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Unfair attack

Stephen Mitchell Stephen Mitchell | 21:30 UK time, Thursday, 5 June 2008

When I was growing up one of my heroes was a man called "Stan." I never met Stan...And that wasn't his proper name...my father carried a picture of "Stan the Pole" in his pocket and used to show it me. He had met Stan in Italy fighting the Germans and the things they had done together had convinced me as a boy that I was looking at a picture of a super hero, drawn from a race of super heroes... so when Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski announced out of the blue on the Five Live Breakfast show and Today Programme on Wednesday that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was to blame for a rise in attacks on Polish people living in the UK I was always going to take it seriously - not just because of my job, but because of "Stan."

Polish deliThe problem was Mr Kawczynski's claim took most of us here by surprise. Mr Kawczynski said that the "liberal elite" at the corporation knew they had to cover the subject of immigration, but would "not do stories about more controversial immigration, focusing instead on the 'soft touch' of "White Christians from Poland".

It's not a point of view we have really heard expressed before. And I suspect that most of my colleagues feel, like me, that it's just not true.

I also suspect that, while there have been pieces of searching journalism which analyse the impact of the mass immigration we've seen in the past few years, particularly when concentrated on particular towns, most of the time Polish immigrants have had a pretty good press.

However, just because the claim doesn't feel right to us, it doesn't mean that it's not valid. It's also possible that, even if not true, the perception might nevertheless be widespread among Poles in the UK. I have spent a bit of time yesterday and today going through previous items we've broadcast on Today and Five Live looking for evidence that Mr Kawczynksi might be right - and so far haven't found anything to go on.

I did discover through later interviews Mr Kawczyinski did that he had already complained about two other programmes - and . It has been pointed out to him that Panorama hasn't done any journalism such as he imagined and that the comments on Question Time he objected to had been from panellists...not the ´óÏó´«Ã½. It is the nature of a programme of lively debate such as Question Time that a whole variety of views will be expressed, not all of them comfortable to everyone. I also pointed out to anyone who would listen that the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s coverage of immigration has over time dealt with all the main immigrant communities, not just the Poles.

But I've also been looking through the e-mail responses we've had from listeners, some of whom say Mr Kawczynski has got a point. So it's an issue we will have to consider in our journalism and our Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton began to do just that in his appearances on last night and on Today this morning. It's also a topic we will return to in our conversations as editors...and I have no doubt that you the readers of this blog will let us know your thoughts...

A subtle change

Stephen Mitchell Stephen Mitchell | 13:39 UK time, Monday, 15 October 2007

Listeners to ´óÏó´«Ã½ radio might have noticed a subtle change in the way we are announcing our news bulletins. It might be useful for me to explain what we have done and why we've done it.

For instance, until last week, a bulletin on Radio Four would be introduced with the words: “´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Four, the news at two o'clock." It would conclude with the words "´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Four news". Now, however, we have changed the script slightly and you will hear "´óÏó´«Ã½ News on Radio Four, it's two o'clock" at the start of the bulletin and "´óÏó´«Ã½ News for Radio Four" at the end. Other networks have similar changes which we have worked out after talking to the different channels.

These are small changes, but we know that the familiar rhythms of our broadcasts are valued by listeners. We don't change them lightly. The reason we've chosen to do it here is that the audience is now consuming ´óÏó´«Ã½ News across a wider variety of channels and platforms than ever before. The advice we were given was that we needed to simplify the identity of ´óÏó´«Ã½ News, given that it's such a trusted and central part of what the ´óÏó´«Ã½ offers, and to make it as recognisable as possible across all the services we offer.

When a bulletin has been produced by ´óÏó´«Ã½ News, it's sensible and reasonable to tell people it's been produced by ´óÏó´«Ã½ News. We did audience research into the new script, and people told us they were quite happy with this sort of wording. They felt it added authority and credibility to our output.

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