BBC - Blair's Bastard Cronies
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Tory fury as BBC sends hecklers to bait Howard
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
(Filed: 24/04/2005)
The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader.
The Tories have made an official protest after the hecklers, who were given the microphones by producers, were caught at a party event in the North West last week. Guy Black, the party's head of communications, wrote in a letter to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, that the hecklers began shouting slogans that were "distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party".
These included "Michael Howard is a liar", "You can't trust the Tories" and "You can only trust Tony Blair".
Mr Black's strongly-worded letter accused the BBC of staging the event "to generate a false news story and dramatise coverage. . . intended to embarrass or ridicule the leader of the Conservative Party". The letter said that BBC staff were guilty of "serious misconduct". At least one of the hecklers was seen again at a Tory event in the North East, Mr Black added.
Last night, the BBC claimed that the exercise was part of a "completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling" and said that other parties' meetings were being "observed". However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.
The Conservatives have called for an apology and an assurance that no such incident will occur again. It has also demanded that the BBC promises never to broadcast the footage. The corporation said it would investigate "very fully". It and other broadcasters have a statutory duty to remain impartial during election campaigns. The corporation's guidelines for producers state: "Our audiences rightly expect the highest editorial and ethical standards from the BBC."
Tory officials became suspicious at the meeting in Horwich, near Bolton, last Wednesday, when they saw BBC camera crew focusing on the hecklers rather than Mr Howard. They twice challenged the two men and a woman involved, and discovered they had been equipped with radio microphones.
Mr Black said that they described themselves as "shoppers". In fact, they were under direction from a BBC team making a programme called The History of Heckling for the BBC3 channel. The programme, whose producer is Paul Woolwich, is in the process of being edited.
Mr Black's letter said of the hecklers: "It is entirely clear to me that the success of their presence required an element of performance on their behalf, and that this was a premeditated event intended to disrupt the course of Mr. Howard's speech.
"I do not believe that the BBC should be in the business of creating news. It also appears that the same crew was at the Michael Howard visit to Stockton-on-Tees and it can be no coincidence that someone with them was one of these 'hecklers'.
"I understand that Sally Freestone, the assignments editor UK Special Events, was 'aghast' that the BBC had engaged in such behaviour.
"This is a clear and serious breach of recognised BBC producer guidelines, and accordingly a breach of Section 5.3(b)1 of the BBC Charter Agreement. I also believe that the recordings which were taken of these organised hecklers, of ordinary members of the crowd and/or of Conservative officials who reacted and were recorded, would amount to 'surreptitious recording' under those guidelines."
Such recording requires advance approval from the relevant department head, Mr Black noted, and consultation with the BBC's controller, editorial policy. "Is it suggested that these requirements have been satisfied?" his letter asked, before concluding: "My disappointment with the BBC for this attempted coup d'theatre is profound." He addressed his letter to Ms Boaden, who took over as director of news from Richard Sambrook. Mr Sambrook, a key figure in the row between the Government and the BBC over the death of David Kelly, the Iraq weapons expert, is now director of the Corporation's World Service and Global News division.
Last night a BBC spokesman said: "This is a completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling. The programme observes hecklers at other parties' campaign meetings and not just the Conservatives. The hecklers were not under the direction of the BBC and their activities did not disrupt the meeting in any way. The incident at the Michael Howard meeting only plays a small part in the overall programme. However, we will be investigating the complaint very fully and will be replying in due course."
The spokesman was unable to provide details of any other campaign meetings attended by the BBC3 crew. He said that the hecklers had not been paid a fee, but could not say whether they had received expenses. The dispute is the latest in many rows between the BBC and the Tories. Last autumn the Conservatives lodged an official complaint about Mr Howard's Newsnight interview earlier this year in which Jeremy Paxman questioned Mr Howard about the sacking of Derek Lewis, the head of the Prison Service, when he was home secretary in 1995. A Conservative spokesman claimed that the continued focus on the case of Mr Lewis, almost a decade after the event, showed the "endemic bias" of the BBC.
Many Conservatives are still angry about coverage of the May 2003 local elections when - despite the Tories gaining 565 council seats - the BBC focused on the resignation of Crispin Blunt, the shadow trade minister.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/24/nhow24.xml
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
(Filed: 24/04/2005)
The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader.
The Tories have made an official protest after the hecklers, who were given the microphones by producers, were caught at a party event in the North West last week. Guy Black, the party's head of communications, wrote in a letter to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, that the hecklers began shouting slogans that were "distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party".
