in addition to the earlier sacking of a BBC 6 Music producer there has also been an issue over an online vote to choose the name of one the Blue Peter cats and that “an Executive has been suspended there too”.
The MediaGrauniad reports Former Blue Peter editor suspended:
Richard Marson, the former Blue Peter editor, is understood to have been suspended after another instance of alleged viewer deception on the programme during his stewardship emerged relating to the naming of the show’s cat.
Mr Marson, who was moved to a new BBC job in May after the show’s fake phone competition scandal, is said to have been sent home on Monday after it emerged that the wrong name had been chosen for the new Blue Peter cat in an online poll, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.
It is understood that the name chosen for the ragdoll breed of cat that joined the show on January 9 2006 was not the one that came out top in the online poll.
The name that came top is thought to have been deemed inappropriate for a children’s show and the cat was eventually called Socks following the vote.
A BBC insider is quoted saying “I think the feeling was that if we can’t honestly name a Blue Peter cat, then really, that is perhaps the last straw in this whole fiasco. The feeling has always been that when alleged deception involves children it is a bit more serious”. Quite!
No word yet on what name was ‘deemed inappropriate’, but how difficult can it be to organise an online poll for children to name a cat? Surely the obvious thing to do is to present people with a list of ‘safe’ names to choose from! Given that the name chosen, Socks, is the name of President Clinton’s cat I won’t be shocked if the inappropriate name turns out to be Barney – the name of President Bush’s dog…
More detail on both on this latest scandal in the Mail: BBC faked viewers’ poll to name the Blue Peter cat.
The Six also announced that Director General, Mark Thompson, has been talking to BBC Trust today about further lapses.
one down, 25,376 to go
Does this mean that Shep should have been Rover? Oh the lies they told us when we were young!
They hold you all in contempt, they really do. But as we’ve already been told about CBBC, it’s just for the kiddies so it’s no big deal. Move along, nothing to see here.
The senior producers behind all these shows are the problem. These things are clearly decided upon before ever going to air, and it’s not down to sloppiness by juniors.
Or am I wrong about that? John Reith, I believe you may be a segment producer (occasional presenter, even) of some kind (I know, not full time, and not on the official payroll, but you do take the BBC’s shilling and work on the premises). And not a junior one, either. Can you please shed some light on how things like this get to air? From some your comments I gather that you have a valuable perspective on this sort of stuff. Even though you don’t do these types of shows, certainly you know the logistics of how and when decisions are made to go through with these kinds of glaring errors (to put it charitably).