Waybuloo complaint

It seems to be more British to mutter quietly under one's breath than to make a direct complaint. When it comes to television programmes, I am more likely to switch off when offended than to express my views to the broadcaster. But perhaps we should take more time to feedback to broadcasters how we feel about the material they present to us?

Recently it has become entirely necessary to make a formal complaint to the BBC. CBeebies is currently showing a programme called Waybuloo; Sharon and I were somewhat taken aback when we saw its content. There follows the content of my complaint to the BBC and Ofcom, which speaks for itself.

Initial complaint to the BBC
I sent a similar complaint to Ofcom

Sirs,

My wife and I have this week by chance watched an episode of Waybuloo with growing alarm. We have been in the habit of allowing our children to watch CBeebies unattended over recent years, but unfortunately it has been necessary for this to cease immediately given this programme's content.

CBeebies is produced with impressionable children in mind and the broadcaster therefore must accept it has an onerous duty of care in selecting and vetting material for broadcast. It is the opinion of my wife and me that you have on this occasion utterly failed in that duty.

While the content of material on CBeebies is generally excellent (for which we are very grateful) Waybuloo represents an unacceptable deviation from this norm. If CBeebies were held out as a channel dealing with religious matters, we would be forewarned, but that is not the case. Waybuloo undeniably promotes identifiable lifestyles and practices that have their roots in Eastern religion and mysticism. This includes yoga and meditation and cumlimates in leviation.

If CBeebies is to redefine itself as a channel promoting particular religions and lifestyles then it must do so in a transparent, unbiased way. Taking the programming as a whole, the inclusion of Waybuloo is neither transparent nor unbiased. (Are there other programmes on CBeebies promoting partiular religious practices? We are not aware of any.) Notwithstanding the above, we would prefer CBeebies to remain religiously neutral. At the age of CBeebies' target audience, we would maintain that parents have the exclusive right to make decisions concerning the presenting of spiritual material to their children. Please note we do not object to the presentation of religion in an educational, unbiased, factual manner. Waybuloo simply does not fit these criteria.

Our feelings on this matter are of such magnitude that we are obliged to explore alternative entertainment options for our children. We are also considering entirely withdrawing our support for the BBC represented by our licence fee and purchase of BBC merchandise.

I cannot emphasise strongly enough how very disappointed we are to discover that we can no longer trust CBeebies. Your decision to broadcast Waybuloo is in our view grossly inappropriate and has completely undermined our faith in the CBeebies programming schedule.

On a more positive note, may I say as a father of two disabled children, how delighted we have been to see an expanding policy of inclusion at CBeebies. While this is no way offsets our dismay expressed above, we do trust that this acceptance and promotion of the needs of disabled people will continue and increase.

Rob & Sharon Pomeroy

The BBC's fatuous response

Dear Mr Pomeroy

Thanks for your e-mail regarding 'Waybuloo'.

I understand that you object to the content of this programme and you feel that it promotes identifiable lifestyles and practices that have their roots in Eastern religion and mysticism.

Please let me assure you that this isn't the case. Although some ideas may have been used from different cultures, we wouldn't promote any particular religion in any of our children's programming.

We do appreciate your concerns however and I'd like to take a moment to assure you that your comments have been registered on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers. It's also published on our intranet site, so it's available for all staff to view.

In addition to this, we regularly compile tailored audience feedback reports for specific programmes so they can have an overview of all contacts received about their series. If a report's compiled relating to this issue, then your comments will also appear here.

Thanks for taking the time to contact us with your concerns.

Regards

[Name removed]
BBC Complaints

Subsequently, I heard from Ofcom, inviting me to submit more detail regarding my complaint. They made the point that they need to deal with a particular broadcast programme. My reply follows. References to "the Code" mean the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, which you can study here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/

Letter to Ofcom

17 September 2009

Dear [Name removed],

Waybuloo – Cbeebies
Your reference: 1-127033827

Thank you for your letter of 8 September. I am happy to continue this correspondence in writing or by email, whichever is the most convenient for you. My email address is shown below.

As requested, the following observations relate to a specific episode of Waybuloo aired on 15 September 2009 at 3pm. Episodes all follow a very similar format however and the comments could equally apply to other episodes.

My primary objection to Waybuloo is not so much centred on the religious beliefs evidenced in the programme as the fact that the programme is aimed at very young children. It is my view that, were the programme espousing one particular political agenda, for example, the same manner of objections would apply. While you are considering the matter under section 4 of the Code, therefore, I would also ask you to consider applying other sections as outlined later.

Strong religious imagery is used throughout the programme and this is evidenced in the following ways:

It is of note that the CBeebies presenters are in the habit of incorporating further demonstrations of yoga as part of their introduction to the programme, with suggestions that the viewers do likewise.

Alleged Code breaches:

• Content of the nature described above has a proselytising effect, which is grossly inappropriate when taking into account the target audience (children aged 6 and under). Sections 1.3 and 4.6 of the Code.
• By implication and expressly (cf. “Waybuloo is a philosophy for a happy life”), the programme contains life-changing advice aimed at very young, impressionable children. Section 2.8 of the Code.
• The intended audience will certainly not be aware of the potential effect of the programme. Section 2.12.
• The religious influences upon the production of Waybuloo can be deduced as above. They are not expressly stated however. Sections 4.3 & 4.4.

I look forward to hearing from you following the outcome of your deliberations. Incidentally, I did contact the broadcaster initially with my concerns, but unfortunately this was met with an answer that could best be summarised as "you're wrong" (copy attached).

Yours sincerely,

Rob Pomeroy

On 27 October, I received a somewhat disappointing response from Ofcom, which appeared not to have been written by the previous writer. The content was less considered and the style gave me the impression it it was written by a more junior member of staff. I reproduce it here, grammatical errors intact.

Ofcom's dismissive reply

Dear Mr Pomeroy

Waybuloo; CBeebies; 15/09/2009; 15:00

Thank you for your complaint. We understand you are concerned this programme appears to aimed at young children.

Firstly, we place no restrictions on the subjects that programmes may tackle but are, of course, concerned that the treatment of them complies with our rules. As the regulator, we can intervene if an item is considered to be at odds with generally accepted standards, causes significant harm, or is materially inaccurate i.e. if there is a breach of our Broadcasting Code,

We obtained a recording of this porogramme and we watched it with your comments in mind, though we have to say we do not feel there has been a breach in this instance. It is our view this programme is clearly aimed at children and is not a religious programme meeting the requirements of Section 4 of the Code.

You were concerned the programme was using yoga and yogic flying and other religious symbolism.

We appreciate yoga is attached to some religions but you do not have to be a follower of any particular religion to be a practitioner of it, after all it is used as a recreational and keep fit tool by many. In terms of the crystals and landscape featured in this programme, these are stylistic devices designed to give ambience to the programme and we do not feel they are used in this context to promote any form of religion or belief system.

Given this we do not feel further intervention is warranted on this occasion. Nevertheless we thank you for taking the time to contact us as it is important to know what the audience thinks.

Yours sincerely

Ofcom Broadcast Team

What puzzles me is that Ofcom appears to have ignored everything in my complaint apart from the section 4 elements. I allege code breaches under various other sections, but they have left these assertions unaddressed. It almost felt like they were answering someone else's complaint.

I am not entirely sure what to do next and am giving this further consideration (unlike Ofcom).