The Radio 4 Blog Feed

Feedback - Radio 4 too risqué?

2013-08-16T09:09:37+00:00

Editor's Note: Roger Bolton discusses this week's Feedback, in which Radio 4's editor of editorial standards, Roger Mahony defends recent programmes that have contained sexual references.

Feedback is available to listen to online or to download and keep

Roger Bolton - presenter of Feedback

Presenting a programme which contains criticism of the BBC, but which is broadcast by the Corporation, has its surreal moments.

This week I interviewed the Head of Compliance for Radio 4 about the broadcasting of fairly explicit sexual content during mainly daytime hours. Examples were drawn from the Archers, Woman's Hour and Samuel Pepys.

When edited, and before broadcast, the programme has to be complied by the very same Head of Compliance, who is therefore, in a way, complying himself. (It went through untouched.)

There are some other potential conflicts of interest as well.

On behalf of listeners I often have to bite the hand that feeds me, be it that of the Controller of Radio 4 or some of her commissioning editors. They decide if I continue to present Feedback. The series itself is produced at an arm's length from the Corporation by an independent company but it obviously wants to have its contract renewed.

So far so difficult, but also so good in that I have never been censored in what I want to say. We cannot force executives or producers to appear on the programme but we will always tell the audience if they have declined our invitation to appear.

Ultimately the success of the Feedback depends upon the audience members believing that they help set the agenda and that their concerns, criticisms, and occasional compliments, will be dealt with fairly and impartially. It also requires the willingness of BBC decision makers to be answerable to their audiences, who of course pay their salaries via the licence fee.

The BBC has to apply the same journalistic standards to coverage of its own affairs as it does to the outside world. That is part of the deal.

And of course it has to be a good listen.

However Feedback need not always be about praise or blame. We are keen to help explain how and why decisions are made, to take the listener inside the machine. So do let us know which part of the BBC you would like to explore, and why, and we will try and get you in.

Meanwhile here is that interview with the Head of Compliance at Radio 4, Roger Mahony.

Radio 4's Roger Mahony defends recent programmes that have contained sexual references.

Next week's programme will be the last in the present run. We will be back in October, but do keep writing to us during the break, particularly if you want to go behind the scenes in BBC radio.

Roger Bolton

Listen to Feedback

Download the Feedback podcast

The BBC is not responsible for content from external websites

Feedback: Discussing Reflections with Lord Peter Hennessy

2013-07-19T14:42:21+00:00

Editor's note: Feedback is available to listen to online or to download and keep

Baroness Shirley Williams and Jack Straw

This week in Feedback I talked to the historian and journalist, Lord Peter Hennessy, about his new series ‘Reflections’, broadcast on Radio 4 at 9am on Thursdays.

Most of our correspondents loved the two episodes which have been transmitted so far, one with Baroness Shirley Williams, and the other with Jack Straw, but others thought the whole thing too cosy, with its references to Roy (Jenkins), Jim (Callaghan) and Harold (Wilson), and with the peers calling each other Shirley and Peter.

As I am about the same age as Peter Hennessy, and produced political programmes when his interviewees were in their heyday, I was fascinated. I understood the references to the Labour civil wars of the late 1970s and early 80s, as I went (as a producer) to the conferences where blood was spilt and ‘brothers and sisters’ were knifed in the front as well as the back. Figures like Peter Shore and Barbara Castle are still vivid in my memory, but they must be obscure politicians to younger listeners, rather as Hugh Dalton was a bit of a mystery to me.

Was Peter Hennessy too soft on his subjects? Well I guess the answer depends on whether, by using a more gentle approach, he got things out of his guests which an aggressive frontal assault would not have done.

However I think there are significant differences between retrospective interviews like these, in which the facts are well known, and contemporary interviews where they are not, and the presenter is trying to find out what happened. Of course, in the former case, the interviewee may still try to put the best possible interpretation on past events, hoping to affect how history is written. However, in these retrospective cases, the fog of battle has largely lifted. Interpretation is involved rather than revelation.

