Another complaint, this time to the BBC
Complaint about the Radio 4 programme, You and Yours, broadcast at 12:30 on Monday April 9, regarding the repeated use of the phrase "Road Tax".
The you and yours programme on small cars has both the presenter and the interviewee repeatedly using the phrase "road tax" as a misnomer for Vehicle Excise Duty. Such an erroneous uce reinforces the mistaken belief that cyclists do not pay for the road and therefore have no right to use them, which increases conflict between drivers who believe bicycles should be off the roads, and those of us who are trying to use a low-pollution, low congestion solution to our cities' transport problems.
This use of the phrase "Road Tax" is a recurrent problem with BBC reporting. While it may be considered acceptable in a slightly-comedic series such as Top Gear, to use it in a consumer journalism series implies inadequate factual review prior to broadcast.
In the past, BBC news programmes have published corrections to such errors
http://road.cc/content/news/17863-bbc-look-east-forced-set-record-straight-road-tax-%E2%80%A6-er-ved-video
Could you consider the you-and-yours reporters to do the same -after they have been correctly briefed on the funding model of roads and motor vehicles contributions thereof?
Quite right, the BBC is a car-centric organisation, which, rather like SGlos, makes nice noises about other transport modes, but only promotes cars.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on their twenty plus years of cycle helmet propaganda.