Current affairs/ Entertainment/ Newspapers/ Radio/ Television
The BBC covers its own scandals; its rivals cover their tracks
25 July 2007 14:56
It’s funny how I was writing about media hypocrisy in relation to the premium rate phone-in scandals, only for the entire issue to resurface in a major way the following day. I have the power!
Anyway, I think the way the latest revelations have been covered by the media prove my point. Predictably enough, many people have sprung up to bash the BBC for fixing competition results. And while this is indeed despicable, what these people have ignored is the fact that every single other major broadcaster has done this. This is not a problem with the BBC. It is a symptom of the state of the MSM as a whole.
Earlier this year, record fines were handed out after viewers of Channel 4 and Channel Five were defrauded. Votes cast via premium rate phone lines were not counted on ITV programmes. Today the boss of GMTV resigned.
It is worth also remembering that the BBC is the only major broadcaster in the country that hasn’t had its fingers in the utterly deceitful quiz scam channel craze that has dogged airwaves of the past two years. In this sense, the BBC looks pretty clean compared to its commercial rivals.
Because most of the faked BBC competition results (with the exception of the truly shocking Liz Kershaw ones) were of the “panicking producer” variety. Meanwhile, the commercial broadcasters built up an entire industry that was desliberately designed to misleadingly part viewers with their cash.
It is nigh on impossible to think of a commercial broadcaster that has not played a part in this massive scam. Programmes such as Quiz Call (set up and formerly owned by Channel 4; still broadcast to this day by Channel Five), ITV Play and Quiz Night Live (produced by Endemol and broadcast on a channel owned by Telewest / NTL / Virgin). Viacom’s TMF broadcast Pop the Q, Emap’s channels featured the truly dire Cash Call. BSkyB have Sky Vegas. Few commercial broadcasters are clean.
None of this is to excuse the BBC though. Encouraging viewers to use premium rate phone lines to enter non-existent competitions is unacceptable. But the BBC cases do not have nearly as strong a whiff as the ones involving its commercial rivals.
And there is not a smidgen of the hypocrisy that has come from the newspapers surrounding the premium rate scandals of this year. Newspapers were quick to jump up and down when Richard & Judy and The X Factor got caught up in it all. But they remained conspicuously quiet when it came to similar premium rate phone lines used by themselves.
Meanwhile, the BBC’s own coverage of the scandal was notable for how harsh it was on itself. I have always felt that, despite (or perhaps because of?) the constant allegations of bias, the BBC provides incredibly dispassionate coverage on any stories that involves itself.
I remember that on the day of the Hutton Report I was glued to BBC News 24. While you could argue that the BBC would be biased in favour of itself, for the same reasons Sky would be biased against the BBC.
It’s just that the magnifying glass is forever focussed on the BBC, so they cannot afford to be biased, particularly when talking about themselves. So they way they covered it was professional and detached, although there was a slightly surreal moment when you could see everyone in the newsroom rushing towards the corridor where Greg Dyke appeared. For a journalist to maintain a stiff upper lip when the story literally surrounds them in this way is seriously impressive.
I first learned about the BBC phone-in problems on BBC News 24 itself, and you would have thought that the scandal was almost as seismic as Hutton. But the problems seem to be roughly on a par with ITV’s problems with The X Factor, and certainly nothing reaching the outright deception of, say, Richard & Judy or GMTV.
And, as Matt Wardman points out:
have Sky manipulated their phone-ins? If they had, how would we find out?
That is the key. Only the BBC has the ability to be as self-critical as it is, even though it can sometimes do a lot of damage. And they never seem to get any thanks for it.
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#1
Scaryduck
25 July 2007 15:47
Sky News, of course, were caught out spectacularly after airing a faked news report in which a war correspondent reported “live” from a submarine on an attack mission. The submarine, it turned out, was safely moored in its home port…
Fake competitions, or faked news? What’s more serious?
#2
Craig
25 July 2007 17:03
The thing I admire most about the BBC is that they have held their hands up and admitted their faults – rather than leaving the newspapers and rivals to dig around for the dirt.
I can understand how a producer with a show going out live might panic when it’s about to go belly-up because the phone system is knackered, but I can’t understand or find it acceptable that other companies are deliberately defrauding viewers with dodgy quizzes.
To me, the BBC’s faults aren’t even in the same league as that kind of behaviour.
#3
Rhys
25 July 2007 19:33
I was going to repeat what Craig said. When I found out exactly what BBC did, I was like “that’s IT?!?”. They don’t strike me as that bad (besides, with Children in Need/Comic Relief, surely the money goes to charity anyway? Who’d ask for it back?)
#4
Gary
25 July 2007 20:15
Actually I agree 100% with you here mate, and that post wasn’t meant to come out bashing the BBC. I was more looking at how it could have happened (and as someone who works in radio, pre-recording your show, then opening up a competition is a big no no a very very stupid. That’s the one that worried me most. The rest, I’m honestly not that bothered about).
As far as I’m concerned I think the Beeb have been really honest and open, and long may that continue. And yes, I’d like a further look into the quiz lines you’ve been going on about for ages. They’re much more worrying that a panicked producer covering his tracks.
Beeb basher? Not at all. Beeb hugger? Mostly, yes.
#5
doctorvee
25 July 2007 21:45
Gary, I didn’t mean to make it look as though you were bashing the BBC. I was trying to find a way to link to your post, and that was the best I could come up with!…
#6
Gary
25 July 2007 23:50
Haha, no worries mate.
Words, damn pesky things.
#7
doctorvee
26 July 2007 00:07
Or, “Blogger caught faking opposition to the BBC” scandal.
#8
tim
23 November 2008 09:00
Hi I won on glitterball on itv1 and quiz call on channel 5. I got through to quiznation a few times. The only misleading thing they do is keep the person whos getting chosen on hold for a minute thats it.