Reply #7: An interesting sidepeice on timing the burying of news items

[muriel_volestrangler]

Broadcaster 'tried to rush out' retraction on busy news day

The BBC tried to bury its apology to Band Aid by broadcasting it on a heavy news day, the former chairman of the BBC and Band Aid trustee, Michael Grade, claimed yesterday.

"On a number of occasions the BBC tried to rush out an announcement, on heavy news days," said Mr Grade, a former Controller of BBC1 and chief executive of Channel 4. "They tried to bounce us into making an announcement, in terms that weren't agreed, on the day the Chilean miners were released and then on the day the public spending cuts were announced. They said it was just coincidence. But it was a bit too much of a coincidence, if you ask me."
...
Yet the BBC had been terribly slow in owning up to the mistake it had made. "The Band Aid trustees are all experienced campaigners," said Michael Grade. "We know the media, how it works, the people, we know the levers to pull. Yet this whole process has been a nightmare for us. So what chance does the ordinary person have of getting redress from the BBC. It is very worrying.

"Everybody makes mistakes. It's how quickly you put them right that counts. What we discovered is that there is a large degree of arrogance in the BBC on the journalistic side that doesn't believe it can be wrong. And most of the time it isn't. I've been on the other side. And I know there are many times where powerful people put pressure on you to drop the story or alter it and you check it out and find out its true. So it's understandable that their first response to us was that we were just trying to put pressure on them.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/broadcaster-tried-to-rush-out-retraction-on-busy-news-day-2124577.html