find some sort of smoking gun is just dirty tricks.”
• “This is a spurious claim given there’s no evidence of Chris promoting this product in his role as a BBC presenter.”

I guess his critics will need concrete evidence (TV footage, transcripts of his TV appearances openly "plugging" the product, etc) to  substantiate their allegations. If they can find that and prove that he pushed Bravecto on various BBC platforms then Chris Packham will be in deep trouble. If they can't, then the charge that they are smearing him and want to get him sacked because of his opposition to grouse-shooting will continue to appear credible. 

Diverse matters re 'Autumnwatch'

The newly-famous (and, apparently, now very popular) ladybird spider

I very much enjoyed this week's Autumnwatch.

It had everything from sika deer to ladybird spiders, from edible dormice to golden eagles, from sand hoppers to spoonbills, from fungi to (that fun guy) Martin Hughes-Games.

Plus it had a daily mouse maze competition which, frankly, put the likes of Strictly Come Dancing and the Great British Bake (Off to Channel Four) to shame in terms of sheer excitement. 

I learned a lot too. I didn't know that our poor old red squirrels now have leprosy to contend with (on top of everything else). Or that there may be now around a million non-native edible dormice leaping around the woods of southern England, devouring everything in sight - including vast swathes of bird's eggs and young birds. Or that smooth snakes are the top UK snake - at least in terms of frequently devouring other snakes and, thus, adding to the woes of our adders (which are being subtracted at a worrying rate). 

On the more typically blog-related stuff, however...

You may recall the strange tale of Martin Hughes-Games tweeting that he was getting the push from Springwatch because the presenters were considered too white and middle-aged and that the BBC wanted more "diversity". 

You may also recall that the BBC strenuously denied that, saying that Martin's career move (being dropped as a main presenter) had nothing to do with 'diversity'. 

Viewers of Autumnwatch this week, however, were introduced on a daily basis to Gillian Burke ("biologist, filmmaker, narrator, voice-over artist"), and will have noticed that Gillian is black and that she has something of a 'non-British' accent.

Gillian Burke

Michaela Strachan then let slip to The Sun that Gillian is going to be Martin's replacement and the BBC had to (abruptly) confirm that  Gillian would appear on both Autumnwatch and Springwatch. 

The BBC continues to deny, however, that this was to make the show more "diverse", despite the new -Watch regular being from an ethnic minority. 

Please excuse me for not believing the BBC here. 

Still, she seems like a worthy addition to the programme (and she's far less of a 'character' than Martin). I've got no complaints whatsoever about her (so far). I enjoyed her contributions. In the interests of ITBB impartiality though, I'd note that some on Twitter moaned that she mispronounced 'Brownsea Island' (the nature reserve near Poole, close to where Autumnwatch was being broadcast from), which, maybe, isn't quite what might be expected from a 'narrator and voice-over artist'.

Anyhow, on the other hot Springwatch/Autumnwatch controversy - Chris Packham's off-air campaigning against grouse hunters over hen harriers - I ended a post last Monday by writing:

As I'll be watching Autumnwatch (one of my favourite BBC programmes), I'll let you know if Chris Packham uses it to proselytise on behalf of his favourite cause.  

If he does, then it definitely won't be a grey area in any way, shape or form...

Well, on Wednesday's edition there was a piece on hen harriers. It featured two enthusiasts for hen harrier conservation and alluded, briefly, to the issue of hen harriers being killed on grouse moors. 

So, yes, Autumnwatch was going out of its way to include the issue - despite all the previous controversy. 

Chris, keeping shtum while Michaela talks hen harriers

However, Chris Packham didn't narrate the report and when the report ended it was Michaela Strachan who praised the hen harrier supporters' commitment (without criticising the shooting fraternity). Chris Packham himself just listened and - very conspicuously - said nothing. He merely quipped about something else before the programme moved on.

I'm sure they all felt very clever about that (and rightly so). They got to (subtly) stick two fingers up to those pro-hunting campaigners - who have been campaigning against Chris Packham's campaigning against them this summer - whilst, at the very same time, 'proving' Chris himself to be the very embodiment of BBC impartiality.

Grey areas/green areas

A hen harrier and a man in a Chris Packham suit

The BBC treats the countryside...

...as one would expect from an organisation so long divorced from country life that it thinks The Archers is real, probably because it is made in Birmingham, which from a London perspective is practically a village.

So (quite wittily) says Ian Coghill, chairman of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

Just in time for the start of Autumnwatch tonight, the Daily Telegraph is today reporting Mr Coghill's view that those who enjoy traditional country pursuits, such as shooting and fishing, are treated as 'whipping boys' by some parts of the BBC. 

His main target is Chris Packham - the Springwatch/Autumnwatch star whose extracurricular activities include (very vigorously) campaigning against certain kinds of shooting (on behalf of his beloved hen harriers). 

Mr Coghill rejects the BBC Trust’s ruling in Chris's favour (after the latter posted an article in the BBC's inhouse magazine Ariel calling grouse-hunters "the nasty brigade)". 

The BBC's defence, if you recall, was that Chris Packham (like Gary Lineker) is not a BBC man but a freelancer, and not "associated with news or public policy-related output". 

Mr Cogham, according to the Telegraph, regards that as bunkum, alleging that Chris worked for the BBC "for 119 days last year" and should, therefore, be subject to the BBC's guidelines on impartiality.

This whole thing remains a very grey area impartiality-wise - and it was made even greyer by the BBC, having cleared him, then saying he would be monitored for impartiality and telling him not to use the phrase 'nasty brigade' again. 

As I'll be watching Autumnwatch (one of my favourite BBC programmes), I'll let you know if Chris Packham uses it to proselytise on behalf of his favourite cause.

If he does, then it definitely won't be a grey area in any way, shape or form.

More on Chris Packham

A snipe. UK population down 89% in the last 25 years but still legally shot. "Why?" petitions Chris Packham

Courtesy of Alan at Biased BBC, there's more on the BBC Trust's ruling on anti-driven grouse shooting campaigner and freelance BBC presenter Chris Packham's "nasty brigade" comments about hunters and shooters in the BBC Wildlife magazine. 

Further to the Trust's rather ambiguous/mealy-mouthed 'clearing' of the Springwatch presenter (of whom I'm a great fan), the UK Press Gazette reports:

New editor of the [BBC Wildlife] magazine Sheena Harvey told the BBC Trust: “Coming to this magazine as the new editor and with a fresh eye, I will say that I feel some of the language used by Chris Packham in that column was somewhat flippant and the use of a phrase such as ‘nasty brigade’ would not have been let through had I been overseeing the content. 

“My aim for the future is to provide a platform for informed opinion, within the regulatory guidelines and with cogent factual and legal content, and to offer a right to reply in the next available issue to all parties concerned in the debate.” 

The BBC Trust complaints committee said: “The committee considered that the fact that BBC Wildlife Magazine’s new editor would not have allowed the term ‘nasty brigade’ to have been published, together with the fact that both complainants had been given a right to reply to it, meant that the issue had been resolved and no further action needed to be taken.”

Well, of course they "considered" it that way, especially as they'd said exactly that themselves.

None of which will stop Chris campaigning. Just four hours ago, for instance, he stated his support (on Twitter) for another campaign against shooters:

...

...a campaign he himself started:

I'm getting the impression that Chris Packham is refusing to accept any criticism here, and being very public about that refusal. 

Where will that lead him and the BBC? The BBC doesn't like insubordination in the ranks (even its freelance ranks).

On Chris Packham

I suppose I ought to write something (as others are doing) about Chris Packham being cleared by the BBC Trust for calling those involved in hunting "the nasty brigade" and demanding a ban on driven grouse-shooting in the BBC Wildlife magazine.

The (two) complainants argued that Chris had broken BBC impartiality guidelines (the BBC Wildlife magazine being bound by those guidelines) and had a conflict of interest (being a campaigner against driven grouse-shooting).

Now, I've seen some of Chris Packham's videos on the subject and there's no doubt about it: He is a campaigner on the subject.

The BBC Trust cleared him because he was considered not to be working in "news or policy output", and because the article was labelled as "opinion" and a right to reply was offered - duly given in the magazine's next edition - and because Chris is a freelance presenter and not a BBC employee, meaning he's "open to associate himself with wildlife charities without being in breach of the guidelines".

That said, the BBC Trust suggested that he and his BBC bosses "assess regularly and formally" his campaigning to make sure it doesn't undermine the "impartiality and independence" of his BBC broadcasting, and the BBC Trust told him not to use the phrase "the nasty brigade" in the future.

Hmm. So the BBC Trust did see some problems with what Chris Packham wrote for BBC Wildlife.

The status of freelance BBC presenters is a definite 'grey area' when it comes to BBC impartiality. It remains troubling.

In Chris's defence, however - and, admitting in advance my own possible bias as a very loyal Springwatch/Autumnwatch/Unsprung viewer - I've closely observed how careful he is, when presenting those high-profile programmes, to restrain himself when in comes to controversial topics. 

He's even cited BBC impartiality guidelines at times as to why some Unsprung discussions have remained within certain confines and then stuck to those confines.

Yes, he may well have been hinting there at his own dissatisfaction with those guidelines, but stick to them he still did.

To end, here's a drawing of a hen harrier (Chris Packham's main concern when it comes to driven grouse-shooting):