BBC Switch announces activity for Autumn 2008

Last Thursday a press release announced some details about the BBC's multi-platform teen brand, BBC Switch. According to the announcement, BBC Switch will be returning to TV screens after the summer holidays. In effect an admission that over the summer holidays the BBC provided no TV content aimed at 12-17 year olds. And yet CBBC, which is aimed at 6-12 year olds, was screening more stuff in the holiday period than it normally does. So why are teens treated worse than younger kids?

From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel (continued)

Some people watching BBC News this morning will have seen more proof that the BBC's impartiality report is untrustworthy. Just as with Newsround's George Sampson interview (blog 16 August 2008), this time it was Michael Phelps who was asked if he had a girlfriend.

Any suggestion that the BBC institutionally supports equality for gay people looks just as incorrect as it would have done in 2003 when Andrew Hayden-Smith was asked loads of questions about girlfriends and romance, but openly lesbian Alex Parks wasn't asked any questions of that sort (see blog 30 Sept 2006).

As expected from a less than supportive broadcaster, the IGLFA championships weren't mentioned at all on Saturday's Football Focus.

A Newsround special earlier this year was all about knife crime, so it was surprising to see that the programme on Monday didn't report the launch, that afternoon, of a campaign called It doesn't have to happen. There was a football story though - Hull City's success story, with Ore reporting from the KC stadium about how well the Tigers are doing in the top flight of English football.

Last year Newsround and Sportsround did a great job reporting the Women's World Cup from China, with Jake even providing some live reports. Now let's see how well Newsround covers the IGLFA World Championships from London, which begin this weekend, then we'll know if there's any truth at all in the impartiality report (From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel) suggestion that the BBC supports equality for gay people.

From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel (continued from 29 July 2008)

My blog on 28 March 2008 was about labels. Some people think they're a bad idea, but I thought that in some cases labels can be useful.

Yesterday I got an email from someone at the BBC Future Media & Technology department, claiming that the Feelings 4 grls message (blog 28 March 2008) wasn't originally taken down on account of being suggestive of same sex affections.

BBC management "have concluded that this wasn't the case." They say that the hosts needed to be reassured about the provenance of the user posting the comment. So I have asked why the hosts sought reassurance in that specific case, and am awaiting a reply.

The BBC email yesterday said that they have also found no evidence that comments from children are filtered out for using words such as "lesbian" or "gay". However my blog on 29 July 2008 detailed evidence that messages with those words are suppressed on the Bullying message board - and I am confident that my evidence is correct. In fact on 31 July 2008 I contacted Richard Tait and suggested that the BBC impartiality report intimation of institutional support for equality for women and gay people, on page 72, is misleading. I cited CBBC's Bullying message board as a case in point. A copy of the email was included in my submission to the BBC Trust consultation on children's services.

Instead of intimating that it's a haven for political correctness, as the BBC does in From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel, truth is that the BBC should be worried that it is a haven for heterosexism and discrimination.

Heteronormativity is espoused unthinkingly on CBBC programmes. In a recent example Newsround put selected viewers' questions to Britain's Got Talent winner George Sampson. He was interviewed by Ore Oduba.

Ore: George, I have to get this out in the open now, because it's a question that a lot of people wanna know.
George: Okay
Ore: Right I hope you don't mind, but I want to know - have you got a girlfriend?
George: I've not.
Ore: You heard it first from George Sampson - hasn't got a girlfriend.
George: I've not, no.

What's the BBC got against teenagers?

It's not just that the 'teen brand' BBC Switch hasn't been seen on TV since the start of Wimbledon. Now it seems that if you're a teen you're not entitled to comment on CBBC programmes - unless, that is, you call yourself an adult.

The BBC Trust is carrying out a consultation on children's services, and between kids' programmes they've been asking for feedback from those aged "12 and under." So if you're 13 or more, like the participants in CBBC's Serious Ocean, it looks like they don't want to hear from you. The Trust consultation ends next week.

Kids' consultation site (referred to on CBBC)- the 'How old are you' drop-down menu allows for a maximum age of 12.

