# Dreadful BBC reporting



## Tony (18 Oct 2008)

I posted this elsewhere, and along with others complained to the BBC about the truly shocking priorities shown in the headline and in the article.
The cyclist involved has since died.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7673420.stm


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## yello (18 Oct 2008)

I'm not usually piqued by such things, taking them in my stride as a rule, but the slant on that article is unbelievably callous. The poor motorists had to wait... and were 



> prevented from turning into Regents Park Road



...My lord! It's outrageous! They couldn't turn into Regents Park Road because of the selfish actions of a cyclist getting himself killed.


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## gratts (18 Oct 2008)

Mad. A couple of miles from where I live.


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## numbnuts (18 Oct 2008)

It seems that cyclist have become second third class citizens according to the press RIP

.....and I’m hovering like a fly
waiting for the windshield on the freeway


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## ufkacbln (18 Oct 2008)

The local news report was even worse reporting upon the effect of the hold up on local business - highlighting a firm who had delivery vehicles stuck in the traffic restrictions. Not one of those interviewed stepped outside their little selfish world to express sympathy or concern for the cyclist.


The interesting thing that everyone is missing (deliberately?) is that the driver is charged with GBH!

This is an unusual (and if I am wrong the legal eagles will correct me) but I believe this implies that this requires an "intent to harm" in other words the Police are convinced enough that the motorist intended to injure the cyclist to bring such a charge.....

So if this is the case it should have been a different headline..... *Aggressive violent motorist causes traffic chaos* - but then again why bother?


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## CopperBrompton (18 Oct 2008)

A GBH charge sounds to me like the police know it was deliberate, so this doesn't sound like an accident at all, rather murder.


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## sheddy (18 Oct 2008)

If anyone knows te best way to complain to the BBC please let us all know


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## CopperBrompton (18 Oct 2008)

Just use the feedback link on the site. I've done it several times, and each time the issue was dealt with very quickly.


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## yello (18 Oct 2008)

Cunobelin said:


> The interesting thing that everyone is missing (deliberately?) is that the driver is charged with GBH!



I saw it but didn't what to assume anything from it... though it might suggest no fault on the part of the cyclist. I found the whole tone of the article sickening offensive regardless of fault, or even who was fatality injured.


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## ufkacbln (18 Oct 2008)

Someone on the CTC website suggested NewsWatch


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## gratts (18 Oct 2008)

BBC Complaints


Tick the box saying you require a response..That way you know they've actually read it and have to reply, rather than just tossing it aside.


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## ufkacbln (18 Oct 2008)

yello said:


> I saw it but didn't what to assume anything from it... though it might suggest no fault on the part of the cyclist. I found the whole tone of the article sickening offensive regardless of fault, or even who was fatality injured.



I agree that apportioning blame is difficult aat such an early stage, and soes not help the outcome, or lessen the trauma for the relatives. Especially when this is compounded I suspect by such heartless and poor reporting.

However my curiosity was piqued by the sentence in the news report so looked up GBH as an offence... and that is where I came up with the discovery that the charge requires "intent" to cause harm, or at least an "Awareness" that your action will cause harm. To actauly charge the driver with this offence at this stage suggests thatthere is strong evience that she intended to injure the cyclist.

It does not make the story or the way it was reported any more palatable, but does raise the question as to why no-one has followed up, especially now as I believe (again if I am wrong- correct me) that if the victim dies a GBH escalates to murder or at best manslaughter.

The reluctance to pick up on this aspect of the incident is at best negligent.


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## andy_wrx (19 Oct 2008)

Given the standard of reporting in this article, I wouldn't be surprised if the driver had been charged with say Careless Driving but the journo misunderstood and hence 'GBH'...


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## dodgy (19 Oct 2008)

gratts said:


> BBC Complaints
> 
> 
> Tick the box saying you require a response..That way you know they've actually read it and have to reply, rather than just tossing it aside.



Thanks, I've done just that.


