Patrick McFaddenLondon, ENG, United Kingdom
8 Oct 2014
Hi everyone, The BBC have responded and it is typically weak. I will be putting together a further complaint over the weekend and sending it to the Editorial Complaints Unit. This isn't over. Here is their response: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Dear Mr McFadden Thanks for contacting us about BBC News on 11th September 2014. Nick Robinson’s report began with a clip of Mr Salmond predicting victory at his press conference. He then described the hurdles Mr Salmond had to overcome – “all that confidence (of a Yes vote) despite a steady drumbeat of warnings of the economic risks of independence.” Our political editor referred to “four banks” which had said they would move their legal base from Scotland to England and reported that “today a series of high street retailers warned of a possible impact on prices in their stores of operating across a new border.” He named Asda and John Lewis. At the press conference, Nick Robinson had pressed repeatedly for Mr Salmond to answer his question on why voters should trust politicians rather than businessmen. Nick considered that the First Minister had failed to answer the point he was making. In his report, therefore, and clearly in the context of the issue of the warnings from banks and retailers he had outlined, Mr Robinson was shown on camera asking this question: “why should a Scottish voter believe you a politician against men who are responsible for billions of pounds of profits?” This was followed by the script line “He didn’t answer but he did attack the reporting of those in what he called the metropolitan media.” In hindsight, it would have been clearer for the audience if he had said in his report that Mr Salmond had failed to answer that point, rather than that “he didn’t answer.” The key parts of Mr Salmond’s answer to a separate question about the tax implications of Royal Bank of Scotland’s plan to move its registered headquarters to London were shown in detail in the report. There was a clip in which he read out part of a letter from the RBS chief executive, stating that it was not its plan to move operations or jobs. In another clip, and waving the BBC report on the issue, he accused the Treasury of being caught ‘red-handed as part of a campaign of scaremongering’ - calling for an inquiry into the leaking of market-sensitive information and for the BBC ‘in its impartial role as a public sector broadcaster’ to give its full cooperation to that investigation. Nick Robinson also reported that Mr Salmond had said there would be no loss of tax revenues, and that it was simply a matter of moving brass plates. We are confident, therefore, that this report was balanced and impartial. If you would like to take your complaint further, you can contact Stage 2 of the complaints process, the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit, within 20 working days of receiving this reply, and they will carry out an independent investigation. You can email them at: ecu@bbc.co.uk , or alternatively write to them at the following address: Editorial Complaints Unit Media Centre MC3 D3 201 Wood Lane London W12 7TP Should you choose to escalate your complaint we would ask that you include the reference number provided above in your correspondence. Thanks again for contacting us. Kind Regards BBC Complaints www.bbc.co.uk/complaints --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I say, I will be sending in a response to the Editorial Complaints Unit. Will update you all on progress. Best, Patrick
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