It obviously helps that Peter Hennessy is greatly respected and well liked; but as he is also an outstanding historian, with impeccable contacts in Whitehall, his guests know better than to try to pull the wool over his eyes. They need to be subtler than that.

Peter Hennessy discusses the art of the political interview with Feedback's Roger Bolton

You may find it strange that, in the week of the publication of the BBC Annual Report, neither the Chairman, nor the Director General was available to be interviewed on Feedback. We also asked the Director of Radio, Helen Boaden, to talk to us. She also declined.

As the BBC is committed to accountability and Feedback is perhaps the most high profile programme through which they are supposed to be accountable to their audience, one of them will surely be available to talk to us in the future? Surely?

Listen to Feedback

Download the Feedback podcast

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites

In defence of trails

2010-08-06T12:55:00+00:00

Editor's note: this week's item from Feedback, Radio 4's weekly accountability programme, concerns the highly contentious issue of trails. Putting his head in the lion's mouth to defend them is network manager, Denis Nowlan. Brave man - SB

What is it about trails that so excites or rather inflames the Feedback listener? This week as I entered the office I could feel the heat radiating off the incandescent emails.

The immediate cause was an interview I did last week with the deputy Editor of the Today programme, Jon Zilkha. A few days before, a BBC weather forecaster had had to cut his pre-8 a.m. bulletin from its standard 90 seconds length to a truncated 20 seconds. The reason was that a live discussion about the BBC itself had overrun, in listeners' view an increasingly common occurrence.

Of course another option would have been to drop the trail instead. Mr Zilkha defended the decision to cut the forecast and went on to suggest that for many listeners trails are just as important as the weather. Many of our correspondents were incredulous about that assertion.

"If he can actually find a listener who would rather listen to a trailer then hear a weather forecast, I"ll buy him a drink" wrote Colin Williams.

Deborah Bull told us "You are a public service and a decent weather forecast is part of that. There is no justification for preferring to run trails instead".

Peter Simpkin said "I hope you will follow up with a direct question to the Controller R4... is the 5-to-8 trailer more important than the weather by higher command?"

Well the Controller was not available but the official defender of trails was. He is the Network Manager of Radio 4, Denis Nowlan. Listen to his defence of trails and tell us what you think in a comment:

By the way the latest RAJAR figures show that Radio 4 has just had its best listening figures ever, and that those for Radio 3 have gone down a little. I think there must have been a General Election.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Listen again to the whole programme, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
On the About the BBC blog, Margo Swadley writes about those RAJAR figures

Overkill? Roger Bolton on Radio 4's election coverage

2010-05-14T12:25:00+00:00

Editor's note. This week's item from Radio 4's Feedback programme concerns the network's extensive coverage of the post-election drama in Westminster, 'busting' the schedule and coverage of the Liberal Democrats. Did Radio 4 get it right? Tell us what you think in a comment below - SB

"Deceitful weasels", "double crossing two faced shysters who would sell their mothers for political gain", "untrustworthy and treacherous."

That is how some gentlemen of the press described the Liberal Democrats for their negotiating tactics before they formed a coalition with the Conservatives. When David Cameron and Nick Clegg gave a press conference together in the garden of No 10 Downing St they were described as being like Morecambe and Wise.

You would not of course expect BBC journalists to give vent to such feelings but it had been a long night, or rather a succession of long nights.

I hope BBC News doesn't have to make overtime payments any more because instead of being tucked up in bed for the weekend, after the usual exhausting election night and the frenetic campaign which preceded it, the Beeb's journalists were still out on the streets of Westminster six days later, as cabinet posts were finally being allocated.

So it was thrilling but exhausting for them, how was it for Feedback listeners? Did they enjoy it as much as the reporters?

