Publication of the BBC’s ‘Statement of Promises’ document, dubbed a
viewers’ charter in the press, did well to overcome competition for
space in the opinion-forming newspapers from the Government’s call for
action over violence on TV and details of the internal merger of
production departments. In six articles the document was the ‘sole
topic’ of which two were entirely negative in tone.
Where the charter was linked to one of the other stories last week, it
came a poor second. A BBC source accused Virginia Bottomley of ‘blatant
electioneering’ for timing her call for action on TV violence to
coincide with the document’s release.
Among the coverage, equal weight was given to the BBC’s promise to
offer ‘fair’ interviews, reduce repeats and curb violence and bad
language. But the document, drew a strong riposte from Channel 4’s
Michael Grade and Barry Cox of the ITVA, who accused it of
misrepresenting the independent companies’ output in factual and
religious programmes.
Evaluation and analysis by Carma International. Cuttings supplied by The
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ‘What The Papers Say’ can also be found
at: http//www.carma.com/carma
