[cma-l] Climate Radio programmes available!

[Eddie Stuart]

I haven't discussed this yet with anyone else at the station, so this is purely my personal opinion.

My initial concern when the original email came out were the words (amongst others):-
> the campaign to kick corporate  influence out of our democracy /*_and the need for civil disobedience;_*/

However balanced the programme(s) may or may not be, I personally would not want to go near anything that looked at the need for civil disobedience.

Yes, women would probably have had to wait far longer to get the vote etc without the sufragettes, but given the "joys" that we had in Scotland last year with excesses & sheer nastiness between the "Yes" & "No" referendum camps, trolls being investigated by the police, people being threatened verbally & apparently physically etc., etc., I just would not want to get involved with a "debate" like that.

One hot head and you're in trouble (remember, the NofTW decided to name and shame (supposed) paedophiles. A drunk bunch in Plymouth (I think??) became a lynch mob which went to try and literally string up a (female) paediatrician.

Yes, you could (should!) balance it with the down sides of civil disobedience but you only need one paper to (mis)report (part of) your broadcast and away you go (How many people actually heard Ross/Brand & Andrew Sachs? Very few. How many complained? Tens of thousands.)

If you interview Greenpeace, FoE etc., you must include, or at least give the right of reply to, Shell, BP etc even if you personally think that they are the devil incarnate. Without actually fighting their corner for them, they might just want to point out that they are also working on renewables and that without fossil fuels the Industrial Revolution wouldn't have happened and we would still have a peasant farming economy based on horse & cart.......?? Indeed, we might not have Community Radio??!!

I think that a Community Station getting involved with the way that that email read is just asking for trouble. We have tackled some fairly contentious issues up here but have always been extremely careful on balance.....

Light blue touch paper...........? Not me on this one given what we know so far.

Regards,

Eddie Stuart


On 30/01/15 19:05, David Duffy wrote:
> Nick, as you know, I respect  your enthusiasm but /all/ broadcasters,
 > not just community radio, are required to adhere to the
 > Communications Act 2003 and The Representation of the People Act.
 > These are enshrined in statute for our benefit and to ensure that
 > broadcasters exercise due impartiality. Otherwise, we could have
 > stations that support one political party over another using that as
 > a means to promote a highly partisan message. I give you Fox News'
 > ‘Fair and Balanced’.  Anyone who has watched Fox News understands the
 > irony in that positioning statement.
 >
 > All I would recommend to community broadcasters is that they revisit
 > Section 6 of the Broadcasting Code
 > <http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/831190/section6.pdf>
 > and in particular 6.12 where the onus is clearly on the broadcaster -
 > '/Where a candidate is taking part in a programme on any matter,
 > after the election has been called, s/he must not be given the
 > opportunity to make constituency points, or electoral area points
 > about the constituency or electoral area in which s/he is standing,
 > when no other candidates will be given a similar opportunity/.’
 >
 > It has been mentioned previously that Ofcom is a reactive rather than
 > proactive disciplinarian.  If there is one time during your 5-year
 > licence that an unhappy listener is likely to complain to Ofcom it’s
 > during the run up to an election.  People get very worked up over
 > this kind of stuff!
 >
 > David
 >
 > /David Duffy is a Senior Partner with //- providing professional
 > consultancy and services to commercial and community broadcasters
 > worldwide./
 >
 > M: 07817 990760 T: @theradiopeople
 > <http://www.twitter.com/theradiopeople> F:
 > facebook.com/theradiopeople
 > <https://www.facebook.com/theradiopeopleuk> L:
 > linkedin.com/in/davidgduffy <http://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidgduffy/>
 > W: theradiopeople.co.uk <http://www.theradiopeople.co.uk/>
 >
 >
 >


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