Leicester Mercury political correspondent
The frustration of press offices
Some blogging Mercury colleagues haven’t held back their frustrations about perceived obfuscation by press offices locally.
Today, I’m venting my spleen at PR folks further afield. On Friday it was leaked that BBC 6Music and the Asian Network could be axed after mounting pressure from the Conservatives.
Rather than pushing for confirmation – the Beeb had already clarified in the national press that they had no more to say – I wanted to know how many people worked for the Asian Network in the East Midlands, and in particular, Leicestershire.
Here’s the response:
David
I do not have the figures available.
Our statement today, attributed to a BBC spokesperson is: “Work on the BBC’s Strategy Review is ongoing and we are not commenting on today’s story.”
Do you see the disconnect? Do you see the answer to a question I haven’t asked? Do you see a press office on the defensive? And above all, do you see the quite stunning admission that the figures aren’t available?
A publicly-funded broadcasting service which has no idea how many people they employ. Sorry. Don’t believe it.
My response:
Hmmm. So we can say the BBC doesn’t know how many people work for the Asian Network in Leicester?
I was eventually fobbed-off with a tale about contracted workers skewing the figures.
The BBC still wonders why people pester them with Freedom of Information requests..
