Dear .....
Thank you for your telephone call. Your comments were passed to the Head of News and Current Affairs, who has asked that I forward his response as follows:
"Thank you for being in touch about our programmes, and in particular our use of the aviation writer, Jim Ferguson.
We take very seriously our obligation to be fair and accurate in our reporting, and we value your thoughts on our output.
First, as a general point, we make every effort to distinguish between our reporting of the facts of a story, and the analysis or interpretation, whether by correspondents or external contributors. We also strive to ensure that these are fair and accurate.
In our reporting of the particular story of the recent helicopter ditching in the North Sea, we have made extensive use of interviews with key figures in the industry and the relevant trade unions. At all times we have tried to obtain interviews with people who have the most direct knowledge of the subject.
We have turned to this particular contributor especially for interpretation of the events surrounding the initial controlled landing of the aircraft, and the early stages of analysis of the significant implications of the AAIB report on the incident.
In our reporting of the story, we have not misrepresented the background of this contributor. He has been introduced as "an aviation writer", rather than as an "expert" in the field. He remains a frequent contributor to a wide range of other broadcast and print media organisations. He has been writing on the aviation industry for 40 years. This period spanned 30 years as North Sea/ Scottish Correspondent for "Aviation News", 25 years as UK/ North Sea Correspondent for "Rotor and Wing", and 20 years as Scottish/ North Sea Correspondent for "Flight International".
We are committed to expanding our base of informed contributors to news developments in this vital industry. We would welcome discussions with potential interviewees who have specialist knowledge, and are prepared to comment at short notice on major incidents. If you feel you can help with this, please contact our Managing Editor for the North East and North Isles, Sandy Bremner, in the first instance. His email address is
[email protected]
If you would like to comment on a developing story regarding the offshore helicopter industry, please contact our news team in Aberdeen at
[email protected] AND our online service at
[email protected]
Thank you, once again, for taking the time to contact us.”
Details of the BBC complaints process are available online at
BBC - Complaints - What happens to your complaint
Kind Regards
Patrick McManus
BBC Complaints
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints