[Media-watch] FW: Phone ins and polls

[david Miller]

Dear all,

here is a memo leaked from the BBC which shows their view of covering
dissent.  It makes sense of a number of incidents since the beginning of
Feb, in particular the refusal of the BBC at network level to interview the
Stop the War Coalition and its reps.  I have done a short piece on this memo
trying to set it in context, which I will forward later.

In the meantime, you might want to write to Richard Sambrook and ask him to
disclose how this memo has affected coverage, how he would justify the memo,
what other discussions there have been etc.  Or just to complain about it:
richard.sambrook at bbc.co.uk

David


-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Sambrook-Private
Sent: Thursday, 
February 06, 2003 6:30 PM
To: News Editorial-Board-Editors Cc: Stephen Whittle-and-Chris; Mark
Damazer; Mark Byford & PA
Subject: Phone ins and polls
>> 
>> Can I share a growing concern.
>> 
>> Listening to phone-ins and emails it seems to me we are attracting some of
>> the more extreme anti-war views. There is no question there is a majority
>> public view which is against unilateral US action. However those motivated to
>> call in or email are, to my ear,  frequently from the more extreme end. (The
>> "lets have regime change in washington london and Israel" variety). We may
>> sometimes unwittingly be nobbled by anti war campaigners  (I heard exactly
>> the same question phrased the same way on 5 programmes in one day).
>> 
>> I think the "mid ground" majority views (many centring on UN support for
>> legitimacy)  may be  either unmotivated or intimidated from calling. This is
>> a view built up over several weeks.
>> 
>> It also forces our presenters to put the Bush/Blair position to callers --
>> sometimes making us appear to be siding with govt. Not true in all cases.
>> Equally it is of course important we have someone to articulate the
>> Bush/Blair line.
>> 
>> I know a lot of thought is already going into this -- but we need to be
>> careful both to get a realistic balance and to ensure a diversity of views.
>> 
>> On interactive polls -- we will increasingly need to ensure they are
>> representative. Currently numbers voting and the fact that we don't know the
>> make up of those voting mean they are not psephologically worth a fig. We
>> should either declare numbers voting so audience can take their own view of
>> how representative the views are or clearly say they are not representative
>> and are basically "a bit of fun" (though hardly an appropriate phrase in the
>> circumstances.)
>> 
>> These are delicate judgements  but we will pay a high price for getting them
>> wrong. I suggest further discussion in programme meetings and at Ed Policy
>> and Ed Board
>> 
>> R
>>