Tory MP to report BBC to Ofcom over council cuts programme

Stephen Hammond believes The Street That Cut Everything, to be aired later this year, compromises the BBC's editorial integrity

A Tory MP is reporting the BBC to Ofcom, claiming the corporation's editorial integrity is compromised after a documentary crew took 20 dogs into a residential street to foul it to test how a community would cope if all council services were cut.

The programme, The Street That Cut Everything, will be presented by the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson.

As part of the programme the film producers brought the 20 dogs, with their owners, to the cul-de-sac in Preston, Lancashire, to film them fouling the pavements.

The residents were given a council tax rebate while rubbish collection, street cleaning and street lights were cut.

Stephen Hammond, the Tory MP who is reporting the BBC to Ofcom, said: "This is an outrageous piece of scaremongering by the BBC and compromises their editorial integrity. We need a full and frank explanation from the organisation about how and why this is a good use of taxpayers cash.

"I shall be reporting them to Ofcom for what quite frankly is a unforgivable breach of editorial standards."

An aide to Pickles said: "It compromises their editorial integrity. They are creating a hypothetical situation where all services are cut that will never happen. Quite clearly this isn't a responsible thing for them to be doing."

Preston council's Conservative leader, Ken Hudson, also criticised the programme, and said he did not believe it was a good way to spend licence fee-payers' money. "I don't think that by putting 20 dogs on a street to make sure that the street gets fouled by dog droppings is good television really," he said. "We know that the people of the street are a really caring community and I am not sure that they knew just what they were letting themselves in for. I am not sure whether they expected to be picking up dog dirt."

He went on: "We are absolutely appalled that people are l! eaving d irt on the streets. Normally we would prosecute people for doing that."

A BBC spokesman said: "This programme will explore how a community faces up to the choices involved in living in an era of cuts, and examine the way in which people act as a group when confronted with limited resources and difficult decisions. The filming of the dog-walking scene demonstrates in exaggerated form one of the challenges residents would face if street cleaning services were cut. The residents rose to the challenge and cleaned up the small amount of dog dirt extremely quickly."

The programme will air later this year.


guardian.co.uk Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top flyer boo-boo : Shut off noisy engines

LONDON: It's too noisy, could you please turn off the engines ? Could you please open the window? These are some of the "foolish" and "bizarre requests" flyers often make to flight attendants, according to a new survey. The survey of some 3,000 Virgin Atlantic cabin crew members found that some passengers fail to understand why they are prevented from opening the window, others think "turning down" the engines could reduce the noise. "Please, can you open the window?" was among the most common unusual queries made by uncomfortable passengers who seem to be unaware of the benefits of a pressurised cabin at 35,000ft. Other unique questions included "could you turn the engines down because they are too noisy?" and "please can the captain stop the turbulence?", the Telegraph reported. The survey also laid bare the level of comfort and service some customers expect, with several asking flight attendants "can you sho
Keep reading

UK greenhouse gas emissions fall 8.7%

Image
Total UK emissions plummet as recession lowers electricity and fuel use A dramatic fall in greenhouse gas emissions following the recession has brought the UK's climate change targets for the next five years within easy reach, taking the pressure off government and business to comply. Government estimates released on Tuesday showed greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.7% from 2008 to 2009, the biggest drop since records began in 1990. Carbon dioxide levels plunged 9.8%, a fall only matched in 1980, in records extending to 1970. The unexpectedly deep slump in emissions mirrors the fall in industrial output in the recession, with high-emitting sectors including construction and transport hit particularly hard. But it also means that government-set climate change targets of cutting emissions by 35% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels, now look much easier to meet. The UK has already met the targets for 2016, provided emissions stay at 2009 levels. This raises the prospect that business
Keep reading

Dogs can be trained to sniff out bowel cancer, Japanese researchers say

Image
Experiments show that labrador retriever's sense of smell can identify minute traces of chemicals circulating in human body Dogs can be trained to sniff out bowel cancer, even when the disease is in its early stages, researchers in Japan claim. In a series of experiments that involved sniffing the breath or stool samples of patients, a specially-trained labrador retriever proved nearly as good at identifying those with cancer as a conventional colonoscopy examination. The team, led by Hideto Sonoda at Fukuoka dental college hospital, said some dogs have such a keen sense of smell that they can detect minute traces of chemicals that appear to circulate in the bodies of people who have cancer. The finding builds on previous experiments in which researchers used dogs to sniff out cancers in the skin, lungs, bladder and ovaries. Writing in the journal Gut , the researchers describe how the eight-year-old dog was trained to distinguish between the smell of a patient with colorectal canc
Keep reading