The BBC Trust has rejected a complaint about Radio 1's decision to cut down Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, which hit number 2 in the charts following the death of Margaret Thatcher, describing it as an inappropriate "celebration of death". The 74-year-old song, which first appeared in the soundtrack for the Wizard of Oz film, made a surprise chart entry in April as a form of a protest by critics of the late Conservative prime minister. Radio 1 elected to play just 7 seconds of the 51-second song, preceding it with a Newsbeat story explaining the context, following an intervention by then newly arrived BBC director general Tony Hall. A complainant to the corporation argued that playing a truncated version of just one song was a breach of the BBC's guidelines on censorship and impartiality – particularly given a song titled I'm in Love with Margaret Thatcher was played in full – and that the track itself did not carry a political message. The BBC Trust's editorial standards committee rejected the complaint, saying that the song did have the "capacity to cause offence" because it had been widely publicised as a way of giving voice to "anti-Thatcher feelings". Radio 1's chart show was likely to be criticised whatever decision was taken over airing the song, the ESC noted. "Aside from whether or not people had bought the song in order to express anti-Thatcher political sentiments, which listeners may or may not agree with, the song in question was clearly a celebration of death," said the ESC. "Although it was not linked with to any real person when written, the committee believed that the song had clearly and unarguably gained association with Lady Thatcher." The ESC said that it was "therefore legitimate" for the BBC to consider how it might cause offence, and that contextualising the issue with a Newsbeat story was the right course to "meet the requirements of due impartiality while mitigating the risk of gratuitous offence". |
英國廣播公司信托基金拒絕將這首《叮咚!女巫已死》從第一頻道移除。這首歌自從撒切爾夫人去世之后點擊量激增,排到了榜單的第二名,這種現(xiàn)象被認為是對死者的不尊重。 這首歌最早出自74年前的影片《綠野仙蹤》,在四月份保守派前首相撒切爾夫人去世,它出其不意地被撒切爾夫人的反對者們推上了榜單。 第一頻道剪輯了這首51秒歌曲中的7秒來播放,在此之前有一個新聞采訪解釋了這首歌之所以播放的理由。隨之而來的是對英國國家廣播電視臺新上任的總裁托尼·霍爾(Tony Hall)的采訪。 這次事件的主角英國國家廣播電視臺爭論道,播放這首縮減版的歌曲僅僅只是遵循該公司在審查制度和公平公正上的指導方針之一而已,如果一首歌如果被冠以愛戴瑪格麗特·撒切爾的美名,那么是不是就該在電臺上全曲播放呢?所以歌曲本身是不帶政治色彩的。 英國廣播公司信托基金的社論標準委員會(ESC)拒絕禁播該歌曲,他們解釋說這首歌曲本身不帶冒犯色彩,只是社會廣泛宣揚它是一首帶有“反撒切爾情緒”的歌曲而已。 ESC指出,無論第一頻道是否決定禁播這首歌曲,他們似乎都將受到抨擊。 ESC說道:“不論人們是否把這首歌與反撒切爾的政治情緒相聯(lián)系,聽眾都可能持有贊同或是反對兩種觀點,而這個爭議頗大的歌曲是在慶祝死亡這一點是可以確定的?!?/p> “雖然這首歌在剛被寫出來的時候并沒有針對任何一個人,但是委員會可以確定它與撒切爾夫人有聯(lián)系?!?/p> 對此,ESC指出,英國國家廣播電視臺應該適當?shù)乜紤]一下播放這首歌曲在多大程度上會冒犯當事人。并且應該在新聞報道中把這首曲子合理地融入播放內容,這才是“符合公平原則又不會造成毫無理由的冒犯”的解決方法。 (譯者 楊安君buaa 編輯 丹妮) |