(Having worked on BBC election coverage in the distant past I was just plain jealous of those involved in the action. There is something thrilling about being with politicians who don't know if they will have a job tomorrow and have no more idea of what the result of the election will be than anyone else. Time stands still, personal fortunes change by the second. History is made in front of you).

Even the most poker-faced parliamentary candidate finds it difficult to disguise their emotions. Now they know their fate and everyone has had some sleep, we brought together a panel of listeners to discuss their views with the deputy Head of BBC News, Steve Mitchell, who is also Head of News Programmes.

In the Broadcasting House studio with Mr Mitchell were David Lloyd and Emma Blamey. Samera Haynes Khan was in a BBC Manchester studio and Brenda Steele was on the phone from the Black Isle, just above Inverness.

David Lloyd began our discussion with a comment about the leaders' debates:

Feedback is now off the air until July but please keep in touch. We read everything you write and we are keen to come back all guns blazing.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Listen again, get in touch with the programme, find out how to join Feedback's listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
The picture, from the BBC's picture library, shows Harold Wilson leaving Downing Street with wife Mary during another dramatic period in Westminster, in 1974.
Radio 4 head of Scheduling Tony Pilgrim wrote about the network's extensive election schedule changes on the blog yesterday.

Roger Bolton interviews Archers editor Vanessa Whitburn

2010-05-09T19:25:00+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

Editor's note: Feedback is Radio 4's weekly accountability programme. Each week, while the programme is on-air, we're publishing one item from the programme here on the blog for your comment. This week's item is about The Archers. Roger Bolton introduces it - SB.

Some Archers listeners remember a time when agricultural and rural issues dominated the programme, now they think it's all about sex. As evidence they point to Lillian's flirtation with Paul, and Pip spending the night with Jude, a much older man. Then there is Helen's attempts to become pregnant using donor insemination.

Mind you many of us feel that sort of thing pales in comparison with the steam that came from Jolene's shower a few years back. Feedback receives constant correspondence about the Archers so this week, partly to escape the constant election coverage of which many listeners have tired, I travelled to Ambridge with a panel of listeners to talk to the editor of the programme, Vanessa Whitburn.

I had a quick coffee in the Ambridge village hall beforehand with Linda Snell, to catch up on the latest gossip, and then went to the BBC's Birmingham studios where I met listeners Rhys Phillips from Cardiff and Siobhan Pitel from London. We were joined on the line from Radio Cumbria by Janet Mansfield and on the phone from the Cotswolds by smallholder Nell O'Connor.

Next week is the last Feedback of the present series and in it a panel of listeners will be reviewing the BBC's election coverage with some of those responsible for it. If you want to be part of the panel please get in touch via the web site.

Happy Listening!

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Listen again, get in touch with the programme, find out how to join Feedback's listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
The Archers is on-air six days per week, at 1400 and 1900 weekdays and 1000 (omnibus) and 1900 Sunday. The Archers web site has lots of useful information, including, at the moment, a poll about Helen's donor insemination plans and a link to the thriving Archers messageboards.
The Radio 4 blog spent a week with the Archers at the end of last year. Read the blog posts from Archers Week here. There are some photographs from behind the scenes too.
The photograph is from the BBC's picture library. The caption reads: "Robert Mawdesley as Walter Gabriel giving Harry Oakes as Dan Archer his opinion on the cow entered for the Borchester Show."

Strong language at teatime on Radio 4

2010-04-18T19:25:00+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

Whenever the BBC surveys its audience to find out what it least likes - bad language is usually at, or near, the top of the list. Even those who enjoy using occasional expletives in company don't seem to want to hear them on the radio, and certainly not when children are around.

So why did the Radio 4 comedy series 'The Party,' written by Tom Basden, which has just finished a run at 1830, do just that and include some? The programme's use of the sexual swear word which rhymes with tanker, and is often accompanied by a gesture, shocked some listeners and baffled others.

