[cma-l] Climate Radio replies to CMA debate

[Resonance104.4fm]

Dear Ed,

It was interesting to hear that the Climate Radio email generated such a
heated debate on the CMA list!

In response I would make the following observations:

   - I have been making Climate Radio programmes for Resonance FM and other
   community radio stations around the globe (via CMA, Radio4All and Audioport
   facility of the US Pacifica Network) for nearly 12 years and have never
   once been the subject of an Ofcom complaint.
   - The Ofcom rules on Due Impartiality
   <http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/impartiality/>
apply
   to news so are not relevant in this case.
   - In any case the BBC news is so unbalanced that it makes a nonsense of
   such rules. The BBC Trust's investigation into balance and accuracy in the
   BBC's reporting of science for example concluded that the BBC gave a
   disproportionate amount of airtime to climate change deniers which was
   unnecessary and unjustified.
   - Climate Radio is mostly driven by testimony from experts although it
   sometimes strays into campaigning journalism / authored comment (where it
   is felt to be justified by the evidence base). Such campaigning journalism
   has a long and venerable tradition from Ed Murrow to John Pilger.
   - The BBC has failed in its public service mandate when it comes to
   climate change. If the debate is allowed to be stymied by voices contesting
   the well-established scientific consensus then we never have a proper
   discussion about what we need to do to solve the problem.

Climate Radio returns to the airwaves tomorrow (Tuesday, 3 March) for a new
short series of four weekly hour-long programmes focussing on big ideas for
solutions.

The first two programmes look at democracy and the need for radical reform
so that Westminster operates in the public interest rather than the narrow
interests of the fossil fuel corporations. The series kicks off by looking
at fracking as a case study in how the democratic process has been
corrupted by vested interests. The programme includes an interview with
John Ashton who was the UK's Special Representative on Cliamte Change from
2006-2012 - an establishment voice if ever there was one - who is highly
critical of the "close proximity" between government and what he calls "the
forces of incumbency". The programme also features the voices of
campaigners from Balcombe and Lancashire who have been on the front line of
resisting fracking and have seen the workings of the democratic process up
close. Such voices are rarely given an airing on the BBC.

I would encourage CMA members to support this work by rebroadcasting these
programmes which have been made possible by a small grant from the Network
for Social Change. They will be available for download from
http://climateradio.org from midday on Tuesdays. If you do plan on
rebroadcasting them do email me at info at climateradio.org to let me know the
time they will be going out and I will add the information to the Climate
Radio website.

Yours,

Phil England

http://climateradio.org
http://climateradio.org/about/phil-england/
http://twitter.com/ClimateRadio


-- 
Resonance104.4fm
144 Borough High Street
London SE1 1LB
UK
www.resonancefm.com
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