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Broadcasting would be poorer without BBC


Frank Beattie is somewhat fallacious regarding his ‘mixed feelings’ about the BBC — his overt hostility to the corporation is clear, as is his blinkered focus on accusations of British establishment bias in its news coverage and journalism. The BBC is by no means perfect as an organisation, but it remains


far more self-critical and self-balancing than any commercial broadcaster. (I still remember the incisive Radio 4 Media Show discussion on Panorama’s investigation into Newsnight’s dropped report on Jimmy Savile. Talk of Russian dolls!) More importantly, the BBC remains responsible for producing


and transmitting huge swathes of popular and high-quality programming across multiple genres on television and, especially, radio. There is far more to the BBC than news. British broadcasting – British culture in general


– would be significantly poorer without the BBC, which is why we need to save it from any pro Murdoch government interference. Paul F Cockburn Edinburgh


Letter writers should show they have nothing to hide I enjoyed the February Journalist edition, especially the ‘Dear Sir/ Madam’ piece on readers’ Letters, which brought back memories. While editor Christine Buckley admits she at times struggles to get enough letters to fill an edition, my own experience is there are lots of people out here with an axe to grind who will willingly take advantage of free space in any type of publication. What was not really covered in your


reminiscences of letters page editors were the commercial concerns, pressure groups, political parties and whatever who often try to hide their true identity because to properly declare an interest would make their words worthless. In the same way as we do for news,


letters have to be put into context for the benefit of readers. Mostly this just means writers properly identifying themselves.


22 | theJournalist


This was my thought as I read Frank Beattie of Kilmarnock’s letter “Should we be fighting for the biased BBC?” If I didn’t know it came from an NUJ member for whom objectivity, impartiality and integrity are key and that he endorses president Tim Dawson’s rallying call on fake news – “The truth will out, but we need to assist it” – I would think it was just another anti-BBC rant from the Scottish National Party. John Cunningham Dunfermline


Try saying an acronym before you write it In his column in the February-March 2017 issue of The Journalist, Chris Proctor mentions a group of smartly dressed trade unionists wearing ties ‘emblazoned with the legend TJF’ – which stood for something rude. In doing so, Chris refers to TJF as an


acronym. It’s not; it’s just three initials. An acronym is a collection of initials


£30 prize


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– short or long – that spell out an easily pronounced (albeit makeshift) word. Thus – to continue with the trade union theme – the shortened versions of the old print unions NATSOPA and SOGAT are acronyms; those of the TGWU and GMB, once of the non-print industrial sector, are not. Chris tells us that the trade union delegates with the bespoke ties worked for “the POEU, the union that represented BT engineers”. As it happens, POEU isn’t an acronym either. Just try saying it as a word! Bob Haywood Birmingham


We owe it to journalism to implement section 40 Many journalists are rightly concerned about section 40. Unfortunately, the arguments made against it seem to neglect why it was proposed in the first place following the Leveson Report. Trust in journalism is at an all-time low – and for good reason. The largest


Email to: journalist@nuj.org.uk Post to: The Journalist 72 Acton Street, London WC1X 9NB Tweet to: @mschrisbuckley


and most influential publications are controlled by a handful of companies that have consistently and recklessly purveyed political bias and private interests under the guise of journalism. They are the same populist media that misinformed the public about the EU, encourage shameful discrimination towards marginalised groups and shape the course of public debate in a way that has eroded our democracy. The current ‘regulator’, which is


favoured by these publications, almost never enforces its own code and, on the few occasions it does, publications just carry on in the same manner. We owe it to the higher principles of


real journalism – as well all those who have suffered from its abuses – to implement section 40. Steve Mcnought Editor, Boundless


Citizen journalists hold power to account too I disagree with Andrew Napier’s letter in which he states newspapers are the only game in town when it comes to holding power to account. Citizen journalists writing for internet news magazines can also be very effective. The citizen journalists of the North


Yorks Enquirer internet news magazine have been very successful in this regard. They have revealed: illegal transfers of funds to North Yorkshire police chief officers; councillors from the North Yorkshire National Parks Authority standing to make millions from a proposed potash mine in the park; the victimisation of Scarborough Borough Council whistleblower Ben Marriott for alleging misconduct in the award of contracts; and councillors with unpaid taxes or who had failed to disclose interests or double-claimed broadband allowances. How North Yorkshire Police failed to investigate the Jimmy Savile and Peter Jaconelli paedophile ring was also revealed by internet journalists. Many of these stories were


subsequently covered in the national and local print media. I emphatically agree with Andrew that


TIM ELLIS


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