Read this: 12/05/2023 Radio 4 Feedback

BBC sounds music Radio podcasts hello, I'm Andrea and welcome to the news this week was dominated by the coronation of King Charles III but did the BBC get the tone write congratulations on the live radio broadcast to the coronation this was very interesting and informative the approach to the Coronation on Radio 4 was far to differential in my view especially during the early on which I just had to switch off the BBC's Direct journalism, Jonathan Munro is here to respond to your comments also charity celebrity illness and Control it's all in believe in magic a BBC science podcast about a teenage girl and her charity Champions by the pop group One Direction presenter Jamie Bartlett joins me to discuss how he went about telling this extraordinary story.

And answers your question has Munchausen by proxy or fabricated or induced illness is rare.

Did he have any qualms about whether highlighting the story could impact the public view people with illness or impairment music and it's all change at 6 me a store was Gideon Coe and Marc Riley have their hours cut to make way for a new evening schedule some listeners are less than happy.

Was there anything wrong with the evening schedule? What is someone in management decide on change for its own sake but first BBC Radio devoted much of the long weekend to the UK's first Coronation in 70 commentators line the route of the procession to paint a picture to listeners of the crowds and the carriages the flags and the bands and inside the Abbey the BBC

Broadcast the ceremony and the spectacle of more than 2000 guests including royals international heads of states and VIP such coverage is studded with potential hits from the decision about how much air time to devote to the Royal story at the expense of other programming to the style and tone of the commentary itself and one of those protests have been included in the commentary or reserve 24 news bulletins to share their views Becky Wood from Glasgow the approach to the station on Radio 4 was part of differential in my view especially during the early on which I just had to switch off and we will have some John Eliot Gardiner talking as through the music of the day and then monteverdi choir which will be performing.

I'm really brought to Life the Visual Impact of the event overall.

I would have liked more critique and a more consistent approach to reporting and informing rather than a slightly historical approach.

X God save the King

Hello, I'm Julie and I'm calling from Coventry actually.

I'm just ringing to say how much I have enjoyed the BBC commentary on Anton TV today for the coronation.

You've got it right this time healthy back.

This is Brigitte Nielsen from Oxford I have just listen to today's p.m.

Expect you to use however the only thing that was covered with the coronation and the flypast by the Red Arrows the enthusiasm of the Crowd undimmed by the wet weather.

If I was interested in this event I could have watched the end of television or listen to the end of radio coverage also wanted at 5 p.m.

With news about the things happening in the real world and I do not think it to expect p.m.

And use program to broadcast actual news my name is Paula Jones and I'm calling from London and it's about the coronation for me was absolutely over again.

We have three days dominated by it and listen to the radio or TV because it's correct into every program some of us don't want to live in theme park, which apparently it's not the BBC is all too keen to promote.

The BBC's director of journalism and deputy CEO of BBC News Jonathan Munro joins me to reflects on the radio coverage and your opinion of course we understand that there are events like Coronation switch after all come around extremely rarely.

I have done in our lifetimes, which will divide the audience to an extent some people will not want to sit and watch or listen to ceremonial events of that sort but if you look at the audience figures and radio is the most challenging here because as you know the data on radio audience is not available in real time for technical nothing to do with the BBC it's just the way the data is harvested, but the television and online these are enormous audiences 28 million people came to BBC television in one shape of forward to see the coronation and 22 million people can the BBC News website coronation stories a very very significant in terms of the idea of due impartiality I think when we

Run the funeral you said that you and partiality at the moment of death as a bit different and the impartiality that's due or relevant at that particular moment isn't the same as the impact on the that's relevant at the time of the beginning of a new monarchy when the coronation happens.

I'm not sure that there was any difference in due impartiality was there in terms of the Coronation I'm a Republican the discussing the Coronation on the day.

Hope you get that right the point.

I was making when we talked in September was that in the aftermath of the death of the longest serving monarch in history was an awkward moment to have that debate.

I think most Republicans will accept that was an inopportune moment but I did make a page on on feedback that I would ensure that the BBC was the platform for that debate many times was the coronation and was part of our thinking around the Today programme special debate on radio for about 10 days before the coronation when Michelle Hussain interview people with a very Broad

There was coverage about the Republican debate on programs like Newsnight on 5 Live who quite a lot on it on the Today programme itself an event that's going on and then see them in the broader context of the countries that we put around the in the week or two before in the immediate aftermath in terms of that ceremonial event itself would have been a meeting with all the commentators who were involved and the Producers about the the discussions and the tone of the coverage around the time of the Queen's funeral.

