Competition Controversies
In October 2006, Blue Peter ran a competition called "Whose Shoes?". More than 13,800 people entered, with calls costing 10p each, including 3.25p for a Unicef charity. Because of technical difficulties the researcher was unable to access callers' details, and subsequently selected the winner from a guest in the studio without referring the decision to the editor, deputy editor, or producer.
Along with this, Blue Peter staff ignored the result of the online poll to name a new kitten, ignoring the winning name — "Cookie" — and calling the pet "Socks" instead. According to former editor Biddy Baxter's book Dear Blue Peter (see page 283), Marson "had been so concerned about the accuracy of the online votes he made an editorial decision that the kitten (with its four white paws) should be named 'Socks' rather than 'Cookie'. Richard was an inspired editor. His dismissal was a great blow to the programme." Because of Marson's handling of and failure to report the incident he was sacked from CBBC. He had already left Blue Peter in July 2007. Blue Peter was fined £50,000 by Ofcom. The BBC subsequently apologized for the error of judgement.
Read more about this topic: Richard Marson
Famous quotes containing the word competition:
“Mothers seem to be in subtle competition with teachers. There is always an underlying fear that teachers will do a better job than they have done with their child.... But mostly mothers feel that their areas of competence are very much similar to those of the teacher. In fact they feel they know their child better than anyone else and that the teacher doesn’t possess any special field of authority or expertise.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)