<div dir="ltr">Dear Ed,<div><br></div><div>It was interesting to hear that the Climate Radio email generated such a heated debate on the CMA list!</div><div><br></div><div>In response I would make the following observations:</div><div><ul><li>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.</li><li>The Ofcom rules on <a href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/impartiality/">Due Impartiality</a> apply to news so are not relevant in this case. </li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li></ul></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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 <a href="http://climateradio.org/">http://climateradio.org</a> from midday on Tuesdays. If you do plan on rebroadcasting them do email me at <a href="mailto:info@climateradio.org">info@climateradio.org</a> to let me know the time they will be going out and I will add the information to the Climate Radio website.</div><div><br></div><div>Yours,</div><div><br></div><div>Phil England</div><div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:medium;text-align:-webkit-auto"><div><br></div><div><a href="http://climateradio.org/">http://climateradio.org</a></div><div><a href="http://climateradio.org/about/phil-england/">http://climateradio.org/about/phil-england/</a></div><div><a href="http://twitter.com/ClimateRadio">http://twitter.com/ClimateRadio</a></div><div><br></div></div></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">Resonance104.4fm<br>144 Borough High Street<br>London SE1 1LB<br>UK<br><a href="http://www.resonancefm.com" target="_blank">www.resonancefm.com</a><br><br></div>
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