I don't think that there was very much.

I think there's a lot of consensus about the way that should be covered.

I wonder if there was a little bit of debate amongst BBC journalist this time about how to cover the coronation Festival because as you say it's just a different tone of thing but secondly because there was time to have that discussion but the death of the Queen was followed by the funeral in about 11 or 12.

The coronation for some considerable time and therefore so did Everybody takes a few on the future of the monarchy was important that we reflect but it's not necessarily the case that coverage of the Republic play has to go into every moment of the ceremonial itself needs to be in the envelope of programming that we doing as I mentioned.

I think we did he leave that but of course we will never get to a place.

Where are you with the different views about the monarchy will look at everything we did and think we got the tone exactly right every single moment of course that's never going to have people who take a different perspective but I hope that any in the editorial approach to Coronation those conversations that we had with producers commentators commissioners, did show through that we are open-minded we want to post that debate but you must have had conversations with your commentators about things like what for example Prince Andrew and Prince Harry and how to cover that I can't imagine that those things didn't come up and

Discussions before the role of those members of the family would have been in those discussions other discussions have included whether it's appropriate for example to continue to work use the word consort in connection with Queen Camilla which some newspapers already dropped the word consort the palace of moved towards dropping it if they had heard protest seen and heard protesters along the route and we know that there were some were they told that they should try to ignore those unless they felt that they were literally in the path of a horse or where they told that Dad the meaning the way that they were talking about for example somebody some dog wearing a Union Jack dress news story and principally between news and ceramide recovery, so there's no.

The protest was largely around the rest switch happened afterwards no one of us were aware of the scale of that at the time it would have a home affairs correspondent team in Trafalgar Square recovering that 4 News app wasn't it round relatively prominently in our news programs, but in our ceremonial programming the ceremonies were not disrupted by anything that was happening in the process and I think they did their job and the news that the job has a different job so if you listen to Radio 4 to the commentaries of the events you get the events by 6 p.m.

Programme absolutely covering the process some implications of know if your foolishness have mentioned another aspect of the coverage which was just the amount of time that the BBC devoted is the coronation over the weekend listeners like Bridget Morton and Becky would were concerned that other news stories were just getting lost is that ever of frustration for you?

Dr a finite amount of resources at the BBC so there must have been reported and camera people that you weren't able to send to other stories when you were focusing so much on the coronation for a whole weekend.

You know you're right about the finite resources more pressing issue on Radio 4 on BBC One for example.

Is that you've got so many minutes of their time in the news bulletin so I've got no one is there was an overwhelming volume of royal related coverage.

It's once in 70 years and the fact that on the day.

There was no other major news story have they been another major news story that would have been so different so you make judgements about using your airtime on the resources to focus on the big events of the day Thomson just before you go the BBC I know sometimes feels like it's always under attack but I wonder from your point of view.

Just over the last few months were there.

It's the tweets of star presenters or the chairman's appointment or argument about the weight of royal coverage.

This is a particularly difficult time to defend the BBC's impartiality does the stories of the last few weeks and you've mentioned a couple of them Andrea have been challenging for the BBC that there's no point in saying that it's not been at that time in the circumstances.

That loss is obviously got some turbulence.

That's obvious know I've been at BBC not far off a decade now and I look back at the times.

When was very polarised used for example about how we have brexit and that was a very very big deal for the BBC and the political division around trump presidency and everything that sailed with that for those 4 years and the campaigns and so on some of which are Corsas back in the news now for the reasons and the truth is that the sea is a big organisation that the public in the UK pays for another everyone's entitled to a view about it the candidly it also suit some people to argue.

BBC about the way the BBC is patron stories that are Close To Their Hearts that may well be extremely well intentioned and perfectly valid criticism and feedback to the BBC and son and some of what you read about the BBC is generated by organisations that don't have the best interest of the BBC it hard.

We got to be quite resilient to that but equally we got to accept that sometimes.

We are you based on human judgements on all of us.

Therefore are susceptible to make mistakes that is clearly right.

It's also write that most of what we do is a matter of opinion.

Not everybody likes everything that's why we are having this through valuables who was thanks to Jonathan Munro BBC Radio 6 music on a Monday night Gideon Coe with you until midnight.

This is your bonus Monday team programme for which the theme is where did you get that? Hat records relating to hats caps crowns and headgear in general Gideon Coe there on 6 Music who along with Marc Riley

Long-serving presenters have had their hours cut to make way for a new evening schedule on the station present shorter solo shows on Mondays and Thursdays co-host on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and new music fix daily from 7 to 9 p.m.

