BBC Radio Negative Segment on Cycling - BBC Reply-Hilarious!

OldSkoolKona

Was listening to the radio on the way into work (had to drive in today) and I was aghast at a segment on BBC Radio London about cycling and the comments from one of the presenters.

The background was an initiative in Southwark by the Met and TFL to have cyclists sit in the cab of a lorry - good enough idea and good to have the coverage on the radio. However, one of the presenters, JoAnne Good, used this as a platform to have a go at all cyclists and tar them with the same brush.

A lorry driver rang in to comment about an incident he'd caused going round a rounabout where he claimed the cyclist cut across him on the roundabout and how that the cyclist had ended up in hospital with serious injuries as a result. JoAnne basically said that this sort of thing 'would teach cyclists a lesson' and then went on to rant about how cyclists needed to be taught a lesson in humility and how we were all so agressive. Basically an opening to listeners to treat cyclists as they wish...

No attempt to have a balanced piece, and no coverage say from a cycling body. Shocking.

Fuming! Will have to see if it will be online to listen to later. (its still on now if anyone fancies ringing in or texting them... listen on http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/radio/and see the listen now link

chuckcork

Doesn't sound that much different from that TV show last week, on GMTV.

Look up their website and you see a writeup that focuses on safety for cyclists etc, but has it under a photo stating that cyclists can be a menace, and a poll asking whether cyclists should have to do a test to be allowed on the roads. (As if the CBT for scooter riders is any good)

Media beat up really. Why can't they go and pick on some other Daily Mail-standard minority group, like say blacks, asians, gays, muslims, jews, women, Irish, immigrants, young people.... Oh, yes I forgot, they'd be arrested under hate laws, face public opprobrium, likely be sacked, maybe attacked by members of the group they've disparaged and so on.

Simply safer to pick on cyclists as a target of popular public outrage? After all every society needs its out group to pick on. Kind of like at school, the quiet pupil who does no one any harm is most likely to be picked on probably because they are less likely to fight back. For all our 'aggression' cyclists tend to confine it I think to their cycling.

Pretty pathetic though.

OldSkoolKona

Well, all the usual stuff was rolled that you'd expect, what got me was the way Jo was pushing her personal agenda. I wanted to ring in, but reckoned that it would get twisted as she only had one mindset and I wasn't going to change it. I'm happy to educate cyclists on the dangers of going up the inside of lorries, but make it balanced.

The lorry driver comment was shocking though, clearly he had seen the cyclist and chose not to hold back going through the roundabout, then had the audacity to blame it all on the cyclist.

This is another reason why I prefer to cycle to work, driving winds me up even more.

It appears to be now online, listen and see if I was taking it the wrong way.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/london/aod.shtml?london/breakfast_mon

Should add that I was listening between 7.30 and 8.30 so you don't listen to the whole thing..

chuckcork

Current presenter is complaining at length now about sunday traffic. Looks like joined up thinking is an oxymoron is in vogue at the BBC as well as in government.

There is a complaints section of the BBC website, write in and complain, probably do nothing but someone at BBC has to take note of such things, maybe if there are enough complaints with queries as to whether JoAnne Good is sane enough to be a presenter, maybe she will be take to task by management?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml

OldSkoolKona

Will listen to the segment again this evening and put together a coherent complaint - thanks for the link CC.

About joined up thinking in the BBC, wasn't there someone on Radio 4 several weeks ago that did a similar off the cuff remark and lots of people on here complained..?

chuckcork

I think so, I'm pretty sure I was one of them! And now they are querying fruit in schools as to whether it will help fight obesity!

Like newspapers, controversy sells and the more outrageous the better, reasonable and considered is boring.

Heres irony for you: a couple of years ago, had a car accident happen right in front of me, car turning right at a junction missed seeing an oncoming car, and got its rear hit. Slight damage to both vehicles, no one hurt.

Other people stopped to check if everyone was OK, but the only 2 people who gave their names to the drivers concerned as witnesses to the event? Me and another cyclist, everyone else scarpered.

Not a problem really, had a letter a few weeks later from the solicitors for one and simply gave a statement back on their forms as to circumstances and what I witnessed.

snooks

Listened to it, and nearly every time Joanne Good said something, it wound me up with her ignorance....like after hearing the story of the guy getting knocked off and impaling himself on his handlebar she said "let that be a lesson!" A lesson for what or who exactly??? :shock:

Or

When Paul said something like " lets just make the point that not all cyclist are like this” and she disagreed

Oh and

Apparently we are breading "a bold breed of cyclist who are given too much freedom"

And

"trucks can't drive though London without taking out the side of buildings or road furniture".

But

When she said she flashes drivers on the middle lane of motorway the get them to move out of the way I realised she really is a credit to all drivers!



Needless to say I've written in to complain

always_tyred

If 35,000 of us complain, then she'll get suspended for a couple of weeks.

Eat My Dust

Always Tyred wrote:

If 35,000 of us complain, then she'll get suspended for a couple of weeks.

lol. Maybe we should give it a try.

TBH it's better off complaining to OFCOM. They have to investigate and report on every complaint recieved by the public, even if it is only one loony.


BTW here's more fuel for the anti-cycling brigade:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 706704.stm

snooks

Always Tyred wrote:

If 35,000 of us complain, then she'll get suspended for a couple of weeks.

I'd be surprised if 35,000 people would listen to her every day

Eat My Dust

snooks wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

If 35,000 of us complain, then she'll get suspended for a couple of weeks.

I'd be surprised if 35,000 people would listen to her every day

Apparently only 2 people have to listen. Then you need some red top journalist to write an article about it! hey presto!!

OldSkoolKona

Well snooks, I'm glad I'm not the only one who got wound up by it, was thinking perhaps I was in a sensitive mood this morning, but I arrived at work more wound up than if I'd been cut up on the way to work on my bike! :evil:

As I said, I plan to listen to it again and put together a few clear arguments, then I reckon a complaint to the BBC and also to LCC to highlight it the issue is in order. Its one thing to have a few off the cuff remarks, but this was a whole show of her personal agenda, and as you say, when Paul Ross tried to be balanced, she cut across him. :?

Aside from winding us cyclists up, a presenter like this puts us all in danger. Every lorry driver/taxi driver/car driver etc who listened to it was basically being given the green light to teach us cyclists ' a lesson'. Its really quite upsetting

OldSkoolKona

Eat My Dust wrote:

TBH it's better off complaining to OFCOM. They have to investigate and report on every complaint recieved by the public, even if it is only one loony.

EatMyDust, do you know what the procedure is for complaining to OFCOM? Will add them to my list..

dirk_van_gently

Sounds as bad as the Matthew Parris article.
The BBC has sold it's soul in sensationalism, it sells papers draws in listeners/viewers.

The Chingford Skinhead

Not had time to read the whole thread yet - I'll do it when I get home (on the train I'm sorry to say) but I will say this...

Before commuting by bike I tried BBC Radio London for a while as it had pretty good local traffic reports for tube and train. However, I soon learnt that I'd prefer to take my chances than listen to that Gobsh!te. She is inane, boring, borish and really really annoying. She is also rather dim. They had a piece once about shop lifting and she declared to the world - as fact - that if you picked up something in a supermarket and consumed it in the store it was stealing. The "expert" explained that it wasn't unless you did not pay for it as on entering the store you had a "contract" with the shop. So long as you paid before you left it was fine. No, she wouldn't have it. If you consumed it before you paid then it was stealing. Now, apart from fast food establishments that would make anybody eating out at a restaurant a thief - I thought about ringing in and saying this but decided that frankly she wasn't worth it. There were a couple of other equally stupid things she said. Perhaps IT IS TIME to make a concerted effort to show her up. :evil:

2tired2ride

chuckcork wrote:

Media beat up really. Why can't they go and pick on some other Daily Mail-standard minority group, like say blacks, asians, gays, muslims, jews, women, Irish, immigrants, young people.... Oh, yes I forgot, they'd be arrested under hate laws, face public opprobrium, likely be sacked, maybe attacked by members of the group they've disparaged and so on.

Simply safer to pick on cyclists as a target of popular public outrage?

I've just listened to it and I agree with chuckcork, I they are generlising cyclists too much, it's just like saying all lorry drivers knock cyclists off their bikes, because we've heard of a few accidents, so it must be true that they all do it and they are all as dangerous.

I say that all the lorrys should have the mirrors that they talked about where you can see cyclist easier.

OldSkoolKona

The argument I always give on this (and have done so on this board) is to generalise cyclists as all jumping red lights, cycling on pavements etc etc would be the same as to say that because some drivers drink and drive, use their mobile when driving and break the speed limit, that they all do... (last one isn't good example admittedly :roll: )

biondino

Thing is it's not really. My own observations tell me more than 50% of cyclists RLJ so actually I think it *is* a fair generalisation, as generalisations go.

OldSkoolKona

Ok, had a listen to and taken down a few coherent arguments to put into a letter. For those of you that don't want to bore yourself with the whole broadcast, here are some of the clinkers. (timings are time into the show as given on the player)

BBC Radio London wrote:

01:38 This is about when I tuned in
JoAnne – They are [cyclists], sorry I’m not generalising, yes I am, foulmouthed and very angry but I’ve said that a million times I won’t go into it.
Paul Ross – Not all cyclists though. If you’re a cyclist, give us a call. This isn’t turning into an anti-cycling rant.
JoAnne – Well, it might do

BBC Radio London wrote:

01:47 The infamous lorry caller - take care around Wimbledon for this guy!!! :shock:
JoAnne – Lets go to a lorry driver. Graham’s called us from Wimbledon Morning Graham.
Caller – Good morning Jo
Paul – So have you ever had a collision with a cyclist?
Caller – Yes, I drive for a living. I drive [some type of lorry] and I’ve got mirrors everwhere. [....] I was driving along this straight road. I saw this cyclist in front of me, about 100yds, and I caught up with him at the roundabout. I started to proceed over the roundabout and nearly got completed when the cyclist just decided to turn right.
Paul Ross – So he was crossing in front of you then?
Caller – Yes
JoAnne – That’s like David and Goliath, what a ridiculous thing to do
Caller – Well I class him as a professional cyclist
JoAnne – Oh yeah, the helmet and the day glo and the little tap shoes
Caller – [...] with wrap round sunglasses and I’m sure he had head phones on because he definitely didn’t know I was there. I knocked, I didn’t thank God knock him because if I did he wouldn’t be here today but I knocked his bike, he went flying and he actually enpierced (sic) himself on the handlebar. So he eventually came out of hospital. I can understand how lorry drivers are getting a bad name, but its not always their fault.
Paul Ross – And how long was he in hospital for?
Caller – About two, maybe three weeks
JoAnne – Well thank you very much for that Graham, let that be a lesson.

BBC Radio London wrote:

02:11 After a text message from a cyclist, asking JoAnne to highlight the positives of cycling and how bad cycling rarely kills whereas bad driving does on a daily basis:
JoAnne – What I hate about cyclists, and I’ve said this before and I’ll stop saying it soon, is that we are breeding a very bold generation of cyclists, they have so much freedom. We’re making them angry and bold and over confident. That is the danger. You know you should have humility when you are cycling

Plan is to write to the BBC, Ofcom and LCC. As previously stated, you get used to comments in the media of this type, but this was a whole show, and it was a missed opportunity to promote safer cycling AND safer driving

Jen J

OldSkoolKona wrote:

BBC Radio London wrote:

01:47 The infamous lorry caller - take care around Wimbledon for this guy!!! :shock:
JoAnne – Lets go to a lorry driver. Graham’s called us from Wimbledon Morning Graham.
Caller – Good morning Jo
Paul – So have you ever had a collision with a cyclist?
Caller – Yes, I drive for a living. I drive [some type of lorry] and I’ve got mirrors everwhere. [....] I was driving along this straight road. I saw this cyclist in front of me, about 100yds, and I caught up with him at the roundabout. I started to proceed over the roundabout and nearly got completed when the cyclist just decided to turn right.
Paul Ross – So he was crossing in front of you then?
Caller – Yes
JoAnne – That’s like David and Goliath, what a ridiculous thing to do
Caller – Well I class him as a professional cyclist
JoAnne – Oh yeah, the helmet and the day glo and the little tap shoes
Caller – [...] with wrap round sunglasses and I’m sure he had head phones on because he definitely didn’t know I was there. I knocked, I didn’t thank God knock him because if I did he wouldn’t be here today but I knocked his bike, he went flying and he actually enpierced (sic) himself on the handlebar. So he eventually came out of hospital. I can understand how lorry drivers are getting a bad name, but its not always their fault.
Paul Ross – And how long was he in hospital for?
Caller – About two, maybe three weeks
JoAnne – Well thank you very much for that Graham, let that be a lesson.

