Jimmy Savile: BBC Radio pulls out at the last minute

Jimmy Savile: BBC Radio pulls out at the last minute

The following is an account of real events that happened yesterday after the BBC learnt that there was going to be a demonstration right in front of Broadcasting House in Central London.  We were contacted by Claire who identified herself as a BBC radio contact inviting us to talk live on BBC radio about the motives for a demonstration. The interview was going to take at 0810 hours via a landline.

At 0730 hours this morning, I was contacted by Richard also on behalf of BBC radio that told me that the interview had been cancelled to accommodate another bit of news, apparently unrelated to the demonstration that finally took place at 1400 hours as planned.

At no point in time we were approached by any BBC reporter despite the fact that Richard had indicated that a reporter was going to approach us. Having checked the output of the BBC we discovered that the BBC actually carried out yet another news blackout.

Unlike previous opportunities when it was known that there was going to be demonstrations, the BBC did not contact the usual criminals that usually besiege this kind of demonstrations and as it transpires the whole exercise – the cancellation of an interview, the absence of reports and the absence of criminals that work together with the BBC - was a planned mass media blackout.

The explanation was very straightforward. Step 1 - BBC learns about the demonstrations. Step 2 - the BBC expresses interest in getting details about the demonstrations and on a live intervention. Step 3 - the BBC decides that it is too risky to have a live interview and engineers an 'easy way out'.