Will be hosted by Tom Ravenscroft and Deb grant from Salford and 6 Music listeners have been quick to get in touch to tell us what they think about the changes everything from home was there anything wrong with the evening schedule on sex or did someone in management decide on change for its own.

So why can't we stick the people who've actually got a solid grounding in the music that so important to us.

Hello this is Caroline Williams living in Somerset just up the road from Mac I think Samantha has got this totally wrong the new schedule and answer the evenings on Radio 6 is not great.

We tuning most evenings to listen to Mark and then Gideon

By doing so when Tom and dab take over the 7 p.m.

Slot I like a lot of people feel strongly about this change if it ain't broke don't fix it my name is Jeffrey from Ellesmere Port both these DJs have contributed massively to the success of six music and even slots fit them perfectly and reduce the postman.

Play music some of us thoughts there on the schedule changes at six music we wanted to put those two Samantha Murray head of content commissioning at six music but she wasn't available we do have this statement all radio schedules evolved over time and I listeners will still be able to hear barking Gideon on 6 music in the evening across weeknights and while Riley and Co is a new program what presenters are synonymous with the music classic tracks and live sessions.

Main they have the freedom to play the music and support the Artists they want to in Riley and Co which means listeners can continue to hear and Discover their favourite artists established and new across the week on 6 Music on if you've got something to say about those changes at 6 Music or indeed anything you've heard across BBC audio.

You can send an email to feedback at bbc.co.uk you can leave a voice message on 03344 at ccr4 feedback.

No believe in magic is a new podcast from BBC Science presented by the man behind the hugely successful series The Missing Jamie Bartlett in the series he follows the story of Megan Barry who are the age of 16 founded the believe in magic charity to drop wish.

Seriously ill children that by One Direction the biggest pop stars in the world at the time it became well-known in the child cancer community supporters are Megan had a brain tumour and needed money for treatments abroad the story started to unravel at call it a witch hunt kind of thing asking questions like between you in they know that they're not being honest about we collectively said we won't let it drop will find out this time make from Glasgow believe in magic is a powerful account of deception control and the power and the limits of belief and personal Trust beginning with what seems like a wonderful compassionate response to sickness and suffering Jamie Bartlett guide's as with skill and empathy to a deeper story of manipulation Darkness and personal tragedy.

This is Andy

Listen to leading magic difficult subject of sick children charities deception and fraud and lots of complex medical physical and psychological syndromes, did it with absolutely forensic attention to detail the team of on top of that was also compassionate with a complete absence of all I spoke to Jamie Bartlett about the challenges of telling such a multi-layered and disturbing story and I Began by asking him when he first heard about it well in this case actually it was the BBC producer Ruth Maher who was reading I think you just reading an article in a newspaper about the charity believe in magic and she just saw a Christmas a cryptic comment in the thread benefit online which said something along the lines of.

The truth is much darker than you think which for a journalist is what you want to know what that is and in this case there was a lot more to the story then people realised but I always looking for does it say something about the wider world in this case it was about the the risks of being so obsessed with celebrity for example.

How we understand online campaigns the people now put out to raise money for specialised health treatment and how experienced health online so there's to me there's always ideally a big behind the story you're looking at that tells you something about what's going on in the world does interesting so you feel that bad for you as the public service elements to This podcast yeah, you are think you're trying to get the truth out there for people so they can understand what's happening.

I think what a podcast really does allow you to do is to it to grapple with the bigger questions that some of these stories will raise, I'm really

The detail then I hope as well let people see how journalists get stories.

How they think about stories have a balanced things and way things are and try to get sauces to speak openly and all challenges that journalist have to try to face the traditional you don't really see Behind the Scenes here you can I think it's really important now to do that especially you know people don't always trust journalism.

Trust me.

It's good to see how it works you almost done sometimes make a virtue of the fact that you don't necessarily know that you're slightly concerned perhaps about whether or not you know somebody telling the truth to your face or whether you've actually got to the bottom of the story to sort of honesty with listeners.

I suppose and authenticity that only finding podcasts yeah, and I'm not faking that either because you could you could imagine people pretending to not know one way or the other but listens can see through that really easily and I think.

People that have done complicated stories journalist, they do doubt themselves.

They not always sure and we'll traditional new story sometimes.

It's just down there in black and white people want to know the answer is either this or that right or wrong and the reality sometimes is your struggling to come to terms with the tree.

