CharliesRightPeg
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 20 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 589
Pretty sure the image rights were bought the year before via a court case
Blatant click bait.
I am writing to let you know the provisional outcome of the Executive Complaints Unit’s
investigation into your complaint about the above article on the BBC News website1. I
should explain that the Editorial Complaints Unit was replaced by the Executive
Complaints Unit on 3 April 2017 as part of the change in external regulation of the BBC
and the process for handling complaints. The new Unit has a wider remit2 but I have
considered your complaint in line with the remit of the Editorial Complaints Unit at the
time you made your complaint and as set out in my letter of 27 March.
I understood you to say the reference to the launch of a Manchester United/TAG Heuer
branded watch amounted to “an explicit piece of product promotion”. I therefore considered
your complaint in light of Section 14 of the Editorial Guidelines which says the BBC must
“avoid any undue prominence which gives the impression that we are promoting or endorsing
products, or organisations or services” and to achieve this references to trade names, brand
names and slogans should be “clearly editorially justified”.
I do have some sympathy with your concern about the mention of the launch of “a pair of
club special-edition watches” but I think there was an editorial justification for the reference,
albeit a slight one, in the context of an article about the club’s quarterly revenue figures
published in the Business section of the BBC News website. It was one, minor, aspect of
the business affairs of the football club, which followed more in-depth analysis of its
revenue streams and sponsorship deals. The reference to the special-edition watches at
the end of the article was, in my view, brief and could not be considered to amount to the
kind of undue prominence which might give the impression the BBC was promoting or
endorsing the product. I therefore do not believe there are grounds to uphold this aspect
of your complaint.
I've had the standard letter from the ECU about this. Has anyone else who had it responded yet?
I've also had this from them over my complaint about the BBC endorsing their club watches repeatedly:
What I do know from speaking to a journalist contact is that it's now common for organisations to be invited to PR events for product launches like this only on the understanding (that may even have to be formal as part of a signed agreement) that they will plus the product. The BBC is clearly resorting to its default position of lying and obfuscation.
Some Rag from the BBC Salford Mafia knew "exactly" what they were doing with that comment, and the BBC continuing to deny it is even more insulting than the original comment.Continuing to hide behind the 'We didn't realise the significance of the term Bertie in relation to City' either confirms a desire to allow the event to evaporate or that the BBC believe that enquiries into football based complaints are best carried out by staff from Radio 3, or similar.