BBC Apologizes For Playing 'Hey Joe' Immediately After Oscar Pistorius Report

[HCochet]

.................."In light of the nature of the news story, we apologise for any offence caused by the proximity of the song 'Hey Joe' to the bulletin," she said. "An on-air apology was made immediately the mistake was realized."...........................


entire story is below

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...d10|htmlws-main-bb|dl14|sec3_lnk1&pLid=272391

 

[northwoods]

Sounds like Political Correctness to me. I say privatize the BBC, return the money to operate this government run boondoggle to the UK taxpayers, get the government out of the radio (and TV) business, and let them operate without the PC police standing over their shoulder.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

This incident is ripe for treatment on another on-going thread on radio station sensitivity.

The above link connects to a Huff Post story, which, to my disappointment, fails to probe the obvious question: was Hey Joe played intentionally? Same omission ocurred in another layer of the story, the Only The Good Die Young fax paus.

Radio "traffic" can get very busy, and things can go wrong quickly, like the (****) Mortuary spot run during a break in my 5 PM news block back in '73. Ours was a small-town radio station. The spot was read "live" during a network news "local" break, just seconds after the network's coverage of multiple fatalities in a west coast auto wreck. It could have been "pulled" had the board-op just used his head! Furious listeners called in for two hours. Our station manager's 45-second apology played for 2-weeks. The offending "jock" was reprimanded but not fired, since the awkward mishap was unintentional.

Assuming the Hey Joe fiasco was just a case of bad timing, the story does not even qualify as legitimate news. Were it done on purpose however, the clown responsible for playing it should be fired at once and blackballed forever.

 

[stevensonair]

Because privatizing the BBC would go over so well with the commercial broadcasters in the UK.

I can't see WHY they'd have a problem with it. ;D

 

[Silkie]

And here you thought the computer just did it while a board operator sat and watched it all play.

 

[EddieTheRapFan]

Sounds like Political Correctness to me. I say privatize the BBC, return the money to operate this government run boondoggle to the UK taxpayers, get the government out of the radio (and TV) business, and let them operate without the PC police standing over their shoulder.

I know this is a somewhat old post, but why depriving the audience of public media? At most, the best thing to do would be privatize Radio 1 and Radio 2, since they're commercial style stations, close or privatize Radio 6 and the Asian Network, and keep Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 5 and the locals stations which actually do a very good public service.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Sounds like Political Correctness to me. I say privatize the BBC, return the money to operate this government run boondoggle to the UK taxpayers, get the government out of the radio (and TV) business, and let them operate without the PC police standing over their shoulder.

Sorry, makes too much sense.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Sounds like Political Correctness to me. I say privatize the BBC, return the money to operate this government run boondoggle to the UK taxpayers, get the government out of the radio (and TV) business, and let them operate without the PC police standing over their shoulder.

Sorry, makes too much sense.

I'm sorry, it makes very little sense. Most Europeans, Britons included, value the importance of a strong public broadcasting sector alongside commercial broadcasting. Broadcasting, which uses the public airwaves, is too important a medium to be left exclusively to commercial interests, which exist only to make a profit and tend to neglect anything that doesn't attract a mass audience. Commercial broadcasting plays one role in society; public broadcasting plays another. You need both to have a truly vibrant broadcasting system.