Bizarre BBC Radio Devon resignation
MarkWright
Posts: 42 Forum Member
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Hold the front page! (Of the MoS, anyway!) Read all about it! Obscure local radio presenter gains instant infamy from agenda-driven non-story!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-27360002
What's going on here, then? Not just the MoS running it, here's the Sunday Mirror's re-jigging of what suspiciously looks like pooled copy...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bbc-radio-dj-david-lowe-3523376
Blimey. Bit of an over-reaction to resign so suddenly.
Are these the genuine actions of some poor fellow, wracked with terrible guilt, selflessly sacrificing himself before the devastating impact of such an inexcusable slight finally topples his beloved employer? Or, for example, not?
Assuming the former, this unfortunate soul must have decided he'd accidentally exposed the thin end of the BBC's wedge and was at pains to help hush things up. Shame then that someone let the cat jump so quickly out of the bag, only for it to start mewing loudly, via satellite, on all of the news wires. Butterfingers!
Anyway. Nice to see a radio-related story on the front page of such a (hateful) mass-circulation paper!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-27360002
What's going on here, then? Not just the MoS running it, here's the Sunday Mirror's re-jigging of what suspiciously looks like pooled copy...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bbc-radio-dj-david-lowe-3523376
Blimey. Bit of an over-reaction to resign so suddenly.
Are these the genuine actions of some poor fellow, wracked with terrible guilt, selflessly sacrificing himself before the devastating impact of such an inexcusable slight finally topples his beloved employer? Or, for example, not?
Assuming the former, this unfortunate soul must have decided he'd accidentally exposed the thin end of the BBC's wedge and was at pains to help hush things up. Shame then that someone let the cat jump so quickly out of the bag, only for it to start mewing loudly, via satellite, on all of the news wires. Butterfingers!
Anyway. Nice to see a radio-related story on the front page of such a (hateful) mass-circulation paper!
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Comments
Don't.
They even asked for his permission to say merely that he had left for personal reasons, hiding the real reason he had been pressured out of the job.
Jesus !
I don't quite think you can compare Clarkson to some local radio DJ that hosts a once a week late night slot on BBC Devon but he's been made a scape goat.
Partly his own fault for offering to resign and partly the fault of whoever at BBC Devon had that version available for him to play.
There will come a time when we won't be able to say anything in the fear of upsetting someone or the other.
Luckily you don't HAVE to pay it. Sell your telly, no "tax" required. Then live a long and guilt free life.
BBC 2 repeat edit it out but BBC4 keep it in!
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/media/news/a402163/itv-calendar-news-escapes-racist-song-gaffe-rebuke.html#~oDWlpNaXdmZNBO
Ah yes, but don't forget luvvies that Elvis Costello is one of the "PC right on" brigade and his was somehow a post-ironic comment on the "troubles" in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, and clearly he wasn't setting out to offend.........
Frankly the world has gone a bit mad - I hope Radio 1 and 1xtra are refusing to play tracks by a well-known group called NWA - somehow I suspect not......... (for those not au-fait with the group in question.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N.W.A )
Wouldn't be shocked if David is reinstated this week.
It's a bit more complex than that, Costello got drunker and drunker one night in 1979, started disparaging American rock and its roots when Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlett walked in at 2 a.m., ending with him calling James Brown a "jive arsed ******" and Ray Charles a "blind ignorant ******." at which point Bonnie Bramlett backhanded him ending up in a brawl broken up by the bartender. Ironically when the American chapter of Rock Against Racism picketed his concerts they used photos of him at a Rock Against Racism gig in Europe, presumably he objected to Eric Clapton and David Bowie's statements at the time but also continued to adopt the persona of aggressive immature punk with an alcohol problem who enjoyed being deliberately offensive to journalists, fellow musicians and even his audience at times. He's later put the whole incident in the context of being young, stupid and drunk but it killed his American career.
If I was watching a theatre production about the British in Northern Ireland the term "white ******" I'd find perfectly acceptable because it was used by soldiers at the time in casual conversation, same as I do in Costello's song. Costello may well have also heard the Stephen Still/Jimi Hendrix track White ******, which I don't think has ever been released except as a jam without vocal track and changed title, it's easily found online. Then you have Don't Call Me ****** Whitey by Sly and the Family Stone. Those I would think would never be played on radio except in the context of a doumentary because they have the word in the title rather than in the lyrics.
Hope so as it does seem that it's more the action of one local manager rather than BBC policy as a whole.
You mean that 'Socialist PC mob' that appears to be giving disproportionate airtime to UKIP, a party with not a single MP?
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, this seems a simple cock-up by a local manager.
I was looking up the OED definition and etymology earlier. The OED says that IC3 people are allowed to use the word. All that should matter is the way that a word is used.
Was this a privately-owned record from the DJ's own collection or was it on the BBC's play system? If it is on the station's system, then it is they who need to be cast into the depths of hell, not an innocent presenter who didn't even know the word was present.
Well I find the hysteria from the "it's PC gone mad " zealots far more tiresome. Front pages of newspapers. He offered his resignation, some bloke accepted it. The over-reaction is mad, beyond belief. If he didn't want to go, probably best not to offer your resignation.
He's been offered the job back, but is clearly enjoying his martyr status. Fair enough, but let's just call this what it is, a complete non-story.
Should the person who added this to the BBC Devon music computer be the person to be "let go" ?
Was the song downloaded from the central BBC music system and if so, should the person who added it there be "let go" ?
Isn't the head of BBC Devon responsible for the output of the station and they should be "let go" ?
If the Clarkson story wasn't current, would anyone have noticed ?
The real story now is why the local management team asked if they could lie and say he is stepping down after 30 years, to which I gather David said no, he wanted to apologise to his regular listeners, 99.9 of them did not notice or were not offended.
Now it seems the story may turn on the management and I wonder if he will return if they are sacked, it would be interesting to see if the song in question was on the BBC's database ready for broadcast by anyone, or if it was supplied by a 3rd party.
It seems a horrible way to end his long reign at BBC Devon,I believe he has done everything he should in these circumstances.
The BBC is "Socialist" now? When did that happen?
Can't you just answer this, yes or no.
If you're calling this a non story and you are that Mark Wright, then we could also call it a non story if you were ever to be sacked over something so trivial, which wouldn't be surprising with an employer like Global who I assume have no loyalty to you whatsoever, every presenter they have is dispensable.
Well, one person the Dj, made a mistake playing this record out, he admitted it, he apologises. One person seems to have made a mistake in accepting his resignation and asking if the Dj would go along with a lie, he's apologised.
Yet you think one should be sacked, and the person who offered his resignation, not sacked.
Are only one type of person allowed to make an honest mistake.
Again he's been offered his old role back, if he takes it, fair enough, if he doesn't, so what? He's chosen to leave. utterly non-story, and even if you may think it is a story, do you honestly believe it merits a front-page in the biggest circulating 'paper in the World, or any others.
If it's a non-story, why did management attempt to cover it up by asking the presenter if they could present his resignation as something other than what it was? Second question - who is responsible for putting this track on the system? He must be a spittle-flecked redneck racist, so sack him forthwith. The real story here is that we seem to have entered the age of an hysterical 'new inquisition', and anyone who disagrees, crosses the line, makes a mistake or makes a slip of the tongue loses their livelihood and their reputation. That's the story.
Nobodies been sacked.