Introduction
The BBC handled over 8,000 complaints in December 2007. These ranged from a small number of complaints about potentially serious breaches of editorial guidelines through to a much larger collection of views about programme content and scheduling.
The key themes which emerged are detailed below:
Offence:
We received complaints about comments made by Arlene Philips on Strictly Come Dancing, which was broadcast live on 1st December 2007.
Censorship/Editing:
Complaints were received from people who felt that Radio 1's decision to edit words from The Pogues' Fairytale of New York was wrong.
News:
There was a surge of complaints from people querying the language used when referring to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) in news reports. The BBC’s policy on the use of language when reporting acts of terror can be found in its Editorial Guidelines at http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/edguide/war/mandatoryreferr.shtml and additional guidance issued to producers can be read at http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/terrorismlanguage/background.shtml.
Scheduling:
Some viewers were unhappy that the lunchtime edition of Neighbours on BBC One has moved to a later timeslot.
The BBC's responses to some recent issues can be read at
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