Ask Charity Weblog

The latest concern about TV editorial policy was exposed in the The Observer this weekend. A cross-party campaign group of councillors, local police and local young people have lodged a formal complaint with ITV about a film Ann Widdecombe made depicting one Islington estate as being out of control and plagued by "hoodie gangs". This time though the mis-represented teens are biting back. The campaign group raised £7,000 and the young people have made their own film about life on the estate, called Beyond the Hoodie. They've posted it on YouTube and had 2,000 views in just 2 weeks. You can watch it here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbX_wCHlzo

Meanwhile the campaign for an apology from ITV has put enough pressure on programme makers that Trevor McDonald has now promised to investigate the allegations himself. Ann Widdecombe, of course, has yet to back down.

Posted by Charity at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The McCann story has little direct relevance to charity PR but a recent morning on BBC Five Live did illustrate that listeners can have the power to change the media agenda. On Monday, the phone-in asked listeners whether they still had sympathy for Gerry and Kate since the recent "revelations" about DNA. Apparently so many listeners contacted the programme to say that this was not a suitable subject for debate that they changed tack. The presenters ended up debating with listeners whether the programme had set the right agenda. I don't think I've ever heard of a similar instance where listeners concerns have been acted on immediately in this way http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,,2166289,00.html

Posted by Charity at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think it was only a matter of time before the BBC cancelled Planet Relief http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6979596.stm. Peter Horrocks, Head of Tv News wrote on his blog that "It is absolutely not the BBC's job to save the planet" http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/peter_horrocks/ and the BBC Trust only recently published a report suggesting that the broadcaster should be very wary of being "highjacked" by special interest groups. Climate Change campaigners will be truly sorry about the axing of Planet Relief, which would have provided a fantastic opportunity to educate viewers. I suppose I'm just surprised that the BBC ever agreed to do it, given their sensitivities about Make Poverty History and Live 8. Overall, climate change campaigners have had a huge success in finally persuading the media that it is an important issue, and getting it high on their agenda.

Posted by Charity at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)