This interview went out on the BBC News channel yesterday:
As a result of this disgusting interview, trying blame Jody McIntyre for everything that happened whilst simultaneously trying to play down the event itself, I have sent the BBC this:
The appalling treatment of disabled protester Jody McIntyre
Protester Jody McIntyre was subjected to a disgustingly aggressive attack by presenter Ben Brown, rather than a fair and balanced interview, on the BBC News Channel, 13 December 2010.
The segment seems designed to throw as much suspicion as possible on Mr McIntyre, constantly questioning his involvement with the protests, which has little relevancy given the seriousness of the incident in question. After the first question, every query seems more concerned with Mr McIntyre's character than the very serious actions of the police force. Mr Brown asks about his previous political statements, which should have no bearing on the facts of the incident, and even asks, based on no evidence whatsoever, whether Mr McIntyre was throwing missiles at the police, clearly insinuating that Mr McIntyre somehow deserved his treatment.
That such suspicion should be thrown onto the victim of violent action -- and the footage shown clearly shows the incident, despite Mr Brown stressing that it would only "appear" to show this incident -- is appalling. It shows a bias towards the police force, despite the quite overwhelming evidence against them, and it is offensive that Mr Brown should try to imply that a protester somehow deserved to be thrown out of his wheelchair and dragged along a road. As such, I feel very strongly that this is unacceptable from the BBC.
It doesn't quite get across how strongly this interview disgusts me, but then, as I said, this is my first official complaint, and I felt that just repeating the word "bastards" as many times as would fit in the box would probably render my argument somewhat invalid.
Good work mate.
ReplyDeleteIt's good, thanks for doing it. I sent mine in last night while the rage was at its height, so I'm not going to blog it... :-)
ReplyDeleteGood work sir, this really was an appaling piece of 'journalism'
ReplyDeletethank you for making the complaint official, as soon as the bbc complaint website is working I too will be joining you.
ReplyDeleteNice one. I also complained officially last night, somehow without swearing at all! I also sent ben.brown@bbc.co.uk an email this morning urging him to apologise and resign... also without swearing. He should be sacked from our BBC; the Daily Mail would take him on anyway.
ReplyDeletewell done Chris, I'll be doing the same!
ReplyDeleteI wrote:
ReplyDeleteI was disgusted by the way that cerebral palsy sufferer Jody McIntyre was treated by your reporter Ben Brown.
The way that Brown described the footage as 'appearing' to show that he was pulled from his wheelchair, when the footage clearly shows that he WAS pulled from his wheelchair, beggars belief.
Moreover, the way that he spoke to Jody was inappropriate. I understand that your journalists have a duty to investigate and test evidence that is put before them. But Brown's attitude in this interview clearly went too far, treating the victim of an traumatising incident as the aggressor - twice asking him 'did you throw missiles at the police?'
If a policeman was in the same situation, it's hard to imagine he/she would be subject to such an interrogation.
It's hard to understand this coverage without looking at it through the lens of ageism towards young people, and pro-Establishment values. I am normally a defender of the BBC, but I think this interview (and more generally, your coverage of the student protests) has clearly violated your charter of independence.
Christ. If anyone doubted how much the media, including the BBC, was spinning stories against the protesters to distract from the issues - as Jody so eloquently pointed out - this should surely dispel that.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. Well-written, Chris.