Is this really “public service broadcasting”?

I started ranting about this on election night itself and my anger has not subsided even though that was three nights ago. This is simply unacceptable. The BBC cannot expect to receive licence fee income if this is how it interprets its public service remit over the reporting of the democratic process.

We need an assurance now from the Corporation that a totally different approach will be in place for the 2009 Euro and local elections. A fast and accurate results service with proper analysis as well as telling the story of night is what’s required.

A bit of fun might just have been acceptable if the rest of the programme had been OK. It wasn’t.

Everyone concerned with election programming at the BBC should be ordered to watch CNN’s coverage of the Indiana and North Carolina primaries overnight on Tuesday and told to work out a plan to create a BBC equivalent.

That’s how results television should be handled. If the BBC cannot manage it then licence fee income should be diverted to fund an organisation that can.

There must be no repetition.

Mike Smithson