Response from the BBC

[Mattsa]

Folks

I recently complained to the BBC here in the UK about the lack of coverage of Ron Paul's election campaign.

This morning, I received this response from a Mr Paul Wheeler.

Dear Mr Mxxxx

Thank you for your recent phone call to BBC Information. I understand that you feel the BBC has failed to provide sufficient coverage of Ron Paul's presidential election campaign. We will be watching Ron Paul's poll numbers closely and if there's any sign that he is becoming a leading candidate we will act accordingly.

I would like to assure you that we have registered your comments on our audience log. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact the BBC.

Regards

Paul Wheeler

BBC Information

I was not satisfied with this response. Therefore, I contacted the BBC again this afternoon and asked for an explanation for the total lack of coverage on the BBC, both in their television coverage and their website which has virtually no information about Ron Paul.

I reiterated that irrespective of Ron Paul's status as a frontline candidate, the social phenomonen, the huge grassroots support and the internet being totally dominated by the campaign is newsworthy in its own right and should be covered by the BBC.

I have been promised a further response from BBC management.

Standing tall for Constitution, free speech and liberty

M

 

[Adamsa]

The fact he is so big on the internet should make him bigger on the BBC.

 

[user]

Thanks for your efforts!

 

[fortilite]

They haven't responded to me yet. I guess he needs to win before he gets covered.

 

[jumpyg1258]

ROFL so they are giving a typical media response.

"We won't put him on the air cause our own "scientific" surveys we do say he's not winning." Which we all know they just pull those numbers out of their butt.

 

[AdoubleR]

Folks

I recently complained to the BBC here in the UK about the lack of coverage of Ron Paul's election campaign.

This morning, I received this response from a Mr Paul Wheeler.



I was not satisfied with this response. Therefore, I contacted the BBC again this afternoon and asked for an explanation for the total lack of coverage on the BBC, both in their television coverage and their website which has virtually no information about Ron Paul.

I reiterated that irrespective of Ron Paul's status as a frontline candidate, the social phenomonen, the huge grassroots support and the internet being totally dominated by the campaign is newsworthy in its own right and should be covered by the BBC.

I have been promised a further response from BBC management.

Standing tall for Constitution, free speech and liberty

M

Can you PM me the contact details please?

 

[Mattsa]

Can you PM me the contact details please?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

Telephone: 08700 100 222

 

[slantedview]

gj matt. that's interesting that the BBC even responded. in america, i'd suspect that most MSM outlets would just ignore such an e-mail.

 

[hawks4ronpaul]

See if BBC has covered straw polls or fund-raising or FEC rules (rejecting matching funds due to fund-raising strength, or a blimp to work around speech restrictions), because RP is a leader there and so BBC has less excuse.


http://hawks4ronpaul.blogspot.com/

 

[brumans]

It's all about their precious polls

 

[Oliver]

Folks

I recently complained to the BBC here in the UK about the lack of coverage of Ron Paul's election campaign.

This morning, I received this response from a Mr Paul Wheeler.

I'm almost shocked. I sent 4 mails to the goddamn
MSNBC and got nothing in return. And I didn't send
any complain whatsoever.

 

[Mattsa]

gj matt. that's interesting that the BBC even responded. in america, i'd suspect that most MSM outlets would just ignore such an e-mail.

No. I telephoned them

And to their credit, I got through to speak to a real human being in less than 3 minutes. Their response was via e-mail

 

[Question_Authority]

I would ask them how they expect Ron Paul to come up in the polls if the media continually ignore him. I would challenge them to put a moratorium on covering the "front runners" for 2 weeks and during that time give indepth coverage to the "2nd tier candidates". Then check their fucking polls again. (OK, leave out the curse word, I suppose).

 

[user]

I would ask them how they expect Ron Paul to come up in the polls if the media continually ignore him. I would challenge them to put a moratorium on covering the "front runners" for 2 weeks and during that time give indepth coverage to the "2nd tier candidates". Then check their fucking polls again. (OK, leave out the curse word, I suppose).

This is the BBC, most Americans aren't watching them and they aren't the ones doing the polls.

 

[AdoubleR]

This is the BBC, most Americans aren't watching them and they aren't the ones doing the polls.

You'd be surprised how big the American population in the United Kingdom is... And for Americans accross the rest of Europe, it's still the preffered english news channel as compared to local english media outlets...

 

[Brasil Branco]

FROM AUGUST

Dear Mr ....,

Thank you for your email. While we have so far not covered Mr Paul's
campaign in depth we have mentioned him and will certainly continue to
report his activities, especially if or when he emerges as a contender
with a real chance of doing well.
We do have finite resources to devote to US election coverage but please
be assured we are aiming to have as complete and balanced a coverage as
we can. For your information we have done the following stories in which
Mr Paul figures, admittedly not prominently but he has certainly not
been overlooked.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5006788.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6266690.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6725105.stm

I complained as well, four months ago... what bullshit.

 

[user]

You'd be surprised how big the American population in the United Kingdom is... And for Americans accross the rest of Europe, it's still the preffered english news channel as compared to local english media outlets...

Even allowing for all that, I doubt BBC coverage alone would be enough to counter the rest of the MSM, especially in the US.

 

[Adamsa]

A lot of Americans use the BBC, it has one of the best news web sites around.

 

[justatrey]

I sent an email complaint to the BBC several weeks ago. This was after I discovered that they do not even list Ron Paul as a candidate in their poll numbers.

I never received a response.

 

[erikm]

The US primary elections are a not well-understood item in europe and because they're largely considered 'far-away local' news the runups aren't well-covered. Remember that the distance London-NYC is about the distance London-Moscow.

OTOH What coverage I've seen about Ron Paul in european media tends to be balanced, if sometimes a bit influenced by poll results (minor candidate . . . )

BBC: Justin Webb (BBC's North America editor) did a piece which is still being debated. Blog Article (11/07)

I recently ran into an article in the local paper on 'Doctor No'. Unfortunately for most people here it's in dutch and didn't make it online.

The dutch 'Algemeen Dagblad' also has a couple of blogs on the US elections. One is from an at-large perspective and has covered Ron Paul (the article got repeated for some reason) under the title 'Iraq (war) has brought US to the brink of bankruptcy'. The other blog is by a (presumably dutch) journalist who somehow got made 'deputy data manager' for the Clinton campaign. (blog)

Cheers,
ErikM