Screen capture JPEG of above site.

This year the UK Youth Parliament debated which three main issues it would campaign about (see blog 1 May 2008). The winning campaign, about the environment, received 490 votes and is called "Your Future, Your World, Your Fight". Perhaps dropping the 3 Y's might have made the title more meaningful. Newsround didn't report the debate on 2 May 2008 in which 11 year old Chandler Burns said "... The decisions we made yesterday are the reasons we are where we are today. But even more importantly the decision we make today will determine where we are tomorrow. .."

Newsround does regularly report on environmental issues, and today Laura explained how rubbish can be turned into fuel. It seems that the rubbish is heated to a really high temperature and the gas given off is then mixed in with bacteria which turn the gas into a fuel called bioethanol. John McNally from INEOS said that the bioethanol made by this process gives off 90% less greenhouse gas emissions than petrol. A million tonnes of rubbish can produce enough bioethanol for more than a million cars. Newsround displayed a caption which read "It's good for the environment" but is that really true?

Laura explained that countries like Brazil already use ethanol, but it's made using plants grown in places where food could be grown instead, so lots of people think using rubbish makes more sense than using plants. Another important issue with plant ethanol, not mentioned in the Newsround report, is the harmful effect on the environment caused by destruction of rain forests to provide land for fuel production.

Lastly, going back to bioethanol from rubbish and the claim that it gives off 90% less greenhouse gas emissions. Surely loads of energy is needed to heat the rubbish in the first place, so there could be additional greenhouse gasses given off unless the energy to heat it comes from renewable sources such as wind, wave or solar power.

From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel (continued from 9 July 2008)

I'm still trying to clarify some points about the BBC impartiality report, but in the meantime I've been checking through two of CBBC's message boards and found out some quite interesting results.

The Your Life message board allowed a small number of LGBT-related messages through last year (blog 23 June 2008) and in September one board user started a petition, but the thread was closed by administrators in November, since when hardly any new LGBT-related messages have been allowed through moderation.

The situation on CBBC's Bullying message board is even worse. According to the BBC, "comments from children are not filtered out for the reason that they have used words such as 'lesbian' or 'gay'."

So I checked back over two years on the Bullying message board. For the period between July 2006 and now there are no messages at all which specifically mention 'gay' or 'lesbian' apart from this one where 'gay' occurs in its pejorative sense. Other causes of bullying are commonly found on the board. For example, in the same period, 'ginger' was found on 164 threads and 'fat' was found on 181 threads. Those issues have been covered on Newsround's TV programme (eg my blogs on 22 August 2007 & 22 May 2008)

Bullying related to sexual orientation is recognised as unfortunately being common in schools today, so the chance of no-one trying to use the word 'gay' or 'lesbian' for over two years on the CBBC Bullying message board is unlikely. This leads to the conclusion that the BBC has deliberately filtered out messages about homophobic bullying - definitely NOT the action of an institution which supports equality for gay people, or aspires to such support. That's why the BBC needs to explain precisely what is meant on page 72 of its report entitled From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel - Safeguarding impartiality in the 21st century.

The nature-versus-nurture debate was examined in a documentary last night (BBC1, 9pm) when John Barrowman tried to find out what made him gay. The programme summarised almost every theory about the cause of homosexuality. We saw John's delight when scientific tests confirmed that he was gay, and his satisfaction at the conclusion that sexual orientation is probably predetermined before birth and not willfully chosen.

The BBC online magazine includes a piece about John Barrowman's documentary. One reader wrote this comment:

Typical gay man, using his sexuality to boost his career. Lucky for some, my boss is female which means I can't follow suit.

And another wrote:

I am interested in why the BBC seems preoccupied with homosexuality or to be more precise it's promotion. Is it because according to Andrew Marr the BBC is disproportionately overrepresented by gays? And certainly in positions of influence to promote the gay agenda?

