BBC’s Internal Complaints Process “Not Fit For Purpose”

The BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU) released its provisional findings in February concerning Tim Willcox’s outrageous reporting in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket terror attacks in Paris.

The BBC’s complaints process has dragged on for over four months since HonestReporting and many others initiated complaints. Now, we’ve received the ECU’s final correspondence. Here are the relevant paragraphs from ECU Head Fraser Steele (emphasis added):

Thank you for your comments on our provisional finding on your complaint. It’s clear from what you and others have written that I’d understood the first of the summarised points of complaint (“That the question put by Tim Willcox to an interviewee was misleading in that it linked the Paris killings in a kosher supermarket with events in the Middle East”) in a different sense from a number of people who complained. What I had in mind was a direct causal relationship between particular recent events in the Middle East and the Paris killings, and it was on that basis that I wrote “Nothing in the day’s coverage of events in Paris suggested a direct link between events in the Middle East and those killings, and I can’t see that such a suggestion can readily be derived from what Mr Willcox said”.  I accept, though, that Mr Willcox’s words suggest a link in a broader sense between perceptions of Palestinian suffering and the incidence of anti-Semitic incidents.  However, that doesn’t alter the outcome because I don’t think suggesting a link of that kind can be viewed as a breach of editorial standards (or even as particularly controversial, considering the correlation between anti-Semitic incidents and Israeli actions which have an adverse impact on Palestinians which has been noted by organisations such as the Community Security Trust).

 

I had no objection to complainants referring to the EUMC definition, which they are of course perfectly entitled to do.  My primary argument in that respect was that, even if that definition were to be applied, it would be unduly harsh to construe Mr Willcox’s words in a sense which fell foul of it.  I accept that it’s not for the ECU to arbitrate what any group – or, for that matter, any individual viewer or listener – may find offensive, but we are charged with arbitrating (subject to correction by the BBC Trust) whether the offence expressed by complainants is based on, for example, a misunderstanding of the sense of what was broadcast.

 

I’m not sure how you can take my previous letter as suggesting that Mr Willcox “had nothing to apologise for” when in fact I wrote that I shatter (sic) his view that his comments were poorly-phrased.  What I did suggest is that they didn’t constitute the kind of breach of editorial standards which required the kind of apology which most complainants were calling for.  My footnote pointing out that his apology was posted on his personal BBC account was simply intended to correct a misapprehension, shared by a surprisingly large number of those who complained, which would otherwise have lain on the record.  The distinction between private and BBC twitter accounts has no bearing on my reasoning in this case, though there are some circumstances in which it would be a relevant consideration.

In response to Fraser Steele’s letter, HonestReporting Managing Editor Simon Plosker said:

Why have we waited months for the BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit to produce what amounts to a whitewash? Throughout this painfully long process, the BBC has demonstrated a willful blindness to the issues. The BBC is clearly incapable of effective internal review and it’s time that responsibility for this process is handed over to a fully independent body. The BBC complaints process is not fit for purpose and we call on the new UK government to take remedial action as part of a wider review of BBC management.

 

In the meantime we will be taking our Tim Willcox complaint to the BBC Trust on a matter of principle in the faint hope that this may lead to a proper outcome. Tim Willcox and the BBC must not be let off the hook.