Got this reply to my complaint about Radio Sheffield's coverage of last Saturday:

I emailed:</p>

<font color="#ff0000">The football coverage provided by Radio Sheffield yesterday as the final scores were coming in was awful. I was sat in the Oakwell car park after the game listening to it. Wish I hadn't bothered. </font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">The service that Radio Sheffield is supposed to supply, is supposed to provide coverage for South Yorkshire generally and not just the city of Sheffield. </font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">I am openly willing to accuse radio sheffield of letting down the supporters of Barnsley Football Club - and an apology should be offered, particularly by Andy Giddings.</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">1) With two games left it is easy to work out the maths on what will happen to who under the variable circumstances. It is unacceptable for Radio Sheffield to be transmitting 'THE CHAMPAGNE IS BACK ON ICE AT OAKWELL' when actually the club was safe from relegation. Primary school mathematics.</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">2) When it is obvious that the most dramatic issue in the region was waiting for the Leeds result to come in - pure drama - Radio Sheffield left Barnsley fans totally in the dark and were at least ten minutes later than other stations in reporting the fact that the final whistle had been blown at Ellend Road AND THE FACT THAT MEANT BARNSLEY WERE SAFE. Radio 5 Live had it before Radio Sheffield!</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">3) Why was Andy Giddings goading reds fans with 'Barnsley slump to defeat at home to Leicester - what do you think about that Reds fans?' when obviously the real issue was 'Barnsley have won their fight against relegation - what do you think about that reds fans?'. I didn't hear one word of congratulations, but repeatedly I kept hearing 'Leicester beat Barnsley 1-0 - what do you think about that?'.</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">3) Talk about spinning the triumph of Barnsley's survival to sound negative - 'BARNSLEY EXTEND THEIR STAY IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP BY ONE SEASON WITH A LATE GOAL AT ELLAND ROAD'. What?! Can you not, through gritted teeth, acknowledge the achievement that had been made with genuine enthusiasm?</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">4) Last year when Sheffield Wednesday made exactly the same achievement to secure their survival in the Championship (up through the playoffs, still up after a season of financial adversity) BBC Radio Sheffield went overboard talking about the massive result, the huge achievement, how the odds were stacked against them, how elated the fans should feel, congratulations to the players, manager, staff, fans etc etc It was massively positive - and to be fair Wednesday deserved that kind of coverage. In comparison Barnsley got nothing. It's almost as if it never happened. If you call yourself journalists, and you think you have genuine integrity and impartiality, you ought to be ashamed of the coverage you have provided to the reds fans.</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">I realise that you can't read all the emails over the air - but I didn't really send this looking to get air time, but I would appreciate a reply and some sort of an explaination. I doubt I'll get one though, because I'm not an Owl or a Blade.</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000">Faithfully,</font></p>

<font color="#000000" size="4">THEY REPLIED</font></p>

<font color="#0000cc">Dear Mr Pearson <font color="#cc0000">(THEY GOT MY NAME WRONG!! EVEN THOUGH MY NAME IS MY EMAIL ADDRESS!!)</font>

Thank you for your e-mail in regards to BBC Radio Sheffield.

I understand that you feel Barnsley does not receive the coverage which they deserve. Furthermore, I note that you feel that the station shows bias against Barnsley.

Due to the amount of fixtures each season, it is not always possible to provide the same amount of coverage to each team. However I acknowledge that you feel this should not be the case.

It is not always possible or practical to reflect all the different opinions on a subject within individual programmes. Editors are charged to ensure that over a reasonable period they reflect the range of significant views, opinions and trends in their subject area. The BBC does not seek to denigrate any view, nor to promote any view. It seeks rather to identify all significant views, and to test them rigorously and fairly on behalf of the audience. Among other evidence, audience research indicates widespread confidence in the impartiality of the BBC's reporting.

Let me assure you that we do find that listeners' opinions are an invaluable source of feedback for BBC programme makers. Styles and policies are continually being assessed and changed based on feedback from the general public. Your views have been registered and form part of our daily feedback to programme makers and BBC management.

Lastly, may I also suggest that you contact Radio Sheffield directly using one of the following:

BBC South Yorkshire
54 Shoreham Street
Sheffield
S1 4RS

0114 273 1177

</font><font color="#0000cc">radio.sheffield.sport@bbc.co.uk</font>

<font color="#0000cc">Thank you again for taking the time to contact the BBC. Finally, I have attached an invitation, from the Head of BBC Information, asking you to participate in our customer survey. We would welcome your views on our service.