Bethanie and her friends enjoyed being treated like film stars when they arrived at their primary school prom in a pink stretch limousine (see yesterday's blog) but the same can't be said for many children living in Hull. The local economy is dominated by low wages and high unemployment. Almost half of the people in Hull live in electoral wards that are amongst the 105 most deprived wards in the country, according to Hull City Council's website.

Newsround covered poverty problems in the award-winning programme called The Wrong Trainers, which went out in December 2006. However, as with Ofcom's discussion paper on the future of children's TV (see blog 11 February 2008), for some reason Newsround chose not to cover the joint UK children's commissioners' report(pdf) to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Speaking live to BBC News on the morning of 9 June 2008, Patricia Lewsley, the Northern Ireland children's commissioner said the commissioners' most striking finding across all their four jurisdictions concerned poverty in its widest sense, including poverty of opportunity for young people. She said kids living in poverty "can't ask their parents for £10 for art materials because that could mean two days without food or a day and a half without electricity."

Just over two weeks ago Sunday Life on BBC1 carried an item about school proms, and a few days before that BBC News also included an item on the topic. Not to be outdone in promoting this American cultural import, Newsround yesterday had press packer Bethanie and her friends extolling the virtues of a primary school prom. Introducing the press pack report, Adam asked "Did you celebrate the end of term in style?" and continued "Well Bethanie in Hull certainly did. Take a look at what she got up to."

We saw Bethanie having her hair done, putting on make-up, and then showing off her dress which had been specially made for her. Bethanie and her friends arrived at the prom in a pink stretch limo and walked along a red carpet to the school hall.

Last week an industrial tribunal found that Islington Council was wrong to require Lillian Ladele, a Christian registrar, to carry out civil partnership registrations. The Daily Mail hailed the ruling as a victory for common sense in our courtrooms. However Suzanne Moore, writing in the same paper was somewhat less impressed with the ruling.

Ladele seems to regard gay partnerships as more objectionable than fornication. But even in cases where religious beliefs are entirely sincere, is it reasonable to excuse employees their duties? What if a Muslim checkout worker at Tesco's insisted on calling in a colleague every time a customer's shopping trolley included a bottle of wine or a packet of pork chops? The disruption and time wasting would cause problems for everyone, not to mention unease caused to customers.

The employment tribunal decision was foolish, and not at all a victory for common sense, as I'm sure The Mail would be the first to say in a case of a similar victory for my hypothetical Tesco employee.

The word 'Gay' was used on Newsround today as part of its Olympic coverage. Sonali reported on who we should be looking out for. First mentioned was Usain Bolt from Jamaica, who Sonali said was the fastest man on the planet. "He can run 100 metres in 9.72 seconds. No wonder his nickname is Lightning Bolt. Next to the United States of America. That's where double world champion sprinter Tyson Gay lives. The clash between him and the Lightning Bolt will definitely be one of the highlights of the Olympics. In fact, last week Gay actually beat Bolt and ran the 100 metres in the fastest time ever. But because there was so much wind behind him it didn't count as an official world record."

The race to which Sonali referred was widely reported around the world. But it wasn't just Tyson's speed which made the news. A conservative Christian website, One News Now, disapproves of the word 'gay' and automatically converted occurrences of 'gay' into 'homosexual,' so that they reported the news as "Homosexual runs wind-aided 9.68 seconds to make Olympics."

CBBC Newsround's ethos is similar. The programme continues to treat 'gay' as an offensive word, but Newsround uses a more 'intelligent' filter.

From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel

It's over a year since the BBC published a report called From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel (see blogs on 18 and 19 June 2007). The report was supposed to be about safeguarding impartiality in the 21st century. The main document includes certain assumptions, such as BBC institutional support for equal rights for women and gay people.

It is self-evident that any study of impartiality should itself be impartial. But the report was commissioned by, and significantly influenced by people working for the BBC, as is clear from the Foreword which states that the author "has been able to draw on the advice, wisdom and experience of a Steering Group, comprising three of the BBC’s most senior executives, two Governors, two Trustees, a former broadcasting regulator and four external consumers of the BBC’s output."