These included "Michael Howard is a liar", "You can't trust the Tories" and "You can only trust Tony Blair".
Mr Black's strongly-worded letter accused the BBC of staging the event "to generate a false news story and dramatise coverage. . . intended to embarrass or ridicule the leader of the Conservative Party". The letter said that BBC staff were guilty of "serious misconduct". At least one of the hecklers was seen again at a Tory event in the North East, Mr Black added.
Last night, the BBC claimed that the exercise was part of a "completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling" and said that other parties' meetings were being "observed". However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.
The Conservatives have called for an apology and an assurance that no such incident will occur again. It has also demanded that the BBC promises never to broadcast the footage. The corporation said it would investigate "very fully". It and other broadcasters have a statutory duty to remain impartial during election campaigns. The corporation's guidelines for producers state: "Our audiences rightly expect the highest editorial and ethical standards from the BBC."
Tory officials became suspicious at the meeting in Horwich, near Bolton, last Wednesday, when they saw BBC camera crew focusing on the hecklers rather than Mr Howard. They twice challenged the two men and a woman involved, and discovered they had been equipped with radio microphones.
Mr Black said that they described themselves as "shoppers". In fact, they were under direction from a BBC team making a programme called The History of Heckling for the BBC3 channel. The programme, whose producer is Paul Woolwich, is in the process of being edited.
Mr Black's letter said of the hecklers: "It is entirely clear to me that the success of their presence required an element of performance on their behalf, and that this was a premeditated event intended to disrupt the course of Mr. Howard's speech.
"I do not believe that the BBC should be in the business of creating news. It also appears that the same crew was at the Michael Howard visit to Stockton-on-Tees and it can be no coincidence that someone with them was one of these 'hecklers'.
"I understand that Sally Freestone, the assignments editor UK Special Events, was 'aghast' that the BBC had engaged in such behaviour.
"This is a clear and serious breach of recognised BBC producer guidelines, and accordingly a breach of Section 5.3(b)1 of the BBC Charter Agreement. I also believe that the recordings which were taken of these organised hecklers, of ordinary members of the crowd and/or of Conservative officials who reacted and were recorded, would amount to 'surreptitious recording' under those guidelines."
Such recording requires advance approval from the relevant department head, Mr Black noted, and consultation with the BBC's controller, editorial policy. "Is it suggested that these requirements have been satisfied?" his letter asked, before concluding: "My disappointment with the BBC for this attempted coup d'theatre is profound." He addressed his letter to Ms Boaden, who took over as director of news from Richard Sambrook. Mr Sambrook, a key figure in the row between the Government and the BBC over the death of David Kelly, the Iraq weapons expert, is now director of the Corporation's World Service and Global News division.
Last night a BBC spokesman said: "This is a completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling. The programme observes hecklers at other parties' campaign meetings and not just the Conservatives. The hecklers were not under the direction of the BBC and their activities did not disrupt the meeting in any way. The incident at the Michael Howard meeting only plays a small part in the overall programme. However, we will be investigating the complaint very fully and will be replying in due course."
The spokesman was unable to provide details of any other campaign meetings attended by the BBC3 crew. He said that the hecklers had not been paid a fee, but could not say whether they had received expenses. The dispute is the latest in many rows between the BBC and the Tories. Last autumn the Conservatives lodged an official complaint about Mr Howard's Newsnight interview earlier this year in which Jeremy Paxman questioned Mr Howard about the sacking of Derek Lewis, the head of the Prison Service, when he was home secretary in 1995. A Conservative spokesman claimed that the continued focus on the case of Mr Lewis, almost a decade after the event, showed the "endemic bias" of the BBC.
Many Conservatives are still angry about coverage of the May 2003 local elections when - despite the Tories gaining 565 council seats - the BBC focused on the resignation of Crispin Blunt, the shadow trade minister.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/24/nhow24.xml
Mr E said:
Flippin'eck.
Is this true?
Yes.
Tory anger over BBC heckler show
Mr Howard was heckled at a meeting near Bolton
The Tory party has demanded an apology from the BBC over a programme which it says encouraged heckling at a meeting where Michael Howard was speaking.
The Sunday Telegraph says it accused the BBC of "serious misconduct" after producers equipped hecklers in Horwich, near Bolton, with radio microphones.
But the corporation said it was making a legitimate programme on the history and art of political heckling.
However, it said it would be investigating the complaint thoroughly.
Slogans
In a letter to Helen Boaden, the director of BBC News, Guy Black, the head of Conservative communications said the event was "pre-meditated" and intended to embarrass Mr Howard and disrupt his speech.