New radio comedies often undergo baptisms of fire, but 'The Party' was widely applauded in our mailbag, and many listeners hope there will be a second series - but minus the bad language which they felt spoilt the comedy and their enjoyment of it.

In Feedback this week I put these concerns and criticisms to the Head of BBC Radio comedy Jane Berthoud, and this is what she had to say:

Please tell us at what you think of that interview and the use of explicit language on air by adding your comments here or by contacting Feedback via the web site.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Listen again, find out how to join Feedback's listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
The picture shows the cast recording Party at The Pleasance, London. From left to right: Tom Basden, Tim Key, Jonny Sweet, Katy Wix, Nick Mohammed (sitting) and Anna Crilly. There are more pictures on the Radio 4 web site.

Archbishop Rowan Williams on Start the Week

2010-04-11T19:55:00+00:00

For a gentle, kindly, mild-mannered man, the Archbishop of Canterbury seems to be often at the centre of a great deal of controversy. Part of the problem is of course that he is transparently honest and finds it very difficult not to give straight answers.

He is an academic rather than a diplomat, committed to the pursuit of truth rather than disguising it for political or institutional advantage. Above all he is serious, and so when Start the Week"s Andrew Marr asked him about the impact of clerical abuse on the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland he gave a serious, thoughtful, answer.

The result was unwelcome news headlines, and offence taken by some of the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, this before the programme itself was actually broadcast. The Archbishop apologised for any offence given but should it have been the BBC News department issuing the apology for misquoting Dr Williams and taking his remarks out of context?

That is the view of many Feedback listeners after they had heard the actual programme, which was broadcast two days after those news headlines. See what you think when I put those concerns to the Deputy Head of the BBC Newsroom, Craig Oliver:

Tell us what you thought of the programme in a comment here on the blog.

By the way, you won"t be able to hear Feedback on fridays at 1330 during the election campaign, as The World at One is being extended by half an hour. However the programme will still be broadcast at 2000 on sunday evenings. Please join us then, or subscribe to the podcast or listen again on the Radio 4 web site.

Above all, please keep writing, phoning and emailing us, not least about the BBC's election coverage.

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Listen again, find out how to join Feedback's listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
Listen again to the special Easter Start the Week on the Radio 4 web site.
If you listened to the 26 March edition of Feedback, in which Today editor Ceri Thomas answered questions from the Feedback listener panel, you might like to read his post on the BBC Editors' blog from last week.

Behind the scenes on The Now Show

2010-04-02T12:55:00+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

I'm a bit fed up this week, well jealous actually.

Of all the dream assignments I can imagine, such as interviewing Hilary Mantel, playing guitar with Mark Knopfler, and being shown round Barry Island by Uncle Bryn or Nessa, going backstage to watch the writers of the Now Show working their alchemy on unlikely items of news is up there with the best of them.

I thought I'd cracked it this week when a listener took offence at one of their satirical takes on climate change.

I volunteered to go and report but they gave the gig to Louise Adamson instead and I got to sit in the Feedback studio with a cup of BBC coffee writing this script.

Louise, on the other hand, met up with the Now Show's main presenters - Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis - and even got to sit in on one of the writers' meetings at the beginning of the week. Steve and Hugh - together with Now Show producer, Ed Morrish and the rest of the team - were busy trying out ideas for the show. I do hope that the rabbit joke made it to the final cut.

I hope you enjoy this extract from this week's Feedback. Please feel free to comment here on the blog.

Now over to Louise:

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Feedback is on BBC Radio 4 on Friday at 1330 and repeated on Sunday at 2000. Listen to the whole of this programme on the Radio 4 web site.
Find out how to join Feedback's listener panel on the Feedback web page.
The Now Show is on BBC Radio 4 on Friday at 1830 and repeated on Saturday at 1200.

