is representing a BBC 6 Music producer who was apparently sacked yesterday following an investigation related to the fake phone-in scandal. BECTU are reported to have said:
The corporation is picking on junior staff…
The fakery had been going on long before the sacked producer had joined the show…
…an interesting line of defence for the union to take – suggesting that there are others involved too and that the fakery was accepted practice.
And an interesting development – one that provokes many more questions, though there are of course difficulties in reporting personnel related matters that may become subject to legal action.
Update: BBC Views Online reports BBC producer fired over phone row:
Earlier this year, the BBC admitted staff on the Liz Kershaw show posed as competition winners on “live” shows which had actually been pre-recorded.
Bectu accused the BBC of singling out junior staff and said the woman would be appealing against the decision…
Bectu assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said the mocked-up competitions had been taking place long before the dismissed producer joined the programme.
The internal investigation discovered phone-ins had been faked from 2005, continuing until a new producer took over in December 2006.
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I have two friends who have reported, independently, that they have unexpectedly found themselves as winners of BBC regional phone-in competitions. It was all the more unexpected because neither of them had bothered to enter the competition.
In each case the prize (typically a pair of theatre tickets) was treated by the BBC staff as one of their perks. By ensuring that the competition could be “won” by a friend, they could effectively share the prizes amongst themselves.
From what I’ve heard, the prizes were distributed fairly widely within the BBC, probably to ensure that everyone was implicated in the scam.
It seems to me that BECTU are probably correct in feeling that their relatively junior members have been targetted in this current investigation, but the complete absence of whistle-blowers in all the years that these fiddles seem to have bene in existence does none of them any credit.
I wonder if Radio 6 will go on strike – and if they do, who will notice.
And on a tangent, I wonder how many people will conflate Liz Kershaw with Andy Kershaw, another BBC presenter who is in the news at the moment (although for very different reasons)?
BECTU are right when they say mocked up competitions have been happening before this instance. Though that itself is no great defence. Just as saying commercial stations do exactly the same is no defence.
Sometimes it happens because a show has been pre-recorded. Sometimes it is done at the last minute because no one has actually entered the competition or someone who has, cannot be contacted in order to take part.
I used to listen to a lot of Radio 1’s output. The station’s webcam was sometimes very handy in finding out if a show was live or not. On occasion it would show a sole Broadcast Assistant sat at the desk making sure it went out alright, or even be working fine during the previous show but be taken offline as soon as the next show started.
There are also clues to be heard in the production – no listeners names being read out even if the presenter asks for comments, if there are names mentioned they tend to be alliterate (Barry from Bolton, Sharon from Sheffield and the like, though I’ve no idea if this is done on purpose or through a lack of imagination), not introducing the newsreader by name, music finishing early, not talking up to the vocals of the music, etc.
I don’t mind a show being pre-recorded but I do dislike it when they pretend it isn’t. Particularly if they read out the text numbers and ask listeners to contact them.
Sceptical Steve | 19.09.07 – 4:10 pm |
Bloody hell Steve – if you are for real you could do some serious damage with this. Any chance of getting your mates to go on the record with this information? I’m sure Andrew would be happy to publish..
Hi Steve; Why bother with the competition at all then? Why not just keep the tickets? I have to say I’ve never done this or heard of anyone doing this.