19th August 2020 , Updated 19th October 2021
The last few days (17th- 19th August 2020) have seen, once more, an absence of coverage of the northern half of North West England on both BBC North West Tonight and ITV Granada Reports. On BBC North West Tonight there have been indications of intent NOT to cover Cumbria properly after all as Keswick has been ceremoniously removed from the list of places shown in the weather-forecast whilst a new weather- presenter by the name of Emmanuelle Lhoni has replaced the excellent Owain Wyn Evans: Clearly, the Right-on Politically-correct BBC has to make sure that there are sufficient numbers of BAME employees so that the BBC is seen to be right-on. Talent would seem to be a secondary consideration!
Ms Lhoni clearly does not have the same rapport with viewers that Owain Evans has- and one would hope that Mr Evans is not being permanently removed as main weather-presenter on BBC North West Tonight. But an interesting side-effect of the new weather forecaster is less pressure on BBC North West programmers to cover Cumbria in any news-output, as they probably know Mr Evans was (briefly) a weather- presenter on BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria)- and that he is a bit too sympathetic for their liking towards the northern half of the geographical North West of England. BBC North West programmers also know that Owain Wyn Evans is Welsh- and perhaps it infuriates the programmers for North West Tonight that Mr Evans keeps referring to “Merseyside, Cheshire and North East Wales” in the forecasts!
Anyway, I digress. It is not the little things in isolation that matter, but what it adds up to as a whole. If BBC North West Tonight have decided after all that Cumbria (and certainly not the bit north of their transmission area) is to be covered very little in regional news, then they will sideline weather-presenters who are deemed too sympathetic to Cumbria and other “fringe areas” of the BBC North West transmission area- like those near the Welsh border.One thing has to be said to that is that is a completely unacceptable attitude for Regional News programmers for the North West to have towards folk who live in North Lancashire and South Cumbria: Folk, that is, who do not have the option of switching over to ITV Border to get the excellent coverage of Cumbria that that produces instead!
This Website will campaign to bring about a much-needed and complete re-appraisal of Regional Television output instead- by reminding viewers of BBC North West Tonight who live in North Lancashire and South Cumbria (in those areas where the only alternative is the non- Cumbria covering ITV Granada Reports) that they have the collective Power of Complaint by Email to a powerful Government Department capable of jumping on BBC North West and ITV Granada from a great height to literally DEMAND changes to Regional Television News programming for the area.That Government Department is the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport- and the Secretary of State in charge is one Right Honourable Lady Nadine Dorries, MP. You can write to her at this address:
The Right Hon. Lady Nadine Dorries, MP; Secretary of State for the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport,
House of Commons, LONDON. SW1A 0AA
Alternatively write to the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport directly at: Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport, 100 Parliament Street, LONDON. SW1A 2BQ. Or email: enquiries@dcms.gov.uk
My assertion is that if you want your complaint noticed, it is best to write- putting F.A.O THE RIGHT HON. LADY NADINE DORRIES, MP at the top of your letter: Government Departments and Members of Parliament get thousands of emails each day. Most emails end up in the Email Spam box and get deleted, 99% of the remainder get filtered through secretaries and a pat response is sent out (i.e. “Thank you for your email of 19th August 2020, the contents of which have been noted.”).Thus, a letter directly addressed and marked URGENT and F.A.O. THE RIGHT HON. LADY NADINE DORRIES, MP; SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF DIGITAL CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT stands a much higher chance of being noticed. That’s because not many people write letters and send them in the post compared to those who communicate electronically. If one is prepared to pay seventy pence for a stamp it also demonstrates that the writer really wants the issue about which he writes addressed.
Thus I would encourage anyone unhappy with their Regional News not covering the northern half of the Region to complain by writing. Mark the letter urgent and F.A.O. who really needs to read the letter. By doing that you are telling the Secretary that you do not want the letter intercepted and a pat-reply sent back. You communicate that you want the letter to reach the intended recipient and that you expect a satisfactory reply to the effect that your concerns will be addressed.