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## tdr1nka (19 Oct 2008)

Just added m two pennys worth.

Not one shred of human decency in it. 

Appalling journalism, if you could even call it that!


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## gavintc (19 Oct 2008)

This is an interesting one. The BBC defence will be that the cause and effect are related. A cyclist died - newsworthy, a traffic jam occured - newsworthy. The problem will be to prove that in similar accidents, the inconvenience to motorists was not given such prominence in the original article. I can almost hear the silky smooth defence which will claim that 'cyclists are making too much of this - well cyclists do this don't they' in a patronising manner. Conveniently, reading today's BBC Scotland pages, there is a report of 3 motorists dying, but no mention of delay. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7678598.stm


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## yello (20 Oct 2008)

My wife couldn't see what the problem was, saying it was factual. I tried to get her to see that it was not the facts but the emphasis, the balance. More weight is given to the fact that peoples journeys were inconvenienced than to it being road accident. It gives the message, as I read it, that the journeys are of greater value than the life. 

The fact it's a cyclist is immaterial really. I would be equally appalled by the report if it were a car accident.


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## ComedyPilot (20 Oct 2008)

"I find this type/style of reporting (all the more prevalent nowadays) to be abhorrent. Although not known at the time, a life was lost, the incident was still serious. The tone and language used in the article read as if the 'poor motorists' were being somehow inconvenienced by the cyclist's situation. Come on BBC, have a little bit of thought for both the family of the person involved, and how this type of shoddy reporting is interpreted by your readers/viewers."

Just posted that as a complaint on the BBC site.


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## dodgy (20 Oct 2008)

6 paragraphs in that story, inconvenience to motorists was mentioned in 4 of the 6.


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## Twenty Inch (20 Oct 2008)

Thanks for flagging this. My response

"I've just read this story. I'm appalled at the emphasis in the story. Someone was seriously injured in this collision. However, your report focusses on the inconvenience to motorists. The roads were blocked to move an injured person and to gather evidence about the collision. The motorists and journalists concerned should be ashamed that they did not have any more compassion"


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## domtyler (20 Oct 2008)

*Injury to toddler leads to delays*

A toddler has been seriously injured in a crash in Southampton leading to severe delays for motorists.

The toddler, a 2-year-old girl from Southampton, suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision with a car on Millbrook Road West at about 0730 BST.

Some motorists were delayed for several hours. All roads have since reopened.

A 29-year-old female driver of a Fiat Punto, who was uninjured and was held on suspicion of having inflicted grievous bodily harm, has been bailed.

During the incident, police closed the junction of Millbrook Road West and Trebourba Way. There were also closures in place at the junction with Waterhouse Way.

Traffic was also prevented from turning into Regents Park Road.


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## dodgy (20 Oct 2008)

Precisely, Dom.


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## ComedyPilot (20 Oct 2008)

I tell you, f**king media/journos are pure scum. Almost as bad as chavs and domestic violence jockeys


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## sheddy (20 Oct 2008)

story update - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7678672.stm


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## Rhythm Thief (21 Oct 2008)

To be honest, I've seen exactly the same thing in reports about fatal motorway crashes - Long Delays as Lorries Collide, 2 Dead, that sort of thing. It's never occurred to me as a lorry driver to feel morally outraged about it. Without wishing to sound callous, one road user dead is not really news, in that it doesn't affect people outside of his circle of family and friends, whereas traffic chaos potentially affects many more. I'm not trying to excuse the BBC, but I can maybe see why they take this angle.


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## Saddle bum (21 Oct 2008)

What is GBH without intent, never heard of it. I thought GBH implied deliberate intent and ABH was without intent.


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## dodgy (21 Oct 2008)

sheddy said:


> story update - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/7678672.stm[/quote]
> 
> Looks like they now have a page they can point to that says "we care about people, too".
> 
> Dave.


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## gratts (21 Oct 2008)

I've had no response yet.
I require a response!


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