Should This Bbc Dj Have Been Sacked For What Was Just An Unfortunate Mistake?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625248/BBC-sacks-DJ-playing-The-Sun-Has-Got-His-Hat-On-didnt-know-original-features-N-word-Clarkson-wasnt-fired-actually-saying-it.html

[anotheoldgit]

DrFilth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGMSfiH850o

[anotheoldgit]

Wow I just thought I hope I don't get suspended for putting up that YouTube clip, but then I only put it up, it's up to others if they want to play it, :0)

[DrFilth]

they played it on the radio friday or saturday if you listen to the right station aog

[jno]

Baldric, I think you may be asking a bit much if you think someone, even a DJ, should know every word of an 80-year-old record. An apology - which he offered - should have been plenty.

[THECORBYLOON]

There was a DJ on the local radio here who was going to play 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down' until I telt him it contained a racist word. I had not been aware of the n-word in 'The Sun Has Got His Hat On' and if anyone should be disciplined, it's the person running the record/song library and not the DJ.

[paddywak]

Off course he shouldn't have been sacked for an honest mistake,but as has already been stated it's all in the context.In the village were I was raised one of the local characters,a white guy birth name Nigel,was known through out the area as "***" when he died his friends had a wall plaque mounted in the Local Miners Welfare to the memory not of Nigel but ***.It was there maybe 20 years till the club closed and NOBODY ever complained about it being offensive including the many coloured members we had.I agree it can be a very offensive word but it's how it's used that's offensive not the word.

[EDDIE51]

Definately should not be sacked, I thought the BBC play list only had 'accepable songs' the BBCs fault for not deleting it from their lists.

[pusskin]

So stupid! No, he shouldnt be sacked.

[Graham-W]

It's about as offensive as the last verse of our own National Anthem.

6. Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring
May he sedition hush
And like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush
God save the Queen

[jno]

well, he's been offered his job back, so the BBC think the station overreacted.

I doubt this was on what you'd call a playlist, Eddie, just one of a zillion songs in their record library. I wouldn't expect them to employ someone to go through them all listening for dodgy lyrics, just do what this guy did - play it and apologise if it turns out to be offensive. They've made a rod for their own backs by oerreacting.

[237SJ]

Sounds like ageism to me. It's just an excuse to get rid of another older presenter.

[jno]

that's really just TV, 237SJ, I don't think local radio bothers with that sort of thing much.

[pixie373]

I also thought they had playlists. And whose responsibility is it to bleep out offensive words in songs? I don't think the DJ does that? No, i don't think he should have been sacked. So many songs "could be" offensive, if you want them to be. Where would it stop?

[jno]

playlists are mainly for current songs. They're meant to stop DJs accepting bribes to push certain songs or artists up the charts by playing them all the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola

But this doesn't really apply to old codgers playing songs for other old codgers like me; it's not as if we're all going to download The Sun Has Got His Hat On just because he's played it. I might be wrong but I don't think playlists are enforced for local radio golden oldie shows like this.

[pixie373]

Fair enough, jno. That makes sense.

[andy-hughes]

Absolutely not.

My attention was drawn to this at about eleven this morning, it's a journalist website, so it included an offer from Mr Lowe to write to him personally and express a view - an offer I was delighted to take up immediately.

The over-reaction from the BBC is typical of the personal fiefdom attitude with which managers operate in that organisation - they feel free to behave as moralists to their listeners, or in this case 'listener' since one person complained.

Mr Lowe offered to apologise or 'fall on his sword' and his bosses chose the latter option - much I am sure to his utter dismay. What would they have done had he simply offered the apology?

However, Mr Lowe has opted to retire with his dignity intact, and the dismay and anger of the nation at the way he has ben treated.

I started my writing career as an unpaid freelance at my local radio station, it was run then like a pseudo-gentlemen's club with its own rules and attitudes, and the listeners were almost seen as some sort of minor inconvenience getting in the way of them having fun and spending other people's money.

Let's not forget, the BBC belongs to us, not its managers, and to act in this way is utterly disgraceful. I am pleased that Mr Lowe has seen fit to tell his erstwhile employers to shove their job up their expenses shoot, and I will be writing to suggest that he refers the matter to higher echelons.

[black_cat51]

what a crap story. He resigned, not sacked

[naomi24]

A fuss over nothing. This sort of stupidity gets on my pip. It’s fine to refer to the word as “the ‘n’ word” but it’s taboo to say the actual word. Like kids in a playground. Utterly ridiculous!

[douglas9401]

What a bunch of spineless 'c' words.
Maybe if those in charge did a days work for a days pay I'd think more of them but if this kind of thing is what they're paid for, we're in a lot of trouble.

I think though that the DJ is about to play them at their own game at tribunal with the stress related stuff.