BBC respond to my complaint re the C word

[pennydrew]

I complained about an article using the term starting with ‘c’ that is happily not allowed on Mumsnet. This is their response:

Thank you for getting in touch about our article reporting that campaigners opposed to a council motion about Liverpool's transgender community have been accused of "intimidation" and "abuse" by the city's mayor (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-45589563).

We amended this sentence to now simply refer to “women” because “c**gender women” may not be widely understood by readers.

Thank you once again for getting in touch.

Kind Regards

BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints

Oh I haven't received mine yet!

I'll set up a new doc Complaint Further Escalation in preparation....

Got the same. It's a cop out. They aren't passing judgment on the term itself, and simply shifting the focus on it supposedly not being understood widely enough.

I got it too... they are pathetic. Now seeing if my family will agree we don’t need iplayer ( we don’t watch live TV anymore ) so I can stop giving bbc money!

*Thank you for getting in touch about again our article reporting that campaigners opposed to a council motion about Liverpool's transgender community have been accused of "intimidation" and "abuse" by the city's mayor (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-45589563).

In the context of this piece we don’t have a problem with the wording of this sentence, or the inclusion of the word ‘Cisgender.’

If you remain dissatisfied you can contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) explaining why you believe there may have been a potential breach of standards or other potentially significant issue to investigate further. For full details of our complaints process you can visit www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/.

If you wish to contact the ECU please write to it within 20 working days of receiving this reply. You can email [email protected] or write to: Executive Complaints Unit, BBC, Broadcast Centre, London W12 7TQ. Please include the case reference number which you have been given.

Best wishes,*

Well at least they've considered and responded in detail.

It would seems that the BBC's test of whether something is offensive is whether or not the BBC has a problem with it. Which I think says it all.

On to the next stage...

Dicks. (and yes it was from a man)

I want to see a 'why' but the BBC feels it doesn't need to humour that.

Submit an FOI while you're at it (have to think of something) just because they don't give a crap.about wasting our time or money.

Regardless of the substance of their position - It's an extraordinary failure in complaints handling. Complete failure to address my points of complaint (offensive language and bias).

What should I ask for in an FOI?

I think there's one more stage then off to Ofcom I go.

I don't think anyone is actually going to be brave enough to make a call on it. Ofcom are pretty pathetic. But it all helps.