Tuesday 14 December 2010

Jody McIntyre Interview, and my subsequent complaint...

Watch this interview with cerebal palsy sufferer Jody McIntyre. And then you can get angry and complain too. You can make your complaint here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/forms/




Dear Sir/Madam

I would like to register a complaint regarding Jody McIntyre interview presented by Ben Brown. Jody is the cerebral palsy sufferer who was pulled from his wheelchair by police at the student protests. Ben Brown seems to have no interest in listening to Jody McIntyre's opinion. He interrogates Jody about not making a complaint, even after he has given his sensible reasons.

Ben Brown also, ludicrously, attempts to interrogate Jody for "rolling towards the police". Jody refutes the idea, pointing out that he could not even be physically capable of this. Brown then changes tact completely, not even registering Jody's answer, and moves on to say The Observer described him as a "cyber-radical" who wants to "build a revolutionairy movement". The implication is that, if Jody had admitted to these, then the police would be justified in their actions of pulling a man with cerebral palsy from his wheelchair. And even though Jody asks how he could possibly be a threat to any policy officer, Ben Brown completely ignores him. ]

I put it to you that this interview had nothing to do with establishing a meaningful dialogue between the mainstream media and protesters, and everything to do with goading a disabled person who has been through a traumatic experience by interrogating him with pointless questions.

In this sense, the questioning by Ben Brown resembled the police tactics that Jody describes to eloquently - if you goad someone enough, they'll crack and become irrational, meaning that the police/media can be justified using outrageous claims to smear the protesters. Fortunately for the protesters, Jody was courageous and articulate, and did not succumb to Ben Brown's bizarre, irrelevant and accusatory questioning.

The BBC, in this case and throughout the entirity of the coverage, completely failed to provide "an impartial coverage of events". Jody - and all the protesters who have been victims of violence by the police who have received politically dubious coverage - deserve a full and frank apology.

Yours sincerely Paul Case

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