Regards

Paul Hunter
BBC Information</font></p>

<font color="#ff0000" size="4">THE BBC - FCKING ***** (wnkr) I WON'T WASTE MY TIME AGAIN.</font></p>

<font color="#0000cc" /></p>

 

I used to wonder why

there didn't seem to be as many Barnsley fans on "Praise or Grumble", but over the years I've come to realise that Radio Sheffield isn't much better than any other segment of the media when it comes to us - so I guess most Reds Fans just can't be bothered. The Yorkshire Post, Look North and Calendar hardly know we exist, coverage is better in the Daily Telegraph and the Times. The only time I can remember local TV giving us some real attention was in 1997 when YTV did a special and even that had a slightly condescending tone to it.

 

Congratulations!

You've got a reply from someone who has obviously got an NVQ level 2 in customer care. They are easy to spot, any complaint is met with an &quot;apology&quot; which makes it obvious that you are in the wrong because you feel let down, it never acknowledges that you have been let down, but they say the recognise that you &quot;feel&quot; you have been let down.</p>

I notice there is no mention in their reply about how they are going to rectify the situation to avoid you feeling that you've been let down in the future.</p>

 

???????????????

it doesn't answer your main point about Giddins at all -I bet it's a standard letter

 

Me too - lets all boycott radio sheffield!

 

i already do

its a waste of time really, cant be bothered with it. perhpas the cluns attitude towards the media is somewhat related to this, no prais but all too happy to jump on and have a go, if we do get any future success the club should say balls to the bbc no interviews just sod off!

 

Very true or why don't we bypass radio sheffield and complain right to the top!

 

2 things

did you send it directly to Radio Sheffield</p>

Have we all considered sending complaints to our MP's in Barnsley? Afterall it is the BBC we are critical of largely, even more so on localTV.</p>

 

RE: 2 things

I sent it to Radio Sheffield and to the central complaints department at BBC H.Q. as well.</p>

No reply from Radio Shitfowl and that was the lame ass response I got from BBC H.Q. - what really irritates me (more than them getting my namecompletely wrong) was the fact that it came from a generic mail box that you can't reply to.</p>

Basically I accused them of not giving a **** and they happily confirmed it.</p>

 

They've ignored all your points just about there...

Did an MP write it?

 

Why don't you all just ring praise and grumble?

They might get the message after the fourth call lol

 

Complaining to our MP's ?

Are you taking the piss ?</p>

It's not like the opinion of a second rate bunch of faux-journalists actually counts for something is it ?</p>

Let's getsome priorities straight; millions in danger in Darfur = important, by all means ask your MP to lobby the government to do more. Some journalist writes a report that doesn't show Barnsley FC in a good light; don't buy the newspaper / listen to the station / watch the show. </p>

We're acting like a bunch of scousers with a victim complex here.</p>

Feel free to abuse me, I doubt I'll get upset about it.</p>

 

Although I agree

with your points to an extent.

It IS our MP's responsibility to do his best for his constituants / constituency. It is his primary function even though they seldom perform it.

Continual downplaying and negative portrayals of Barnsley on publically funded media is not in the interests of his constituants.

 

How much is down to

over-sensitivity on our parts ?Maybe I've just become immune to the Barnsley jibes and don't notice it as much. Sure, a negative portrayal of Barnsley is not strictly in the bestinterests of the denizens of our borough but I don't think the impact is significant in real terms.</p>

Does that make me an uncle Tom ?LOL.</p>

 

hmm

I believe it does have a significant economical impact on the area.

Sometimes we are over sensitive but on the whole I think the media are generally negative or condescending at best.

I can understand it from the national media but for the so called local media representives to perpetuate it is an outrage, well maybe not, but it gets on my tits.

 

RE: hmm

</p>

I guess that would be difficult to prove, but I take your point on board - I wonder if Yorkshire Forward or other such local funding bodies have any info regarding this. I do agree that some local media support would be nice, but I tend to think that Leeds going down is a bigger story than Barnsley staying up. If we had a 'champion' in a position ofinfluence (editor / presenter etc.) then I reckon the tenor of our portrayal would change. I guess the real test wouldbe to look at how other clubs of similar stature are portrayed in their local media. I guess you'd have to check a team in thenorth west/ London really to get a similar perspective.</p>

 

back to work now

but I reckon had we been relegated it would have got more coverage despite the fact that its what everybody outside Barnsley predicted.