Speak out to broadcasters
Phone-ins and e-mails
Some current affairs programmes allow viewers and listeners to express their views.
Metrication is a topic that has come up regularly - speak out your views!
On the radio many local stations give opportunities to join phone-ins. Some TV and
radio programmes read out e-mails. Key points to make when phoning or writing in
are:
- Focus on one main point and try to get that across well
- Keep to a reasonable length without rambling on
- Be polite and calm
- Use humour if appropriate
- Be specific and factual
- Sum up with a clear punchy sentence
Feedback on usage
Broadcasters are often very muddled when it comes to measurement unit usage. Some
programmes have policies, others do not. It is worth giving feedback on the clarity
of usage both positive and negative. It is good to praise good usage as well as
complain about poor or confused usage.
In situations involving education, health & safety, food and features on metric
countries there should be no excuse for not using metric. The international system
of units (SI) is the basis of the school curriculum and failure to use it in educational
programmes is simply undermining what is taught. Similarly, health & safety
rules are metric and it is important that employees are not confused.
The BBC's style guide while sensible in many respects sits on the fence with regard
to measurement usage. When people have complained about the lack of metric in programmes,
the BBC has frequently replied either that they should reflect popular usage or
that some viewers or listeners would not understand metric. If the same logic had
been followed on the introduction of decimal currency, the BBC would still be giving
information in "old money". It is worth reminding the BBC that their mission is
'inform, educate, entertain'. If the BBC believes that the public is not familiar
with Britain's official metric units then the BBC has a duty to help educate their
viewers and listeners.
Similar arguments can be used with other broadcasters..
Some individual programmes may have e-mail contacts given on their channel's website
but sometimes there is a separate centralised complaints centre.
Television and radio contact
Today there are many television channels which cannot be listed in full here. Here
we provide contact information for the main broadcasters namely BBC, ITV, Channel4,
Five and Sky. For other channels go to MediaUK
for contact details.
The BBC
The BBC has a central service dealing with feedback on news reporting called
Newswatch.
In early 2005, the BBC introduced a central point of contact for
complaints & other feedback. This is available on the web
or by telephone 08700 100 222
Other broadcasters and channels
Complaints to ITV can be made on the web
Complaints to Channel 4 can be made by e-mail
viewerenquiries@channel4.co.uk
Or by telephone 020 7306 8333
Complaints to Five can be made by e-mail customerservices@five.tv
Or by telephone 0845 7 050505 or 0207 421 7270
For feedback on any Sky channels e-mail the viewer relations department
viewerr@bskyb.com
Feedback on Sky news programmes can be given by e-mail
news@sky.com .
Feedback on the Sky News website can be done by e-mail
feedback@sky.com
Comprehensive listing
If you do not find your TV or
radio station on the above
list please go to the Media UK website that provides a comprehensive listing.
If you find that any of the above links do not work please let us know using our
feedback form