Satch
MB Enthusiast
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2003
- Messages
- 3,508
- Location
- Surrey
- Car
- S211 E320Cdi Avantgarde Estate & Toyota Land Cruiser
Oooh our Licence fees are well spent.
BBC Programme Complaints: Appeals to the Governors
Summary of findings (April–June 2006)
Top Gear
BBC Two, 13 November 2005
The programme
Top Gear is a magazine programme presented by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. It covers motoring news and reviews the latest car models.
The complaint
The item concerned the Tokyo Motor Show. Richard Hammond picked up on the news that in order to emphasise that the Mini Estate is “quintessentially British”, the makers had stocked it with teaspoons and teabags. Jeremy Clarkson then commented: “We should do a car that’s quintessentially German ... giving it trafficators that imitate a Nazi salute ... and a satnav that only goes to Poland.” He concluded by commenting: “Und ein fanbelt that lasts a thousand years!”
The complainant argued that:
Clarkson’s comments were “poisonous rubbish”.
His comments were a “racist slur” on Germany that perpetuated the stereotype of Germany as a “land of aggressors”.
Racism against other nationalities would not be tolerated.
It could not be dismissed as a bit of fun.
The Head of the Editorial Complaints Unit did not uphold the complaint and the complainant appealed to the Governors’ Programme Complaints Committee.
The Committee’s decision
The Committee considered the complaint against the relevant editorial guidelines, taking into account all the material relating to the case.
The Committee gave careful consideration to the context of the item and in particular the expectation of the audience watching the programme. The Committee agreed that there was a real potential to offend, but felt the audience would have understood the purpose of Jeremy Clarkson’s remarks and accepted his comments as an established element of his television persona. The Committee believed that the majority of the Top Gear audience would have been aware that Jeremy Clarkson often uses the most exaggerated stereotypes to support or defend his opinions and would not have taken his comments seriously.
The Committee agreed that comments about the Nazis and the Second World War could certainly cause more concern than many other subjects. However, the Committee did not believe that, when looking at the audience as a whole, they would have felt that the comments were anything more than Jeremy Clarkson using outrageous behaviour to amuse his audience, and that the remarks would not have led to anyone entertaining new or different feelings or concerns about Germans or Germany. The Committee concluded that, although it recognised that offence might have been caused to some people, there was sufficient editorial purpose for including the material – its purpose was to entertain, not to offend – and the item did not breach guidelines with regard to portrayal or overall audience expectation.
Finding: not upheld
BBC Programme Complaints: Appeals to the Governors
Summary of findings (April–June 2006)
Top Gear
BBC Two, 13 November 2005
The programme
Top Gear is a magazine programme presented by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. It covers motoring news and reviews the latest car models.
The complaint
The item concerned the Tokyo Motor Show. Richard Hammond picked up on the news that in order to emphasise that the Mini Estate is “quintessentially British”, the makers had stocked it with teaspoons and teabags. Jeremy Clarkson then commented: “We should do a car that’s quintessentially German ... giving it trafficators that imitate a Nazi salute ... and a satnav that only goes to Poland.” He concluded by commenting: “Und ein fanbelt that lasts a thousand years!”
The complainant argued that:
Clarkson’s comments were “poisonous rubbish”.
His comments were a “racist slur” on Germany that perpetuated the stereotype of Germany as a “land of aggressors”.
Racism against other nationalities would not be tolerated.
It could not be dismissed as a bit of fun.
The Head of the Editorial Complaints Unit did not uphold the complaint and the complainant appealed to the Governors’ Programme Complaints Committee.
The Committee’s decision
The Committee considered the complaint against the relevant editorial guidelines, taking into account all the material relating to the case.
The Committee gave careful consideration to the context of the item and in particular the expectation of the audience watching the programme. The Committee agreed that there was a real potential to offend, but felt the audience would have understood the purpose of Jeremy Clarkson’s remarks and accepted his comments as an established element of his television persona. The Committee believed that the majority of the Top Gear audience would have been aware that Jeremy Clarkson often uses the most exaggerated stereotypes to support or defend his opinions and would not have taken his comments seriously.
The Committee agreed that comments about the Nazis and the Second World War could certainly cause more concern than many other subjects. However, the Committee did not believe that, when looking at the audience as a whole, they would have felt that the comments were anything more than Jeremy Clarkson using outrageous behaviour to amuse his audience, and that the remarks would not have led to anyone entertaining new or different feelings or concerns about Germans or Germany. The Committee concluded that, although it recognised that offence might have been caused to some people, there was sufficient editorial purpose for including the material – its purpose was to entertain, not to offend – and the item did not breach guidelines with regard to portrayal or overall audience expectation.
Finding: not upheld