BBC claims bias: "RTS juries stacked"

[steevo]

Well, this is an opposite 'bias' I think worthy of this best section I've extracted a few excerpts.

>After a poor showing at an annual awards bash this week, a flurry of furious internal emails from senior executives has swept BBC News claiming the juries were biased and the results unfair. [at the Royal Television Society journalism awards]


>Peter Horrocks, the head of television news, described the haul as "one of the grimmest nights in terms of BBC TV News performance" at the annual awards ceremony. According to the leaked emails, News 24 controller Kevin Bakhurst felt rivals serving on the various awards juries had a vendetta against the BBC and Horrocks believed they were "stacked" against the corporation.

In another internal email, BBC News 24's morning editor, Simon Waldman, described a meeting called by Horrocks. "Peter said it was particularly inexplicable, galling and hurtful for our teams that News 24 had not won channel of the year - given the way we'd performed over the last 12 months, and the way the audience gap over Sky had grown; and also inexplicable that our Lebanon coverage was not even shortlisted."

media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2019657,00.html

[Teddy Bear]

I love it - I just found the story myself and was about to post it when I saw you'd beaten me to it.

The BBC complaining of bias - it beats everything - a wet dream in media monitoring
They are so used to telling the public how right they are, they think nothing of telling us how they should have won.

I LOVE IT

Here's another article on the subject

'It's a stitch-up': BBC News cries foul at failure to win awards


Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Friday February 23, 2007
The Guardian


The inhabitants of BBC Television Centre appear to have forgotten the maxim that nobody likes a bad loser. After a poor showing at an annual awards bash this week, a flurry of furious internal emails from senior executives has swept BBC News claiming the juries were biased and the results unfair.
At the Royal Television Society journalism awards on Tuesday night, BBC Television News came away with one prize - for cameraman Darren Conway - of the BBC's three overall. In contrast, Channel 4 won five prizes, including presenter of the year for Jon Snow; ITV News claimed four, including news programme of the year; and Sky News beat BBC News 24 to the much-coveted best news channel award.

Peter Horrocks, the head of television news, described the haul as "one of the grimmest nights in terms of BBC TV News performance" at the annual awards ceremony. According to the leaked emails, News 24 controller Kevin Bakhurst felt rivals serving on the various awards juries had a vendetta against the BBC and Horrocks believed they were "stacked" against the corporation.

"As you'll know, unfortunately we didn't win RTS News Channel of the Year last night," said Bakhurst, appointed in December 2005 as part of a concerted effort to overhaul Sky News, in an email to staff. "As you will also see, the BBC did pretty badly across the board and this reflects the kind of attitude towards the BBC that quite a few of us experienced on the juries from other broadcasters."

In another internal email, BBC News 24's morning editor, Simon Waldman, described a meeting called by Horrocks. "Peter said it was particularly inexplicable, galling and hurtful for our teams that News 24 had not won channel of the year - given the way we'd performed over the last 12 months, and the way the audience gap over Sky had grown; and also inexplicable that our Lebanon coverage was not even shortlisted."

Waldman went on: "There was a brief debate about the way the RTS juries are 'stacked' with an inbuilt anti-BBC bias (C4 and ITN; Five and Sky each get represented) - but we concentrated on two things: 1) we'd prefer to have the audiences than the gongs; 2) to get the gongs we need more domestic exclusive stories - and we need to showcase them."

The email goes on to say that Horrocks called for more exclusives, particularly those that "challenge those in power" and challenge the perception "that BBC News has too cosy a relationship with those in authority".

Sky News is widely considered to be back on form after wobbling during an ill-judged relaunch, but News 24's viewing figures lead is set to grow further if BSkyB goes through with plans to remove the channel from Freeview.