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!
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.
Thank you so much for your comment and I am very sorry you are going through this. I’m sure you’re right that some are interested - purely journalistically it is a story and a half - but the culture of fear is overwhelming. What you say about background discussion and notes is extremely accurate. When I worked at the BBC I asked for internal fact check resources on sex and gender, at the very least, but this idea was not accepted. Prospects was always very thin, and you couldn’t have a normal, open editorial conversation about it. I wish you all the best.
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!
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.
Thank you so much for your comment and I am very sorry you are going through this. I’m sure you’re right that some are interested - purely journalistically it is a story and a half - but the culture of fear is overwhelming. What you say about background discussion and notes is extremely accurate. When I worked at the BBC I asked for internal fact check resources on sex and gender, at the very least, but this idea was not accepted. Prospects was always very thin, and you couldn’t have a normal, open editorial conversation about it. I wish you all the best.