The Feedback listener panel tackles Today

2010-03-26T13:55:00+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

Editor's note - we're trying something new. We're going to publish one item from Radio 4's weekly accountability programme Feedback here on the blog. We're keen to know what you think of this new way of spreading the Feedback word: leave your reactions and questions in a comment below - SB

When I first met Ceri Thomas, the Editor of Radio 4's Today after his appointment to the job four years ago, he had a young unlined face.

I wouldn't say he now looks like an old man, e.g. me, but the lines on his face have multiplied I reckon and cut deeper and I think I spy a bit of baggage under his eyes.

That's not surprising given his punishing weekly schedule.

Up before 6am to listen to the programme go out, then into the office for a day's work that ends around midnight when he has read the first editions of the next morning's papers and discusses them with his night editor.

And in between quite a few calls from party politicians and spin doctors trying to influence the agenda, and doubtless the odd visit from a presenter wanting to know whether or not she, or more usually he, will get any of the big party leader interviews to do.

It can only get worse for him in the next few weeks as the general election, which looks like being the closest in almost 20 years, draws closer.

I do hope Ceri Thomas gets an afternoon nap.

He didn't get one on Wednesday when he came into the Feedback studio to answer criticisms from three listeners who consider themselves to be candid friends of his programme.

Kate Francis has listened to Today since Jack de Manio presented it and she was at university. Kate thinks the interviewing styles of Today's presenters are too aggressive and thinks there aren't enough women presenters and reporters on the programme.

Andy McIntyre-Pell thinks some items are too short and would like to see political interviews run longer. He doesn't want to hear any more so-called light items.

Peter Hodder joined our discussion down the line from a Birmingham studio. He thinks the Today programme is sometimes politically biased. I asked him for evidence of this:

Roger Bolton presents Feedback on BBC Radio 4

Feedback listeners Peter Hodder, Kate Francis and Andy McIntyre-Pell are on this week's Feedback with the editor of the Today programme Ceri Thomas. Listen to the whole programme on the Radio 4 web site.
Feedback will be recording more listener panels in the future and if you would like to take part we'll give details here and on the programme in the next few weeks. You can also find out how to join our listener panel on the Feedback web page.
The picture shows Sarah Montague and James Naughtie presenting Today. It's from the BBC's picture library.

The BBC Trust's Thought for the Day ruling

2009-11-18T10:46:09+00:00

The Thought for The Day ruling by the BBC Trust was never going to be greeted with universal applause - or anything like it.

In a nutshell the Trust says that restricting Thought for the Day to speakers who espouse a faith does not breach the BBC's obligation to impartiality - but the Trustees say that it is up to the management to decide whether to include non-believers.

As I have said before I think it's a very finely balanced argument. I know humanists, agnostics and atheists are frustrated. They tell me so - loudly. (And mostly politely). But the slot has its merits. It is distinctive and even if you sometimes scream at the radio when it's on - and I have done this myself - it nevertheless often gives a sharply different perspective on the news - and thus can be stimulating. Maybe infuriating - but different.

One more thing before I duck for cover. We do many programmes and items on religious and ethical issues. There are many perspectives on offer - and many of them are not rooted in faith at all.

I discussed the state of play on Thought for the Day on yesterday's PM. Here it is:

Mark Damazer is Controller of BBC Radio 4

The BBC Trust's ruling is here.
The ruling was covered in The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail and on Digital Spy.
The picture is by Windward CC Library and is used under licence.

Who would you like to hear from on the blog?

2009-07-23T09:37:38+00:00

The blog is picking up momentum. In addition to regular posts from our Controller (35 posts so far - about six per month) we've had 128 posts all together, from programme makers, presenters, commissioners, managers and even a handful of outsiders (like yesterday's lovely post by Margie Tunbridge, a 'plinther').There have been lots of housekeeping posts and round-ups and behind-the-scenes photos from me and a really gripping two-month flurry of posts and comments and responses all about the Radio 4 web site's redesign (Doh! I've mentioned it again).

We've tackled some fairly big topics (at least in Radio 4-Land), like the cancellation of Go 4 It, repeats, commissioning (or not commissioning) political drama, pulling a programme at the last minute and giving airtime to controversial figures.

And one of the exciting things about airing these issues on the blog is the breadth and quality of listener feedback that results - I'd invite you to follow the links above and read the comments. I always make sure that the right people at Radio 4 are aware of these useful and well-informed responses: they're important. The biggest topic so far? The web site redesign, by several miles (and especially the size of the pictures). That produced over 500 comments. I've answered (and sometimes failed to answer) dozens of direct questions from listeners, usually by ferreting out the right person at the network and asking them. In this, I think I'm something between a 'listeners' editor' and a customer service rep.

So, I'm just planning the next couple of weeks on the blog and I've already got posts lined up from Food Programme presenter Sheila Dillon, veteran BBC business guru Peter Day, legendary actress Miriam Margolyes and a post about BBC Security correspondent Gordon Corera's new spies programme so it's all looking very interesting indeed.

What I'd like to know from you, though, is who else I should get to write for the blog and which subjects I should tackle? Do you want to hear more from behind-the-scenes at Radio 4? More programme previews and posts from Radio 4 talent? Or would you rather we focused more on accountability and feedback: keeping the network honest? And how about our use of Twitter? Have you tried it? Would you like to see more or less of this sort of thing?

Or should we be doing something else all together? Please leave a comment here on the blog or, if you're that way inclined, send us a message on Twitter. I'll round up responses here on the blog once a few have come in.

The Radio 4 group on flickr has pictures from all over Radio 4.

The picture shows four Radio 4 figures: Kathy Clugston, announcer, with her Ukulele in a Broadcasting House studio, Fran Barnes, producer and beekeeper, with the Farming Today bees, Elvis Costello on Loose Ends and Evan Davis, recording The Bottom Line.

Follow the Radio 4 blog on Twitter for interesting news, reviews, replies and retweets.

Roger Bolton's teeth

2009-07-13T17:19:43+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lh6dy

Feedback is one of the most important programmes on Radio 4 - and in some ways the whole of the BBC. For many years it has been the only programme on a mainstream network - TV or Radio - that has engaged consistenly and rigorously with complaints. Points Of View on television does a bit of that - but it is shorter and less stringent. The BBC News Channel has now set up a serious programme to examine discontents. Feedback is done by an independent company (City Broadcasting) in order that there should be some distance between us (the BBC decision makers) and the production team who make it.

I have appeared on Feedback for many years - when I was in BBC News and now as Controller of Radio 4. I did so last week - to answer questions from a panel of Radio 4 listeners who were far from completely happy. We explored our coverage of America, Thought for The Day, Drama - and whether we take listeners' opinions seriously enough.

It is a tough programme to do. Roger Bolton has teeth and bares them - but people like me are given enough time to explain ourselves as best we can. I hope that is well enough. I am biased but I think the BBC editors etc. who come on do take the whole thing seriously.

There's always been a little - almost deliberate - uncertainty about how much the programme should focus on Radio 4 and how much on other BBC radio stations - and even, occasionally, wider BBC concerns. It is mostly about Radio 4 - but when you get a big kerfuffle - think Ross/Brand - Feedback becomes an important arena for debate, explanation and confession.

Some issues get 'done' repeatedly - trails, accents, comedy, the Today programme interviewing style etc. I know that the production team are always looking for new (sic) themes to explore - so feel free to take up the offer. We (BBC employees) may not all regard being on Feedback as the single most enjoyable part of our lives - but it is an essential part of what we do - and, as it happens, I mostly rather do enjoy it! Mostly...

Listen to Mark Damazer being grilled by the Feedback panel.
Subscribe to the Feedback podcast.
How to join the Feedback panel.
Roger Bolton's profile on the Radio 4 web site.