That fact alone calls its worth into question. Then consider, for example, the bias of BBC news report headlines when the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 was passed last year (blog 21 March 2007).

I've written to some of the people involved in producing the report to ask how they can justify its claims.

Today there was another one of those Newsround stories about how much food people can stuff down themselves - this time it was hot dogs. The report on the 2.55pm programme lasted 1 minute 30 seconds, including the lede. Ironically, unhealthy food can't be advertised during children's programmes. So an advert for hot dogs wouldn't be allowed on the commercial channels.

Former Newsround editor, Tim Levell, considered some of the issues surrounding eating competitions in his blog last year. Heinz (see blog 26 June 2008) was a sponsor of the hot dog eating competition, and the Heinz logo could be seen several times throughout the report. A Heinz press release last year said:

“Heinz Ketchup and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs go hand-in-hand and represent an American food tradition that is worth celebrating, especially on the Fourth of July,” said Dave Ciesinski, VP of Heinz Ketchup. “By sponsoring the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, we’re able to reach an international audience and celebrate the love of hot dogs with people around the world.”

The story was controversial because it publicised bad eating habits and made light of the dangers of overeating. A more appropriate news report for a British audience, and more in conformity with PSB Purposes 3 & 4 (see blog 10 April 2008), would have been the Pride event in London today. The BBC needs to prove in practice that it is committed to reflecting the diversity of the United Kingdom.

Biddy Baxter

Although some people found former editor of Blue Peter, Biddy Baxter quite charming, it seems Ms Baxter could also be disparaging to colleagues. In a TV interview with her on BBC FOUR last year, Mark Lawson said he had been discussing, on the radio, a Blue Peter presenter, Christopher Trace, who he had said was sacked by the BBC because of his moral behaviour. Biddy Baxter, however, strenuously denied that this was the case.

Mark Lawson: .. you rang me up and you shouted at me after I said it on the radio.
Biddy Baxter: I didn't shout, did I.
Mark Lawson: You did. But it's erm....
Biddy Baxter: I'm sorry.
Mark Lawson: No, no ..it's alright ..

Valerie Singleton had a few things to say recently about how condescending Biddy Baxter could be. Valerie told Peter Robertson in the Daily Mail that Ms Baxter treated presenters like children; they feared their contracts might not be renewed if they caused any problems. Presenters were always being told: ‘You’d be nothing without us.’ John Noakes, however, stood up to Biddy and was quite capable of slamming the phone down in an argument.

Ms Singleton said that one day in the Blue Peter office there was a letter lying on Biddy Baxter's desk. Biddy picked up the letter and said in front of everybody: ‘Oh, what’s this?’ She then proceeded to read it out loud, causing embarrassment because the letter was from someone who thought Ms Singleton, in real life, hadn't lived up to expectations. Valerie was shocked. The letter was obviously not relevant to Blue Peter, and was a private matter.

Some of my earlier blogs, including one on 10 August 2007, go into some detail about the way gay presenter Michael Sundin was treated by Biddy Baxter at the BBC.

CBBC message boards (continued)

A short while after my blog last Monday, the moderators allowed a post to get through from someone who fancies both genders. Is the discrimination policy about to be ditched? I'm keeping a tally of posts on hetero, LGBT and other issues, and so far the statistical evidence still points to a discriminatory policy which includes, of course, the matter of language and self-identity.

The BBC has largely ignored the controversy about the Heinz Deli Mayo advert, but on Thursday the 'BBC News Magazine' published a piece by Tom Geoghegan - It started with a kiss. The article looks, amongst other things, at the history of same-sex relationships on British television.

Tom Geoghegan's article claims that, twenty-one years after Britain's first gay kiss on primetime TV, a show of intimacy between two men clearly still has the capacity to shock television audiences. This assertion is presumably based on the 200 or so complaints received by the Advertising Standards Authority during the five days period that the ad was screened. But there are around 60 million people in Britain. So 200 out of 60 million represents about 0.000003% and within a few days of Heinz announcing that the ad had been pulled loads more people called for it to be reinstated, including some MPs.

