- Sat Apr 28, 2001 11:00 am
#97462
Totally agreed. There is definately a difference between Annes comments and racism. I found the report into it on the BSC:<br>Room 101<br>BBC2, 5 & 11 March 2001, 2200-2230 & 2145-2215<br>The Complaint<br>The Commission received 297 complaints about the first<br>broadcast of this programme and 130 following its<br>repeat. All the complainants expressed the same essential<br>concern; that remarks made by a guest on the<br>programme were racist. Related issues concerned the<br>effect on any children watching, the incitement of racial<br>hatred, racism masquerading as comedy and the reaction<br>of the audience.<br>The Broadcaster’s Statement<br>The BBC said that Room 101 had been a feature of its<br>comedy line-up for about seven years, and its humour<br>arose from a combination of what the guest wanted to<br>put in the “room”, and the presenter’s reaction. It was<br>essentially a light-hearted exercise in which the guest<br>admitted to dislikes which were usually either amusingly<br>trivial in themselves, or supported by arguments which<br>were equally insubstantial, and which were gently sent<br>up by the presenter. The humour was directed as much at<br>the foibles of the guests as at the subjects they proposed<br>to send to Room 101, and the frequent laughter of the<br>audience - as well as its occasional barracking for or<br>against a particular proposal - was a continual reminder<br>that the opinions expressed by the guest and the<br>presenter were not to be taken too seriously.<br>Turning to the specifics of this case, the BBC said that one<br>of the most important considerations was the basis on<br>which Anne Robinson explained her choice. She couched<br>what she said in terms of personal irritation, which is what<br>the convention of the programme required, and her<br>explanation began with her childhood experience of being<br>periodically surrounded by Welsh-speakers at her mother’s<br>market stall, which she evidently found disorienting. But it<br>soon emerged that her attitude was also based on grudging<br>respect for, and envy of, Welsh abilities.<br>The presenter repeatedly intervened with sardonic one-liners,<br>which kept the proceedings firmly within a<br>humorous framework and pointed up the comic<br>unreasonableness of Anne Robinson’s attitude (which she<br>herself was clearly playing up for humorous purposes).<br>The BBC said that its assessment might have been<br>different if the content of what Anne Robinson said had<br>been seriously belittling, or in any real sense a<br>condemnation of the Welsh. But her sharpest objection<br>seemed to be to people speaking their native language,<br>which would strike viewers in general as too manifestly<br>absurd to carry any critical sting. She exploited the<br>latitude for banter among the home nations without<br>crossing the line into hurtful stereotyping or unacceptable<br>suggestions of inferiority. The back-announcement by<br>Presentation was an appropriately humorous reflection of<br>those circumstances.<br>The Commission’s Finding<br>The Standards Committee watched the programme, now<br>well-established and well known for its brand of humour,<br>and considered carefully the various points made by the<br>complainants. It noted that the guest on this occasion<br>was currently enjoying a high profile for her notoriously<br>abrupt and challenging style. The Committee took the<br>view that the comments she made were deliberately<br>intended to be provocative; stereotypes of the Welsh, for<br>example that they were clever, good at rugby and singing,<br>were invoked, but without negative associations.<br>It considered that, whilst maintaining the lighthearted<br>mood of the programme, the presenter subtly<br>undermined her position (be it real or adopted) by<br>pointing up the absurdity of much of what she was<br>saying, for example, that it was annoying of the Welsh to<br>have the nerve to speak their own language in their own<br>country. He also resisted the audience’s encouragement to<br>put the Welsh in Room 101, even if he played with their<br>reactions for a few seconds for comic effect.<br>The Committee also took into account Wales’ position as<br>a constituent nation of the UK and its achievements, both<br>historical and current, which the Committee considered<br>gave it a strength and resilience not available to other,<br>more vulnerable groups.<br>The Commission has in the past expressed concern about<br>occasions on which robust humour between the various<br>national communities, part of a long established tradition<br>within the British Isles, has tipped over into crude and<br>gratuitously offensive stereotypes and it would still be<br>concerned about any move to a reliance on the use of<br>such humour. Although the guest’s rhetorical question<br>“What are [the Welsh] for?” came close to the<br>boundaries of acceptability, the Committee took the view<br>that neither the overall content nor the style of this<br>programme was inherently racist. The complaints were<br>not upheld.<br>Not upheld CN 6373.297/6449.130<P>the_dr
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