Letter to the BBC Trust on 17th October 2007

You may agree with none, some or all of what you are about to read. My motivation to write this letter has come from the news today that the Chairman of the BBC is to present to the BBC Trust his plans for saving £2 billion of BBC costs. I then went to find out what the BBC Trust is as it said in the news today that they represent the BBC's viewers and listeners. As a result of what I found, I then wrote this:

My complaint/suggestion relates to the following two aims of the BBC Trust and how I think the Trust is failing in this respect:

We aim to ensure

...

· that the BBC's management delivers public value by providing distinctive services of the highest quality to all the people and all the communities across the United Kingdom

· that the BBC contributes to the standing of the United Kingdom in the world, to the economy and to British culture

I am becoming more and more worried by the quality of written and spoken English on the BBC now. A simple but good example of the kind of problem I am referring to is on this Contact us page that I am on now. I am instructed to "... fill OUT the form below ..."

All news readers now speak AmerEnglish. The Alan Sugar version of the Apprentice had a screen for a while which said "Your fired". Right now, glitches, upcoming and even neither ... or. It's not difficult to hear something like this, "It's about English language, it's about standards, it's about AmerEnglish." What utter rubbish. All these and many more AmerEnglish constructions have come into use on an every day basis now.

My complaint, then, is that the Trust is not ensuring that BBC programmes are of the highest quality and that the BBC is now beginning to fail to contribute to British culture.

I don't want anyone to tell me that English has developed and is developing otherwise we would merely grunt and not speak because I know that. I also know that many of the constructions that are being used now are blind imports from across the Atlantic. I worry that of all the cuts that are being made across the BBC, one major area where they are being made is in editorial departments. How else can we account for the change from the BBC being a bastion of English language correctness to being a place where the language of the street can happily be welcomed?

Further evidence for my argument can be found on the language used on Radio 4 now. I can't even type what we can hear now because you would accuse me of being offensive. However, there was a Laurie Taylor programme on Radio 4 last week that played a clip that included the word f***ing. In the middle of the day now I can here such awful language. Why wasn't it bleeped out? Moreover, plays and comedy programmes readily include swear words now. Words that are still really offensive for polite society are now freely used.

I don't want anyone to tell me that I can always reach for the off switch if I don't like the language used. Excuse me, but what about your aim that includes delivering the highest quality? I was brought up on Radio 4 and it is my radio station of choice. I work from home for much of my time and Radio 4 is on in the background almost all day every day. Why should I be forced to switch off something that is so deeply ingrained in me and that is, on balance, excellent in all other respects?

Your failure to uphold the standards of language is a major failing in my opinion and I would like some reassurance and then action in this respect.

Yours faithfully

DW