Yesterday leader of the Lib-Dems, Nick Clegg, wrote to the Director of UK Corporate Affairs at Heinz urging him to reconsider. Mr Clegg acknowledged that some people in Britain today are uncomfortable with same-sex relationships, but he says that "such prejudice should not be condoned" by an organisation of Heinz's size and stature. He goes on to say:-

The sight of two men kissing affectionately should not be considered offensive or controversial. This is particularly the case in an advertisement which was so rich in irony and double-meaning.

The decision to withdraw it has not only offended many gay, lesbian, transgender - and straight - people, it also represents a backward step in attempts to combat homophobia in Britain today, not to mention a collective loss of humour.

Tom's e-zine article refers to a gay kiss in Byker Grove in 1994. But even before that, Grange Hill's staff included Mr Brisley, a gay teacher. He managed to overcome homophobia from the kids at the school, and eventually got accepted like the other staff. Mr Brisley left Grange Hill in 1999, and since about 2002 the programme has been unwilling to deal with LGBT issues. Byker Grove included a gay storyline in 2004/5 shortly before being axed in 2006.

Just as Heinz was catering to the prejudice of a small number of parents when it withdrew its Mayo commercial, so the BBC caters, more so than in the past, to the prejudices of narrow-minded parents in the way it runs public service broadcasting for children.

Heinz Meanz Homophobz

Heinz said "It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it."

That was their first excuse for withdrawing a TV advertisement which included a kiss between two men. Heinz withdrew the ad after less than a week. Recently they've come up with other reasons, none of which actually goes as far as to say "Heinz is a homophobic company."

A small number of bigoted consumers didn't like the advert. But most people seem to approve of it, including members of a UK parents' forum.

So why is Heinz only listening to the bigots? Whatever happened to the company's Diversity Policy? It looks like Heinz is not a trustworthy company.

There's been a lot of fuss about a TV ad for Heinz Deli Mayo. Apparently the advert, which included a kiss between two men, received about 200 complaints.

Some parents, according to reports, were angry that they had been forced to explain same-sex relationships to their youngsters. They had every right to be angry ... after all isn't the BBC supposed to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. If the BBC had been doing its job properly, children would be informed by Newsround and other CBBC programmes. There would be no need for embarrassed parents to explain.

Last summer BBC Director of Vision, Jana Bennett was telling everyone at Showcomotion in her keynote speech: "We help children understand themselves and their relationships in all their rich complexity and in particular, understand their world – begin to fathom their navigation of relationships, their situation, through the experience of others whom they can relate to."

Was Jana Bennett telling the truth (see, for instance, my previous blog entry.)

CBBC message boards

About a year ago it looked like the BBC was becoming more inclusive (see my blog on 26 June 2007). Messages from kids who had feelings for others of the same gender were sometimes passed through moderation and some even used words like 'lesbian' or 'gay'

Some messages were answered by Aaron, CBBC's agony uncle:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbcbbc/F2697950?thread=4180595
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbcbbc/F2697950?thread=4281232
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbcbbc/F2697950?thread=4250361

But by the end of summer 2007 BBC discrimination against LGBT kids was fully back in place.

So when this message was posted recently no-one could read what it said, but only see the BBC's reply:

Message 365 - posted by CBBC (U11500666)
Hi,
Having feelings for your friends isn't something you should be ashamed of, it's a lot more common than you might think. But it's important to get support, so find someone who can give you that. You could talk to a family member, a friend, a teacher. If there is no one you feel you can speak to it may help to talk to Childline (0800 1111). Talking to someone who helps you feel ok about who you are is a great help, so try to speak to someone soon.

CBBC Helper


My guess is the original post was something to do with having feelings for a friend.

But if having feelings for your friends isn't something you should be ashamed of, and if it's a lot more common than you might think, why did the BBC remove the original message?

Could it be that the post was about same-sex feelings, and the BBC doesn't want to be more specific by telling kids that having same-sex (lesbian or gay) feelings is okay? In fact, doesn't this type of censorship really send out exactly the opposite message.