A Reply from the BBC

A few days ago the BBC replied to my complaint.  With all the discourteous hallmarks of a cut-and-paste job, I reproduce it below:



"Dear J R
Reference CAS-4878517-MK66WY
Thank you for contacting us again.
We appreciate that you were dissatisfied with our previous response and felt strongly enough to write to us again. We raised this again with our news colleagues and senior staff.
They respond: "We're afraid we do not agree that we have given a misleading impression. The Foreign Secretary had spoken of the UK no longer being ‘lashed’ to the EU, so expressing his doubts as to the economic benefits of the UK remaining in the single market. The report by Kamal Ahmed was a factual one, looking at the latest economic figures which show that the Eurozone has enjoyed its strongest growth for some years. His report was intended to put the relative fortunes of the UK and the EU in context for viewers.
"It was certainly not implying a BBC position on Brexit. The BBC does not have an opinion on Brexit or any other subject. The use of the GDP graph set out the relative performance of the UK and the EU over ten years. While we could have gone back many more years, we think a decade is sufficient to show recent trends. While the performance of individual countries has varied, we were looking at the EU as a whole. Last year the Eurozone enjoyed its strongest period of growth since 2007, as you acknowledge, and Kamal explained that while both the UK and the EU were hit by the recession in 2007, the UK recovered faster so that by 2012 the UK was top of the economic league as the rest of the EU suffered.
"Now growth in the UK has slowed, running at 1.8% last year (compared to more than 2% in 2013, 2014 and 2015), while the Eurozone grew by 2.5% last year, the closest it has been to the levels of 3% seen before the recession of 2007/8, and this was highlighted by Kamal. In a report with many figures, the graph was intended to convey the broad trends in a visual way, and was not intended to be seen as an impression of the UK's post Brexit prospects.
“Kamal’s use of the phrase ‘nearly 50%’ was also intended to convey information simply, to help viewers. He explains that the figure for UK exports to the EU is 48% when one considers goods, and 43% when goods and services are taken into account. This link shows the ONS summary: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/articles/whodoestheuktradewith/2017-02-21
"However, we accept that the use of the phrase ‘nearly 50%’ is imprecise and we could have been clearer that not only do less than half of UK exports go to the EU, this proportion has been on a downward trend since 2006 (though the latest figures show that there has been a slight increase to 44% for goods and services, and 50% for goods alone). We have made this clear on the BBC’s Corrections and Clarifications page on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications
"Of course, there is much debate among economists as to whether these levels of growth in the UK and EU are a blip or the new normal, and so these are trends to watch. The EU remains a large and important export market for the UK and whatever the future trading relationship, we think it is useful to consider how one side is faring in comparison with the other.'"
We have read and noted your further points here but don’t consider they suggest evidence of a possible breach of standards. Opinions do vary widely about the BBC and its output, but this does not necessarily imply there has been a breach of standards or of the BBC’s public service obligations.
For this reason, we regret we don’t have more to add to our previous correspondence, and so will not respond further or address more questions or points. If you are dissatisfied with this decision you may ask the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to review it. Details of the BBC complaints process are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/handle-complaint/ where you can read the BBC’s full complaints framework.
If you wish to ask the ECU to review this decision, you should contact it directly within 20 working days of receiving this reply. Please explain to the ECU why you believe there may have been a potential breach of standards or other significant issue to investigate. You can email ecu@bbc.co.uk, or write to: Executive Complaints Unit, BBC, Broadcast Centre, London W12 7TQ. Please include the case reference number we have provided in this reply.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Kind regards
Hollie Bann
BBC Complaints Team
www.bbc.co.uk/complaints
NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via our webform quoting any case number we provided."

I will post my reply tomorrow!