Post by Teddy Bear on Mar 24, 2009 22:32:12 GMT
BBC facing viewer backlash over coverage of Jade Goody's death
By Paul Revoir
The BBC has been hit with a backlash from viewers over its news coverage of Jade Goody's death amid claims it gave the story too much prominence.
Its news chief Peter Horrocks was today forced to defend the broadcaster’s reporting after a string of complaints from viewers and listeners.
Many objected that it was the lead story on the news bulletin on The Andrew Marr Show and was covered so prominently across all its TV and radio networks.
Some said the publicly-funded broadcaster should not be reporting in such depth on stories about celebrities and claimed the death was not unexpected.
The BBC also came under fire for broadcasting it as a big story across its international news services including the World Service.
The broadcaster has received about 70 official complaints about its coverage as well as a large amount of angry reaction posted on its website.
Today Mr Horrocks moved to defend the broadcaster against accusations that it had gone over the top, while admitting Goody was a 'very divisive figure'.
He said the coverage had been justified because of the level of public interest in the reality star and the 'awareness of cervical cancer' raised by her death.
But he admitted that the reaction on some outlets such as Five Live had been very different to that from listeners to stations like Radio 1.
He also claimed that traffic to the broadcaster's website was above what it would normally be for a Sunday, the day she died.
But there is still anger from many members of the audience who feel the BBC should focus more on subjects like politics and global affairs.
One viewer said: 'You really lost the plot on this one... Start questioning those that are abusing power - expense fiddling MPs, tax avoiding-corporations, hypocritical ministers.
'Let OK, Hello and Sky deal with the frivolities of life and get back to being a public service broadcaster that serves the public by addressing the issues that matter.'
Another said: 'I have lost count of the number of interesting but terminated interviews you have on your news programmes because you have a schedule to keep to.
'And yet, for this young woman, you felt able to change your scheduling. That was in my opinion an unprofessional decision in keeping with your rapidly declining standards.'
Mr Horrocks said: 'Jade Goody became a phenomenon, both in terms of the interest she inspired in the public and in the effect that her sad death had on awareness of cervical cancer.
'To make a legitimate news judgement about our coverage, we applied the same criteria as we usually use: should we report this, and if so, how?
‘Knowing that there was a possibility that Jade would die soon, we talked about whether this was a story we would lead on in the absence of other significant news.
'Obviously, this kind of discussion is academic until the event actually happens; the circumstances were that the early part of Sunday was relatively quiet - when, later, Ken Clarke made his comments on inheritance tax, many parts of the BBC News output then led on that story.'
He added: The reaction from 5 Live's listeners, for example, has been very different to that of the Radio 1 audience.
'This highlights one of the challenges of producing news through a range of services for all of the UK population.
'While some of you have told us that you didn't like Jade Goody, or didn't want to hear news about her, we have to bear in mind those licence fee payers who have a strong level of interest and who expected us to provide measured coverage of her death.'
A BBC spokesman added: 'Though Jade Goody was not the lead item on either the early evening BBC News bulletin or on the BBC News at Ten on Sunday, we did give the story appropriate prominence in our coverage.
'Like other news organisations - we felt this was a big story both on the grounds of the level of public interest in the reality star, and the awareness of cervical cancer that her illness raised, and one which would be of interest to our audiences.'
By Paul Revoir
The BBC has been hit with a backlash from viewers over its news coverage of Jade Goody's death amid claims it gave the story too much prominence.
Its news chief Peter Horrocks was today forced to defend the broadcaster’s reporting after a string of complaints from viewers and listeners.
Many objected that it was the lead story on the news bulletin on The Andrew Marr Show and was covered so prominently across all its TV and radio networks.
Some said the publicly-funded broadcaster should not be reporting in such depth on stories about celebrities and claimed the death was not unexpected.
The BBC also came under fire for broadcasting it as a big story across its international news services including the World Service.
The broadcaster has received about 70 official complaints about its coverage as well as a large amount of angry reaction posted on its website.
Today Mr Horrocks moved to defend the broadcaster against accusations that it had gone over the top, while admitting Goody was a 'very divisive figure'.
He said the coverage had been justified because of the level of public interest in the reality star and the 'awareness of cervical cancer' raised by her death.
But he admitted that the reaction on some outlets such as Five Live had been very different to that from listeners to stations like Radio 1.
He also claimed that traffic to the broadcaster's website was above what it would normally be for a Sunday, the day she died.
But there is still anger from many members of the audience who feel the BBC should focus more on subjects like politics and global affairs.
One viewer said: 'You really lost the plot on this one... Start questioning those that are abusing power - expense fiddling MPs, tax avoiding-corporations, hypocritical ministers.
'Let OK, Hello and Sky deal with the frivolities of life and get back to being a public service broadcaster that serves the public by addressing the issues that matter.'
Another said: 'I have lost count of the number of interesting but terminated interviews you have on your news programmes because you have a schedule to keep to.
'And yet, for this young woman, you felt able to change your scheduling. That was in my opinion an unprofessional decision in keeping with your rapidly declining standards.'
Mr Horrocks said: 'Jade Goody became a phenomenon, both in terms of the interest she inspired in the public and in the effect that her sad death had on awareness of cervical cancer.
'To make a legitimate news judgement about our coverage, we applied the same criteria as we usually use: should we report this, and if so, how?
‘Knowing that there was a possibility that Jade would die soon, we talked about whether this was a story we would lead on in the absence of other significant news.
'Obviously, this kind of discussion is academic until the event actually happens; the circumstances were that the early part of Sunday was relatively quiet - when, later, Ken Clarke made his comments on inheritance tax, many parts of the BBC News output then led on that story.'
He added: The reaction from 5 Live's listeners, for example, has been very different to that of the Radio 1 audience.
'This highlights one of the challenges of producing news through a range of services for all of the UK population.
'While some of you have told us that you didn't like Jade Goody, or didn't want to hear news about her, we have to bear in mind those licence fee payers who have a strong level of interest and who expected us to provide measured coverage of her death.'
A BBC spokesman added: 'Though Jade Goody was not the lead item on either the early evening BBC News bulletin or on the BBC News at Ten on Sunday, we did give the story appropriate prominence in our coverage.
'Like other news organisations - we felt this was a big story both on the grounds of the level of public interest in the reality star, and the awareness of cervical cancer that her illness raised, and one which would be of interest to our audiences.'