For those of you who may have been living on another planet the last two weeks, BBC comedians Jonathan ‘wossy’ Ross and Russell ‘my booky wooky’ Brand, have been accused of taking comedy a step too far after leaving lewd messages on Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs's answer phone. Several days later (or what felt like weeks in media terms) Brand resigned and the BBC finally pulled its finger out, suspending Ross for three months without pay.
While the media has undoubtedly inflated the situation, the BBC’s painfully slow corporate reaction to events - despite the 35,000 complaints received - suggests this may not have been the case had its PR operation actually been up to the job. Journalists have reported the BBC press office as being ”half-hearted” in its response to the story, whilst the majority of licence fee payers remain disgusted with the BBC’s inability to take Ross’s and Brand’s behaviour seriously enough.
As a result, there has been increased pressure on the BBC to justify its very existence, with this blunder reopening old wounds such as the dispute around celebrity salaries and the Beeb’s pursuit of a younger audience with the launch of its digital channel. However, as director general of the BBC Mark Thompson informed us: “If you go into a restaurant and they’ve got tripe on the menu and you don’t like tripe, you don’t order tripe”. True, but what if, as one disgruntled Daily Telegraph reader questioned, “the restaurant says that you have to pay for tripe whether you order it or not?” Not only is this a shocking way to respond to what is fast becoming an outright scandal, but the BBC exists as a public entity - funded both by and for the public - and as such, must be held more accountable for its actions.
It’s quite clear that the BBC failed to act quickly enough in the face of the escalating crisis, demonstrating a complete breakdown in its corporate communications strategy. The organisation faces some big challenges ahead - which it will only overcome if it listens to the public’s concerns and becomes more concerted in its decision making. One thing is for certain, this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last time that the BBC is at the centre of a storm of controversy. Let’s just hope that next time its PR machine is up to the challenge!
How many of the 30,000+ people who have complained about the Brand/Ross incident have actually heard what was broadcast?
I can understand Manuel and his satanic slut granddaughter complaining - but I am bemused that over 99.99% of the complaints appear to have been lodged some days after the offending broadcast, and only once the Daily Mail had taken it upon themselves to make a story of it.
Yes, the BBC did react too slowly - but I feel the response they eventually gave (asking the head of Radio 2 to fall on their sword and suspending Ross for three months) was over the top.
It was a rather juvenile joke by Brand and Ross, but then - what do you expect on the Russell Brand show? The equivalent to Oscar Wilde?
Posted by: Graham Cluley | 10 November 2008 at 11:31