I have finally, about three weeks late, received the BBC response to my complaint about Eddie Butler's insulting thoughtlessness at the Military Muster. (Starts on page 4 of this thread).
Thanks for contacting us regarding BBC One’s ‘The Diamond Jubilee: Armed Forces Tribute’ broadcast on 19 May.
We apologise for the delay in replying. We realise that our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we’re sorry that you had to wait on this occasion.
We understand you believe Eddie Butler was dismissive of the RAF by stating, “The Duke of Edinburgh, of course a naval man, looking on as the RAF holds up proceedings” and you were unhappy with this.
Having reviewed this part of the coverage, what had actually happened was that the salute and anthem finished slightly earlier than planned, so the wait for the flypast was longer than expected. His remark wasn’t supposed to be dismissive of the RAF – he was simply trying to communicate to viewers at home why there was a delay and why the Queen and Guardsmen were waiting. It’s also worth noting that Fiona Bruce went on to say “With absolute precision, the RAF are making their way into the spot left for them here in the arena”. However we’re sorry if any offence was caused as it certainly wasn’t our intention.
Nevertheless, feedback like your own helps to inform our discussion and decision making regarding future output and your comments were made available to programme makers, channel controllers and senior management at the time of contact.
Please again accept our apologies for the unfortunate delay and thanks for taking the time to contact us.
The phrase 'flatulent, disingenuous sophistry' comes to mind, but when I've got a moment I hope to improve on that. Trouble is, if you want to follow a complaint up, you have to start a new one.
Why can't they just say 'Sorry, we/Eddie Butler screwed up, ' etc.........?
Have you had the same thing, Foldie?
I'm still hoping to get more from my more direct contacts with the Beeb on the broader subject of the poor standard of the flying bits of the Muster commentary. Not holding my breath, though.
airsound