He said hecklers at the meeting in Horwich had shouted out slogans such as "Michael Howard is a liar" and "You can only trust Tony Blair".
Mr Black said staff were in breach of BBC producer guidelines.
But the corporation said the producers were making a programme for BBC Three called The History of Heckling.
In a statement it said the producers had observed hecklers at the meetings of other parties and that the hecklers were not under the direction of the BBC.
"The incident at the Michael Howard meeting only plays a small part in the overall programme," the statement said.
"However, we will be investigating the complaint very thoroughly and will be replying in due course."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4477901.stm
BBC-The Broadcaster of Biased Cr*p
How far they have fallen that they now actively campaign against the Conservatives.
They know that if the Tories get back into power their cosy little existence will be changed. If the Conservatives ever again look like a viable alternative government then the BBC will stop at nothing to stop them being elected.
How far they have fallen that they now actively campaign against the Conservatives.
They know that if the Tories get back into power their cosy little existence will be changed. If the Conservatives ever again look like a viable alternative government then the BBC will stop at nothing to stop them being elected.
WHEN (it will be sometime, maybe not this election, but eventually) the Tories get into power they should get revenge by privatising the BBC and abolishing the licence fee.
Actions like this are totally uncalled for, and while they may be making a programme they should do so without bias, simply recording all that went on, looking at how Howard reacted to the heckling, and broadcasting it after the election. Having the hecklers being in control of the microphones IS bias no matter how you dress it up.
The BBC should exercise damage control by apologising profusely and sacking anybody connected with the programme and the approval of it.
Actions like this are totally uncalled for, and while they may be making a programme they should do so without bias, simply recording all that went on, looking at how Howard reacted to the heckling, and broadcasting it after the election. Having the hecklers being in control of the microphones IS bias no matter how you dress it up.
The BBC should exercise damage control by apologising profusely and sacking anybody connected with the programme and the approval of it.
I think I would side with the BBC here. Was it the BBC themselves or an independant producer?
It seems to me to be an ill conceived project which has blown up in their faces.
On the subject of bias, what about all the hidden Iraq references in Dr Who recently?
The BBC should concentrate on getting the rights to F1 back - see other threads.
It seems to me to be an ill conceived project which has blown up in their faces.
On the subject of bias, what about all the hidden Iraq references in Dr Who recently?
The BBC should concentrate on getting the rights to F1 back - see other threads.
article said:
However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.
Labour are so paranoid about things that it is virtually impossible to get into any of their events unless you are invited/welcome/dedicated supporter/security cleared. Recent Welsh events have had the journo's locked out simply because the security office was inside a cordon and without the correct pass/on the right list you cannot get passed it to get your pass. Home goal really that one, you may have noticed there have been no more Woman's Institute type meetings since a certain event. Someone should calculate the cost of the paranoia and bill it back to the Labour party because I for one do not think that we, the taxpayer, should shoulder this burden. Put those police back on the street to get some more paperwork to do.
love machine said:
Surely there are issues relevant to licence paying here. They must have tripped over some of their own red tape?
True but weren't the beeb's governors abolished or mothballed or whatever, so it's the government that police their charter these days? Let's hold our breath waiting for that basically decent guy Our Tone to discipline his mouthpiece...
Whoever was responsible for this needs to be found, fired, blacklisted and never allowed to work in the media again.
If they wanted to make a program about heckling it could easily have been "dramatised" - nearly everything else is!
Interrupting a legal, party political meeting in the run up to an election just wastes everybody's time.
If I had my way these individuals would be forced to spend the total time wasted of all the attendees as a jail sentence.
Genuine disptute and debate is fine. Heckling is not.
If they wanted to make a program about heckling it could easily have been "dramatised" - nearly everything else is!
Interrupting a legal, party political meeting in the run up to an election just wastes everybody's time.
If I had my way these individuals would be forced to spend the total time wasted of all the attendees as a jail sentence.
Genuine disptute and debate is fine. Heckling is not.
They were having a smug chuckle on R4 Today this morning. Some lefty type had assigned band names and songs to the politicians. Naturally all the Labour comparisons were good, whilst Michael Howard was (yawn) the Darkness. He also likened Blair and Brown to Lennon and McCartney - because they all had pwerful wives... When th epresenter suggested Yoko Ono had been responsible for the Beatle's demise he laughed it off. Then he sang some clips from Beatles songs - WTF?
Srangely he didn't asscoiate Brown with their song 'Taxman':
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.
Srangely he didn't asscoiate Brown with their song 'Taxman':
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.
Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.
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