BBC Diversity Department

Sorry, I forgot to say why Andrea Callender is involved in my complaint about Newsround. It's a long story, but here goes -

On 3 September 2005 there was an early Christmas edition of the Saturday Show. There was a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in the studio. The show presenter was talking about Christmas tree decorations and asked a boy in the audience if he liked fairies. The boy said he did, and then the presenter said "You're a boy and you like fairies. I bet you wish you hadn't said that." The audience giggled.

The remark annoyed me so I asked a question on the BBC feedback form. I asked the BBC why shouldn't a boy say he likes fairies, and I also asked if the remark was homophobic.

The reply, from Gary Briggs of BBC Information, didn't answer my question about why the boy should wish he hadn't said he liked fairies, but Mr Briggs did say "It is certainly never the deliberate intention of the BBC to be homophobic in any way or condone any form of prejudice." He then went on to dismiss the remark as lighthearted "playground humour." He concluded the email with "I hope this clarifies the BBC's standpoint on the matter. Thank you for contacting us with your views."

I was unhappy that there was no attempt to answer my specific question because I didn't think a racist comment in similar vein would have been made, or later excused in that way.

So I contacted Alison Sharman, who at that time was Controller of CBBC. She told me that she had referred the matter to the people directly responsible for The Saturday Show, and I subsequently received an apology from Donald MacInnes, its Senior Producer. Mr MacInnes said that the remark shouldn't have been made, and hoped that it would be seen as a one off, and not a regular occurrence.

Had I just accepted the original response I might still think the BBC condoned the homophobic remark, but by following up it seemed that they were prepared to own up that it was wrong and shouldn't have been made.

A few weeks later I contacted Ms Sharman about Newsround but it turned out that she was just leaving the BBC and I did not get a reply.

I found out about the BBC Diversity Department and its Head, Andrea Callender, so I emailed Ms Callender, who was on leave at the time. Later I explained to Ms Callender that the BBC Complaints Department was not taking complaints about homophobia seriously, and asked her to look into my concerns about a television programme. Ms Callender has told me that she asked Cyril Husbands to liaise with me directly. I emailed him and am waiting for a reply at the moment.