MMM comments on BBC World at One hoax
Red faces abounded on BBC Radio 4 yesterday following a series of gaffes, from presenter James Naughtie’s verbal contortions on the Today programme, to a hoax guest masquerading as a Lib Dem MP on the World at One.
The Drum spoke to Peter Aitchison, a senior director with McGarvie Morrison Media and a former news editor with the BBC on programmes including Good Morning Scotland and Newsnight Scotland, to find out just how easy it is to fool the media.
Aitchison said: “Given the huge amount of news output that the BBC provides, from Newsnight to a range of local radio outlets across England plus five UK national radio stations and national stations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland it is hardly surprising that the occasional error creeps in”.
“Newspapers can discreetly issue corrections in their next edition, often tucked away well out of sight and certainly lacking prominence. For broadcasters the error, once pointed out, is more obvious and much harder to hide from.
”Mistakes do happen of course, and in my time with the BBC there were “notices” sent on the internal system warning of serial commentators or hoaxers who pretended to be experts on anything from Bosnia to bleach. But there were also celebrated bloopers, such as the time a taxi driver who arrived at BBC Broadcasting House in London for a job interview as an IT specialist was huckled live on to BBC News 24 to “comment” on a dispute involving Apple Computers.
“I also vividly remember a car crash radio interview on Good Morning Scotland involving a professor from Aberdeen who was apparently talking about fish quotas in the North Sea. After the live broadcast he told me that he knew nothing about cod, but was an expert on salmon fishing in the River Dee. Wrong contact, but a man who did know a little about fish... Just the wrong fish.
”So, yes, mistakes do happen in broadcast news. Usually the audience is unaware of it, but sometimes it can cause acute embarrassment and the internet means that the reputation damage is now greatly magnified. But I don’t think the Lib Dem issue with WATO will permanently tarnish what is an excellent programme or the BBC’s sound values of news judgment and impartiality. It is though a warning shot to all journalists to be sure and to check and then double check and then check again.”