| BBC - Brand and Ross |
| The issue: |
I have been truely appalled at the footage shown on this evenings news programmes concerning the behaviour of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, and their so called apology song.
As a tax payer and licence fee payer, I believe that it is iniquitous that that our money should be paying for the grossly inflated salaries of these two so-called entainers.
I am sure that I am not alone in demanding to know exactly what action the BBC Trust is to take in relation to this matter.
I for one would accept nothing less than termination of Brand's and Ross's contracts. |
| Date Issue Raised: |
27 Oct 2008 |
| My response: |
Thank you for your email dated October 27th about the offensive phone calls made by two presenters on BBC Radio 2. I was as appalled as you were when I heard what they had done, and I am extremely disappointed that the BBC allowed the phone calls to be broadcast.
In his recent key note speech on broadcasting, Jeremy Hunt MP, the Shadow Culture Secretary has called for broadcasters to take greater responsibility for the social impact of their programmes, and argued that public service broadcasters should avoid producing programmes that legitimise negative social behaviour. Specifically, Jeremy said that it was wrong for the BBC to broadcast the offensive phone calls made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to Andrew Sachs.
Due to the way that it is funded through the licence fee, the BBC must be the gold standard in British broadcasting. On this occasion I believe that the Corporation failed to live up to the high standards we rightly demand of it. As David Cameron has said the BBC has got some very straight forward questions to answer. Why did they allow this programme to be broadcast? Who made the decision to broadcast it? How high up the editorial chain did it go? Who examined it? Why did they conclude it should be broadcast? The BBC needs to be transparent about all of those decisions and explain its decision-making process so everyone can see what more needs to be done to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
I understand that Ofcom, the media regulator, has announced that it will launch an investigation into whether the Broadcasting Code has been breached on this occasion. I welcome Ofcom’s decision and I am sure that my colleagues in the Shadow Culture, Media and Sport team will be following developments closely.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to write to me.
Best wishes George Young
|
|
Sir George Young Bt MP: Constituency and Parliamentary Website 