BBC admits blunder over sleep disorder clip(Greatest Tv Moment)

Guardian ^ | 01/25/05 | Jason Deans

[Pikamax]

BBC admits blunder over sleep disorder clip

Jason Deans, broadcasting editor Tuesday January 25, 2005

Documentary footage showing people falling asleep in a Narcolepsy Association meeting should not have been rebroadcast as part of the BBC's Greatest TV Moments show, the corporation's governors have ruled.

The clip, from BBC1 documentary Nap Attack, which looked at the impact of sleep disorder narcolepsy on sufferers' lives, prompted laughter from the studio audience for 2002 Greatest TV Moments, which was presented by Jonathan Ross.

A complaint by a member of the Narcolepsy Association UK - UKAN - about the inclusion of the Nap Attack footage in 2002 Greatest TV Moments, a Saturday night entertainment show aired in early 2003, has been upheld by the BBC governors' programme complaints committee.

In an earlier response to the complaint, the BBC's head of programme complaints had concluded that showing a clip from Nap Attack in 2002 Greatest TV Moments was acceptable.

The GPCC ruling overturned this decision, concluding that the inclusion of the Nap Attack footage in the show had breached BBC fairness and accuracy guidelines.

"We considered that it had been inappropriate to show the clip in question out of context. In the original programme [Nap Attack], the audience had been attuned to the situation faced by the principal contributors. They had been made aware of how traumatic and debilitating narcolepsy could be for sufferers," the GPCC said.

"The audience of 2002 Greatest TV Moments knew nothing about the condition or the effect it had on sufferers' lives. Because the clip had been presented out of its original context, the audience had reacted to it with laughter.

"Governors noted that since the complaint had been forwarded to them, measures had been implemented to ensure that producers undertook to check with the originating production team when using material marked as requiring referral before reuse."

However, the GPCC did not uphold complaints from the same UKAN member about Nap Attack and a BBC2 Horizon documentary on the same subject, Living Nightmare.

Today's GPCC quarterly report was the first to be overseen by recently appointed BBC governor Richard Tait.

Mr Tait, the former editor in chief of ITN, has taken over as chair of the governors' programme complaints committee from Sir Robert Smith.

The BBC chairman, Michael Grade, admitted in a speech last night that the corporation had to improve its system for dealing with complaints about its news output in the wake of the Hutton report.

And in his foreword to today's GPCC bulletin, Mr Tait said that from the beginning of next month BBC management under the director general, Mark Thompson, would be introducing a new regime for dealing with complaints about all programming.

"The aim is to deliver greater accountability, transparency and a speedier resolution of complaints. A key responsibility for the committee will be to ensure that these commitments are met," Mr Tait said.

[Pikamax]

There is a Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo angle in this that someone else will have to cover.

[Panzerlied]

I'll have to sleep on this one for awhile!

[Damifino]

Can someone post a clip?

[Malesherbes]

I read the headline as "blunder over sheep disorder." I must be suffering from lack of sleep.

[Stars N Stripes]

I am so tired of this crap... what a yawner!

[Cicero]

I think the BBC has more important things to repent.