You're not quite sure you're grappling at it and I think they're quite sophisticated.

That's probably what you're thinking and what you're going through so make a virtue of it and make it clear that sometimes a bit of ambiguity in a bit of uncertainty and that is part of the job as well, but what you trying to do is get to what do they say about the best approximation of the truth and I wonder if that's why there is such a response to these podcasts online because perhaps the listener.

I know I've just listens to seven of these are for 2 days.

So if you like, I've been very much and I also feel like I know you would never met because you know I've been hearing your voice and indeed a little bit of your opinion and what you think about things you know.

That means that listeners and more invested in there would be in different format.

I think that's true.

Yeah.

It's a really good.

We're putting it that when you're showing your working out and how your come to conclusions your invite in the listener to make the draw your own conclusions.

That's not me telling you what happened, but I'm trying to present things for you and yeah, I draw my own conclusions that you may also draw the ones from it, and I think that does make people feel a bit more invested that they are trying to figure it out with you and I think the thoughts of podcast people do really get invested in the presenter sometimes as because you do spend a lot of time together to 34 hours in the company sometimes.

It's late at night.

I've had people coming up to me before saying it's really weird hearing your voice because I hear it in my I fall asleep podcast actually every night so I hope you sort of Serenade me to sleep which is really strange feeling that has sometimes.

I thought I would say it's a downside but I've noticed that when.

Delays in putting out episodes of the cryptoqueen podcast which is a very complicated has been going on for 3 years now people get quite angry at me.

Why is there not another episode? Why haven't you figured this? Why haven't we moved it on because they've invested a lot.

They feel like they are part of the story.

So I think they imagine.

I'm almost letting them down when I haven't moved the story on.

I'm trying my best so sometimes.

I think the Dangerous people really sort of they feel so invested that they start getting frustrated if you're not doing the job for the would I take some really really want to be in that position but under pressure sometimes with that because I'm representing them too so I wake up and I get a text that says are you happy now wait for the police go straight to the messenger group Lisa says meghan's Dad

Nothing but compelling listen which I believe were sensitively written and presented my question to Jamie is as Munchausen by proxy or fabricated or induced illness is rare.

Did he have any qualms about whether highlighting the story could impact on how the public view people with illness or impairments many disabled people particularly those with hidden impairments report that they aren't believe you're taken seriously by the Medical Profession or those around them is far more common to be dismissed and misunderstood then for want of a better phrase to be found to be faking it.

That is really good and very difficult question for me to answer the podcast isn't just about whether or not people believed in medical settings.

That's part of the story primarily about that.

I think we could have been really should have gone into that in a great deal more detail but I think in the end what we concluded was there's an awful lot of guidance new guidance as

Therefore medical practitioners where they should be able to identify source of warning signs of people who have fabricating illness, but while still trusting them while still giving them the benefit of the doubt because trusting a patient is obviously that they're telling the truth is so important for the Medical Profession that has to be your starting point you can't start from a position of distrust so did guided out there tries to really make sure you don't encourage doctors to never believe patient.

I'm sure it does happen, and I really hope we haven't seen some accident Away made that worse we really concluded in the end was that the Kingston review again without giving away too much the Kingston review that looked into this specific case essentially found that there was no at all for medical professionals social services to identify cases of fabricated or induced illness when it happens in an adult, so I think I'm balance.

We thought it was.

Water that people knew about that because there's such a gaping hole there, but it's a really good podcast themselves have huge amounts of listeners and mainstream themselves, you could have perfected your you are protecting your yours of side of the thunder.

I wonder if you worry though, but that might become a little bit formulaic you know to have that kind of the second to last episode you know I wonder if you feel that like all of these things they go from being something brand new and therefore really capturing people's imagination thinking app.

Yeah.

I I almost know what they're gonna I know how they're going to tell this story.

I hope not yet.

You still have this predictable character.are can but I do sometimes worry that generally with with no they could become a tendency to try to make every story so dramatic and exciting and cliffhangers and all the rest of it could get to the point of being misleading and I think.

Being within the BBC doing this does help because there's so many people around you stopping you from doing that in my experience human life human stories and events a generally so strange and bizarre weird things happen and interesting fascinating things haven't you don't really need to make it up.

It's there somehow you just got to find the way to Jamie Bartlett thank you so much for joining us some feedback.

Thank you for having me and you can listen to the believe in magic podcast series on BBC sounds, so that's all for this week.

Thank you so much for listening and for giving us your feedback.

I'm Andrea catherwood the producer is Gill Davies and feedback is a whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4.