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Eleanor Smith's avatar

Hi Cath, Eleanor here from GB News - just wondered if you might be free to come on our show soon to discuss how you were called before an internal BBC hearing after saying gender identity is contested. Would be great to hear from you - my email is eleanor.smith@gbnews.uk. Thanks!

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Annon's avatar

This absolutely is happening. I work in BBC Local Radio and I’ve given up suggesting stories relating to this. First of - it’s incredibly stressful pitching them. The room goes silent. You could hear a pin drop. People look at the floor. I’m sure some are interested but frightened. For most though it appears to be a topic they just can’t bring themselves to engage in at all. Despite being journalists, most are unaware of key developments (the Cass report etc). They baulk at the prospect of trying to cover anything about it, and when they do, they do so in a completely naive and ill-informed way. That’s because unlike any other story we cover, there’s no pre broadcast discussion around the story. Everyone’s too afraid. And most of the time, when stories are pitched, just as you’ve alluded to, we’re not directly told no, but that there are other more pressing stories at hand. It may sit on prospects for weeks, before silently dropping off. I’ve just not got the energy anymore to do it. Especially in local radio where we’re pulled from pillar to post, reporting one day, news-reading the next. If a story doesn’t have buy in from the majority, it just won’t happen.

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