:shock: :shock:

Geoff24

Perhaps it's time this charming individual was invited to do some cycle commuting? :evil:

Kieran_Burns

So let me get this straight:

The lorry driver came up behind a cyclist at a roundabout and overtook him as the cyclist attempted to turn right?

Errr.......? :?

soy_sauce

ok.... so the lorry driver said that cyclist is a "pro" and all that.... so surely the cyclist will take the primary position (middle of the lane) when it come to the roundabout.... lorry hit the cyclist when he turn right, so i assumed the cyclist is in the right lane and the lorry is in the inside lane.. is this not mean that the lorry driver was/might in the wrong lane at the roundabout in the first place??!!

lost_in_thought

That is absolutely incredible! What an evil woman...

So... how does one complain to Ofcom? If two complaints can get Ross and Brand off the air then....

(note - I think the media furore over that was insane)

EDIT:

head over here for Ofcom complaints: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/progs/

rhext

I tried complaining to Ofcom about an equally offensive article in the Times. Turns out being an opinionated idiot in the public media is not a valid cause for complaint, unfortunately. So if anyone finds a way of mapping this onto their complaint criteria, please post so we can all have a go.

biondino

Looks like incitement to assault cyclists to me.

lost_in_thought

rhext wrote:

I tried complaining to Ofcom about an equally offensive article in the Times. Turns out being an opinionated idiot in the public media is not a valid cause for complaint, unfortunately. So if anyone finds a way of mapping this onto their complaint criteria, please post so we can all have a go.

From their website:

2.4 Programmes must not include material (whether in individual programmes or in programmes taken together) which, taking into account the context, condones or glamorises violent, dangerous or seriously antisocial behaviour and is likely to encourage others to copy such behaviour.

rhext

Certainly looks like a basis for a complaint!

rhext

...and I guess that would probably be because I would have gone to the Press Complaints Commision for a Times article :oops:

OldSkoolKona

I've posted the following complaint on the BBC. The process is very easy, just go to - http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml

If there ever was a time when BBC Radio was going to take complaints seriously...

OldSkoolKona wrote:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to voice my concerns over the opinions aired by one of your presenters on cyclists. I am a regular listener to BBC Radio London, and I often listen in the morning when driving to work. On this occasion I picked up they were doing a piece on road safety for cyclists with regards to lorries. As a keen cyclist, I was glad to hear the station had taken an opportunity to raise awareness on the hazards posed to cyclists by lorries, and highlight the dangers of going up the inside of lorries.

However, I was deeply perturbed by the slant the segement took and in particular by one of the presenters JoAnne Good. She appeared to have a personal agenda to criticise and put down cyclists. All attempts by Paul Ross to try and balance the show and say that not all cyclists behaved in the way she described were knocked back.

Several of her statements come to mind. She claimed that that all cyclists were foulmouthed and very angry, while in the same sentance purporting not to be generalising. She then went on to rant about what she hated about cyclists, saying they had "too much freedom" and that they should have "humility when they are cycling". All of this was very one sided, and she didn't attempt to put forward any arguments on the behalf of cyclists, again even though her colleague kept trying to balance the arguement.

However, the main complaint I have is about letting a lorry driver on who basically admitted to running over a cyclist who he had clearly seen. After letting the caller explain how he nearly killed this cyclist, JoAnne went on to say "let that be a lesson". A statement like can be interpreted as saying that motor vehicles have free reign to go and teach cyclists a lesson by knocking them over.

It is shame such an opportunity to raise awareness for cyclists, and I commend BBC Radio London for reporting the event by Southwark Met and TFL, was hijacked by the personal opinions and inflammatory remarks of one presenter. I for one feel that my safety on my bike on the roads in Lodon has been put at risk by the statements JoAnne Good gave. Perhaps in future, attempts should be made to allow a cycling body such as the London Cycling Campaign to give its view.

Yours faithfully

STEFANOS4784

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A350993



Why get wound up? It's something which will never go away :roll: :roll: :arrow: