Post by Teddy Bear on Jan 17, 2013 18:19:34 GMT
The BBC are so used to bullshitting they didn't see anything wrong with asking listeners to their radio show to phone in requests for the next show knowing it was pre-recorded.
Radio 2 love song show breached BBC guidelines
DJ Steve Wright’s weekly love song dedication show breached BBC guidelines after listeners were encouraged to leave requests for programmes which had already been recorded, it has been ruled.
By Hannah Furness
Radio 2 listeners were told they could get in contact with Sunday Love Songs programme “any time”, to leave heartfelt messages and romantic dedications.
Instead, their messages were taken by an answering machine for use in future programmes, with programmes generally being recorded two days before transmission.
Now, following a complaint from a distressed listener who claimed he was left “disappointed and disillusioned” upon learning the truth, the BBC Trust has ruled the show breached corporation guidelines.
A committee found issues about “accuracy and interacting with audiences”, noting it was essentially a problem of “lack of clarity”.
Following the complaint, Radio 2 adapted its on-air and phone messages, but the Trust said these did not go far enough.
It ruled information should be amended further to make clear that calls made after a certain point in the week would not be considered for the next show.
A spokeswoman for the station said: "In light of the Trust's findings on clarity for people leaving dedications for the programme, we have revised the wording in order to ensure the process is absolutely clear for listeners."
The discrepancy arose after a stand-alone announcement about pre-recording was made before a November 2011 programme, where the BBC specified that a reference to entertainer Andy Williams in the programme had been recorded before his death.
One listener, who had not previously been aware of the system, wrote into BBC Audience Services saying he feared others would waste time and money “contacting the programme when there is no chance that their dedications will be used”.
He said he was “disappointed and disillusioned” to learn the truth, with many listeners mistakenly viewing presenters as “company”.
The complainant vowed he would no longer listen to the programme, calling it effectively a “recorded message”.
A report into the breach, published yesterday by the BBC Trust, noted “his concern that listeners, unaware that the programme was not transmitted live, might spend time and money contacting the programme after it had been recorded.”
“They would not only have wasted their efforts, but would also suffer the disappointment of listening to the programme for a particular song or dedication when there was no chance that it would be included,” it said.
“He felt this amounted to ‘a completely unacceptable disregard for listeners’.”
Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs is usually pre-recorded on Friday mornings to be broadcast the following Sunday. The script and running order are “normally finalised on a Thursday afternoon”, according to the BBC.
The show focuses on telephone messages from listeners sending messages to their loved ones, with the DJ inviting the audience to call in.
In one example of a “call to action”, Wright said: “Hey, D’you wanna get involved? Get involved with the show… You can call and leave a message anytime…and we’ll do some more calls in a mo I think.”
A committee investigating the full complaint ruled it would be upheld on the grounds of “accuracy and on interacting with our audience”.
It added: “The BBC had not intentionally misled its audience, but that the problem was essentially one of a lack of clarity.”
It is not the first time the BBC has been accused of misleading its audience.
In 2011, elements of nature programme Frozen Planet were condemned as “fakery” after it emerged a polar bear appearing to be giving birth in the wild was actually filmed in a zoo.
In 2007, the corporation was fined £50,000 after admitting that Blue Peter had asked a young studio guest to pose as a caller when the real telephone system failed.
In the same year, it also apologised to the Queen after showing a trailer that wrongly implied that she had stormed out of a sitting with the photographer Annie Leibowitz.
In 2008, Ofcom imposed a £400,000 fine in relation to eight phone-in competitions on TV shows such as Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need, and radio shows, including The Jo Whiley Show on Radio 1 and Russell Brand on BBC6.
DJ Steve Wright’s weekly love song dedication show breached BBC guidelines after listeners were encouraged to leave requests for programmes which had already been recorded, it has been ruled.
By Hannah Furness
Radio 2 listeners were told they could get in contact with Sunday Love Songs programme “any time”, to leave heartfelt messages and romantic dedications.
Instead, their messages were taken by an answering machine for use in future programmes, with programmes generally being recorded two days before transmission.
Now, following a complaint from a distressed listener who claimed he was left “disappointed and disillusioned” upon learning the truth, the BBC Trust has ruled the show breached corporation guidelines.
A committee found issues about “accuracy and interacting with audiences”, noting it was essentially a problem of “lack of clarity”.
Following the complaint, Radio 2 adapted its on-air and phone messages, but the Trust said these did not go far enough.
It ruled information should be amended further to make clear that calls made after a certain point in the week would not be considered for the next show.
A spokeswoman for the station said: "In light of the Trust's findings on clarity for people leaving dedications for the programme, we have revised the wording in order to ensure the process is absolutely clear for listeners."
The discrepancy arose after a stand-alone announcement about pre-recording was made before a November 2011 programme, where the BBC specified that a reference to entertainer Andy Williams in the programme had been recorded before his death.
One listener, who had not previously been aware of the system, wrote into BBC Audience Services saying he feared others would waste time and money “contacting the programme when there is no chance that their dedications will be used”.
He said he was “disappointed and disillusioned” to learn the truth, with many listeners mistakenly viewing presenters as “company”.
The complainant vowed he would no longer listen to the programme, calling it effectively a “recorded message”.
A report into the breach, published yesterday by the BBC Trust, noted “his concern that listeners, unaware that the programme was not transmitted live, might spend time and money contacting the programme after it had been recorded.”
“They would not only have wasted their efforts, but would also suffer the disappointment of listening to the programme for a particular song or dedication when there was no chance that it would be included,” it said.
“He felt this amounted to ‘a completely unacceptable disregard for listeners’.”
Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs is usually pre-recorded on Friday mornings to be broadcast the following Sunday. The script and running order are “normally finalised on a Thursday afternoon”, according to the BBC.
The show focuses on telephone messages from listeners sending messages to their loved ones, with the DJ inviting the audience to call in.
In one example of a “call to action”, Wright said: “Hey, D’you wanna get involved? Get involved with the show… You can call and leave a message anytime…and we’ll do some more calls in a mo I think.”
A committee investigating the full complaint ruled it would be upheld on the grounds of “accuracy and on interacting with our audience”.
It added: “The BBC had not intentionally misled its audience, but that the problem was essentially one of a lack of clarity.”
It is not the first time the BBC has been accused of misleading its audience.
In 2011, elements of nature programme Frozen Planet were condemned as “fakery” after it emerged a polar bear appearing to be giving birth in the wild was actually filmed in a zoo.
In 2007, the corporation was fined £50,000 after admitting that Blue Peter had asked a young studio guest to pose as a caller when the real telephone system failed.
In the same year, it also apologised to the Queen after showing a trailer that wrongly implied that she had stormed out of a sitting with the photographer Annie Leibowitz.
In 2008, Ofcom imposed a £400,000 fine in relation to eight phone-in competitions on TV shows such as Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need, and radio shows, including The Jo Whiley Show on Radio 1 and Russell Brand on BBC6.