Complaint bandwagon - hop on
Posted by scott on October 28th, 2008It looks like Ofcom will be dragged into the media frenzy that has been caused by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand leaving phone messages for actor Andrew Sach’s (still best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers).
It seems likely that when they do that the BBC will get their fingers rapped, and no doubt Ross and Brand still have some flack to come from the BBC Trust, although perhaps not as much as the person in production team/management that thought it a good idea not to cut the phone messages out of the pre-recorded programme before broadcast.
Anyway, if Ofcom moves at its usual speed, do not expect anything to happen on this for at least 6 months.
For me the most interesting thing is the number of complaints.After the show was broadcast the BBC received TWO complaints about Jonathan Ross swearing: “He fucked your granddaughter”. In the last few days as the story has grown, the number of complaints has apparently risen to close to 5,000. How many of these people ‘heard’ the show? The two that complained about the swearing at the time would be my guess, and therefore they are the only two whose complaints should be heard. This is not to say Ofcom should not look at if any other aspect of the code was breached by the broadcast, just that the complaints of people informed by what they read in the press should be ignored, discounted, and binned.
Update: There have now been over 10,000 complaints from people that didn’t hear the broadcast. Andrew Sach’s granddaughter has also given an exclusive to the Sun, calling for Ross and Brand to be sacked, and saying they shouldn’t get any more publicity out of the incident - which will be why she is giving the Sun an exclusive to put an end to publicity for the event obviously. I’m guessing this is something which she has no-doubt done out of the kindness of her heart and for no financial renumeration at all (maybe a donation to charity?). I hope she hasn’t. If she does indeed end up benefitting financially from the ‘distraught’ it caused her grandfather, then that would be sad indeed.
Of course, The Sun - paragone of virtue that it is - is also looking for anyone who knows Georgina to contact them, so they can stitch her up.
The Daily Mail was disgusted - of course. So much so it provided a link to the actual broadcast on youtube
Further Update: BBC DG Mark Thompson has now suspended both Ross and Brand, pending the outcome of the BBC investigation. The BBC website is asking whether this was right or not - as you’d expect some very predictable comments.
Another Update: Russell Brand has resigned. The press are still baying for Ross’ blood however. Indeed, it is hard to find someone who doesn’t want to stick an oar in. Georgina continues to do her bit for ensuring that Brand and Ross don’t get any more publicity - isn’t that what she told the Sun? This obvioulsy explains why she is talking about her sexual encounter with Brand in great detail in today’s edition of the paper.At least Sachs seems to have handled matters with some dignity.
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